[6 July 2010] GistXL is pleased to be chosen as Supporting Partner for the Singapore Speak Mandarin Campaign 2010 and The Chinese Challenge 2010 together with Capitaland, Eu Yan Sang, Jetstar and Wotif. GistXL will be providing its language technology to support related activities of the campaign, now in its 31st year.
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[1 June 2010] GistXL has embarked on a collaborative project with the Education Technology Division of the Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) and Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) to develop a new online Chinese language learning platform for secondary schools on the island.
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[1 March 2010] GistXL has launched the beta version of its latest product, the Translation Productivity Optimization Toolkit (TPOT), at www.mytpot.com.
TPOT is an integrated online translation platform that helps translators improve their productivity. It frees translators from the mundane aspects of their work to focus on what they do best – ensuring that the translation accurately reflects the meaning of the source text.
TPOT lets users access a range of translation tools and a growing repository of dictionaries and translation memories, Users can choose to share their own dictionaries and translation memories with, thereby pooling resources and minimising duplication of work.
Workgroup Users and commercial organisations can use TPOT as a platform to assign translation work or accept translation work. TPOT allows these users to search for translators and groups that meet one’s criteria. Different translators can also collaborate to translate on large projects together,
Some functions of TPOT:
(a) Content analysis for work estimation. TPOT analyses a document and tells you the wordcount and how much of the text in a document can be found in existing translations and dictionaries/glossaries. This helps you estimate the time (or cost) needed to complete the assignment.
(b) Automatic retrieval of relevant dictionary terms. TPOT provides the translated equivalents of terms directly in the work console. You simply need to click to insert them while translating, saving you time.
(c) Automatic retrieval of relevant TM terms. TPOT compares the sentences in the document against existing translations and tells you if there are similar translations that have been done before (even if partially similar). You can choose whether or not to use or edit the entries.
(d) Personal dictionaries and TMs. You can easily build your own dictionaries and translation memories (or import the ones you already have). You can choose to share them with others or keep them to yourself.
(e) First draft machine translation. If you wish, you can choose to send the document to be translated by a machine first before being placed on your work console for you to edit.
(f) Quality checking. TPOT offers quality checking tools to help you review translations to ensure high quality.
(g) Text extraction. TPOT can extract text from Office and HTML documents and put them in a display format that facilitates translation. The translation can be saved back into the original format after translation.
(h) Collaboration. TPOT allows different translators to work on the same project, using the same dictionaries and translation memories.
(i) Project information. TPOT helps you log relevant information on the assignments you have done for you to refer to in the future.
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[20 Feb 2009] GistXL has received a National Research Foundation grant from the Interactive Digital Media Programme Office for the development of a New Generation Chinese-English Machine Translation System with special focus on Online, Singapore & Financial Domains. This project involves a hybrid MT architecture that incorporates rule-based, statistical-based and example-based approaches and utilises a innovative processing approach involving the use of a parse tree memory tier. Its objective is to achieve improved levels of speed, reliability, improvability, customisability and accuracy compared to current approaches.
The project also involves the large-scale collection and processing of corpora from the online, Singapore and financial domains to derive specialised language models, thereby optimising translation quality in these areas. Preliminary research results are expected to be announced in the first quarter of 2011.
The project is expected to involve 13 researchers and will add more than $1.7 million to the economy, as well as build up more natural language processing expertise in Singapore.
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[1 Oct 2008] GistXL announces the commercial launch of its GIST Translation Management System, a server-centric business process management software designed for high-volume translation buyers and small and medium language service providers.
The Translation Customer Console allows users to initiate and track translation jobs and correspondence in a secure environment while the Project Management Console offers work functions necessary for most translation service providers, including quotation and invoice generation, job and account tracking, supplier payments, etc.
The system can be combined with the GIST Translator Console to offer high levels of efficiency and transparency in heavy-usage environments throughout the translation process. The system will be fully deployed ministry-wide at the Ministry of Education, Singapore and at two major multinational pharmaceutical companies by year-end.
