updated phrasebook doc

1 files changed, 196 insertions, 34 deletions

diff --git a/examples/phrasebook/phrasebook.txt b/examples/phrasebook/phrasebook.txt
index 7226ae1b1..d7bfa162d 100644
--- a/examples/phrasebook/phrasebook.txt
+++ b/examples/phrasebook/phrasebook.txt
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ Krasimir Angelov, Olga Caprotti, Ramona Enache, Thomas Hallgren, Inari Listenmaa
 Showcase for project FP7-ICT-247914, Deliverable D10.2.
 
 
+%!Encoding:utf-8
+
 %!postproc(html): #HR <HR>
 %!postproc(html): #BSMALL <font size=-1>
 %!postproc(html): #ESMALL </font>
@@ -14,6 +16,8 @@ Showcase for project FP7-ICT-247914, Deliverable D10.2.
 #BSMALL
 
 History
+- 2 June. Version 1.0 released!
+- 29 May. Link to Google translate with the current language pair and phrase.
 - 27 May. Polish added.
 - 26 May. Version 0.9:
   Catalan added, mass/count noun distinction to reduce overgeneration, 
@@ -46,24 +50,24 @@ History
 =Purpose=
 
 This phrasebook is a program for translating touristic phrases 
-between the 15 European languages included in the 
+between 14 European languages included in the 
 [MOLTO http://www.molto-project.eu] project
 (Multilingual On-Line Translation):
 - Bulgarian, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, English,
   Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian,
-  Polish, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish
+  Polish, Romanian, Spanish, Swedish
 
 
 It is implemented by using the GF programming language 
 ([Grammatical Framework http://grammaticalframework.org]).
-It is the first demo for the MOLTO project, released in the third month (by June 2010)
-but to be updated in the course of the project.
+It is the first demo for the MOLTO project, released in the third month (by June 2010).
+The first version is a very small system, but it will extended in the course of the project.
 
-The phrasebook has the following requirements:
+The phrasebook has the following requirement specification:
 - high quality: reliable translations to express yourself in any language
 - translation between all pairs of languages
 - runnable in web browsers
-- runnable on mobile phones (also off-line: forthcoming for Android phones)
+- runnable on mobile phones (forthcoming: Android phones)
 - easily extensible by new words (forthcoming: semi-automatic extensions by users)
 
 
@@ -72,30 +76,57 @@ The source code resides in
 [``code.haskell.org/gf/examples/phrasebook/`` http://code.haskell.org/gf/examples/phrasebook/]
 
 
-Current status (27 May 2010):
-- small but useful coverage in abstract syntax
-- reasonable implementations for all MOLTO languages except Russian
-- works on web browsers calling a server
-- web service not yet released, but preliminarily available in
-  http://www.grammaticalframework.org/demos/phrasebook/
 
+=Points illustrated=
+
+Interlingua-based translation
+- we translate meanings, rather than words
 
 
-=Points illustrated=
+Incremental parsing
+- the user is at every point guided by the list of possible next words
+
+
+The use of resource grammars and functors
+- the translator was implemented on top of an earlier linguistic knowledge base,
+  the [GF Resource Grammar Library http://grammaticalframework.com/lib]
+
+
+Example-based grammar writing and grammar induction from statistical models 
+([Google translate http://translate.google.com])
+- many of the grammars were created semi-automatically by generalization from
+  examples
+
+
+Compile-time transfer: especially, in Action in Words
+- the structural differences between languages are treated at compile time,
+  for maximal run-time efficiency
+
+
+Quasi-incremental translation: many basic types are also used as phrases
+- one can translate both words and complete sentences, and get intermediate results
+
+
+Disambiguation, esp. of politeness distinctions
+- if a phrase has many translations, each of them is shown and given an explanation
+  (currently just in English, later in any source language)
+
 
-Interlingua-based translation.
+Fall-back to statistical translation
+- currently just a link to Google translate (forthcoming: tailor-made statistical models)
 
-Incremental parsing.
 
