The Use of Automatic Translation in the Court System of the Basque Autonomous Community
Xabier Arauzo, Xabier Balerdi, Aitor Gorostiza, Carmen Laiz, Xabier Yurramendi

Translation: Kristin Addis

Abstract

In this article, the author explains how automatic translation has been integrated into the management program used in the Court System of the Basque Autonomous Community so that documents are produced in Basque as well as in Spanish. The first section explains how documents are created in the Courts, and how these documents are written in the two official languages. The author reviews all the possibilities offered by traditional automatic translation programs, but also discusses the limitations and problems that arise with such programs when they are used, as well as the solutions that have been found. The author ends with the systematization of the management of the automatic translation program that is being carried out in the Department of Justice; that is, the integration within a single translation memory management program of automatic translation programs and of the work of translators. We are reminded as well that none of this would have been possible without the invaluable collaboration of the Information Technology Service of the Department of Justice of the Basque Government.