A Maximum Entropy Word Aligner for Arabic-English Machine Translation

This paper presents a maximum entropy word alignment algorithm for Arabic-English based on supervised training data. We demonstrate that it is feasible to create training material for problems in machine translation and that a mixture of supervised and unsupervised methods yields superior performance. The probabilistic model used in the alignment directly models the link decisions. Significant improvement over traditional word alignment techniques is shown as well as improvement on several machine translation tests. Performance of the algorithm is contrasted with human annotation performance.

By: Abraham Ittycheriah; Salim Roukos

Published in: RC23627 in 2005

LIMITED DISTRIBUTION NOTICE:

This Research Report is available. This report has been submitted for publication outside of IBM and will probably be copyrighted if accepted for publication. It has been issued as a Research Report for early dissemination of its contents. In view of the transfer of copyright to the outside publisher, its distribution outside of IBM prior to publication should be limited to peer communications and specific requests. After outside publication, requests should be filled only by reprints or legally obtained copies of the article (e.g., payment of royalties). I have read and understand this notice and am a member of the scientific community outside or inside of IBM seeking a single copy only.

rc23627.pdf

Questions about this service can be mailed to reports@us.ibm.com .