-The use of resource grammars and functors.
+Feed-back from users
+- you are welcome to send comments, bug reports, and better translation suggestions!
 
-Example-based grammar writing and grammar induction from statistical models (Google).
 
-Compile-time transfer: especially, in Action in Words.
+The level of skills involved in grammar development
+- testing different configurations (see table below)
 
-Quasi-incremental translation: many basic types are also used as phrases.
 
-Disambiguation, esp. of politeness distinctions.
+Grammar testing
+- use of treebanks with guided random generation for initial evaluation and regression testing
+
 
 
 
@@ -146,25 +177,15 @@ Here is the module structure as produced in GF by
 
 =To Do=
 
-Improved translation interface
-- a nicer way to show disambiguation (maybe hidden by default)
-
-
-Complete the missing words and phrases
-
 Disambiguation grammars for other languages than English
 
 Extend the abstract lexicon in ``Words`` by hand or (semi)automatically for
 - food stuff
-- languages
 - places
+- actions
 
 
-Link to Google translate, for fall-back and for comparison
-
-Feedback facility in the UI
-
-Customizable distribution: make your own selection of the 2^15 language subsets
+Customizable phone distribution: make your own selection of the 2^15 language subsets
 when downloading the phrasebook to a phone
 
 
@@ -214,10 +235,151 @@ Here are the steps to follow for contributors:
 - Don't compromise quality to gain coverage: //non multa sed multum!// 
 
