Available in 2024
Course code

LING6801

Units

10 units

Level

6000 level

Course handbook

Description

This course reviews the history and the fundamental mechanism of machine translation (automated translation by computer software) and discusses the role of human intervention for the evaluation of Machine Translation. Students will learn how recent technological developments have overcome some challenges in machine translation and what issues remain to be solved. They will identify general problems that require human interventions. Using real-world materials (e.g. university brochure for new students, guidebook for obtaining driving licence, app for online banking), students will compare the performance of existing automatic translation systems with Human translations of the same materials and identify the aspects that require improvement for clarity and cultural appropriateness.


Availability2024 Course Timetables

Callaghan

  • Semester 1 - 2024

Online

  • Semester 1 - 2024

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of the course students will be able to:

1. Describe the basic architecture of Machine Translation;

2. Explain the development of Machine Translation;

3. Discuss the role of human evaluators of Machine Translation;

4. Propose ways in which human evaluators can contribute to future Machine Translation development;

5. Compare Machine Translation and human translations.


Content

Topics to be covered include the following:

  • general architecture of Machine Translation;
  • history of Machine Translation development;
  • roles of human evaluators: why Machine Translation needs human interventions; examining translations that are not contextually or culturally appropriate and lack naturalness
  • tasks of human evaluators: what Machine Translation evaluators have to do;
  • future of Machine Translation and roles of evaluators.

Assessment items

Literature Review: Literature Review

Professional Task: Professional Task

Online Learning Activity: Online Learning Activity


Contact hours

Semester 1 - 2024 - Callaghan

Lecture-1
  • Face to Face On Campus 2 hour(s) per week(s) for 12 week(s) starting in week 1
Online Activity-1
  • Online 2 hour(s) per week(s) for 12 week(s)

Semester 1 - 2024 - Online

Lecture-1
  • Online 2 hour(s) per week(s) for 12 week(s)
Online Activity-1
  • Online 2 hour(s) per week(s) for 12 week(s)

Course outline