Translation in the army : a new interest in machine translation

novembre 24, 2019

Translation in the army : a new interest in machine translation

Aug 7, 2015 - Spc. Tara Morrison (left) and Pfc. Brian Hollenbeck, both with Headquarters Support Company, U.S. Army Africa, test the SQ.410 Translation System in Vicenza, Italy.

In recent years, machine translation has aroused major interest within the army. In France, this interest is all the more important as military intelligence has just embarked on a new strategy of using "Big Data", i. e. information available on the Web and social networks, and analysing it, also taking into account information collected by drone, satellite or wire tapping. For this reason, in 2019, military intelligence started using Systran, a machine translation software.

How has machine translation been used so far?

The Voxter Phraselator P2

Machine translation was first used in the US military in 2001 with the Phraselator, a small device that could play pre-recorded tracks in a foreign language. All you had to do was select a sentence from a list on the screen or speak into the device. Then, thanks to speech recognition technology, the device would play the most adapted sound file. The software developper estimated its accuracy to be over 70%. This device was then developed and improved.

In 2017, the US army developped a much better device, the Machine Foreign Language Translation System (MFLTS). It offers two possibilities: it can either provide real-time translation or text-to-text translation to allow soldiers to learn more about their environment. This device was created for the army and was thus thought to answer military requirements, for example by taking into account the specificities of military language.

Can machine translation be trusted, especially when so much is at stake?

Machine translation is a technology that has yet to be developed and its use is still limited. Furthermore, it has many flaws. Indeed, when the Phraselator was created, its developer admited the device could not replace a real interpretor. According to tests conducted in Nepal, using a machine was actually a hindrance to communication, as it essentially dehumanised exchanges between people.

According to the French General Ferlet, there is still a strong demand for linguists and translators, especially since machine translation is very far from perfect. He considers that it is already difficult to rely on this technology to translate into English and that it is unlikely the army will be able to use it to translate into more complex languages with many dialects.

How does the military industry contribute to the development of machine translation?

Of course, the army has a major role in developing machine translation, but the whole military industry is also beginning to take part in improving this technology. Thales and its personnal machine translation service is a case in point. The company specialises in developing technologies for sectors such as aeronautics, defense and security.

In September 2002, Thales uploaded its own machine translation tool onto the company’s intranet. In November, it was already used by over 1000 people each day. The company chose to develop its own tool after testing software already on the market, which was far from satisfying. So Thales decided to create a tool focusing on very precise fields of expertise, allowing it to be more accurate. This was a major evolution in the development of machine tranlsation, proving that quality will always be preferred when it comes to sensitive matters.

Machine translation is an interesting technology for the military industry and is thus more and more developed. The main challenge is to improve its accuracy. Human translators have a major role to play in the evolution of this tool and their expertise will always be necessary.

Tess Linnell

Bibliography

www.opex360.com/2018/03/31/direction-renseignement-militaire-peine-a-recruter-sein-armees/

www.lesechos.fr/amp/963611

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phraselator

www.army.mil/article/188830/army_language_translation_system_assists_soldiers_readiness

www.01net.com/actualites/thales-teste-avec-succes-la-traduction-automatique-173504.html/amp/