Time-Constrained Machine Translation

This paper defines the class of time-constrained applications: applications in which the user has limited time to process the system output. This class is differentiated from real-time systems, where it is production time rather than comprehension time that is constrained. Examples of time-constrained MT applications include the translation of multi-party dialogue and the translation of closed-captions. The constraints on comprehension time in such systems have significant implications for the system’s objectives, its design, and its evaluation. In this paper we outline these challenges and discuss how they have been met in an English-Spanish MT system designed to translate the closed-captions used on television.