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[5 Sep 2008, Lianhe Zaobao] Teacher Lim Tian Min from Pioneer Junior College has won an award for her innovative use of the NewsTalk service jointly offered by GistXL and Singapore Press Holdings
[Lianhe Zaobao, 5 September 2008] Teacher Lim Tian Min from Pioneer Junior College in Singapore has won an award for innovative use of the NewsTalk product in Chinese language teaching. NewsTalk provides audio and romanised versions of Chinese news articles as well as translated keywords and assessment tests within an online interactive framework. NewsTalk is developed and powered by GistXL and offered through Singapore Press Holdings.
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[Lianhe Zaobao, 10 May 2008] Singapore’s largest Chinese newspaper Lianhe Zaobao has introduced a new product called NewsTalk which provides audio and romanised versions of news articles as well as translated keywords and assessment tests within an online interactive framework for Chinese language learners. Editor-in-chief Lim Jim Koon and Online Editor Zheng Wei were both present at the ceremony marking NewsTalk’s first deployment at Pioneer Junior College. NewsTalk, powered by GistXL, leverages on the rich content of Lianhe Zaobao and the advanced speech and language technologies of GistXL to provide an effective way for students to learn practical Chinese.
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[1 January 2008] GistXL is pleased to announce two new additions to its Singapore office. Liew Feng Ren, who holds a Master of Arts degree in Broadcast Journalism from the Communication University of China and a Bachelor of Arts from Shih Hsin University in Taiwan, will join the GistXL media services team as Editor. Lim Sok Keng, who holds a Master of Arts degree from the University of Auckland, and who was awarded the SIM University Gold Award for her outstanding results in its Chinese-English Translation Programme will join as Editor/Translator, working mainly with the pharmaceuticals team.
Both will also assist in the development of GistXL core technologies, including corpus analysis and validation as well as output evaluation and testing.
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[1 November 2007] GistXL is pleased to announce the launch of a new cross-language news-monitoring and mining service with Singapore Press Holdings, one of the largest news media companies in Asia.
Working on the GistXL AISTAR platform, the service integrates the functions of (A)ggregation, (I)dentification, (S)ummarisation, (T)ranslation, (A)udio-enablement and (R)etrieval within one console and is designed to help professional media users acquire fast-breaking non-English information quickly and reliably in their native language.
The NewsIntell service screens, acquires, summarises and translates relevant content from all Chinese newspapers in Singapore directly at source, delivering it to clients at the start of each news cycle to allow rapid response where necessary.
Preliminary clients of this service include large insurers, educational institutions and government agencies.
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[Lianhe Zaobao, 8 September 2007] Readers will be able to order translations of content from one of Singapore’s most popular news websites zaobao.com through a new service offered by the news portal and GistXL Technology - Translation-On-Demand (TOD). Translations will be processed on GistXL’s proprietary translation platform, providing same-day high-quality translations at competitive rates.
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[1 June 2006] GistXL CEO Tan Dan Feng was invited to give an address at the plenary session of the inaugural China International Forum on Translation Industry held at Tongji University in Shanghai on 28-29 May 2006. The international event drew language service providers and academics from four continents to discuss developments in the industry.
Drawing from his background in traditional human translation, translation technology, translation teaching and international publishing, Tan spoke on the changing role of the translation company and possible new models that small and medium Asian language service providers can adopt as the industry rapidly evolves.
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Digital Life (The Computer Times), 7 December 2004
Mr Tan Dan Feng, executive director for high-tech translation firm GistXL wants to remove language barriers with the most accurate and comprehensive mobile translation system in the world.
FOR 14 years, Mr Tan worked as a human translator in his family firm, Interlexis, to help make sense between the English-Mandarin camps.
Today, Mr Tan, who is effectively bilingual, gets machines in on the act. And he has developed the Gist Mobile Translator System to get more people talking to one another. The 35-year-old also owns GistXL, the firm distributing the system.
By the end of next year, he expects the system to go regional, providing the bridge for languages including Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Malaysia, Arabic, Japanese and Korean.
