A Cross-Lingual Grammar Model and its Application to Japanese-Spanish Machine Translation
Manuel Medina González and Hirosato Nomura
Kyushu Institute of Technology
Outline Introduction Spanish Features and
Considerations when translating. Parts of speech Voices
System Summary Conclusions
Introduction Current Machine
Translation Systems output incorrect sentences when translating from Japanese to Spanish.
http://www.worldlingo.com/en/products_services/worldlingo_translator.html
Introduction The reason is
because English is used as intermediate language, thus, leading to loss of grammatical information due to the differences between the languages.
http://www.worldlingo.com/en/products_services/worldlingo_translator.html
Introduction The idea is simple: To translate
directly from Japanese to Spanish.
子供は公園で遊ぶ El niño juega en el parque
In order to accomplish this, the way the analysis is performed must be adapted to support Spanish features
Introduction
We base our model on ALT J/E Machine Translation System Model, with some modifications.
Source Language
Target Language
• Noun features• Determiner• Subjunctive Mood
Transfer Method
Intermediate Language( PIVOT)
Direct MethodCorpus-based Translation
Analysis Generation
Conversion
Model
Model
Determining the missing information by predicting the result as we analyze the sentence.
Outline Introduction Spanish Features and
Considerations when translating. Parts of speech Voices
System Summary Conclusions
Spanish Features: Nouns Gender
Table: Feminine.Book: Masculine.
NumberTable: SingularTables: Plural
Noun’s features decidealmost all the possible changes a Spanish sentence can suffer.
Spanish Features: Nouns
あのテーブルは汚い。拭いておきましょう。
女性あの → 女性形汚い → 女性形Zero代名詞 → 女性形
Semantic Categorization ALT J/E Semantic Categorization (2710
different, non-exclusive categories).
Spanish Features: Adjectives As in English, only one category
exists. 2 verbs mainly used: “Ser” and
“Estar”. Both are equivalent to English “To be” verb.
The meaning is different depending on the verb used.
私は幸せだ
Yo soy feliz
Yo estoy feliz
Spanish Features: Adjectives Creation of categories
Temporary state: Sad Permanent feature: Boring, interesting Weather
Weather category is necessary because other 2 verbs are used: “Tener” and “Hacer”.Tengo
calor
Hace calor暑い
What you feel
The weather
Spanish Features: Adverbs Thinking of them as they
are in Spanish, we create categories as in this language:
Place Time Mode Quantity Order Affirmation Denial Doubt Addition Exclusion
Spanish Features: Verbs Tenses
Japanese: 3 (Present, past, future) Spanish: 16
Conjugations Different conjugation for each person
in each tense. A conjugator system can be made for
regular verbs, but there are too many rules to consider.
直説法・現在juegojuegasjuegajugamosjueganjuegan
直説法・完了過去juguéjugastejugójugamosjugaronjugaron
直説法・不完了過去jugabajugabasjugabajugábamosjugabanjugaban
直説法・未来jugaréjugarásjugarájugaremosjugaránjugarán
直説法・可能形jugaríajugaríasjugaríajugaríamosjugaríanjugarían
命令法juegajueguen
接続法・現在jueguejueguesjueguejuguemosjueguenjueguen
接続法・不完了過去jugarajugarasjugarajugáramosjugaranjugaran
現在分詞jugando
過去分詞jugado
直説法・現在完了he jugadohas jugadoha jugadohemos jugadohan jugadohan jugado
直説法・直前過去hube jugadohubiste jugadohubo jugadohubimos jugadohubieron jugadohubieron jugado
直説法・未来完了habré jugadohabrás jugadohabrá jugadohabremos jugadohabrán jugadohabrán jugado
直説法・大過去había jugadohabías jugadohabía jugadohabíamos jugadohabían jugadohabían jugado
直説法・過去未来形habría jugadohabrías jugadohabría jugadohabríamos jugadohabrían jugadohabrían jugado
接続法・完了過去haya jugadohayas jugadohaya jugadohayamos jugadohayan jugadohayan jugado
接続法・大過去hubiera jugadohubieras jugadohubiera jugadohubiéramos jugadohubieran jugadohubieran jugado
接続法・未来形hubiere jugadohubieres jugadohubiere jugadohubiéremos jugadohubieren jugadohubieren jugado
日本語:遊ぶ(五段活用)遊ばない、遊びます、遊ぶとき、遊べ
る、遊ぼう。スペイン語: Jugar
種類:語幹が変わる規則動詞。 原形: Jugar
Reflexive Verbs A verb is reflexive if the action
returns to its performer. There are verbs in Japanese that
can be reflexive and non-reflexive at the same time.
