Alan K. Melby C.V.
(revised January, 2014)
Alan K. Melby
Dept. of Linguistics and English Language
Brigham Young University (BYU)
Provo, Utah 84602 USA
PERSONAL DATA
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Birthday: 19xx.March.25
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Married with six children
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Received the Gode Medal in 2013 (awarded by the American Translators Association - www.atanet.org). The Alexander Gode Medal, ATA's most prestigious award, is presented to an individual or institution in recognition of outstanding service to the translation and interpreting professions. This award may be given at most once a year.
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Received the Eugen Wüster prize in 2007 for lifetime achievement in the area of terminology(awarded by Infoterm - http://www.infoterm.info/)
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Was active in Boy Scouts of America as an adult leader for many years
Roundtable Commissioner for the Rock Canyon District of the Utah National Parks Council
Received District Award of Merit
Received Woodbadge beads
CONTACT INFORMATION
| On-campus: |
voice: (801) 422-2144 e-mail: akmttt [at] byu [dot] edu |
| Off-campus: |
voice: (801) 373-8800 fax: (801) 377-3704 (personal fax) e-mail: akm [at] ltacglobal [dot] org |
1. Employment, Education, and Professional Affiliations
Employment:
Brigham Young University (BYU), Provo campus, Department of Linguistics and English Language. Began as Assistant Professor in 1977. Current rank: Full Professor.
Education:
B.S. in Mathematics, M.A.in Linguistics, Ph.D. in Computational Linguistics (1976), Brigham Young University (note: Ph.D. was coordinated by the Physics Department)
Professional Affiliations:
ATA (American Translators Association): chair of the ATA Standards Committee (see www.atanet.org for information about ATA)
LACUS (Linguistic Association of Canada and the United States): president from September 2011 to August 2012 (see www.lacus.org for more information about LACUS)
FIT (International Federation of Translators): chair of the FIT Standards Committee (see www.fit-ift.org for information about FIT)
GALA-CRISP Globalization and Localization Association: member of the CRISP advisory board specializing in translation/localization-related standards (see www.gala-global.org for information about GALA)
ISO/TC37 (International Organization for Standardization, Technical Committee 37 for Terminology and Other Language Resources): member of the US delegation to Technical Committee 37 (see http://www.iso.org/ for more information about ISO)
ASTM F43 (ASTM International, Committee on language standards): member of the translation subcommittee (see www.astm.org for more information about ASTM)
LTAC (LTAC Global): president of this not-for-profit consortium
of organizations interested in Language, in particular but not limited to Terminology/Translation and Authoring
(see http://www.ltacglobal.org/ for more
information on LTAC)
= = = history notes = = =
MPEG (Moving Pictures Expert Group, Working Group 11 of Subcommittee
29 of Joint Technical Committee 1 of ISO/IEC): former member of the US delegation to MPEG
and MPEG liaison to the IEEE LTSC, during the three-year development of
MPEG-7 Part 9(see http://www.chiariglione.org/mpeg/
for more information on MPEG and see http://ltsc.ieee.org/
for more information about the IEEE LTSC).
ViewerFreedom (Viewerfreedom Foundation): member of the advisory
group (see http://www.viewerfreedom.org/
for more information about ViewerFreedom)
2. Research Agenda
My research agenda can be summarized as Translation, Training/education, and Testing (TTT) with an emphasis on standards. I am engaged in several research activities that apply linguistic theory to practical tasks in (1) support for translation and face-to-face communication, especially through standards and terminology database development, (2) training and education, especially language learning using CVP (Customized Video Playback), and (3) testing of translation proficiency, using technology when applicable and involving standards when appropriate.
My translation-support activities include:
- the TBX project (to support exchange of terminological data between software applications),
- participation in the development of translation quality standards through ASTM and ISO (to help purchasers obtain effective translations), and
- the Linport project (to develop standard containers for translation projects and tasks) (see http://www.linport.org for more information.)
- the GEvTerm initiative (to support one-to-one communication between two individuals who do not speak the same native language).
My training/education activities include:
- the EFR project (to facilitate the use of feature films and other video assets in learning systems) and
- the VAD project (to provide a standard way to describe video assets in the EFR project and other Customized Video Playback projects).
My testing activities include:
- participation in a project to gain accreditation for the certification program of the American Translators Association and
- development of a theory-based framework for translation proficiency tests as part of the CTT (Computerized Translation Testing) project.
Note: All of these projects involve the development or use of national and international standards.
