Fuzzy matching is a method used in computer programs for automatic translation between languages. It finds close matches in a database and requires human review for accuracy. Translation memory (TM) is used for entire sentences, while fuzzy matching is used for phrases not previously translated. The software suggests previous translations and asks for confirmation or correction.
Fuzzy matching is a method used in some computer programs, especially those designed to automatically translate text between different languages. It works in situations where the database used by the software does not have an exact match for a piece of text. Instead, the database looks for close matches, with human review usually checking that this match is acceptably accurate.
Most machine translation programs simply compare the text against a database of previous translations. This database is generally known as a translation memory (TM). Each new and confirmed translation is added to the database, which means future translations are generally more accurate and faster.
Typically, TM-based translation works with entire sentences. For example, if a user has previously approved a particular sentence in French as an accurate translation of “The shop is open from 9am to 5pm on weekdays, but closes at 5pm on Wednesdays”, the next time the software is asked to translate that sentence, it will automatically use the same French wording as before.
The fuzzy matching tool works with situations where a particular phrase has not surfaced in documents translated by the system previously. The tool involves the software creator or end user setting an acceptable fuzzy match level in the form of a percentage match. If the sentence is close enough to the previously translated one to satisfy this match rate, the software will notify the user of the match, provide the previous translation, and ask the user to confirm or change the proposed translation.
To follow the previous example, if the fuzzy match threshold was set to 90% and the new English document contained the sentence “The shop opens between 9am and 2am on weekdays, but closes at 5: 2 on Wednesday”, the software would suggest the previously used translation and the user would probably click to approve it. If the new document had the sentence “The shop is open from 9am to 5pm on weekdays, but closes at 5pm on Thursdays”, the software would suggest the previously used translation and the user would correct this translation for conclude with the French word for Thursday. If the new document had the sentence “The shop is open from 10pm to 10pm every weekday except Wednesday, when it closes at 10pm”, the software would not consider this fuzzy match, despite the fact that the meaning is the same , and thus would not offer an automatic translation for the sentence, leaving the manual translation up to the user.
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