exam2/q1.tex

   1 \begin{enumerate}[label=\alph*.]
   2         % 1a
   3         \item
   4                 There are several differences between dialogues of native speakers
   5                 without a translator and with an intermediate translator.
   6
   7                 When native speakers are aware of the fact that there is a translation
   8                 process going they will adapt the conversation style to be more
   9                 suitable for translation. This is because translation suffers from
  10                 common problems such as overlap between words and differences in
  11                 lexical structure that can cause confusion between the speakers.
  12
  13                 For one the native speakers might use a lot more grounding to make sure
  14                 the translation was correct and the partner understands the thing that
  15                 has been said. Moreover, the grounding is probably a lot more
  16                 deliberate in the case of machine translation because a simple
  17                 backchannel like \emph{uhu} might not be enough to convince the partner
  18                 that the utterance was understood. This elaborate grounding might be
  19                 necessary since translation happens both ways and an utterance in
  20                 language \emph{A} translated to language \emph{B} and back to \emph{A}
  21                 could be different from the utterance that they started with.  When two
  22                 native speakers converse the grounding can be very automatic and
  23                 simple. Speakers can use nuances in the grounding to determine whether
  24                 the listener understood the utterance and adapt thereupon.
  25
  26                 Secondly, regarding conversation turn taking there is also likely a
  27                 change in conversation. Since intricate turn taking behaviour is a lot
  28                 more difficult to translate the turn-taking will likely be much more
  29                 concrete and structured. Because the turn-taking is so concrete it is
  30                 much harder to use references that span over turns.
  31
  32                 Thirdly, the language use will be much more simple in the case of a
  33                 translator intervening. Lexical divergence can only be solved by a
  34                 translator when the context is explaining enough.  When native speakers
  35                 converse the context might be implicit and subtle whereas in translator
  36                 the context must be concrete. Speakers will adapt to this and provide
  37                 more context, for example in the form of more adjectives. This remark
  38                 also includes the use of linguistic constructions that are very
  39                 difficult to translate such as metaphors and complex referencing.
  40
  41                 Fourth and lastly, the use of conversational implicature will have to
  42                 be minimised since by mistranslations it might not be clear what the
  43                 implicature is. Moreover, the speakers are probably not sure what to
  44                 imply since the partner might come from a very different culture with a
  45                 very different language structure. For example when an English speaker
  46                 says \emph{a couple} it probably means \emph{two or more}. In languages
  47                 that also posses a dual case, such as Russian, next to the common
  48                 singular and plural this might be translated as \emph{exactly two}.
  49                 Because of errors of this kind the maxims proposed by Grice are extra
  50                 important.
  51
  52         % 1b
  53         \item
  54                 The dialogue manager component should use the aforementioned techniques
  55                 to improve the understanding and clearness of the conversation.
  56                 It must use sophisticated grounding techniques such as \emph{explicit
  57                 confirmation} and \emph{rejection} when there is even a minimal amount
  58                 of doubt.
  59
  60                 When the system is still not sure it can use rapid reprompting to get
  61                 the details clear, even when in the native language of the user it
  62                 might have been clear from other signals such as context.
  63
  64                 This means that the dialogue manager probably should not produce a lot
  65                 of references, must expect very little implicature from the user and
  66                 must not use ambiguities.
  67
  68                 When the user reprompts the system it should use a different, maybe a
  69                 little bit more illogical, construction to say the same. By doing this
  70                 the translation might be a bit better and therefore easier to
  71                 understand for the non-native speaker.
  72
  73         % 1c
  74         \item
  75                 Evaluating dialogue systems can be done via multiple perspectives.
  76
  77                 Expectations on task completion are pretty high. When an error occurs
  78                 the system can just reprompt. Moreover, when the user does not
  79                 understand an utterance it can also ask for a reprompt to the system
  80                 which will then hopefully reformulate the utterance.
  81
  82                 Expectations on efficiency will probably be a lot worse than a system
  83                 without translation. There will be a lot more grounding, reprompting
  84                 and other clarification and confirmation techniques. All these
  85                 technique increase understanding at the cost of efficiency. Luckily in
  86                 an information providence system the conversations are often short and
  87                 therefore the overhead will not be as devastating.
  88
  89                 Quality cost expectations will also not be as good as without
  90                 translation since due to all the problems mentioned above the system
  91                 has to use more recovery techniques which lower the quality.
  92 \end{enumerate}