International English for machine translation
PRESS RELEASE dated 2008-12-19
To sell to an international market using the Internet, the best solution is to translate a website into the languages that people speak in the target markets. However, human translation is expensive. Usually, companies do not use machine translation, because that can give bad results.
Companies can solve the problem by using 'international English'. International English is English that is specially written for international readers. An added benefit is that machine translation gives good results.
"For business purposes, one simple word can be used as an alternative to different words that have related meanings," says Mike Unwalla, principal of TechScribe. "For example, the word 'think' can be used as an alternative to 'believe', 'consider', 'deem', 'feel', 'reckon', 'regard', 'suppose', and 'suspect'. International English has a small number of basic words, plus product-related terms."
International English is more than using only simple words. For example, both of the following sentences are grammatically correct:
- Set up the computer.
- Set the computer up.
The second sentence is better, because keeping the parts of a verb together helps both machine translation and readers who do not know a particular verb.
"Machine translation will never work with Shakespeare. However, in business, machine translation can give 'good enough' results. TechScribe is pleased to announce a new service to write text in international English," says Mike.
For more information about international English, see TechScribe's international English website.
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