私は車を洗う 私は顔を洗う 顔
Non-Reflexive
Reflexive
Reflexive Verbs Creation of “Has-a” relationships to
determine whether if a verb must be treated as reflexive.
人間
目
顔
鼻
Translation Rules Based on ALT J/E Translation Rules.
Verb Particles used in special cases Categories of the expected nouns
accompaining the particles Translation of the verb in each case. Indication if the verb must be treated
as reflexive.
「乗る」<動物>に乗る = Montar en <動物>
<交通機関 | 乗り物>に乗る = Subir( R ) a <交通機関 | 乗り物>
...
Outline Introduction Spanish Features and
Considerations when translating. Parts of speech Voices
System Summary Conclusions
Voices Passive: れる、られる
Normal passive Indirect object reference Passive Reflexive
Causative: せる、させる Coercive Permissive
Voices: ModelJapanese Sentence
Identify Voice
Predict Result
Add or change elements
Analyze elements
…
Not explained deeply here due
to the time limitation
Passive,Causative
Voice,Structure
PronounsMood...
Outline Introduction Spanish Features and
Considerations when translating. Parts of speech Voices
System Summary Conclusions
System Named “JEMS”: Japanese Español
Machine translation System.
JUMAN KNP JEMS Core
Dictionary
Translation Rules
Semantic Categories
= Translated Sentence
JEMS
Tests and Results JEMS compared against Worldlingo. Sentences taken from books like
“Momotaro”, “Megane usagi”, “3 nen netaro” etc.
Human-Translating the sentences, then inputting them into the systems and checking the output.
Tests and ResultsEvaluation JEMS WL
Correct 58% 24%Structure Errors
(acceptable)18% 26%
Conj. Errors(acceptable)
12% 11%Incorrect
(non-acceptable)6% 25%
Other Errors 6% 0%
Tests and Results
いよいよ春がやってきた
Resorte usted cada vez más
Finalmente la primavera llegó.Finalmente la primavera ha llegado.
春 → SpringSpring =
1. Primavera2. Resorte
Analysis is not complete
Input Possible Expected Outputs
Obtained Output
Errors:• Lack of verb• Incorrect subject• Incorrect structure
Outline Introduction Spanish Features and
Considerations when translating. Parts of speech Voices
System Summary Conclusions
Summary Indirect Translation from Japanese to
Spanish is not enough. Model based on thinking of the translated
sentence since the analysis starts. Presented just a small part of the analysis
necessary to translate into Spanish Developed a prototype system “JEMS” to
test the model. Compared against an existent translation system.
Outline Introduction Spanish Features and
Considerations when translating. Parts of speech Voices
System Summary Conclusions
Conclusions Japanese-Spanish Machine Translation is
just beginning. There are still many issues to be solved.
Need to make the model bigger in order to analyze longer sentences.
Once this model is finished, it can become the basis for other research about Machine Translation between Japanese and Romance Languages.
Conclusions
私は太郎です
Me llamo TaroMe chiamo Taro
Je m'appelle Taro
Me chamo Taro
Spanish
Italian
Portuguese
French
Voices: Passive Normal Passive
Very much like English Passive voice:
Subject + Verb + Object
Subject + “Ser” Verb + Verb’s Past Participle + “por” preposition + Agent
子供はボールを蹴った
ボールは子供に蹴られた
Voices : Passiveボールは子供に蹴られた
1. Identify the agent ( 子供に ).
2. Identify the subject and its features. ( ボールは→女性 ) .
3. Use translation rules to get the appropiate verb translation.
4. Change the past participle according to subject features.
Past participle must match these features
Translated Sentence
Voices: Passive Indirect object reference
私は財布を盗まれた
The subject of the Spanish sentence is neither “I” nor “Wallet”. “I” is the indirect object in the Spanish translated sentence.
私は財布を盗まれた (ZERO) は私に財布を盗んだ。
Weird Japanese
Indirect Object
Voices: Passive私は財布を盗まれた
1. No agent in the sentence. Rewrite it to “Weird Japanese” form (ZERO) は ...
2. Get correct verb translation from translation rules.
3. Use conjugation for “they”
Translated Sentence
Past participle is not used
Voices: Passive Passive Reflexive.
Identified only in some patterns: ~では・には・・・される Sentences that translated into
Spanish don’t have subject, the agent is present in the sentence and the verb is 「考える」、「思う」、「言う」
日本では日本語が話される
Voices: Passive日本では日本語が話される
1. Use Reflexive Pronoun “se”.
2. Use “Singular 3rd. Person” conjugation
Translated Sentence
Voices: Causative 2 cases: Coercitive Sentences and
Permissive Sentences. Sentences are translated
differently depending on if the verb is intransitive or not.
Possible use of subjunctive mood in the translated sentence.