RESEARCH ON MECHANICAL TRANSLATION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00965R000300100013-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 3, 2003
• Sequence Number: 13
• Content Type: REPORT

38 RESEARCH ON MECHANICAL TRANSLATION
SUMMARY EXPLANATION OF ORGANIZATION CHART
1. The NALS would have as its primary mission the coordination of the
national effort in the various areas of the science of language, both practical
and theoretical, on the basis of the five substantive divisions given in the chart.
plus one service division.
2. In certain fields it would have an operating responsibility whenever this
procedure would be deemed more effective than the assignment of specific re-
search and development projects to selected academic institutions.
3. It would provide for interfellowsbips to permit the assignment for 1 year
or more of top specialists who would be working with the NALS in specific
research or development projects.
4. The Advisory Board would be made up of five recognized scholars or author-
ities in the five substantive fields who would function as regular consultants.
5. The Executive Board would be made up of the divisional directors under
the chairmanship of the Executive Director.
6. A Supervisory Board could be made up of five executives from academic
institutions or learned associations who would be appointed on a rotating basis.
The Supervisory Board would also include two members from the Government.
7. It is estimated that when in full operation the NALS would have a staff
of from 300 to 500 persons. The preliminary budgetary estimate is of the
order of $15 million per annum, half of which would be for internal operations.
and the remainder for external projects, based on contractual grants.
8. The first measure to be taken if the project meets with approval would be
the appointment of a small planning staff under the direction of the future
Executive Director, who would review and present a more complete and rigorous
proposal for legislative consideration. The planning staff would arrange to
have the advice of five recognized authorities specialized in diverse areas within
the purview of the proposed Academy, who presumably would become the future
Advisory Board.
1. The hearings on mechanical translation vividly out the impor-
tance of a mechanical translation system to the overall intelligence
and scientific effort of our Nation. With the advent of such a capa-
bility, a new approach will be taken by all segments of our culture
to the reading of foreign documents. Truly, a capability of transla-
tion in reverse-that is, English into foreign languages-will open
up new vistas and avenues for the exchange of cultural, economic,
agricultural, technical, and scientific documents that will present. the
American way of life to people throughout the world.
The pursuit of this research and development program on mechan i-
cal translation is a must and should be vigorously continued to insure
an early capability on a national effort.
2. There are a number of approaches being taken to solve the
research problem. These were listed as statistical, systematic, empiri-
cal, objective, and subjective. The definitions of these approaches
may be partially overlapping. All approaches are valid and should
be pursued so that. the Nation will benefit from are early interim
capability while waiting for the long-terin research to provide it
highl v accurate system.
3. The equipment oriented program of the Air Force provides a
unique tool for the checking out of the complex folly antonurted
system of input, logical processing, and output. This program pro-
vides for the inclusion of modification derived from other research
as the results are made known to the overall nieehnuo n] translation
family. It is'now time for the mechanical translation research coni-
mimity to start combining the good features of the several programs
and come up with the best workable program for the first application.
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RESEARCH ON MECHANICAL TRANSLATION 39
4. There are many government agencies conducting research in
this field. With so many agencies working in this field it, will even-
tually make coordination of the total effort more complicated, and
lead to the possibility of duplication in some areas.
5. The National Science Foundation, although ptntic.ipat.ing in
this research program on mechanical translation, is not. assuming the
predominant leadership role that is expected of the Foundation.
Greater effort could be made by the National Science. Foundation in
establishing a, coordinated program, managing more of the diversified
programs, and generally directing the national effort.
6. The Geor*etown University proposal for a National Academy
of Language Sciences along the line of the 'National Institutes of
Health has considerable merit.. This is indeed a steppingstone toward
the solution of the language barriers that, confront our Nation in inter-
national relationts. One segment of such an academy wottld be devoted
to the national program of mechanical translation.
7. The most promising long-range program for mechanical transla-
tion is Army-financed research at, the National Bureau of Standards.
There was almost complete agreement. that. this method of syntactical
anaylsis would produce the best, readable translation as far as sentence
structure is concerned.
S. In the Department of Defense all three services have their own
programs. The effort in the DOD could well be centered in one
service, with the requirements of the other services met by the respon-
sible agency.
9. There are apparently sufficient. funds allocated by all Govern-
ment agencies to maintain a satisfactory rate of progress in this field of
research.
10. A national center for machine translation will be required in the
near future. The national center could well have branches in specific
areas throughout the world, but. the center would be the overall co-
ordinating agency for translation. Exceptions for intelligence and
military necessity will undoubtedly be. made.
11. An eventual national machine translation production program
will most likely be operating on a full-time basis. A special-purpose
computer, designed for translation and not including the other costly
benefits of an all-purpose computer, will be desirable.
12. An early production program, on a limited scale, as proposed
by Georgetown, is an excellent approach. The determination, at an
early date, of a limited machine translation with postediting will
provide the scientific community with a sample of things to come.
The value cannot be assessed as there are insufficient data available.
This in turn justifies the limited production so that comments can
be received from the users and the value of such a limited capability
subsequently assessed.
13. The committee is very pleased with the present effort of manual
translation of Russian documents, periodicals, and books now being
accomplished by the CIA and other Government agencies. The CIA
is to be congratulated for such an outstanding contribution to this
field of intelligence collection.