 
-==Acknowledgements==
+
+=Effort and cost=
+
+|| Language | Grammarian's language skills  | Grammarian's GF skills | Informant used for development | Informant used for testing | Use of external tools | Impact of external tools | Changes on the resource grammar | Development time || 
+| Bulgarian |   ###    |    ###  |    -  |  -  |   -   |   ?   |  #   |   ##  |
+| Catalan   |   ###    |    ###  |    -  |  -  |   -   |   ?   |  #   |   #   |
+| Danish    |   -      |    ###  |    +  |  +  |   +   |   ##  |  ##  |   ##  |
+| Dutch     |   -      |    ###  |    +  |  +  |   +   |   ##  |  #   |   ##  |
+| English   |   ##     |    ###  |    -  |  +  |   -   |   -   |  _   |   #   |
+| Finnish   |   ###    |    ###  |    -  |  -  |   -   |   ?   |  #   |   ##  |
+| French    |   ##     |    ###  |    -  |  +  |   -   |   ?   |  #   |   #   |
+| German    |   #      |    ###  |    +  |  +  |   +   |   ##  |  ##  |   ###  |
+| Italian   |   ###    |    #    |    -  |  -  |   -   |   ?   |  ##  |   ##  |
+| Norwegian |   #      |    ###  |    +  |  -  |   +   |   ##  |  #   |   ##  |
+| Polish    |   ###    |    ###  |    +  |  +  |   +   |   #   |  #   |   ##  |
+| Romanian  |   ###    |    ###  |    -  |  -  |   +   |   #   |  ###  |   ###  |
+| Spanish   |   ##     |    #    |    -  |  -  |   -   |   ?   |  _   |   ##   |
+| Swedish   |   ##     |    ###  |    -  |  +  |   -   |   ?   |  -   |   ##  |
+
+
+Explanation on scores
+
+- Grammarian's language skills  
+   - -   : no skills
+   - #   : passive knowledge
+   - ##  : fluent non-native
+   - ### : native speaker
+
+
+- Grammarian's GF skills  
+   - -   : no skills
+   - #   : basic skills (2-day GF tutorial)
+   - ##  : medium skills (previous experience of similar task)
+   - ### : advanced skills (resource grammar writer/substantial contributor)
+
+
+- Informant used for development/Informant needed for testing/Use of external tools 
+   - - : no
+   - + : yes
+
+
+- Impact of external tools 
+   - ? : not investigated
+   - - : no effect on the Phrasebook
+   - # : small impact (literal translation, simple idioms)
+   - ## : medium effect (translation of more forms of words, contextual preposition)
+   - ### : great effect (no extra work needed, translations are correct)
+
+
+- Changes on the resource grammars
+   - - : no changes
+   - # : 1-3 minor changes
+   - ## : 4-10 minor changes, 1-3 medium changes
+   - ### : >10 changes of any kind  
+
+
+- Overall effort (including extra work on resource grammars)
+   - # : less than 8 person hours
+   - ## : 8-24 person hours
+   - ### : >24 person hours
+ 
+
+=Example-based grammar writing prototype=
+
+The figure presents the process of creating a Phrasebook using an example-based 
+approach for the language X, where X = {Danish, Dutch, German, Norwegian}.
+
+[picpic.jpg]
+
+- the first step assumes an analysis of the resource grammar and extracts the necessary 
+  information that functions that build new lexical entries would need. 
+  A model is built so that the proper forms of the word can be rendered, 
+  and additional information, such as gender, can be inferred. The script applies 
+  these rules to each entry that we want to translate into the target language, and 
+  one obtains a set of constructions.
+- they are furthermore given to an external translator tool (Google translate) 
+  or a native speaker for translation. One needs the configuration file even if the 
+  translator is human, because formal knowledge of grammar is not assumed.
+- the translations into the target language are further more processed in order to 
+  build the linearizations of the categories first, decoding the information received. 
+  Furthermore, having the words in the lexicon, one can parse the translations of 
+  functions with the GF parser and generalize from that.
+- the resulting grammar is tested with the aid of a script that generates 
+  constructions covering all the functions and categories from the grammar, along 
+  with some other constructions that proved to be problematic in some language. 
+  The result of the script contains for each construction in the target language 
+  its English correspondent and the abstract syntax tree. A native speaker 
+  evaluates the results and if corrections are needed, the algorithm runs again 
+  with the new examples. Depending on the language skills of the grammar writer, 
+  the changes can be made directly into the GF files, and the correct examples 
+  given by the native informant are just kept for validating the results. 
+  The algorithm is repeated as long as corrections are needed.
+
+
+The time needed for preparing the configuration files for a grammar will not be needed 
+in the future, since the files are reusable for other applications.
+The time for the second step can be saved if automatic tools, like Google translate 
+are used. This is only possible in languages with a simpler morphology and syntax 
+and large corpora available.
+Good results were obtained for German and Dutch with Google translate, but for 
+languages like Romanian or Polish, which are both complex and lack enough resources, 
+the results are discouraging. 
+
+If the statistical oracle works well, the only step where the presence of a human 
+translator is needed is the evaluation and feedback step. An average of 4 hours per 
+round and 2 rounds were needed in average for the languages for which we performed 
+the experiment. It is possible that more effort is needed for more complex languages.
+
+
+=Conclusions (tentative)=
+
+The grammarian need not be a native speaker of the language.
+
+For many languages, the grammarian need not even know the language - native informants are
+enough.
+
+However, evaluation by native speakers is necessary.
+
+Correct and idiomatic translations are possible.
+
+A typical development time was 2-3 person working days per language.
+
+Google translate helps in bootstrapping grammars, but must be checked.
+- in particular, unreliable for morphologically rich languages
+
+
+Resource grammars should give some more support
+- higher-level access to constructions like negative expressions
+- large-scale morphological lexica
+
+
+
+
+
+
+=Acknowledgements=
 
 The Phrasebook has been built in the MOLTO project funded by the European Commission.
 
 The authors are grateful to their native speaker informants helping to bootstrap and evaluate
-the grammars: Richard Bubel, Grégoire Détrez, Michal Palka, Willard Rafnsson,...
+the grammars: 
+Richard Bubel, 
+Grégoire Détrez, 
+Karin Keijzer, 
+Michał Pałka,
+Willard Rafnsson,
+Nick Smallbone.