3. Research history (my intellectual journey):
Theoretical basis for my research:
The theoretical approach to language that I have developed over the years denies the existence of one absolute set of language independent concepts. At the same time, it avoids embracing radical relativism. Radical relativism tends to place all strongly felt interpretations of a text on an equal basis. I claim that most interpretations cannot be part of a consistent world view, but we cannot choose one of the consistent interpretations as the only correct one without denying agency. My approach to language includes two distinctions (general vs. domain-specific and dynamic vs. frozen). Only within the frozen terms of a domain can one simulate universal concepts. Outside of narrow domains, meaning is context-sensitive and even dynamically created. This philosophy of language supports a flexible theory of translation quality (quality is conformance to agreed on specifications rather than adherence to one particular style of translation). And this same philosophy suggests that bottom-up language learning without context is inadequate, and it validates the use of video in language training to provide pragmatic context. Thus, theory informs practice.
1970s: Believed in the existence of one universal set of language-independent concepts underlying all human languages
1980s: Experienced an intellectual crisis; rejected univeral language-independent units of meaning (superficial ambiguity) and accepted a fundamental distinction between dynamic general language (fundamental ambiguity) and frozen domain-specific language (well-defined concepts defined by convention within a particular domain)
1990s: Made a connection between agency and language; wrote a theory book (The Possibility of Language, John Benjamins, 1995)
2000s: Focused on practical applications of linguistic theory informed by the above principles. An emphasis since the late 1990s has been structured specifications for translation projects.
Translation:
I am an ATA-certified French-English translator and have been involved in the world of translation since 1970. Translation is an enormously complex process that has not received the attention within linguistics that it deserves. My research focus has been on translation technology and translation-related standards.
1970s: focus on machine translation (worked on a team developing a machine translation system at the BYU Translation Sciences Institute)
1980s: focus on tools for human translators (designed and helped implement MTX, a terminology management software package)
1990s: focus on philosophy of language and terminology (investigated why computers cannot translate like humans; worked on a terminology interchange format called MARTIF under ISO Technical Committee 37)
2000s: focus on quality and terminology (worked six years on a translation quality standard [ASTM F2575] under ASTM International in subcommittee F15.48, continued working on a terminology interchange standard based on MARTIF called TBX under LISA OSCAR, and began a community-based terminology database called GEvTerm initiated by LTAC Global and developed by LTAC members such as the BYU Center for Language Studies). Since 2007, editor of ISO project 11669, which builds on the structured specifications system in ASMT F2575.
Training:
My focus within the world of training has been on the use of video in computer-assisted language learning. As with my work in translation, I have participated in the definition of standards. Theses standards apply beyond language learning to other applications of video in training.
1970s and 1980s: no work on training (all my attention was on translation)
1990s: Was the principal investigator for the development of a video-based computer-assisted language learning software package now called QuickEnglish
2000s: Promoting the use of customized video playback (CVP), of which the QuickEnglish approach is a special case; the EFR project was donated to BYU and is being used in BYU International Cinema customization of films. The BYU CVP group is developing a Windows7-compatible version of the EFR system. Also working on standards to support CVP. The major standards are for describing video assets and for describing video clip playlists.
4. Prospective publications reporting on current research
Below are listed prospective publications related to the various research activities listed above.
An article on the design of TBX has been submitted for inclusion in the upcoming Coursebook on Terminonolgy Management, which should be published in early 2014.
A chapter on post-editing has been submitted for inclusion in a forthcoming book on various aspects of post-editing. It should also be published in early 2014.
I have been invited to write articles on translation memory and bi-text for forthcoming encyclopedia of translation technology. They are being reviewed.
A presentation on repetition in language learning was made in 2010, turned into an article co-authored with Mike Bush (BYU CLS) and Annie Lewis (a BYU grad student) and accepted for publication. It should be published in early 2014.
5. Recent reviewed and published publications
2013
In 2013 I had three peer reviewed/edited publications and one guest editorship.They relate to three areas of my research agenda: The Linport project, the TBX project, and translator certification. In the first quarter of 2013, a special issue (5:1) of the International Journal for Research in Translation and Interpreting appeared. I was the guest editor for this special issue
on certification of translators and interpreters and co-author of one of the articles.
(see http://www.trans-int.org/index.php/transint/issue/view/21 for more information).
