As Femti says the Characteristics of the translation task refers to the information flow intended for the output, from the point of view of the agent (human or otherwise) who receives the translation. We find the term of translation as the action of interpretation of the meaning of a text, and subsequent production of an equivalent text, also called a translation, that communicates the same message in another language.
1. Assimilation: The ultimate purpose of the assimilation task is to monitor a large volume of texts produced by people outside the organization, in usually several languages.
- Document routing or sorting: The purpose of document routing is to scan incoming translated documents quickly in order to send them to the appropriate points for further processing or storage.
- Information extraction or summarization: The purpose of information extraction or summarization is to extract some portions of the translated text, either manually or automatically, for subsequent processing or storage. Information extraction is typically concerned with filling templates by identifying atomic elements of events. In contrast, summarization aims to provide a self-contained and internally cohesive text which serves as a selective account of the original.
- Search: The goal of a search process is to identify a set of documents that together can satisfy an information need. Subtasks include refinement of the searcher’s understanding of their need, refinement of the expression of that need as a query, and recognition of relevant documents. Automated components of search systems typically accomplish only portions of the required task, leaving the searcher to assess factors (e.g., veracity and completeness) that would be difficult to detect by automated means. Searchers with limited proficiency in languages in which the document are written will require translation support to accomplish information need refinement, query reformulation, and relevant document recognition.
2. Dissemination: The ultimate purpose of dissemination is to deliver to others a translation of documents produced inside the organization.
- Internal or in-house dissemination: In the case of internal / in-house dissemination the translations are sent to other people in the same organization, who share aspects of the culture, terminology, and domain knowledge to some extent.The most important feature for this type of task is: speed – how fast is the system, can it keep up with the demand for input.
- Routine internal dissemination: The recipients of translation perform a relatively routine task that does not require much variability in the translation service.
- Experimental internal dissemination: The recipients of translation perform a rather variable task, and hence may request translations in new domains, genres, or extensions.
- External dissemination – publication: In the case of external dissemination / export / publication the translations are sent to other people in other organizations, who may not share aspects of the culture, terminology, and domain knowledge.
- Single client external dissemination: The recipients of the translation all have essentially the same needs; their translations do not require specific tailoring.
- Multi-client external dissemination: Since the recipients of the translation have different needs and capabilities, translation has to be tailored to them.
3.Communication: The ultimate purpose of the communication task is to support multi-turn dialogues between people who speak different languages. The translation quality must be high enough for painless conversation, despite possible syntactically ill-formed input and idiosyncratic word and format usage. The ultimate purpose of dissemination is to deliver to others a translation of documents produced inside the organization.
- Synchronous communication: In the case of synchronous or interactive communication, the interaction between the participants occurs in real time.
- Asynchronous communication: In the case of asynchronous or delayed communication the interaction between participants occurs with interruption, for example by email.
