One on One with Dimitris Sabatakakis of SYSTRAN Software

Dimitris Sabatakakis is president and CEO of SYSTRAN Software, a translation software company. We asked him about the challenges a company like his faces when using machine translation across a variety of audiences. 

FCM: You have to design software for a cross-section of users from home, to small business, to enterprise. How do the translation needs of each of these translation audiences differ?

DS: Home users generally need a quick understanding of material--from web pages, emails or online discussion threads. On the other hand, the expectation for quality is much higher for small businesses, enterprise organizations and government agencies. These organizations need materials translated in "publishable quality." This content includes items such as knowledge bases, support information, technical documentation, corporate presentations, sales documents and product sheets. Customization and post-editing are an important part of the process for enterprise users. Although the translation needs are different in size and scope from homes to enterprises, SYSTRAN’s varying products include the option to build custom dictionaries so users are able to add their terminology into the translation process and provide consistent quality translations.

FCM: Globalization is becoming common even for small companies. What are the implications for a business which fails to take translation seriously?

DS: Multilingual communications is essential to remain competitive in today’s marketplace, and this includes everyone from independent consultants to small businesses to enterprise organizations. Communicating with customers, partners and employees in a global market requires the ability to translate messages and documents quickly. Consistency is a necessity--from conveying product information to successfully communicating with employees and customers.

From a competitive standpoint, businesses, no matter the size, need to be able to aggregate, understand and store information about their business, their competitors and their industry. Because the amount of data in the world doubles each year, the ability to research, decipher and translate information consistently is a critical to the success of any organization. Companies that fail to see the value and the distinct business need for effective language translation risk losing a significant portion of their competitive edge and market share.

FCM: Translation is really more than words. It's also about culture. How does your software take these more subtle differences into account?

DS: When working in a global business environment knowledge of cultural differences in languages is a key component to success. In order to effectively address this issue, businesses must be educated in the distinct differences that exist in the same languages. For example, British English is different from American English and Spanish spoken in Mexico is different from Spanish spoken in Spain. SYSTRAN’s hybrid MT approach has the ability to acquire knowledge and adapt on-the-fly to meet the ever changing business environment. This is particularly relevant when it comes to regional and even corporate cultures. As new words, phrases and meanings are introduced into one or more user-defined dictionaries, the software automatically updates itself. As the software gets "smarter" the company is better able to keep pace with customers and market conditions. 

FCM: How does your software work with web content management systems to deliver the right type of content, with the right translation, at the right time?

DS: Enterprise content management is a strategic corporate asset and must be managed carefully and appropriately. With so many businesses under pressure to expand into new markets while keeping existing customers satisfied, businesses must effectively manage their customer experiences, increase customer satisfaction and promote consistent brand awareness across multiple languages and ensure all parties are receiving the same message. SYSTRAN Enterprise Server 7 easily integrates with Enterprise Content Management Systems and allows companies to create, manage and maintain consistent corporate terminology across the organization in multiple languages. It can quickly extend business into new markets and guarantees effective multilingual communications inside and outside an organization.

FCM: Cell phones are the most likely thing to show up in a "green field" economy? What differences do you have to take into account when translating for less sophisticated global audiences on mobile devices?

DS: The main difference to consider for cell phones is that many users tend to use free-form text that may include incomplete or poorly constructed sentences with typos. These errors make it harder for machine translation software to automatically disambiguate and produce meaningful translations. This issue is key since the quality of the source content (original text to be translated) is directly tied to the quality of the target or translated text. However, sophisticated users who are informed and educated about machine translation could use sophisticated systems that allow them to independently customize and train data for specific business objectives. Less sophisticated users need a hybrid MT system that would automatically detect the domain the user is translating, such as fashion, and that pre-trained/customized domain would automatically be applied to the translation.

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