Corpora: Expert Training Package: FastTrack to Translation

[Pernilla Danielsson]

Expert Training Package
FastTrack to Translation
Using Parallel Corpora for Bilingual Dictionaries


The Birmingham Centre of Corpus Linguistics is offering its first 4-day Expert T
raining Package "FastTrack to Translation - Using Parallel Corpora for Bilingual
 Dictionaries" for professional lexicographers and translators.

Our expert training package introduces participants to cutting edge research in
the use of parallel corpora for a new generation of electronic bilingual diction
aries: databases not of words but of those units of meaning that are translated
as a whole, and of their equivalents in the target languages. Translation units
are either larger segments such as compounds, multi-word units, collocations and
 set phrases, or they are single words disambiguated on the basis their context
profiles. These new dictionaries of translation units will, for the first time,
enable their users to translate correctly into a foreign language of which they
have only limited command. Implemented into translation platforms, they will fac
ilitate translations more than customary translation memories.


The expert training package will show how existing software can be adapted and c
ombined for the extraction of translation units and their equivalents. Parallel
corpora will be available for a number of European languages paired with English
 and other European languages. There is also a Chinese-English parallel corpus.
The issues presented include segmentation, lemmatisation, POS-tagging, sentence
alignment, lexical alignment, and the detection of units of meaning. We will dem
onstrate how context profiles can be used to select the proper translation equiv
alents. We will propose various suggestions to integrate corpus findings in bili
ngual dictionaries, in multilingual termbanks and in databases of translation eq
uivalents.

Our expert training package features lectures focussing on theoretical approache
s, instructions in the methodology and practice of multilingual corpus linguisti
cs, software presentations and supervised hands-on sessions. Individual tutoring
 is offered. Participants are invited to address specific topics.


The staff teaching this expert training package includes: Professor John Sinclai
r (The Tuscan Word Centre, Italy), Professor Kurshid Ahmad (University of Surrey
, UK), Professor Michael Barlow (Rice University, US), Dr Louise Guthrie (Sheffi
eld, UK), Professor Wolfgang Teubert (CCL, Birmingham); members of CCL and of Co
llins Dictionary Division, Glasgow.

The expert training package will be organised in conjunction with the Concerted
Action TELRI (Trans-European Language Resources Infrastructure) and with the Tus
can Word Centre.

Audience:
The expert training package is targeted to professionals in language industry: d
ictionary publishing, multilingual language technology, and translation services
. Minimum number of participants: 10, maximum number: 18

Date and duration:
The expert training package begins Wednesday, September 12, 9.00 to Saturday, Se
ptember 15, 22.00.

Fee:
Participation per person: GBP 950 including coffee breaks, lunches and dinners.
With early registration, before August 15, GBP 850.

Accommodation:
For your own convenience, we recommend Lucas House (University Guest House) for
accommodation (cost per person, per night, single occupancy: GBP 51.97)



Schedule:

1st Day

* 09.00 - 10.00: Programme presentation
* 10.00 - 11.00: lecture (1): Corpus linguistics and lexicography
* 11.00 - 11.20: coffee break
* 11.20 - 12.20: resources and tools (1): Methods in monolingual concordancing (
Qwick, WordSmith)
* 12.20 - 13.00:  hands-on session (1) Using Qwick and WordSmith with exercises
* 13.00 - 14.30: lunch
* 14.30 - 15.30: lecture (2): Corpus linguistics and semantics
* 15.30 - 16.00: coffee break
* 16.00 - 16.45: resources and tools (2) Monolingual concordances 2
* 16.45 - 17.45: hands-on session (2) Using MonoConc with exercises
* 17.45 - 18.45: lecture (3): Translation and the corpus
* 20.00 -       : drinks/dinner

2nd Day

* 09.30 - 10.00: announcements/discussion
* 10.00 - 11.00: lecture (4): The unit of meaning in translation
* 11.00 - 11.30: coffee break
* 11.30 - 12.00: resources and tools (3): Working with parallel concordancer (Pa
raConc)
* 12.00 - 13.00: hands-on session (3): Using ParaConc with exercises
* 13.00 - 14.30: lunch
* 14.30 - 15.30: lecture (5): How to extract units of meaning from corpora
* 15.30 - 16.30: resources and tools (4): Working with translation memories
* 16.30 - 17.00: coffee break
* 17.00 - 17.30: hands-on session (4): Using TRADOS Translators Workbench
* 17.30 - 18.30: participants' presentations
* 19.45 - 21.00: drinks/dinner

3rd Day

* 09.30 - 10.00: announcements/discussion
* 10.00 - 11.00: lecture (6): Three approaches to translation
* 11.00 - 11.30: coffee break
* 11.30 - 12.00: resources and tools (5): Working with databases
* 12.00 - 13.00: hands-on session (5) Combining Trados Translators Workbench wit
h TRADOS MultiTerm
* 13.00 - 14.30: lunch
* 14.30 - 15.30: lecture (7): Corpus linguistics and terminology
* 15.30 - 16.30: resources and tools (6) Term extraction and terminological data
bases
* 16.30 - 17.00: coffee break
* 17.00 - 17.30: Individual tutoring
* 17.30 - 18.30: participants' presentations
* 19.45 - 21.00: drinks/dinner

4th Day

* 09.30-10.00: announcements/discussion
* 10.00 - 11.00: lecture (8): How to compile bilingual dictionaries
* 11.00 - 11.30: coffee break
* 11.30 - 12.00: resources and tools (7) Linguistically annotated corpora: taggi
ng and lemmatising
* 12.00 - 13.00: hands-on session (6): Working with taggers and lemmatiser
* 13.00 - 14.30: lunch
* 14.30 - 15.30: lecture (9): Parallel corpora and bilingual lexicography
* 15.30 - 16.30: Individual tutoring
* 16.30 - 17.00: coffee break
* 17.00 - 18.30: final discussion / conclusion
* 20.00 - 22.00: farewell dinner