Winners of LRC Best Localisation Scholar Award

The following is a list of the winners of the Best Scholar Award, which has been run annually by the Localisation Research Centre (LRC) since 2003. The 2003 and 2004 editions of the award were sponsored by IBM, with the LRC sponsoring the 2005 edition and new sponsor con[text] coming onboard with from 2006 onwards. 

This award is given to a postgraduate student entering into research on a localisation related topic in a European third-level institution. The award is based on both the student's outstanding undergraduate track record and the quality and relevance of their research proposal. 

For more information on possible research topics and how to apply, click here. 

2008

The researcher and winner of the 2008 LRC Best Scholar Award, sponsored by con[text] is Ana Guerberof Arenas for her proposal Productivity and quality in the post-editing of outputs from translation memories and machine translation. Her research will be supervised by Dr Anthony Pym of Universitat Rovira I Virgili in Tarragona, Spain.

Excerpt from proposal
In the localisation industry, machine-translated segments are gradually being included in the translation-memory (TM) system workflow as another type of fuzzy match. The results from our pilot experiment with a group of eight professional translators indicate that machine translated segments give higher productivity and have fewer final errors than 80-90 percent fuzzy matches from TM segments. The results further reveal that although the technical experience of translators has an incidence on processing speed, it does not affect the number of final errors in the samples. However, TM fuzzy matches have a considerable impact on the number of errors, especially in terms of accuracy. The results show pronounced dispersion which seems to indicate a high degree of subject dependency.

This research project will attempt to explore in further detail the findings from the initial pilot project to confirm if these trends can be validated with a greater number of subjects, larger sample data, more refined questionnaire and retrospective interviews to add further qualitative data on this subject dependency. Similarly, the research will check the correlation existing between new, machine-translated and translation-memory segments from different levels of fuzzy matches to analyze productivity and quality, and therefore pricing, as well as the impact of translators’ experience on these two variables.

2007

LRC XII - The Localisation Research Forum was the venue for the announcement of the 5th Annual LRC Best Scholar Award, Sponsored by con[text]. 

The researcher and winner of the 2007 LRC Best Scholar Award is Asgeir Frimannsson for his proposal Cross-domain Translation Reuse in Community-driven Localisation of Software and E-Content. His research will be supervised by Prof James Hogan of the School of Software Engineering and Data Communications Queensland University of Technology, Australia.

Excerpt from proposal
In the localisation of software and e-content, the reuse of translated content is only effective if the proposed segment matches are of a high quality and of a similar contextual domain to the content being translated. If this is not the case, the time spent evaluating TM matches is often not worth the effort, as the matches are often inappropriate translations of the content. These constraints have up until now limited the cross-domain reuse of translation memories. In addition, legal concerns – in particular the protection of intellectual property – have limited the possibilities of sharing translation memories amongst commercial localisation vendors and translators. In community-driven translation, however, the concerns over intellectual property are not dominant, as the idea of sharing for mutual benefit is very much the nature of these open source initiatives. 

In this research we aim to develop a method for successful cross-domain sharing of translation memories across community-driven localisation initiatives. The research questions primarily concern automated approaches to context aware matching and resource quality management. We will investigate a number of existing automated approaches to categorizing content, with a special emphasis on semantic topic modelling approaches such as Latent Dirichlet Allocation and Latent Semantic Analysis, and evaluate these methods against more traditional IR and discriminative approaches. In the study of quality management of community-driven localisation resources, we will investigate approaches used in other domains such as file sharing, and also investigate how Cross Language Information Retrieval approaches can be of use to the problem of filtering out low quality translations in translation matching of resources from across community-driven localisation initiatives

2006

The Translation of Video Games
(by Miguel Bernal)

The 11th Annual LRC Internationalisation and Localisation conference was the venue for the announcement of the 4th Annual LRC Best Scholar Award. 

The winner of the 2006 LRC Best Scholar Award is Miguel Bernal of the University of Roehampton in the UK. The title of the research project is "The Translation of Video Games". The project supervisor is Dr.Jorge Díaz-Cintas.

