[xliff-tools] The Fuzzy Flag

[Rodolfo M. Raya]

On Wed, 2005-02-16 at 17:49 +0100, Bruno Haible wrote:

Hi,

> If your tools contains a logic saying
> 
>     If an <alt-trans> is a 100% match and there is no <target> in the
>     containing <trans-unit>, promote the <alt-trans>'s <target> to
>     the containing <trans-unit>.
> 
> then it will not work reliably. 

The logic in our XLIFF editor is exactly what you describe, but there is
no reliability problem. 

> The <alt-trans> can come from different
> sources: translation memory pertaining to the same project and
translator,
> translation memory coming from different project or different
translators,
> automatic translation attempts, dictionary lookups. 

There is a catch here: translators are in control of the translation
memory and glossaries used. They decide what TM database to use and what
TBX glossaries they want to consult.

Further, translation is copied from the <alt-trans> to the <trans-unit>
but it is not approved. The translator decides if the choice is right or
not.


> There needs to be an
> indicator for the level of trust that an <alt-trans> can have, so that
> the rule mentioned above is only executed when the origin of the
> <alt-trans> is trusted. An <alt-trans> attribute like 'origin' should
do
> it.

We do certainly use the "origin" attribute, but its value is not an
obstacle for copying a 100% match to the target.

Translators can tell if a match was an internal repetition (same
sentence repeated somewhere else in the file), extracted from TM (light
blue background) or originated in Machine Translation (yellow
background). The GUI provides feedback as needed. 


> The po2xliff converter should then set this 'origin' value to an
untrusted
> one that prevents automatic insertion of <target>.

That would not change the default behavior of the XLIFF editors. 

The "origin" attribute is usually set by the TM system, not by the
converter.

> For the non-automatic case, where an explicit translator action is
needed,
> we have the choice between putting the fuzzy translation into the
<target>
> and label it with a certain state, or putting it into an <alt-trans>.

You can also put the text in the <target> and set the "approved"
attribute to "no".

> Putting it into the <target> is not so good, because
>   - the "state" is something related to the workflow between
translators,
>     QA, etc.

The value of the "state" attribute is meaningful for the XLIFF editor,
not for the converter. The converter can't control the values set by the
translator at translation time.

>   - the translator is more tempted to say "OK" to a wrong fuzzy
translation
>     when it is presented as <target> than when it is presented as
>     <alt-trans><target>.

Temptations will exist.

What would happen if the <alt-trans> is marked as a 100% match? wouldn't
the translator be tempted to accept it too?

Regards
Rodolfo
-- 
Rodolfo M. Raya <rodolfo at heartsome.net>
Heartsome Holdings Pte. Ltd.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/xliff-tools/attachments/20050216/924ec53a/attachment.html