A presentation made by my research assistant at a localization standards conference in London in June 2013 about the Linport project, which I coordinate,
was made into a co-authored journal article published in Localisation Focus. A presentation I made in Dublin in 2012 at the
LinkedData workshop (http://www.multilingualweb.eu/documents/dublin-workshop/dublin-program) based on work with a former BYU Ling MA student, Nathan Rasmussen,
was the basis for a journal article written in German by a grad student the University of Vienna. In 2012 I had three peer-reviewed publications:
an article about TBX in the Journal of Specialized Translation (www.jostrans.org) );
an article about the Linport project in the Journal of Internationalisation and Localisation (website) );
and article about post-editing machine translation in the peer-reviewed proceedings of the 2012 AMTA workshop on post-editing (amta2012.amtaweb.org/AMTA2012Files/html/index.html) )
Also in 2012, ISO/TS 11669 was published. This document provides guidance for all types of translation projects.
As project editor, I wrote substantial portions of the document and processed the many comments that came in from various national bodies
as the document went through various versions before publication.
2011
In 2011 I had three peer-reviewed publications:
an article about TBX-Glossary published by AMTA (http://www.amtaweb.org/)
from a presentation at a workshop in conjunction with the 2012 AMTA conference; and an article about assessing post-edited translation in the peer-reviewed and edited proceedings of the 2012 ATMA workshop on post-editing (amta2012.amtaweb.org/AMTA2012Files/html/index.html)
2010
In 2010 I had two peer-reviewed publications: an article on context in translation that appeared in
Volume 2, Issue 2, of the International Journal for Translation & Interpreting Research (www.trans-int.org) and
an article on data standards in the American Translators Chronicle, October 2010 issue, published by
the American Translators Association (www.atanet.org) and distributed to over ten thousand members.
2009
In the first quarter of 2009 an article about the TBX-Basic dialect appeared in the journal Tradumatica. Software associated with the article allows a translator to create a TBX-Basic file without knowing XML. That software was improved and a new version was released in April 2010.
2007
2006
2005
2004
(see faculty profile for details on these two publications)
- A reviewed article on Customized
Video Playback (in support of language training and other applications) in Educational
Technology. This article is a report on the VAD project, placing it in
the context of Customized Video Playback.
- A reviewed article on the EFR approach
to Customized Video Playback in the proceedings of the Educational Media conference
in Lugano, Switzerland. This article describes the design of the second major version
of the EFR software. In the first version, the user viewed a film by directly selecting
clips from an EFR (Electronic Film Review). Playlists were secondary and cumbersome
to create and use. In the second version of the EFR software, video playback is
always under the control of a playlist. Playlist building is done in a separate
module, and playlists can be easily created by an instructor, based on an EFR. Students
can navigate through a playlist sequentially or by jumping to a particular clip.
When a new clip is activated, its annotations automatically appear.
Melby, Alan K. "Listening Comprehension,
Laws, and Video," LACUS Forum XXIX – Linguistics and the Real World, edited
by Douglas Coleman, William Sullivan, and Arle Lommel, LACUS, Houston: 2003, pp.
135-145
This was a peer-reviewed paper based
on a presentation at the 2002 LACUS conference at the University of Toledo. It reported
on the first version of the EFR software and its use in language training.
Melby, Alan K., editor. TKE 2002
Terminology and Knowledge Engineering, Inria: Le Chesnay, France: 2002: 148
pp.
This is a collection of peer-reviewed
articles published in conjunction with the 2002 TKE conference at the University
of Nancy in France. I managed the peer-review process and edited the volume, which
includes an introduction by the editor.
Melby, Alan K., and eight other authors.
Programs in Translation Studies – An ATA Handbook: ATA, Alexandria, Virginia:
2002: 174 pp.
Gertrude Champe was the main editor
of this book, which a resource book for those running or setting up a translation
studies program. However, the book was listed as having nine authors.
Melby, Alan K., Ruth Brend, and Arle
Lommel, editors. LACUS Forum XXVII – Speaking and Comprehending.
LACUS, Fullerton, California: 2001
I was the main editor of this volume
of peer-reviewed articles selected from the presentations at the 27th LACUS conference,
managing the peer-review process and doing final editing of every article.
Melby, Alan K., and Arle Lommel, editors.
LACUS Forum XXVI – The Lexicon. LACUS, Fullerton, California: 2000
I was the main editor of this volume
of peer-reviewed articles selected from the presentations at the 26th LACUS conference,
managing the peer-review process and doing final editing of every article.
Melby, Alan K., editor. Multilingual
Solutions. SMP: Geneva, Switzerland: 2000
I solicited and edited articles for
this book, which was presented to participants at the 2000 Global Strategies Summit
organized by LISA (www.lisa.org) and held in
San Jose, California.
6. Pre-year-2000 Publications and Presentations (available on a separate page)
I also co-authored with Geoff Koby an article in this collection on the ATA JTA project. Thus I was both guest editor and contributor.
