New SAIC launch targets $31B translation market

Science Applications International Corp. has created a linguistics technology that puts more machine translation power into human translators hands.

The company calls the technology a hybrid machine translation solution, and SAIC claims it is a first.

SAIC’s machine translation technology translates with context, reducing the need for human translation, which in turn lowers costs and frees human translators to do more high-end work, the company said.

“We believe that our new technology offering will redefine the language services industry by offering a robust technology tool that gives businesses more control, while allowing the providers to work more efficiently,” said Jonathan Litchman, an SAIC vice president, in a news release. “It’s a win for global enterprises, language service providers, and professional linguists and translators.”

The new solution allows SAIC to more aggressively target the language services market, which research firm Common Sense Advisory Inc. estimates to reach $31.4 billion in 2011 and which is growing at 7.4 percent annually.

SAIC has made three acquisitions of companies that develop human language technologies: AppTek Partners, Applications Technology and MediaMind LLC.