Excerpt from proposal:
The translation of video games is a field of research that has seen very little activity in the discipline of Translation or even in Localisation Studies. There is a book by Maxwell (2004) where she looks into the translation process from a producer point of view, showing great insight into the industry. There are also a few electronically published articles on video game translation as a product, for example “Bringing Fantasy to Reality” by Carmen Mangiron (2005) published in lisa.org. Most of these articles foreground the lack of research and training in the translation of entertainment software, such as those by O’Hagan and Mangiron (2006), and Bernal-Merino (2006), found in www.jostrans.org 

Video games are very technically complex computer applications. The amount of localisable assets (not only linguistic but also cultural) and the variety of their formats,makes their management and synchronised translation very difficult. The degree of customisation has to agree with another key concept, ‘gameplay’. The ‘gameplay’ is determined by the interaction among all the elements of a game, i.e. script, music,
graphics, learning curve, environment response to player’s actions, player’s control, etc. ‘Gameplay’ is, ultimately, what distinguishes games from other comparable audiovisual form of entertainment (Iuppa, 2001:37). Entertainment software takes the interactivity factor and brings it to the foreground. Other types of entertainment products count with the reader or spectator to be a more or less passive receiver of information, video games require the player to act. Indeed, if the player does not do anything there will be no adventure, no story, no entertainment at all. The story evolves as the player starts choosing his/her way within the virtual world, and every single time the player’s
experience will be slightly different, their interaction with the virtual world will be different. Our translation has to enrich that experience, sometimes even regardless of what the original developers in the country of creation thought of for their target audience in their locale. 

The translation of entertainment software can also raise ideological issues when certain characters in the games speak with a particular and recognisable accent in the original, or when there is a sensitive historical theme for one of the countries in which the product is going to be released. Each country has a different rating system and things that are acceptable in one locale, might actually be illegal in another territory, depiction of sex and violence being the two of the most controversial subjects. McCarthy (2005) explains different cases in which some games have to be carefully edited and tailored not to go against local customs or offend national pride, and how some games actually feature different characters, storylines, or vehicles depending on the country in which they are going to be released. My research will be useful for Translation Studies by mapping this new field of specialisation, as well as for the Localisation and Game Industry by raising awareness and helping prepare tomorrow’s game specialised localisers.

2005

Towards Localising eLearning Websites
(by Abdalghani Mushtaha)

The 3rd Annual LRC Best Scholar Award was presented at LRC – X, the Localisation Research Cente's 10th annual conference.

The winner of the 2005 LRC Best Scholar Award is Abdalghani Mushtaha of the Free University of Brussels. The title of the research project is "Towards Localising eLearning Websites". The project supervisor is Olga De Troyer.

Excerpt from proposal:
The majority of (eLearning) websites are produced in English. Websites, in general, are increasingly being marketed globally. Therefore, the evaluation of international or intercultural usability issues will offer valuable information for future efforts to develop websites for the international market. But what will happen in non-English speaking countries (e.g. Belgium, Germany, Egypt, Spain, etc.)? Some of these countries proudly insist ont heir local languages and their own cultural identity, especially when it concerns learning (e.g. in Belgium laws restrict the amount of teaching given in a foreign language). It is obvious that content and interface localisation for web learning systems becomes necdessary. Localisation of eLearning content is not only about translation or adaptation of graphical elements; it is more. It is the process of adapting the learning material to a form that is linguistically, functionally, and culturally acceptable in order to meet the language and cultural needs of the target audience(s). 

The proposed research is about (1) evaluating the influence of the users' cultural background on content and interface understanding in the context of eLearning, and (2) to develop a design methodology for learning environments that takes into account social, religion and cultural factors. The target websites are distance learning websites, because distance education in particular is a good candidate for localisation. Indeed, the students' background and expectations about education and universities may differ from country to country, as well as the study methods and the way students and professors communicate with each other. 

