An Automatic Translator from the Florentine Vernacular Language to Modern Italian Language

Luca Pavan

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijla.20190705.16

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An Automatic Translator from the Florentine Vernacular Language to Modern Italian Language

Luca Pavan

Published in International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 7, Issue 5)

Received: 12 September 2019 Accepted: 28 September 2019 Published: 11 October 2019

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Abstract

Along several centuries hundreds of books were written in Florentine vernacular language. The latter, however, is not easy to understand even for native Italian speakers. In 2016-2018 the author created a PC software which provides the possibility to automatically translate entire texts from Florentine vernacular language, as it is found in the literature, into modern Italian language. In this article the author intends to describe the phases of the realization of this software as well as the results of its use. The software in its dictionary currently includes about 25 000 definitions of the vernacular language (where “definitions” mean the presence of terms or phrases in vernacular literature that are replaced in the respective terms and phrases of modern Italian). Numerous studies over the years have demonstrated the limitations of machine translation, often using the error rates of translation software. Even translators that use complex algorithms created with statistical methods frequently end up generating unreliable results, sometimes questioning the very usefulness of translation software. However, if used with the necessary precautions, automatic translators can simplify a job or can help in understanding of texts even for those who know little or no foreign languages. The translator described in this article, although not immune from the defects of machine translation, can be useful both to scholars of Italian literature of past centuries, as well as to those who, while knowing Italian, want to approach texts that cannot be fully understood without the support of footnotes.

Published in	International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 7, Issue 5)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijla.20190705.16
Page(s)	126-131
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Italian Literature, Florentine Vernacular Language, Machine Translation, Translation

References

[1]	M. W. Madsen. The Limits of Machine Translation. Copenhagen: Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen, 2009.
[2]	D. Słapek. Lessicografia computazionale e traduzione automatica. Firenze: Cesati, 2016.
[3]	T. Poibeau. Machine Translation. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2017.
[4]	W. J. Hutchins, “Machine translation over fifty years”, Histoire, Epistemologie, Langage, vol. XXII, 1, pp. 7-31, 2001.
[5]	P. Koehn. Neural Machine Translation. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University, 2015.
[6]	F. Tamburini, “La linguistica computazionale: un crogiolo di esperienze multidisciplinari. URL http://www.griseldaonline.it/informatica/la-linguistica-computazionale-tamburini.html (Accessed: 3/12/2018).
[7]	E. Cresti and A. Panunzi. Introduzione ai corpora dell’italiano. Bologna: Il Mulino, 2013.
[8]	SDT - Sentimento del tempo. Petrarchismo e antipetrarchismo nella lirica del Novecento italiano. Firenze: Leo S. Olschki, 2005.
[9]	PVG – F. Petrarca. Canzoniere. P. Vecchi Galli (ed.), Milano: Rizzoli, 2012.
[10]	VB – G. Boccaccio. Decameron, V. Branca (ed.). Torino: Einaudi, 1980.
[11]	PMP - Il Petrarchismo. Un modello di poesia per l’Europa. vol. 1. Roma: Bulzoni, 2006.
[12]	VDC – Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca, Venezia: Per Combi, e La Noù, 1686.
[13]	GB – F. Petrarca. Trionfi. G. Bezzola (ed.), Milano: Rizzoli, 1984.
[14]	T. G. Da Pofi. La grammatica volgare trovata ne le opere di Dante, di Francesco Petrarca, di Giovanni Boccaccio, di Cino da Pistoia, di Guittone d’Arezzo. Napoli: Giovanni Sultzbach, 1589.
[15]	RB – F. Petrarca. Canzoniere, R. Bettarini (ed.). Torino: Einaudi, 2005.
[16]	M. C. Cabani. Fra omaggio e parodia. Petrarca e petrarchismo nel «Furioso». Pisa: Nistri – Lischi, 1990.
[17]	TDP – I territori del petrarchismo. Frontiere e sconfinamenti. Roma: Bulzoni, 2005.

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APA Style

Luca Pavan. (2019). An Automatic Translator from the Florentine Vernacular Language to Modern Italian Language. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 7(5), 126-131. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20190705.16

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Luca Pavan. An Automatic Translator from the Florentine Vernacular Language to Modern Italian Language. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2019, 7(5), 126-131. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20190705.16

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Luca Pavan. An Automatic Translator from the Florentine Vernacular Language to Modern Italian Language. Int J Lit Arts. 2019;7(5):126-131. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20190705.16

