FEASIBILITY DEMONSTRATION OF A FORM-BASED VISUAL INTELLIGENT SPANISH TRANSLATION ASSISTANT (FORM VISTA)

WITH THE SIGNING OF THE NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT (NAFTA) AND OTHER POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL INITIATIVES, LANAGUAGE TRANSPARENCY WILL BE KEY TO ACHIEVING A PRODUCTIVE INTERRELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENTERPRISES FROM ANGLO AND HISPANIC COMMUNITIES. TOOLS BASED ON MODERN TECHNOLOGY WILL BE CRITICAL TO SUCCESSFULLY ACHIEVING INFORMATION TRANSPARENCY IN A BILINGUAL ENVIRONMENT. SCT'S FORM-BASED VISUAL INTELLIGENT SPANISH TRANSLATION ASSISTANT (FORM VISTA) CAN BE SUCH A TOOL FOR MAINTAINING EFFICIENCY, PRODUCTIVITY AND COMPETITIVENESS OF THESE ENTERPRISES IN A GLOBAL ECONOMY. THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY BASIS FOR FORM VISTA IS DERIVED FROM NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING WORK PERFORMED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE DURING THE 1980S. SCT WILL BE USING THE LATEST DATABASE MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY, OBJECT-ORIENTED SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENTS AND FORMS-BASED COMPUTATIONAL TECHNIQUES. THE TARGET OPERATING ENVIRONMENT FOR PHASE I WILL BE A SCANNER EQUIPPED, PC COMPATIBLE MICROCOMPUTER RUNNING WINDOWS. SCT'S FORM VISTA WILL NOT ONLY TRANSLATE A BUSINESS, LEGAL OR ADMINISTRATIVE FORM GENERATED IN LATIN AMERICAN SPANISH, BUT WILL PRODUCE A COMPLETE ELECTRONIC RENDITION OF THE FORM USING STANDARD BUSINESS OR LEGAL ENGLISH, WHICH CAN BE PRINTED AND IMPORTED INTO A WIDE RANGE OF SECONDARY APPLICATIONS SUCH AS WORD PROCESSORS, FAX MANAGERS, SPREADSHEETS AND DATABASES. SIGNIFICANTY, SCT;S CONCEPT OF LANGUAGE TRANSPARENCY WILL PROVIDE THE FACILITY TO MOVE INFORMATION IN EITHER LANGUAGE DIRECTION.