In this thesis we investigate the potential of developing a speech recognition system based on a recently introduced artificial neural network (ANN) technique, namely Reservoir Computing (RC). This technique has, in theory, a higher capability for modelling dynamic behaviour compared to feed-forward ANNs due to the recurrent connections between the nodes in the reservoir layer, which serves as a memory. We conduct this study on the Arabic language, (one of the most spoken languages in the world and the official language in 26 countries), because there is a serious gap in the literature on speech recognition systems for Arabic, making the potential impact high. The investigation covers a variety of tasks, including the implementation of the first reservoir-based Arabic speech recognition system. In addition, a thorough evaluation of the developed system is conducted including several comparisons to other state- of-the-art models found in the literature, and baseline models. The impact of feature extraction methods are studied in this work, and a new biologically inspired feature extraction technique, namely the Auditory Nerve feature, is applied to the speech recognition domain. Comparing different feature extraction methods requires access to the original recorded sound, which is not possible in the only publicly accessible Arabic corpus. We have developed the largest public Arabic corpus for isolated words, which contains roughly 10,000 samples. Our investigation has led us to develop two novel approaches based on reservoir computing, ESNSVMs (Echo State Networks with Support Vector Machines) and ESNEKMs (Echo State Networks with Extreme Kernel Machines). These aim to improve the performance of the conventional RC approach by proposing different readout architectures. These two approaches have been compared to the conventional RC approach and other state-of-the- art systems. Finally, these developed approaches have been evaluated on the presence of different types and levels of noise to examine their resilience to noise, which is crucial for real world applications.

This dissertation explores how literary translators mediated cultural diplomacy between the U.S. and China during the Cold War period. Focusing on best-selling bilingual authors Lin Yutang, Eileen Chang, Hua-ling Nieh Engle, and Jade Snow Wong, I show how these “cold warriors” negotiated political boundaries, concepts, and agendas while they wrote and translated literary texts. Their works, usually divided into Asian vs. Asian American literature, are here productively read together as pawns in the same ideological struggle, even as they exceed the traditional bounds of Cold War periodization, polarized nation-states, and disciplinary canons. Together, they evince new forms of transnational cultural production that shaped policies of containment, propaganda, resistance, de-colonialism, and racialization. This project thus theorizes translation as its own process of ideology-formation, rather than overlooking it as a mere medium for communication. In the end, examining linguistic exchange in the Cold War redefines what we conceive of as Asian-American, by reconfiguring the outright ideological struggle between Democracy and Communism as an equivocal conflict in the space opened up by translation.

Este trabalho reúne a história das publicações do Quixote no Brasil desde sua primeira edição em 1942 até o ano 2008. São proporcionados resultados de pesquisa sobre as editoras e os tradutores da obra, com maior ênfase nas quatro traduções brasileiras. Disponibiliza-se um estudo comparativo das traduções através do estudo de sete capítulos que apresentam provérbios proferidos em forma de avalanche pelo escudeiro Sancho Pança. No apêndice estão transcritas as entrevistas feitas com os tradutores Eugênio Amado, Sergio Molina e Carlos Nougué. / This study gathers the historiography of Quijote publications in Brazil since its first edition in 1942 until year 2008. Research data from publishing companies and from the translators involved are also provided, with bigger emphasis in the four Brazilian translations. It is offered a comparative study of the translations through the study of six chapters that present proverbs pronounced in spate form by the squire Sancho Panza. In the appendix, the interviews made with the translators Eugênio Amado, Sergio Molina and Carlos Nougué are totally transcribed.

Much research on reading comprehension has been done with native readers in mind; however, this study deals with reading comprehension problems for non-native readers - Vietnamese students of English. The study begins with a description of the interpreters and translators training at the Hanoi Foreign Languages College. Based on the aims and objectives of the training course the study emphasises the importance of teaching reading skills to Vietnamese interpreter and translator students in the first, second and third year. To deal with this problem, the study overviews relevant theoretical issues of reading skills presented in current literature with the purpose of relating these to the realities of teaching reading in a particular context in Vietnam. The study then looks at the main problems of teaching reading skills in the English Interpreter Department at the Hanoi Foreign Languages College. Focus has been placed on the analysis of some difficulties encountered by Vietnamese students reading English in an attempt to answer the pertinent question 'Why is it difficult for Vietnamese students to read English?' Consequently, the study considers ways in which the teaching of reading skills to Vietnamese students of interpreting and translating may be improved. The study is also concerned with the selection and development of materials and then proposes a reading syllabus in order to promote more rapid and efficient progress in the teaching of reading skills. Finally, the writer makes some suggestions about how to improve the situation of teaching reading to her colleagues in the EFL area based on her own teaching experience.

