Translators in Parliament recently attended a workshop on the use of the so-called Autshumato open-source translation software in Cape Town. The software was developed by the North-West University’s CTexT (Centre for Text Technology) as part of the Autshumato project, which is funded by the Department of Arts and Culture (DAC).
Autshumato is one of a number of human language technology (HLT) projects that the DAC initiated in 2007. HLT refers to technology that can process natural human language, for example through machine translation or spell
checking. The DAC adopted HLT to support its work in the domain of language development and to promote access to information and multilingualism.
The Autshumato range of translation tools helps translators when translating a document into another language. It includes glossaries and translation memories, and has server-based machine translation functionality from English
into isiZulu, Sepedi and Afrikaans. Development work to add other languages is under way.
“The high costs of computer-assisted translation and the growing need for translation services are some of the main factors that led to the development of the software. The software will also assist with the implementation of the Use
of Official Languages Act of 2012, which empowers citizens to receive government information in all official languages as per the provisions of the Act.
“The distinguishing characteristic of the Autshumato software is that it is customised for South African languages. For example, the diacritics of these languages have been integrated to make it easy to insert them in documents,” says the DAC’s HLT director, Ulrike Janke.
The workshop hosted at Parliament is the second of three workshops scheduled to introduce the Autshumato software to language practitioners in government departments.