[EN] Multilingual Document Management Systems | AIIM Show 1997

© Copyright PROJECT CONSULT 1997 Kff / V2.0/ / 04/10/23 / 1

PresentationMultilingual

Document Management Systems

Not Just a European Challenge

Dr. Ulrich Kampffmeyer

P R O J E C T C O N S U L TUnternehmensberatung Dr. Ulrich Kampffmeyer GmbH

Hamburg - Berlin - Darmstadt - Munich

The 1997 AIIM Show and ConferenceNew York, April, 14th - 17th 1997


Contents• Multilingual Software - Problem or Challenge ?

• The easy tasks

• Use of controlled vocabulary for field-oriented translation

• Automated translation of text

• Software: functionality and design

• Application example: wfBASE, Switzerland

• Conclusions


Multilingual Software

Problem or Challenge ?


Thesis• The world´s IT language is English

• 90% of the information distributed via Internet is in English

• An estimated 70% of the world's languages and dialects will disappear in the next 20 years


Anti-Thesis

• Language along with religion, literature and art is a most important factor of cultural identity

• Governments restrict the use of English and promote their national languages

• Users should be able to work easily in the environments they are used to


Synthesis

• IT provides all necessary technologies for multilingual software

• The use of native language software generates more acceptance and eliminates faults and misunderstandings


What does Multilingual Software mean ?

• Multilingual Software is NOTNOT :



• Multilingual Software is NOT :

• Packages distributed in separate national versions

• Simple text translation






• Multilingual Software is :






• Multilingual Software is :

• Ability to switch the language during runtime

• Translating entries and displays to the chosen language

• Retrieving information independently of the language in which it was generated


Who needs Multilingual Software ?

• All countries with more than one official language

eg. Belgium, Switzerland, etc.




• All countries with more than one major language group

eg. USA, India, Russia etc.





• All international organizations

eg. UN, EC etc.





• All international organizations

• All multi-national companies

eg. trade, transportation, automobile, pharmaceutical, oil industries, and others.


The “Document” Problem

• Facsimile documents cannot be interpreted

• Translation changes the display and appearance of documents

• Translated documents do not have the same legal status as the original documents

• Storage of several documents in different languages with a new type of "Language Version Link" may be necessary


Use of Multilingual Software

• Retrieval independent of the language in which the information was created

• Automated translation of database and document contents

• Producing multilingual documents automatically or simultaneously


Use of Multilingual Software - Example

Scenario:A logistic workplace in an international trade company




> A foreign customer calls





... his English is really bad ...





>> The employee doesn`t understand what kind of special pharmaceutical transport he means






>>> She opens her database and retrieves the client's transactions using her standard user interface in English







>>>> She switches the display language to the client's language








>>>>> She reads the foreign description and data to the client









>>>>>> The client is satisfied,









>>>>>> The client is satisfied, no misunderstandings,









>>>>>> The client is satisfied, no misunderstandings, no additional time for call backs or finding a translator !


The "Easy" Tasks


Basics of Multilingual Software



• Use of national character sets

Europe: specific national characters




Europe: specific national characters ä, æ, ö, ø , å, ç, é, ê, ñ





Arabia : from right to left






Asia: columns of characters



• Display of different character sets and representations on one screen



• Display of different character sets and representations on one screen

Risks:

• Words and sentences differ in length

• Display formats change

• Special characters may be interpreted as control characters

• Field-oriented displays have to adapt automatically

• The look of the document may change dramatically


The Easy Tasks

• Transformation of measures

eg. meter to feet


Problems with the “EasyEasy” Tasks


eg. meter to feet

Risk:

Rounding errors or decimal point format problems may occur


The Easy Tasks


• Transformation of currencies

eg. US Dollar to D-Mark





eg. US Dollar to D-Mark Risk:

Dynamic translation of currencies in a document may not represent the original figures


The Easy Tasks



• Transformation of date formats

eg. 04/12/97 to 12. April 1997


The Easy Tasks




• Transformation of time formats

eg. 6 a.m. EST to 11:00 h GMT







eg. 6 a.m. EST to 11:00 h GMT

Risk:

Time-zone differences cause problems in automated version management in enterprise document management systems


The Easy Tasks





• Transformation of addresses eg. position of postal codes “Hamburg 20149 Germany” to “D - 20149 Hamburg”







