Sam M using Adapt It in the Gwere language.
(Uganda)

Technology is an invaluable resource in producing quality translations. One of the cutting edge tools used is Adapt It.

Adapt It is a computer program used to quickly translate text from:

• one closely related language to another
• between unrelated languages that have similar grammars

Scripture that has been translated into one language (which in Uganda and Tanzania is generally from a certain family of languages called the Bantu) is put into the program and displayed to the translator--typically someone who is bilingual in both languages. The translator then figures out how to express the same message in the other language--typing in the needed words and phrases. As the translator works, Adapt It learns, and keeps looking ahead to insert words and phrases it has learned. This greatly reduces the typing load, and productivity increases daily.

The Knowledge Base

Adapt It is based on a translation memory engine. In other words, the translation of every word or phrase is stored in a knowledge-base (KB). Every time the translator comes to a word or phrase that is already translated Adapt It will fill in that word or phrase's translation automatically and then jump to the next source text word where it tries to repeat this insertion process. It keeps going like this until it comes to a source text word it does not know, and then halts--allowing the translator to type in a translation for that unknown word or phrase.

Automatic Lookup and Insertion

In the beginning of the adaptation the KB is empty, but more and more the KB will have more translations added to it and so the automatic lookup and insertion of suitable words and phrases will become quicker and quicker. It is possible, of course, for a source text word or phrase to have another meaning in a different context. When this is the case the translator just types in the new translation required in that context. Adapt It then automatically stores the new translation along with the earlier translations of that source text word or phrase. When that source text word or phrase occurs later on in the translation process, Adapt It will show all the possible translations in a dialog box and the translator can then choose which meaning fits in that context. It is also possible to type in a retranslation if the translator doesn’t agree with the source text at some point, or if the translation requires a major adjustment for some reason.

Whether for translation, accounting or writing emails,
computers are indispensable to this work.
(Support work in Dodoma, Tanzania)

A High Quality Draft

In this way within a short period of time (estimation: one or two years for the whole NT) a high quality draft is produced. [Note that the reviewers, community and consultant checks are not counted in this estimation. Additionally: after an initial feasibility test, the time spent drafting the first 10 chapters of Mark was one chapter per day.] After completion of the first draft it is reviewed by the community and consultants and polished--most likely with another program called Paratext.

Even with less related languages it is possible to produce a good first draft. Of course, revision of the adapted text within Paratext should be done to achieve the highest possible quality of the final translation.

Related Language Adaptation

Adapt It can export the translated text as a plain text file with the USFM (Universal Standard Format Marking) restored automatically. For this reason, it is possible to use Adapt It to create a new translation project, and to take the exported translation from the first project and use it as the source text in the new project--adapting into a third related language. In this way, one translation may be quickly adapted from one language to another in a cluster or group of related languages.

History

Adapt It was developed in 2000 by Bruce Waters, a senior linguistics consultant in both the Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG) branches, who is now working as a software developer at the Wycliffe centre in Australia. In 2002 Bill Martin, an experienced translator in the PNG branch joined the development team.

Version 3

A major upgrade of Adapt It is now available. Version 3 has:

• full USFM 2.0 support
• standard format filtering (that is, to render invisible information not needing to be adapted)
• support for viewing and editing of filtered information
• the ability to filter or unfilter certain types of information
• a robust document rebuild mechanism for when the user changes the filtering settings, the punctuation settings or the Standard Format marking set (USFM, PNG 1998, or a combination of both are supported)
• improved back translation support
• a free translation capability
• the ability to insert notes anywhere
• XML input and output of KB and documents
• the ability to propagate back translations and free translations into new adaptation projects
• support for splitting long documents into smaller ones
• support for joining small documents into a larger one
• support for storing documents in named folders - one for each Bible book.

Default behaviours are unchanged, so Version 3 remains as easy to use and learn as earlier versions have been.