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@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20190705.16,
  author = {Luca Pavan},
  title = {An Automatic Translator from the Florentine Vernacular Language to Modern Italian Language},
  journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
  volume = {7},
  number = {5},
  pages = {126-131},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20190705.16},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20190705.16},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20190705.16},
  abstract = {Along several centuries hundreds of books were written in Florentine vernacular language. The latter, however, is not easy to understand even for native Italian speakers. In 2016-2018 the author created a PC software which provides the possibility to automatically translate entire texts from Florentine vernacular language, as it is found in the literature, into modern Italian language. In this article the author intends to describe the phases of the realization of this software as well as the results of its use. The software in its dictionary currently includes about 25 000 definitions of the vernacular language (where “definitions” mean the presence of terms or phrases in vernacular literature that are replaced in the respective terms and phrases of modern Italian). Numerous studies over the years have demonstrated the limitations of machine translation, often using the error rates of translation software. Even translators that use complex algorithms created with statistical methods frequently end up generating unreliable results, sometimes questioning the very usefulness of translation software. However, if used with the necessary precautions, automatic translators can simplify a job or can help in understanding of texts even for those who know little or no foreign languages. The translator described in this article, although not immune from the defects of machine translation, can be useful both to scholars of Italian literature of past centuries, as well as to those who, while knowing Italian, want to approach texts that cannot be fully understood without the support of footnotes.},
 year = {2019}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - An Automatic Translator from the Florentine Vernacular Language to Modern Italian Language
AU  - Luca Pavan
Y1  - 2019/10/11
PY  - 2019
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20190705.16
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijla.20190705.16
T2  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JF  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JO  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
SP  - 126
EP  - 131
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2331-057X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20190705.16
AB  - Along several centuries hundreds of books were written in Florentine vernacular language. The latter, however, is not easy to understand even for native Italian speakers. In 2016-2018 the author created a PC software which provides the possibility to automatically translate entire texts from Florentine vernacular language, as it is found in the literature, into modern Italian language. In this article the author intends to describe the phases of the realization of this software as well as the results of its use. The software in its dictionary currently includes about 25 000 definitions of the vernacular language (where “definitions” mean the presence of terms or phrases in vernacular literature that are replaced in the respective terms and phrases of modern Italian). Numerous studies over the years have demonstrated the limitations of machine translation, often using the error rates of translation software. Even translators that use complex algorithms created with statistical methods frequently end up generating unreliable results, sometimes questioning the very usefulness of translation software. However, if used with the necessary precautions, automatic translators can simplify a job or can help in understanding of texts even for those who know little or no foreign languages. The translator described in this article, although not immune from the defects of machine translation, can be useful both to scholars of Italian literature of past centuries, as well as to those who, while knowing Italian, want to approach texts that cannot be fully understood without the support of footnotes.
VL  - 7
IS  - 5
ER  -

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Author Information

Luca Pavan

Institute of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Philology, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania

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Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Luca Pavan. (2019). An Automatic Translator from the Florentine Vernacular Language to Modern Italian Language. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 7(5), 126-131. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20190705.16

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ACS Style

Luca Pavan. An Automatic Translator from the Florentine Vernacular Language to Modern Italian Language. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2019, 7(5), 126-131. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20190705.16

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Luca Pavan. An Automatic Translator from the Florentine Vernacular Language to Modern Italian Language. Int J Lit Arts. 2019;7(5):126-131. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20190705.16

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@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20190705.16,
  author = {Luca Pavan},
  title = {An Automatic Translator from the Florentine Vernacular Language to Modern Italian Language},
  journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
  volume = {7},
  number = {5},
  pages = {126-131},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20190705.16},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20190705.16},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20190705.16},
  abstract = {Along several centuries hundreds of books were written in Florentine vernacular language. The latter, however, is not easy to understand even for native Italian speakers. In 2016-2018 the author created a PC software which provides the possibility to automatically translate entire texts from Florentine vernacular language, as it is found in the literature, into modern Italian language. In this article the author intends to describe the phases of the realization of this software as well as the results of its use. The software in its dictionary currently includes about 25 000 definitions of the vernacular language (where “definitions” mean the presence of terms or phrases in vernacular literature that are replaced in the respective terms and phrases of modern Italian). Numerous studies over the years have demonstrated the limitations of machine translation, often using the error rates of translation software. Even translators that use complex algorithms created with statistical methods frequently end up generating unreliable results, sometimes questioning the very usefulness of translation software. However, if used with the necessary precautions, automatic translators can simplify a job or can help in understanding of texts even for those who know little or no foreign languages. The translator described in this article, although not immune from the defects of machine translation, can be useful both to scholars of Italian literature of past centuries, as well as to those who, while knowing Italian, want to approach texts that cannot be fully understood without the support of footnotes.},
 year = {2019}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - An Automatic Translator from the Florentine Vernacular Language to Modern Italian Language
AU  - Luca Pavan
Y1  - 2019/10/11
PY  - 2019
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20190705.16
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijla.20190705.16
T2  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JF  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JO  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
SP  - 126
EP  - 131
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2331-057X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20190705.16
AB  - Along several centuries hundreds of books were written in Florentine vernacular language. The latter, however, is not easy to understand even for native Italian speakers. In 2016-2018 the author created a PC software which provides the possibility to automatically translate entire texts from Florentine vernacular language, as it is found in the literature, into modern Italian language. In this article the author intends to describe the phases of the realization of this software as well as the results of its use. The software in its dictionary currently includes about 25 000 definitions of the vernacular language (where “definitions” mean the presence of terms or phrases in vernacular literature that are replaced in the respective terms and phrases of modern Italian). Numerous studies over the years have demonstrated the limitations of machine translation, often using the error rates of translation software. Even translators that use complex algorithms created with statistical methods frequently end up generating unreliable results, sometimes questioning the very usefulness of translation software. However, if used with the necessary precautions, automatic translators can simplify a job or can help in understanding of texts even for those who know little or no foreign languages. The translator described in this article, although not immune from the defects of machine translation, can be useful both to scholars of Italian literature of past centuries, as well as to those who, while knowing Italian, want to approach texts that cannot be fully understood without the support of footnotes.
VL  - 7
IS  - 5
ER  -

Copy | Download