The English and Mandarin services were launched with SingTel earlier this year. A pay-as-you-use service, a SingTel subscriber can forward an English text message to the system and get it back translated in Mandarin, for example.
Apart from business and travel-related communication, much of today's translation traffic comes from cross-cultural social exchanges.
Mr Tan said: "We didn't expect this, but I think there are a lot of cross-border, cross-language romances happening.''
It's not that the users' SMS text messages are tapped since no phone numbers are seen, just text, the sociology graduate from the University of Western Ontario, hastened to add.
"All data is automatically made anonymous before it's processed so as to ensure the privacy of the users,'' he said.
Translation logs are periodically processed by linguists to update Gist's database. The system picks up words and phrases, especially colloquial ones. This is so the database can be updated weekly and made more precise, translating the quirky to coherent.
This means even Singlish can be understood as English or Mandarin by non-Singaporeans.
There are many online language translation services, mostly free, and machine-based translation, such as those offered on Netat.net, Google.com, or babelfish.altavista.com.
But GistXL is one of the first in the world to use sophisticated mathematical methods to draw accurate links and contexts between words and phrases.
GistXL earned a merit award at the National Infocomm Awards in October for its cutting-edge machine translator.
Q: Won't technology clash with your traditional human translation business?
A: Human translators tend to be very sceptical about machines because of the inaccuracies most systems have today. But what we're doing is using our expertise as translators to create a better system that can capture all the nuances in human communication. It won't eat into the traditional business but may spur greater use of people to translate for cross-language exchanges.
Q: How exactly is your system better?
A: While some systems take two sets of dictionaries and match words, we've added a bit of intelligence to it with an engine that uses a statistical component to analyse sentences and phrases. Within a fifth of a second, a phrase like "I wan 2 c 2day paper'' can be translated to Mandarin "wo yao kan jin ri de bao zhi''.
Human communication is not bound by rules - true, there are grammatical rules - but there are many variations in the way people speak, just like how Singaporeans speak Singlish. We want to put the power of translation at the fingertips of every mobile phone user. There is clearly a need that's not filled.
Q: Where do you see the need coming from?
A: Back in 1999, we had customers asking for automated translation services, something that's instant and cheaper. Early user surveys showed users using the Gist service for business or travel-related communications. But lately, more use it for socialising. In fact, some use it daily to have long "conversations'' with friends who do not speak the same language. This system allows islands of community to interact with one another. Beyond the economic, I see a social value in Gist.
Q: Aside from the mobile phone platform, how else do you intend for people to access Gist in the future?
A: We developed and own the underlying core translation technology that powers GMTS which just happens to be the first application that we have launched on this platform. We already have Internet and intranet versions of the product and we are now working on other delivery channels with several major global companies.
However, in the short term, we will be focusing on maintaining our position as the most accurate and comprehensive mobile translation system in the world.
Q: If this takes off, you are going to be very rich! Are you considering early retirement?
A: As machine translation gradually becomes an accepted and ubiquitous part of all our lives, I think that the satisfaction of having played a part in developing this new generation of translation systems will outweigh any financial reward.
I've been very lucky to have had the chance to be involved in something that's intellectually challenging, financially promising and has the potential to make the world a better place.
Removing the language barrier can lead to a greater degree of mutual understanding between countries and cultures - something that the world can definitely do with right now.
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The Business Times, 22 October 2004
A SYSTEM that breaks down the language barrier - Gist Mobile Translator System (GMTS) - has made GistXL Pte Ltd a merit award winner at the National Infocomm Awards (NIA) this year.
'GistXL has launched a technology that has the potential to change the world,' said the company's executive director, Tan Dan Feng. GMTS technology translates languages on hand-held devices. Translations can then be sent or received as text, image or audio files.
GistXL prides itself on GMTS' ability to create social value, stressing how important communicating in different languages is to enterprises' business competitiveness.
