Machine Translation is one of the oldest and most challenging problems in Natural Language Processing. In the last decade, remarkable progress has been achieved through a combination of data-influenced approaches, automatic metrics, and open comparative evaluations. Applications of MT technology, such as post-editing, are becoming increasingly viable. New researchers continue to join the field, in part due to open-source toolkits such as GIZA++ and MOSES, which have lowered the bar for mounting a competitive baseline system.
AMTA-2012 solicits original research papers that will advance the field. We seek submissions across the entire spectrum of MT-related research activity. In particular, we are interested in creative new applications of MT technology, and in new ideas that will allow MT to break free of BLEU incrementalism as it approaches maturity. Submissions must be unpublished, and in English.
Papers should not be longer than 10 pages and should be in pdf format. Style files (Latex and MS Word) are available here.
To allow for blind reviewing, please do not include author names and affiliations within the paper and avoid obvious self-references.
Papers must be submitted to the START system by 11:59 pm PDT (GMT - 7 hours), Monday, June 4, 2012.
The Commercial User track will focus on how MT can meet business needs and create viable consumer products and services. Examples of MT applied to business needs include such as just-in-time localization of critical information, delivery of multilingual technical support information, or creation of draft translations for post-editing. Examples of MT for products and services include automatic translation apps, MT integration with websites, and commercialization of the MT engines themselves. Submissions should focus on the use of MT in a business setting and how it is integrated with other processes and technologies to support business goals and serve customer needs.
Ideal presentations will clearly identify a business need and describe how MT meets those needs, with a candid assessment of its strengths and limitations for that particular usage, supported as possible by data. Submissions should be 250-500 word summaries and may be sent directly in e-mail or as attachments in RTF format.
Send submissions or questions by email to Mike Dillinger (mike@translationOptimization.com) or to Ray Flournoy ( flournoy@adobe.com ) by Monday, June 4.
AMTA Government User presenters and participants will focus on the strategic nature and use of Machine Translation in governmental organizations. Most governmental entities are providing a benefit to their customers, who require them to translate large volumes of information and to make it available across multiple languages and varied network architectures. The need for language translation technology within governmental organizations is diverse and sometimes compartmented. Governments are looking for advances in Machine Translation technology, which help them deliver information not only from the native languages of various countries but also into those other languages. In turn, the information delivered helps governments to understand social and political activities in context. In an age when significant volumes of data are available in many languages, it is necessary to look to automated alternatives, which assist the linguist and enable the human translation process.
For this year's AMTA conference, we are asking government participants to consider topics that address the employment of MT tools and applications that focus on translation and support the linguists/translators in their programs and processes. We are looking for representation from all government organizations that face language challenges, including: Department of Defense, Intelligence, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Human Resources, Commerce, Labor, Energy, Judiciary, Business, Trade, Transportation, and many others. Within the governmental organizations, we request the attendance of leaders or their representatives, who can address challenging topics, including but not limited to the following:
The sessions will be structured to provide open and constructive dialogue among attendees with diverse technical backgrounds and areas of expertise. The secondary objective of this approach is to establish longer-term connections among participants and foster new cooperative efforts.
Ideal proposals should include information on Strategic Views and Objectives pertaining to MT programs; Employment and creative uses of MT tools and significant challenges; as well as information on achievable gains through usage and/or metrics. Submissions should be 250-400 word summaries and may be sent directly in e-mail or as attachments in RTF format.
Those presenters wishing to have their submissions published in the AMTA Proceedings should produce their papers in accordance with the Research submission guidelines. Publication is not a requirement. Additionally, all government organizations are requested to obtain the broadest level of release of their presentation so that the final presentation versions (PowerPoint or comparable) can be shared with attendees. Those not wishing to have their presentations shared must indicate that with their submission package.
Send submissions and questions to Government User program chairs, Nicholas Bemish at Nicholas.Bemish@dia.mil and Chuck Simmons at Charles.Simmons@wpafb.af.mil by Monday, June 4.