• Transformation of addresses eg. position of postal codes “Hamburg 20149 Germany” to “D - 20149 Hamburg”

Risk:

Standard formats available, but nobody cares


The Easy Tasks





• Transformation of addresses

• Transformation of international standardized nomenclatures

eg. country and city names “Munich” to “München”







• Transformation of addresses

• Transformation of international standardized nomenclatures

eg. country and city names “Munich” to “München”

Risk:

Names are spelled differently


Use of Controlled Vocabulary


The Use of Controlled Vocabulary

• Terms may be selected from selection lists or may be approved by cross-checks with available databases

• Reference IDs related to terms allow automatic translation of the entries

• The ideal technique for multilingual software in "closed" communications

• The translation is restricted to a certain group of users

• Central, controlled administration is necessary

• Thesauri allow structured use of vocabulary


Basic Requirements for the Use of Controlled Vocabulary

• Database stores only one version or reference keys

• Use of selection lists simplifies access and guarantees exact correspondance

• Translation and transformation is provided by a Pre-Processor






ClientClient Pre-Processor

Pre-Processor

Request







Pre-Processor DatabaseDatabase

Request Key








Request Key

Value








Result

Request Key

Value


Selection lists are an easy way to translate information andto save storage capacity

Selection Lists

10030108



• The list displays a text on the screen related to a database variable

Selection Lists

10030108




• Every entry in a selection list refers to a variable which is related to a database field

Selection Lists

10030108





• Every entry in the different language versions of a list refers to the same variable

Selection Lists

10030108






• The database has to store only the numeric reference of the entry

Selection Lists

10030108







• Selection lists can be used as single and multiple-choice lists

Selection Lists

10030108







• Selection lists can be used as single and multiple-choice lists

• Selection lists help to standardize nomenclature in multinational and multilingual organizations

Selection Lists

10030108


Multilingual Thesauri

• Controlled data entry

• Includes automatic indexing of terms on a higher hierarchy level

• Easy navigation

• ISO standard available

• Multilingual thesauri for several industries and sciences available


Problems with Multilingual Thesauri

• A direct translation of a term may not be available

• There may be several translations for a single term

• The meaning of the translation may differ slightly

• The same term may appear in different contexts at different hierarchy levels

• One term may be represented as a group or combination of words when translated

• Thesauri are often too complex and too deep in details


The Term “Water”

• Different position in thesauri for physics, geology, chemistry, geo-sciences and other

• 37 different versions in Icelandic

• "Desert people are glad to have water"

• Used as noun and verb

• Used as prefix and suffix (Waterfall, tapwater)

• Not only used to describe pure “H²O”

• Name


Thesauri: Hierarchy and Crosslinks

The Hierarchical View of the Thesaurus(Top term, broader term, narrower term)

Unique IdentifierPosition in hierarchical view

10030110

77

66

55

44

33

2211

12201220

12101210

11201120

11101110

12001200

1100110010001000


Thesauri: Hierarchy and Crosslinks

The Hierarchical View of the Thesaurus(Top term, broader term, narrower term)

The Network Structure of the Thesaurus(Crosslinks independent of the hierarchical position)

Unique IdentifierPosition in hierarchical view

10030110

77

66

55

44

33

2211

77

66

88

44

33

2211

12201220

12101210

11201120

11101110

12001200

1100110010001000

12201220

12101210

11201120

11101110

12001200

1100110010001000


Thesauri: "Slice"-Model of a Multilingual Thesaurus

German Language "Slice"

IDs dec

IDs dec

IDs of pre-decessors

IDs of suc-cessors

position inhierarchy

main keywordn

synonyms, ho-monyms etc.

IDs dec

IDs dec

UniqueIDA1

UniqueIDA2

UniqueIDA3

UniqueIDAn

...

... ...

help texthelp text

help texthelp text


IDs of suc-cessors


main keywordn


10030111

IDs of suc-cessors

IDs of suc-cessors



main keywordn

main keywordn


synonyms, ho-monyms etc. help texthelp text

IDs of suc-cessors

IDs of suc-cessors



main keywordn

main keywordn



German



IDs dec

IDs dec

IDs dec

IDs dec


IDs dec

IDs dec


IDs of suc-cessors


main keywordn


IDs dec

IDs dec

ID´s of suc-cessors


main keywordn


UniqueIDA1

UniqueIDA2

UniqueIDA3

UniqueIDAn

...

