Machine Translation helps to support Georgia in dealing with COVID-19 pandemic

From September 27 to October 2, 2020, representatives from Tilde and Latvian Standard (LVS) went to Tbilisi, Georgia to visit the National Agency for Standards and Metrology of Georgia (GeoSTM) to implement the grant project “Standardization as a support tool for rapid response measures to the emergency situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in Georgia”.

One of the goals of the project is to create a machine translation platform to provide prompt translation into Georgian of personal protective equipment (masks, medical gowns, gloves) standards and other actual standards demanded by Georgian entrepreneurs and the general public.As part of the working visit, a workshop was organized for GeoSTM employees, which was also attended by representatives of the Arnold Chikobava Institute of Linguistics. Artūrs Vasiļevskis, Head of the Machine Translation Department at Tilde, and Ruben Martinez, Customer Relations Expert, introduced the participants to the most modern translation solutions, including the machine translation platform, as well as demonstrated its practical application.

The visit also included the organization of a public seminar Future of Translation: AI-Powered Language Technologies, which took place online. A. Vasiļevskis and R. Martinez presented Tilde’s language technology solutions, which have achieved significant success and recognition around the world, as well as practical examples on how artificial intelligence (AI) and neural machine translation technologies help to overcome language barriers and provide invaluable support for all industries, including business and public administration. Further, representatives of Tilde and LVS had a meeting with the management and experts of the Georgian State Language Department. During the meeting, the possible co-operation between Latvia and Georgia on the issues of language development and implementation of technological solutions was discussed. An agreement was reached on the mutual exchange of information and the implementation of cooperation in the near future.

“This project provides an opportunity to support Georgian partners in providing quality language technology solutions in the digital environment,” said Vasiļevskis, “The implementation of artificial intelligence-based technologies in GeoSTM processes opens up opportunities to use it as a proof of concept for the development of a unified Georgian language platform in the future.”GeoSTM employees were also introduced to the e-learning platform for training on standards in the virtual environment created by LVS experts, which is based on the world’s most popular free open source solution Moodle. LVS shared its experience in using the platform, as well as demonstrated its possibilities and advantages. During the implementation of the project, a pilot program of the training course will be prepared for publication on the platform, as well as GeoSTM employees will be trained in the use of the platform.

The overall purpose of the project is to support the strengthening of the capacity of the Georgian standardization system to provide publicly and operationally available information on requirements, solutions and best practices based on international and European health care product standards for the production of personal protective equipment, as well as business continuity and sustainability.

The project has received funding from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia development cooperation budget in 2020.