Applying Automated Language Translation at a Global Enterprise Level

This project has continued to evolve with the addition of new languages and improvements to the translation process. However, we discovered that there was a large demand for automated language translation across all of Ford Motor Company and we decided to expand the scope of our project to address these requirements. This article will describe our efforts to meet all of Ford's internal translation requirements with AI and MT technology and focus on the challenges and lessons that we learned from applying advanced technology across an entire corporation. Our initial goal was to utilize MT to translate vehicle build instructions from English to the native languages in the countries and regions where our assembly plants are located. The source text utilized a controlled language that we developed, called Standard Language, and we initially thought that applying MT technology would be a straightforward process. Controlled languages, such as Standard language, restrict the complexity and ambiguity of human languages by restricting syntax and terminology (Huijsen 1998). As such, they have been utilized in a number of different industrial applications (Godden 2000). However, there were many issues dealing with technical terminology, ungrammatical aspects of Standard Language, Ford-specific terminology, and the need to process uncontrolled text that needed to be addressed. We partnered with Systran Software Incorporated and with AppTek (now SAIC) to use their machine-translation technology and also incorporated natural language processing (NLP) algorithms within our artificial intelligence environment to analyze terminology and modify the source text to improve translation accuracy (Rychtyckyj 2007). The need to support manufacturing expansion in non-English speaking countries in Eastern Europe and Asia (such as in Russian and Chinese) led us to add additional language capability and to develop translation glossaries for all of the supported languages. The automated language translation for manufacturing work continues and will expand as Ford's global manufacturing footprint increases.