Live Search Writing Assistance : Machine Translation Tool Bundled with Live Search
Microsoft bundled a new writing assistance tool in their Live Search.ESL (English as a Second Language) Assistant currently noting more then a prototype and ESL currently focusing on limited number of mistakes
The ESL Assistant uses statistical models to suggest corrections for a number of common learner error patterns that are not currently supported by the proofing tools in Microsoft Office products. The service also tries to help users judge whether a suggestion truly represents an improvement by showing real-life examples returned by a web search
ESL Assistant deploys advanced statistical models in order to address and correct uncharacteristic mistakes. At the same time, the tool is intimately connected to Live Search, and each suggestion is also performed as a search in order to offer the user conclusive examples after the error is corrected. Additionally, Microsoft is intent on offering the tool as an add-in for the Office 2007 System, in an effort to make up for the limitations of the grammar checker.
In its present form, the service is unapologetically experimental (‘pre-alpha,’ despite the beta label). The range of error types that it corrects is still small, it does not capture everything, and it sometimes gets things wrong. Work to improve error detection accuracy and coverage is ongoing; we expect to roll out new modules and updates as the service matures. The present interface certainly does not represent what one would expect to see if this service were some day fully integrated into a shipping product. With the current prototype, we will be gathering data about where the service succeeds and where it does not, to help inform future directions of development
Some features of the ESL Assistant service include:
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Corrections for common ESL error types found in non-native English writing but not supported in by the Office grammar checker. More information about the specific kinds of error patterns that are supported can be found in the ESL Assistant Help (FAQ) page and on the team website.
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Implementation as a web service, which permits the deployment of huge statistical models to identify possible error locations.
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Automatically generated searches to assist users by retrieving real-world contextual examples from the web.
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A downloadable add-in for Outlook 2007, allowing mail text to besent to the ESL Assistant web site for checking.
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An inline thesaurus feature that proposes alternative words appropriate to the context.
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An initial pass though Microsoft Office grammar and spell checking, that can be turned on by a checkbox, to ensure more comprehensive error coverage.
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Localized pages for users in the Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Russian markets (or if you set your default language in IE to one of these).
