Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Government organizations have numerous requirements around document translation:

• Intelligence and Security: Translating foreign documents and communications to monitor threats and understand global dynamics.
• International Cooperation and Alliances: Translating treaties, agreements, and training materials in support of global military alliances.
• Local Engagement and Stability Operations: Translation in support of humanitarian, disaster relief, and local engagement.
• Technical and Equipment Manuals: Translation required to ensure correct use and maintenance of diverse technologies and equipment. While international support often includes financial and equipment aid, a significant challenge arises when equipment manuals are not in the recipient’s native language. This impedes the effective and timely use of the equipment, highlighting the critical need for document translation to ensure the success of missions.
• Government Communications: Translating official communications, public service announcements, and information about public health, safety, and welfare ensures that all members of a diverse population have access to important information.
• Immigration Services: Translating documents related to immigration, visas, and citizenship services helps streamline the process for both applicants and the authorities.

Microsoft’s open source Comprehensive Document Translation Solution offers the perfect balance between the accuracy of digital text-only documents and the completeness of scanned documents. The CDTS solves this problem through a “Hybrid Translation” approach. The Hybrid Translation process splits the digital PDF into two files. One file is a digital document that contains all the pages that are text-only. The other file is a scanned document that contains all the pages that have images, including images embedded with text. The solution then translates both files separately. By translating both, we get the most accurate translation and layout of text-only digital documents and the completeness of scanned documents.

After both versions are translated, the solution then “stitches” back together the complete document, in the correct page order, taking the best and most accurate translation of each page from either the digital or scanned document.

For more information, read the announcement page at:

• Comprehensive Document Translation Solution
  https://devblogs.microsoft.com/azuregov/document-translation-solution/