Refining a search to obtain relevant results

Example: Search for a cheese cake recipe whose ingredients include Philadelphia cream cheese

In Altavista's Simple Search: www.altavista.com

In Altavista's Advanced Search: http://www.altavista.com/sites/search/adv

By using Boolean operators (AND, OR, NEAR, AND NOT) and fields (title:, url: etc.) we can create more restrictive searches and obtain fewer, more relevant results.

Note: "NEAR" can be very useful to refine a search: it is unique to Altavista and a few other search engines; it is not available in Google.

The same refining techniques are exploited in the WWW Search Interfaces for Translators at www.multilingual.ch.

FINDING GLOSSARIES AND PARALLEL TEXTS ON THE INTERNET

Example: What are "spokes" relating to the rings around Saturn, and how do you translate the term into German?
Definition in general dictionary: "spoke=each of the bars or rods radiating from the hub of a wheel to support the rim".

Finding a glossary with a definition of "spokes" relating to Saturn's rings

Search criteria (using Altavista glossary search interface at www.multilingual.ch):

     spoke* AND saturn

     NOTE:

• "AND saturn": to avoid bicycle glossaries or glossaries containing the past tense of the verb "to speak";
• Letter wildcard "*" to cover singular and plural (available in Altavista but not Google).

     (spoke* NEAR saturn)

     NOTE:

• "NEAR" is more restrictive than "AND" (fewer and more relevant results);
• "NEAR" because we would expect to find our term close to the term "Saturn";
• lower case for "saturn" to find all combinations of upper & lower case (Saturn, SATURN, saturn etc.);
• use brackets with "NEAR".

Technique: Using Altavista glossary search technique no. 1 with criteria: (spoke* NEAR saturn)

Finds glossaries:

Glossary of Astronomical Terms
http://physics.hallym.ac.kr/education/Peoria/glos.html
(if unavailable, go to Google's cache) (copy)

Referenced Glossary for Planetary Geology for Teachers
http://wapi.isu.edu/Geo_Pgt/PGFT_home/PGfTHome_pages/
referenced_glossary_for_planetar.htm  (copy)

Extract:

Spokes (Saturn) Faint, dark areas perpendicular to the rings that seem to grow and shrink. Little is known about the spokes, but they may be charged particles that float above the actual ring plain (Planetary Geology for Teachers, 1999).

Finding parallel texts to help us translate "spokes" into German

Search criteria (using Google parallel text search interface at www.multilingual.ch): spoke OR spokes saturn

Techniques: Using Google  EN-DE parallel text search technique no. 6: 746 results

Finds for example:

Planetscapes (English page):
http://www.planetscapes.com/solar/eng/saturn.htm
(alternative example: Voyager Saturn Science Summary: http://www.solarviews.com/eng/vgrsat.htm)

See further down: link to animation offering a view of the spokes in Saturn's rings in action ("Saturn's spokes in rings"):
http://www.planetscapes.com/solar/cap/sat/spoke.htm : spoke.avi

Extract:

Radial, spoke-like features in the broad B-ring were also found by the Voyagers. The features are believed to be composed of fine, dust-size particles. The spokes were observed to form and dissipate in the time-lapse images taken by the Voyagers. While electrostatic charging may create spokes by levitating dust particles above the ring, the exact cause of the formation of the spokes is not well understood.

"eng" in the URL suggests other languages. Go to Planetscapes home page (www.planetscapes.com) to discover which other languages are available on the website.

Find: "germ"

Open new browser window (CTRL-N), same address as before (English parallel text page), replace "eng" with "germ" to get:

Planetscapes (German page):
http://www.planetscapes.com/solar/germ/saturn.htm  (copy)

Extract:

Von den beiden Voyager-Sonden wurden auch radiale, speichenartige Erscheinungen im breiten B-Ring gefunden. Man glaubt, die Erscheinungen bestehen aus feinen staubgroßen Partikeln. Die Speichen wurden dabei beobachtet, wie sie auf den zeitverschobenen Bildern der Voyagers entstehen und wieder vergehen. Während elektrostatische Aufladungen die Speichen durch Schweben von Staubpartikeln oberhalb der Ringe entstehen lassen dürften, ist der exakte Grund für die Bildung der Speichen nicht genau bekannt.

To find the French translation:

Go to Planetscapes home page to discover what abbreviation is used for French.

Find: "french" : http://www.planetscapes.com/solar/french/saturn.htm (copy)

(same as above)

Exercise 1: Go to www.multilingual.ch and use the WWW Search Interfaces for Translators to find a glossary containing a definition of the German medical term "Gonarthrose".
(Use the Google glossary search interface and remember to set the language to German first).

Exercise 2: Find out what the English abbreviation "MTBF" stands for using the WWW Search Interfaces for Translators (glossary or abbreviation search interface).