The award has helped GistXL gain recognition as an innovator, said Mr Tan, boosting the company's ongoing effort to attract and recruit experts and specialists. He also hopes the award will raise awareness of the automated translations systems market.
In the meantime, he is optimistic regarding the company's prospects. Globalisation provides good business opportunities for companies that harness the technology and tools to overcome the 'language divide', said Mr Tan.
'I believe that GistXL has a very good chance at becoming an industry leader in this emerging and very promising area,' he added.
However, he did acknowledge the challenge posed to the company from a lack of resources and past experience. 'There were many instances when we had to make up the rules as we went along,' said Mr Tan.
He hopes the credibility and recognition the award brings will help in the company's plans for future expansion. It will deploy GMTS in South-east Asia and Greater China next year, and aims to cover most major Asian markets by the end of 2005. It has set its sights on Asia for the short and medium term, but is open to exploring possibilities in other regions.
In the long run, GistXL aims to develop a wider range of translation products, from e-mail and instant messaging translation to enterprise-level translation products for specific domains such as pharmaceutical and patent translations. As usage of GMTS' data-driven system grows, the quality of translation will improve as well, Mr Tan pointed out.
But for the time being, GistXL plans to add cross-language functionality to hand-held devices, and is now working with more device manufacturers in addition to mobile operators and service providers. It also hopes to use GMTS as an enabling application, such as integrating it with mobile gaming.
GistXL was founded in 2003 by Mr Tan, who worked previously at Interlexis, a global network of language translation providers. According to him, GMTS technology works using a hybrid non-rule based approach, which allows for better translation of complex and non-formal sentences.
Expansion talk: GistXL's executive director, Tan Dan Feng (right), said the company aims to develop a wider range of translation products, from e-mail and instant messaging translation to pharmaceutical and patent translations.
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The Straits Times, 22 October 2004
Translator with intelligence one of 11 Infocomm award winners
U tink u dunno hw to speak Mandarin? Tink again.
A local invention, called the Gist Mobile Translator System, promises to make you not only coherent in Mandarin, but audible too.
The translator, developed by Singapore company GistXL, was one of 11 award winners at the National Infocomm Awards last night.
The Gist translator for cellphones currently offered through SingTel can take English - even if it's in short form or the kind of gibberish found in SMSes - and turn it into meaningful Mandarin.
By the end of next year, GistXL hopes its system will be fluent in up to 18 languages.
The company boasts that Gist can even turn Singlish into the English the rest of the world is familiar with.
GistXL's executive director Tan Dan Feng, 35, told The Straits Times yesterday there are limits as Singlish has no 'standard' form and there are variations in usage.
'However, it works quite effectively as part of the system. Many Singlish sentence structures and forms originate from Chinese, and this actually helps the translation engine provide a higher level of fluency for Singlish to Chinese translations.'
Free online language translation services and machine-based interpretation systems, such as those offered on Netat.net, Google, or AltaVista's BabelFish, have been around for some time.
But GistXL lays claim to be one of the first in the world to build artificial intelligence into the system. This means, while other 'rule-based' systems match an English word to a Chinese one, GistXL sieves through its database - within a fifth of a second - to draw links and contexts between words and phrases.
For instance, 'drink orange' may just be taken to mean 'consume a colour' in other systems, but GistXL can recognise that when those two words are used together, it will translate into Mandarin to mean 'imbibe orange juice'.
Mr Tan created the company after working in a family-run firm, Interlexis, which offers translation services and interpreters in 46 languages.
GistXL, he said, won't replace human interpreters or translators, but will complement them, 'allowing more people to communicate'. Already, up to 5,000 messages are handled daily by Gist, with a curious surge observed between 10pm and 2am.
The Gist service, which is currently offered through SingTel, costs 21 cents for each translation request.
This year's Infocomm awards, a biennial event jointly organised by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore and the Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation, were given out by Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Lee Boon Yang at a gala dinner last night at Shangri-La Hotel.
In his address, Dr Lee urged businesses to recognise the value of innovation. 'We must innovate or risk being overtaken and made redundant,' he said.
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