Toward the end of 2008, a version of TBX was finally co-published by ISO (as ISO 30042) and LISA. This publication was made possible by extensive work by the core team, myself as editor, Kara Warburton as project manager, and Arle Lommel as LISA liaison.
During 2007, much of my time was taken up by organizing the 2007 national Translation Summit conference (March) and making the local arrangements for the 2007 meeting of ISO Technical Committee 37 (August). Note to self: do not to take on two major conferences again in the same year. Despite this, I was able to send out a draft of the TBX standard in February for review by ISO Technical Committee 37 national bodies and worked with Kara Warburton (IBM) and Arle Lommel (LISA) starting in September 2008 on a new draft of TBX, taking into account the many comments received during the ballot period and reformatting the TBX specification document to use TEI XML markup rather than HTML.
My only publication during 2007 was an "Variations in Food Names" in LACUS Forum 33: Variation, co-authored with Alec Westwood, pp. 219-227, Houston, Texas: LACUS
During 2007, much of my time was taken up by organizing the 2007 national Translation Summit conference (March) and making the local arrangements for the 2007 meeting of ISO Technical Committee 37 (August). Note to self: do not to take on two major conferences again in the same year. Despite this, I was able to send out a draft of the TBX standard in February for review by ISO Technical Committee 37 national bodies and worked with Kara Warburton (IBM) and Arle Lommel (LISA) starting in September 2008 on a new draft of TBX, taking into account the many comments received during the ballot period and reformatting the TBX specification document to use TEI XML markup rather than HTML.
(1) "F2575 -- 06 -- Standard Guide for Quality Assurance in Translation," Annual Book of ASTM Standards, 2006
[This guide is designed to provide a framework for agreement on specifications for translation projects. Within this framework, the participants in a service agreement can define the processes necessary to arrive at a product of desired quality to serve the needs and expectations of the end user.]
(2) "Learning English Through Repurposed Feature Films, edited by Lam-for Kwok & Yee Kong Peter Chan," publication of Center for Instructional Technology and Outreach, Brigham Young University Hawaii, 2005
[The EFR (Electronic Film Review) approach is explained, and a project that used the EFR approach with a film on DVD is described, along with the results obtained through pre-testing and post-testing.]
(3) "Quality in translation: a lesson for the study of meaning," Linguistics and the Human Sciences, 2006
[This paper brings together translation and linguistics. It sheds light on the nature of meaning in lenguage by exploring quality in translation. The paper explores various approaches to translation theory and two approaches to the study of meaning, one based on a typical interpretation of Saussure and the other based on the authors' interpretation of Peirce. It is concluded that the Functionalist approach to translation is superior to any approach that seeks to define one best way to translate and that a Peircean approach to meaning is more compatible with Functionalism than is a Saussurian approach.]
(4) "MT+TM+QA: The Future is Ours," Tradumātica - ISSN 1578-7559, 2006
[This article consists of five predictions about the future convergence of machien translation and translation memory, with emphasis on the question of quality.]
(5) "The EFR Approach to Movies in ESOL," TESOL Video News, 2006
[Feature films are considered to be authentic video (i.e. intended for native speakers). This article explains how the EFR (Electronic Film Review) appoach to using feature films on DVD makes them more accessible to ESOL students than watching the same DVD on a regular DVD player. The EFR approach is intended to customize the playback of a movie without violating copyright laws; however, the article is not to be understood as a legal opinion.]
(6) "Language Databases, Statistics, and Social Networks," LACUS Forum XXXII -- Networks, 2006
[This paper concerns the GEvTerm (Global Event Terminology) initiative of LTAC (www.ltacglobal.org). In particular, it focuses on design criteria for the GEvTerm database and then homes in on one question: should the data model follow a lexicographical or terminological approach. Using a methodology of contrasting the two approaches in how well they satisfy the design criteria, it is concluded that the terminological approach is preferable for this database model.
.]
(1) "Quality from the Ground up," The Globalization Insider, 2005
[This article describes a long-term effort to develop an ASTM (www.astm.org) standard for translation quality assurance and relates this effort to other aspects of quality assurance.]
(2) "Learning English Through Repurposed Feature Films, edited by Lam-for Kwok & Yee Kong Peter Chan," publication of Center for Instructional Technology and Outreach, Brigham Young University Hawaii, 2005
[The EFR (Electronic Film Review) approach is explained, and a project that used the EFR approach with a film on DVD is described, along with the results obtained through pre-testing and post-testing.]
2003 Publications
2002 Publications
2001 Publications
2000 Publications