Alan K. Melby C.V.

(under revision [March 4, 2008])

Alan K. Melby

Alan K. Melby
Dept. of Linguistics and English Language
Brigham Young University (BYU)
Provo, Utah 84602 USA

PERSONAL DATA

  • Birthdate: 1948.March.25

  • Married with six children

  • Has been listed in International Who's Who in Translation and Terminology

  • Received the Eugen Wüster prize in 2007 (awarded by Infoterm - http://www.infoterm.info/)

  • Active in Boy Scouts of America as and adult leader
    Roundtable Commissioner for the Provo Cascade District
    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): member of the Board of Directors and chair of the Translation and Computers committee (see www.atanet.org for information about ATA)

LACUS (Linguistics Association of Canada and the United States): member (see www.lacus.org for more information about LACUS)

TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages): member (see http://www.tesol.org/ for more information about TESOL)

LISA (Localization Industry Standards Association): member of the OSCAR Steering Committee (see www.lisa.org/sigs/oscar for more information about OSCAR, a LISA standards body)

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 F15.48 (ASTM International, Subcomittee F15.48 on language translation): member of the editorial committee (see www.astm.org for more information about ASTM)

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)

LTAC (LTAC Global): president of this not-for-profit consortium of organizations interested in language training, assessment, and certification (see http://www.ltacglobal.org/ for more information on LTAC)



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 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

- exploration of the possibility of developing a theory-based framework for translation proficiency tests.


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

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 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)


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 am participating 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; current focus is on the EFR approach and language services for global events (through LTAC, a non-profit corporation that I have set up). 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.

Publications I plan to work toward during 2008: (1) TBX The best-case scenario would be distribution sometime in March of a ballot for the second draft of the ISO version of the TBX standard, a positive outcome by June, and discussion of comments at the ISO Technical Committee 37 meeting in August, leading to a third draft (hopefully, in the FDIS [Final Draft International Standard] stage) by the end of 2008.

(2) Translation Parameter Technical Specification The best-case scenario would be the distribution sometime in May of a working document in ISO format for study by national bodies and discussion at the August TC 37 meeting.

(3) Submission of one or more peer-reviewed journal articles Besides the primary focus on the terminology exchange (TBX) and translation parameter standards, I am including in my scholarship plan for 2008 an additional area of emphasis besides development of standards: publication of peer-reviewed journal articles in mainstream academic journals, such as "META", "TIS", and "Terminology" in the area of translation and "CHUM" in the area of linguistic computing.
Some ideas for journal articles of which I should be able to submit one or more for peer review by the end of 2008 include:

- "History and Status of Machine-processable Terminology Exchange" (I have written a draft of this article and submitted as a chapter in a book; but plans for that book have been delayed because the editor has taken ill, so I am looking re-evaluating the publication venue)
- "A Reply to "Exchange Formats: TBX, OLIF, and Beyond" by Gregor Thurmair (I could reply to Thurmair's critique of TBX in his paper, thus clarifying the purpose of TBX and its relation to NLP [Natural Language Processing] lexicons)
- "Context in Multilingual Document Production" (the written version of my 2006 ASTTI paper, completed in December 2007, would be the basis for this article)
- "Obstacles and Suggestions for Data-driven Machine Translation" (the annotated slides of the 2006 AMTA debate I participated in would form the basis for this article)
- "Functionalism and Translation Standards" (this would be an expanded, academic version of the client-eduction brochure I wrote in 2007 with Chris Durban)
- "The VAD (Video Asset Description) Standard: Applications in Customized Video Playback" (I helped develop the VAD format and it is time to make it more widely known)
- "Linguistic Frustrations Encountered by ESL students" (this would be a reworking of the paper on which I asked for feedback and was advised not to attempt to publish in its present form)

5. Recent reviewed publications

2007

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.

2006

(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. .]



2005

(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.]

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.


2003 Publications

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.


2002 Publications

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.


2001 Publications

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.


2000 Publications

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)