Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University’s Language Technologies Institute (LTI) have released spoken and textual data on Haitian Creole that will help groups in their efforts to develop translation technologies for relief workers in Haiti. Microsoft has already used the data to develop a Web-based system for translating between English and Haitian Creole. LTI researchers began to update their own translation system for Haitian Creole after the Jan. 12 earthquake, but decided that releasing its data to the public would lead to faster development of translation tools. The French nonprofit Translators Without Borders is working on a medical triage dictionary for doctors in Haiti. LTI’s Robert Frederking says there are few translation resources for Haitian Creole, which is based on the French language and incorporates African syntax. “Nobody is going to make money on a Haitian Creole translator,” Frederking says. “But translation systems could be an important tool, both for the relief workers now involved in emergency response and in the long-term as rebuilding takes place.”
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