... ...


help texthelp text

help texthelp text

French Language "Slice"French Language "Slice"

IDs of suc-cessors


main keywordn



help texthelp text


IDs of suc-cessors


main keywordn


10030111





main keywordn

main keywordn







main keywordn

main keywordn



French



IDs dec

IDs dec

IDs dec

IDs dec


IDs dec

IDs dec


IDs of suc-cessors


main keywordn


IDs dec

IDs dec



main keywordn


UniqueIDA1

UniqueIDA2

UniqueIDA3

UniqueIDAn

...



IDs of suc-cessors

IDs of suc-cessors



... ...


main keywordn

main keywordn



help texthelp text

help texthelp text

French Language "Slice"French Language "Slice"

IDs of suc-cessors


main keywordn



help texthelp text

English Language "Slice"English Language "Slice"

help texthelp text

help texthelp textIDs of pre-decessors

IDs of suc-cessors


main keywordn




IDs of suc-cessors

IDs of suc-cessors



main keywordn

main keywordn




IDs of suc-cessors


main keywordn


help texthelp text


IDs of suc-cessors


main keywordn


10030111

English


Automated Translation

of Text


Basics of Automated Translation

• Contents of databases

Contents of structured, field-oriented databases are easier to translate





Full-text needs special interpretation(especially if the full-text database is optimized and context

information is not available)







• Contents of text documents

Non-structured texts need specialized interpretation software including grammar, context and distance operators









Structured text documents are more easily to translate, eg. SGML documents









Structured text documents are more easily to translate, eg. SGML documents

Embedded objects of any kind cause problems for translation software


Linguistic Problems

• Homonyms

• Synonyms

• Context

• Linguistic ambiguousness

• Acronyms

• Declination

• Colloquial language and slang

• Specialized, industry-specific use


Software

Functionality and Design


Translating Structured Information

German

The language selector (Lx) in the application defines which resource is used for display and how the information in the datafield is represented.

Screen

Text Field

French

English

Spanish

Language Resources

Please select ...

ApplicationResource Data

Data-base

Thesauri

Trans-formationModules

Screen

LX

LX

LX

Selection Lists


Characteristics of a Language Interpreter

• Dictionaries provide information for direct translation of terms (Singular, plural, conjunctions, etc.)

• Statistic modules support the interpretation of the term within a text

• Linguistic modules support the interpretation of the grammatical context

• Comparative modules combine the different strategies of interpretation

• Presentation modules display the answer of a query in the chosen language as translated full-text

• Inverted file and cache modules optimize access


Full-text Database Interpreter

PresentationModules

LinguisticModules

StatisticModules

DictionaryModules

User Interface

Entry Query

Comparison

Inverted File

Database

Display

LanguageInterpreter


Interpretation of DocumentsUnstructured text

Text


Interpretation of Documents

LanguageProcessor

Unstructured text

Text



LanguageProcessor

Unstructured text

Result: Low QualityLow Quality

Text



LanguageProcessor

Unstructured text


Structured SGML text

Text SGML



LanguageProcessor

Unstructured text


LanguageProcessor


Specialized dictionaries

Additional resources

Multi-step analysis including structure information

Structure based content analysis

Text SGML

Predefined rules



LanguageProcessor

Unstructured text


LanguageProcessor


Result: High QualityHigh Quality

Specialized dictionaries

Additional resources

Multi-step analysis including structure information

Structure based content analysis

Text SGML

Predefined rules


Language Interpretation as MiddleWare

LanguageResources

Trans-

formation

Modules

Selection

Lists

Thesauri Language

Interpreter


Language Interpretation as MiddleWare

Database

User interface (Application)

Application

IRS Information Resources Management / Libraries / Repositories

LanguageResources

Trans-

formation

Modules

Selection

Lists

Thesauri Language

Interpreter

Operating

System

User interface

(Windows, Presentation Manager, X-Windows, etc.)


Language Interpretation Pre-Processor

User

Interface

User

Interface

Language Interpretation

Services

Language Interpretation

Services

TransformationTransformation

Selection ListSelection List

ThesaurusThesaurus

etc.etc.

