Creating a medical English-Swedish dictionary using interactive word alignment
2006

Creating a Medical English-Swedish Dictionary

Sample size: 31000 publication Evidence: high

Author Information

Author(s): Mikael Nyström, Magnus Merkel, Lars Ahrenberg, Pierre Zweigenbaum, Håkan Petersson, Hans Åhlfeldt

Primary Institution: Linköpings universitet

Hypothesis

Can interactive word alignment be used to create a medical English-Swedish dictionary efficiently?

Conclusion

In three man weeks, we produced a medical English-Swedish dictionary consisting of 31,000 entries and identified hidden translation errors in the utilized medical terminology systems.

Supporting Evidence

  • The dictionary was created in less than three man weeks.
  • The process revealed 40 different translation problems in the terminology systems.
  • The methods used are applicable to other West European language pairs.

Takeaway

The researchers made a big dictionary of medical terms in English and Swedish really fast, and they also found mistakes in translations.

Methodology

The study involved collecting medical terminology from five systems, using interactive word alignment to create training data, and verifying term pairs manually.

Limitations

The study may have limitations related to the quality of the original translations and the potential for errors in the terminology systems.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1186/1472-6947-6-35

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