Skip to main content

Currently Skimming:

Appendix 9. Cost Estimates of Various Types of Translation
Pages 57-66

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 57...
... that, therefore, the agency consumes a total of 11,000,000 Russian words a year. Since the major effort in past work on machine translation (MT)
From page 58...
... Time lag after receipt of document Total Cost of Translation MONOLI NGUALS none o If the 50 analysts could not read Russian and had to rely on translation, a number of possibilities exist for providing them with English translation. The agency could 1.
From page 59...
... Other costs that must be included in this type of operation are those of space, equipment, Decomposition, and proofreading and review. MAJOR COSTS FOR IN-HOUSE HUMAN TRANSLATION 25 Translators' salaries and direct cost overhead Recomposition ($14.15 per 1,000 words, ADL, p.
From page 60...
... Trusting this individual's judgment, but at the same time being aware that the ADL report is a careful study of what practices were in force (regardless of their necessity or degree of efficiency) at FTD, the Committee conjectured that $1.50 per 1,000 Russian words, rather than $2.97, might be a reasonable cost for the proofreading and review procedure; therefore, our computation differs from the ADL study.
From page 61...
... The FTD experience is stated with admirable succinctness: "This Acceptance of postedited MT] marks a considerable change in attitude toward MT's which, in their earlier unedited form, were generally regarded as unsatisfactory" (ADL, p.
From page 62...
... Prudence demands that we compare raw MT with a product about which we have more certain knowledge concerning cost and reading rates even though such translations are of higher quality. For the purposes of comparison, we have chosen the JPRS for the simple reasons that (1)
From page 63...
... 0 9, machine co sts $3. 21, output typing $0.33 (ADL, p.
From page 64...
... If it can be shown that the use of unedited machine output, taking proper account of increased reading time on the part of the readers, would result in worthwhile savings over efficient human translation of the most nearly comparable kind, then there is a cogent reason for using unedited MT. But, unless such a worthwhile saving can be convincingly demonstrated, we regard the use of unedited machine output as regressive and unkind to readers.
From page 65...
... Both the Federal Armed Forces Translation Agency and the European Coal and Steel Community indicate that a saving of about 50 percent of the translator's time could be expected by the use of a machineaided system. Since translators' salaries constitute the largest item in the budget for a human-translation facility, such savings would probably be substantial.
From page 66...
... Contract JPRS Raw MT Postedited MT M-AT Analysts proficient In Russian CONCLUSION Good Good Fair to good Fair Unsatisfactory Fair Excellent Cost for 11, 000, 000 Russian Words $ 440 000 440, o00 350, 000 240, 000 80 000+ 400, o00 310 000 o Since no one can be proficient in all languages, there will always be a need for translation. Yet, publication is not evenly distributed among the some 4,000 languages of the world, and this is especially so in the areas of science and technology.


This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More information on Chapter Skim is available.