Specification and Evaluation of Machine Translation Toy Systems - Criteria for laboratory assignments –

Implementation of machine translation “toy” systems is a good practical exercise especially for computer science students. Our aim in a series of courses on MT in 2002 was to make students familiar both with typical problems of Machine Translation in particular and natural language processing in general, as well as with software implementation. In order to simulate a software implementation process as realistic as possible, we introduced more than 20 evaluation criteria to be filled by the students when they evaluated their own products. The criteria go far beyond such “toy” systems, but they should demonstrate the students, what a real software evaluation means, and which are the particularities of Machine Translation Evaluation.