Bibliography: leaves [238]-244 / xi, 244 leaves : ill ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Computer Science, 1985

This study seeks to find what problems and process of interpreting are experienced by professional interpreters in the criminal justice system in South Africa. This study commences with an outlook of the origins and development of types of interpretation and then proceeds with critical review of scholarly literature dealing with interpretation in multilingual courtroom. This study explores the flawed language policy and its impracticality for the Eastern Cape courtrooms. This study undertakes a critical analysis of the current legislation (Bills & Acts).This study explores the extent to which the court automatic review proceedings act as a gatekeeper in ensuring against prejudice that can result in the non-use and use of indigenous languages in the trial courtroom within the Eastern Cape jurisdiction. Furthermore this study focuses on cases taken for review based on mis-understanding, mis-communication and wrongful interpretation that result in irregularities that appear on court records. This study also investigates the primary barriers for the use of African languages as languages of record in the courtroom. An eclectic sociolinguistic approach which encompasses the ethnography of speaking, and discourse analysis (observation in the courtroom) is used as a methodology in this study. Furthermore, the analysis of case-law forms part of the methodology alongside court observation.This study saw court actors from different spheres of the legal profession give their personal views and encounters with regards the art and the state of court interpreting in the province of the Eastern Cape.This state of affairs may have disastrous and far-reaching effects in that incorrect and/or imperfect translation may relate to the very facts that are crucial for the determination of the case. At the end recommendations are given on how to remedy the current state of affairs.

Cette thèse présente des propositions pour les professeurs concernés par la formation des traducteurs de l'arabe en français et vice-versa. Elle suggère un cadre de référence qui fournit une conception globale de la formation des traducteurs dès le plus bas niveau jusqu'au niveau le plus élevé. Le cadre de référence sert de base pour une étude de terrain de la formation des traducteurs à Lyon 2, au Centre Culturel Français de Damas et à l'Université de Damas. / This thesis presents suggestions for teachers involved in the training of translators from Arabic into French and vice versa. It suggests a framework that provides a comprehensive approach to the training of translators from the lowest to the highest level. The framework provides the basis for a field study of the formation of two translators in Lyon, the French Cultural Center in Damascus and Damascus University.

Este trabalho reúne a história das publicações do Quixote no Brasil desde sua primeira edição em 1942 até o ano 2008. São proporcionados resultados de pesquisa sobre as editoras e os tradutores da obra, com maior ênfase nas quatro traduções brasileiras. Disponibiliza-se um estudo comparativo das traduções através do estudo de sete capítulos que apresentam provérbios proferidos em forma de avalanche pelo escudeiro Sancho Pança. No apêndice estão transcritas as entrevistas feitas com os tradutores Eugênio Amado, Sergio Molina e Carlos Nougué. / This study gathers the historiography of Quijote publications in Brazil since its first edition in 1942 until year 2008. Research data from publishing companies and from the translators involved are also provided, with bigger emphasis in the four Brazilian translations. It is offered a comparative study of the translations through the study of six chapters that present proverbs pronounced in spate form by the squire Sancho Panza. In the appendix, the interviews made with the translators Eugênio Amado, Sergio Molina and Carlos Nougué are totally transcribed.

Text summarization is the task of generating a shortened version of the original text where core ideas of the original text are retained. In this work, we focus on query focused summarization. The task is to generate the summary from a set of documents which answers the query. Query focused summarization is a hard task because it expects the summary to be biased towards the query and at the same time important concepts in the original documents must be preserved with high degree of novelty. Graph based ranking algorithms which use biased random surfer model like Topic-sensitive LexRank have been applied to query focused summarization. In our work, we propose look-ahead version of Topic-sensitive LexRank. We incorporate the option of look-ahead in the random walk model and we show that it helps in generating better quality summaries. Next, we consider assessment of machine translation. Assessment of a machine translation output is important for establishing benchmarks for translation quality. An obvious way to assess the quality of machine translation is through the perception of human subjects. Though highly reliable, this approach is not scalable and is time consuming. Hence mechanisms have been devised to automate the assessment process. All such assessment methods are essentially a study of correlations between human translation and the machine translation. In this work, we present a scalable approach to assess the quality of machine translation that borrows features from the study of writing styles, popularly known as Stylometry. Towards this, we quantify the characteristic styles of individual machine translators and compare them with that of human generated text. The translator whose style is closest to human style is deemed to generate a higher quality translation. We show that our approach is scalable and does not require actual source text translations for evaluation.

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