DatabaseDatabase IRSIRS

Numeric Requests

AlphanumericRequests

Data,Documents

NumericKeys

Hitlists,Data,

Documents

Data, Documents

Images, Multimedia Documents

AccessData


1 Application1 Application

2 Interpreter2 Interpreter

3 Database3 Database

4 IRS4 IRS

Module Layers

ServerServer

22

3 3

44

11

ClientClientA

Services in a Client/Server Architecture


11

22

ClientClient




4 IRS4 IRS

Module Layers

ServerServer

3 3

4 4

B


ServerServer

22

3 3

44

11

ClientClientA


11

22

ClientClient




4 IRS4 IRS

Module Layers

ServerServer

22

3 3

44

11

ClientClientA

ServerServer

3 3

4 4

B

11

ClientClient

CServerServer

2 2

3 3

ServerServer

44



11

22

ClientClient




4 IRS4 IRS

Module Layers

ServerServer

22

3 3

44

11

ClientClientA

ServerServer

3 3

4 4

B

11

ClientClient

CServerServer

2 2

3 3

ServerServer

44

11

ClientClient

DServerServer

22ServerServer

44GatewayGateway

HostHost


33


A Matter of Design

Multilingual features are a matter of software design


A Matter of Design


• Separate resources for all text and display features


A Matter of Design



• Dynamic screen and windows adaptation


A Matter of Design




• Storing references instead of text and figures


A Matter of Design




• Storing references instead of text and figures

• Language interpreter as separate MiddleWare service


AdvantagesModular design with separate language resources has a lot of advantages



• Storing only references instead of text and figures




• Only one software version, localization can be easy and parallel




• Only one software version, localization can be easy and parallel

• Program maintance and helpdesk become easier


Application Example

wfBASE wf Schweizer Wirtschaftsförderung

Swiss Institute for Commercial DevelopmentZürich - Geneva - Bern - Lugano


Application Example: wfBASE

The wf owns one of the largest archives on commercial and political topics in Switzerland.

It provides information to politicians, journalists and its commercial members representing all major companies of Switzerland.


Application Example: wfBASE

• Optical filing system for press and commercial documents (scanned or created via word processor, spreadsheet, etc. )

• Distributed systems linked via SwissNet 2 (ISDN)

• Access for wf employees and third-party partners via multilingual graphic user interface (ISDN and telephone modem)

• Database with 4-lingual thesaurus for document access

• Access to information independent of the language in which it was entered

• Several million documents stored on M/O jukeboxes (2 x 50 gigabytes)

• Integrated office communication with text processing, spreadsheet, fax, library management, electronic mail, accounting, address database, etc.


wfBASE System Layout Jukebox

External UseHarddisk Cache

ZürichImages, Files & Descriptors

Read / Write / Create

Harddisk Cache

LuganoImages, Files & Descriptors

Read / Create

Harddisk Cache

GenevaImages, Files & Descriptors

Read / Create

Harddisk Cache

BernImages, Files & Descriptors

Read / Create

wf-User

wf-User

wf-User

wf-User

JukeboxInternal Use

DB Server

Zürich

Archive - Server

Zürich

Communication ServerZürich

External UserHarddisk Cache

Addresses

Library

Dossiers

ISDNTelephoneModem&

ISDN

SwissNet 2

ISDN

SwissNet 2

ISDN

SwissNet 2

Novell Netware


HYPARCHIV, the Software for wfBASE

Archiving and Document Management Software of German Origin

• Designed for Europe

• Microsoft Windows clients, various network and server operating systems

• Client / Server architecture, object-oriented design

• Triple access strategy: hierarchy with icons, relational database and hyperlinks

• Multilingual user interface, available in English, US-English (with an own version of icons for folders, cabinets, etc.), French, German, Dutch, Swedish, Greek, Spanish, etc.

• User interface, messages and help switchable during runtime

• Multilingual access via controlled vocabulary using selection lists


Conclusions


Conclusions• Multilingual Software is an international requirement

• Language interpreters will play an important role as service in Intranet and Internet environments

• Multilingual Software will reduce development, maintenance and support costs

• Multilingual Software will increase user acceptance

• Multilingual Software will create new markets


Thank You very much !

[EN] Multilingual Document Management Systems | AIIM Show 1997

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