Memory Reviving, Continuing Learning and Beyond: Evaluation of Pre-trained Encoders and Decoders for Multimodal Machine Translation

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Yu, Zhuang, Sun, Shiliang, Zhao, Jing, Song, Tengfei, Yang, Hao
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Yu, Zhuang
Sun, Shiliang
Zhao, Jing
Song, Tengfei
Yang, Hao
author_facet Yu, Zhuang
Sun, Shiliang
Zhao, Jing
Song, Tengfei
Yang, Hao
contents Multimodal Machine Translation (MMT) aims to improve translation quality by leveraging auxiliary modalities such as images alongside textual input. While recent advances in large-scale pre-trained language and vision models have significantly benefited unimodal natural language processing tasks, their effectiveness and role in MMT remain underexplored. In this work, we conduct a systematic study on the impact of pre-trained encoders and decoders in multimodal translation models. Specifically, we analyze how different training strategies, from training from scratch to using pre-trained and partially frozen components, affect translation performance under a unified MMT framework. Experiments are carried out on the Multi30K and CoMMuTE dataset across English-German and English-French translation tasks. Our results reveal that pre-training plays a crucial yet asymmetrical role in multimodal settings: pre-trained decoders consistently yield more fluent and accurate outputs, while pre-trained encoders show varied effects depending on the quality of visual-text alignment. Furthermore, we provide insights into the interplay between modality fusion and pre-trained components, offering guidance for future architecture design in multimodal translation systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_18012
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Memory Reviving, Continuing Learning and Beyond: Evaluation of Pre-trained Encoders and Decoders for Multimodal Machine Translation
Yu, Zhuang
Sun, Shiliang
Zhao, Jing
Song, Tengfei
Yang, Hao
Computation and Language
Artificial Intelligence
Multimodal Machine Translation (MMT) aims to improve translation quality by leveraging auxiliary modalities such as images alongside textual input. While recent advances in large-scale pre-trained language and vision models have significantly benefited unimodal natural language processing tasks, their effectiveness and role in MMT remain underexplored. In this work, we conduct a systematic study on the impact of pre-trained encoders and decoders in multimodal translation models. Specifically, we analyze how different training strategies, from training from scratch to using pre-trained and partially frozen components, affect translation performance under a unified MMT framework. Experiments are carried out on the Multi30K and CoMMuTE dataset across English-German and English-French translation tasks. Our results reveal that pre-training plays a crucial yet asymmetrical role in multimodal settings: pre-trained decoders consistently yield more fluent and accurate outputs, while pre-trained encoders show varied effects depending on the quality of visual-text alignment. Furthermore, we provide insights into the interplay between modality fusion and pre-trained components, offering guidance for future architecture design in multimodal translation systems.
title Memory Reviving, Continuing Learning and Beyond: Evaluation of Pre-trained Encoders and Decoders for Multimodal Machine Translation
topic Computation and Language
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.18012