The KANT Perspective: A Critique of Pure Transfer (and Pure Interlingua, Pure Statistics, ...)

There is a strong tendency among MT researchers to emphasize paradigmatic differences in MT approaches. This often leads to energetic criticism of competing systems, but obscures the fact that many techniques developed within a particular paradigm can improve the quality of MT systems in general. In this paper we show how practical MT development must move beyond dogmatic dismissal of differing approaches to an integrated, rational approach to MT which combines the best that each paradigm has to offer. We then discuss KANT, a practical MT system which makes use of techniques from the interlingua, statistical, and transfer-based MT paradigms to produce accurate, high-quality translation.