The research work is divided into two parts. The first part is an investigation of the extent that users' cultural background, made up of real world experiences, influences the understanding and appreciation of the virtual world on the screen. In the scond part the outcomes of the first part will be used to develop a methodology for designing localised eLearning web systems.

2004

On the Use of 'Optimum-Cost-Ware' in Translator Training for the Localisation Industry
(by Manuel Mata Pastor)

The Localisation Research Centre’s 9^th Annual Localisation Conference “Open Source Localisation” was the venue for the presentation of the 2^nd Annual LRC Best Scholar Award, sponsored by IBM.

The winner of the 2004 Best Localisation Scholar Award was Manuel Mata Pastor for his proposal “On the Use of 'Optimum-Cost-Ware' in Translator Training for the Localisation Industry”.  LRC Director Reinhard Schäler and IBM Senior Development Manager Ray Loughran presented Manuel with the award and prize, an IBM Thnkpad, in a ceremony that followed the morning sessions of the LRC ’04 conference. 

Manuel is a language consultant, technical writer, translator and editor, as well as a specialist in translation and localisation projects.  He currently lectures in technical translation, and new technologies and tools applied to translation at the BA Degrees on Translation and Interpreting hosted by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (www.cesfelipesegundo.com/) and by the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (www.uam.es), as well as in several postgraduate courses.  Besides this, he works as a freelance language specialist for several Spanish and foreign companies and institutions, and as a strategic consultant for the Spanish globalization company Linguaserve (www.linguaserve.com).  He received BA degrees from the University of Granada in Translation and Interpreting (English and Arabic), and in Modern Languages (English and Italian).  He is fluent in Spanish (native), English and Italian, and has a basic knowledge of Arabic.  His main subject areas of specialization include localisation, telecommunications, e-learning, environment and energy. 

For over fifteen years, he has worked as a freelance translator and interpreter, and on a number of occasions he has been hired as a translation manager and language specialist for several organizations, including software and hardware manufacturers, telecommunication companies, and localisation vendors. 

His proposal “On the Use of 'Optimum-Cost-Ware' in Translator Training for the Localisation Industry” looks at the current state of translator training and aims to explore and promote the concept of “Optimum-Cost-Ware” in translator training.

Excerpt from proposal:

Over the past decade, translator-training institutions (TTIs) around the world have been making substantial efforts to successfully meet the demands of the localisation market. These efforts, have often involved major investments by TTIs. Institutions still face a number of important obstacles, including not only burdensome infrastructure and equipment costs but also a shortage or lack of adequate lecture time [allocated to localisation], grant schemes, trainers' training initiatives, research funding, etc. 

Nevertheless, once TTI’s existing curricula are reviewed, it seems as if most of them base their objectives, methodological grounds, course materials, assessment practices... on an underlying training model that focuses on just a handful of highly priced commercial applications —namely half a dozen well-known translation memory systems or localisation suites—. Thus, the teaching/learning process is, more often than not, motivated by a "(single-)application-towards-processes" approach rather than by a "processes-through-(many-)applications" approach. This model is proving to be reasonably successful. However, not only does it entail a substantial investment effort (barely affordable to many); it also reflects an approach to translator training which, in our view, neglects some essential aspects of effective training such as the authentic empowerment of learners and the true development of life-long (self-)learning skills. As a result, there still seems to be a general sense of dissatisfaction expressed and shared by market and TTI stakeholders with regard to how translator training for the localisation industry is —or should be— accomplished. "Optimum-cost-ware" (OCW), as defined in this project, may open up promising opportunities to achieve a more affordable and successful approach to translator training for this market.

2003

French Question Answering in Technical and Open Domains
(by Aoife O'Gorman)

This year’s winning research proposal aims to study and characterise systematically the differences between French and English from the perspective of Question Answering (QA) which combines techniques from information retrieval and natural language processing. This will be done for both open and closed domains. 

The research proposed by the first Annual LRC ELECT Best Scholar is French question answering in technical and open domains and will be carried out at the University of Limerick’s Department of Computer Science and Information Systems.