LETRAS: A Learning-based Framework for Machine Translation of Low Resource Languages

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The LETRAS project investigates novel approaches to development of MachineTranslation (MT) technology, with the goal of establishing a general frameworkthat supports building MT prototype systems for languages for which onlylimited amounts of data and resources in electronic form are available. Theresearch focus of the project is on automatic learning of translationtransfer-rules from limited amounts of elicited bilingual data. A new run-timetranslation "engine" maps source language sentences to their target languageequivalents, by building a large structure of possible partial translationsand then applying effective search techniques for recovering the besttranslation. In the last stage, an automatic rule refinement module helps thesystem learn how to correct and improve its imperfect translation rules, basedon feedback on translation errors provided by users. MT prototype systems forseveral language pairs are being constructed as an integral part of theproject and in collaboration with external research groups. The prototypesguide our research and test out our new ideas. At the same time, ourcollaborations with local researchers and native communities promote thedevelopment of information technology for native languages and educate localresearchers with our state-of-the-art MT research. The prototypes include aHebrew-to-English MT system (with University of Haifa, Israel); anInupiaq-to-English MT system (with University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and theInupiat Heritage Center in Barrow, Alaska); and a Karitiana-to-Portuguese MTsystem (with University of Sao Paulo, Brazil). Support for the Alaskacollaboration is being provided by NSF's Office of Polar Programs (OPP), andsupport for the collaborations with Israel and Brazil is being provided byNSF's Office for International Science and Engineering (OISE). OISE is alsoproviding funding for a planning trip to Bolivia to explore a possible Aymara-to-Spanish project. The potential long-term impact of the projectis profound - enabling the development of Machine Translation for manylanguages of the world, which in turn opens the door for active participationof native and minority communities in the information-rich activities of the21st century.