A discussion about translation services, translators, and translation software

I hope it's just a dream. Languages are culture, identity and not just languages (like php or C+).
A common language won't make much easier neither understanding nor communication.

MAVEN NOTE: Couldn't agree with you more on the first part. On the second point, while a common language may never result, we are moving toward the usage of a world-wide pidgin or working language, forzosamente.

Hi Matt.

I think you're dreaming and you might be a little bit depressed ;o)

Translation services are more necessary today than ever, and in my opinion will continue to be increasingly important.

Formal translation was never necessary for informal communication, such as most web-based communication today. And the internet itself has created more demand for formal (and well done) translation.

I can't see how a sort of universal cyber-English or machine translation could revert that in the forseeable future.

MAVEN NOTE: Well spoken. In the short run, the Internet will indeed create a greater demand for formal translation. In the long run, however, I think machines will take over more and more of the work. They will unavoidably become very good at it. As for cyber-English or another lingua franca, the Internet generation is already creating shorthand and lingo (an Internet pidgin) to serve their communication needs.

Matt, they actually have gagets now that allow traslation as we speak in another country.

I am often in another country -- and with several languages I cannot speak or understand. There are too many to learn'em all and I find the machines I use can help me get the gist.

It's been fun to see both sides of this one and so I thought I'd add yet another angle.

I'll look forward to where these ideas go in future inventions:-)

MAVEN NOTE: Ellen, I thank you for the non-translator's, end-user view. As you may have discovered from earlier entries, I consider those gadgets to be treacherous when used as language crutches. But I can see where travelers can benefit from them in informal situations. And they'll only get better.

I agree that translation will eventually go the way of Big Blue. However, language is not like chess. Language is something that is closely intertwined with our definition of what it means to be human.

If a monkey learned to play chess, we would be amazed. If a monkey (somehow!) learned to speak fluently, our concept of humans as distinct would be threatened a bit.

When machines reach the stage of being able to translate flawlessly, doesn't it stand to reason that they will also be able to "converse" on any given topic? After all, if a machine can synthesize a flawless English translation from a source document in Spanish together with many translated documents, how far will it be from synthesizing many existing documents into a "new" English document?

When we reach the point of real machine translation, the status of translation as a career will only be one symptom of a much, much larger issue: the arrival of artificial intelligence.

I guess you are dreaming. Anyway one will have to learn a new language (that common one that you suggest).

Maven Note: Dreaming? I think not. Granted, I have pointed repeatedly that machine translation is thus far not very good. And computer-assisted translation is called "computer-assisted" because it needs a human operator and finisher. Still, will they both not get better and better? Yes, they will. And they'll merge with voice-recognition technology, too. Another commenter suggested that as soon as machines could translate fluidly, they could also speak on their own. Hmmm. As for the new and common language, some "invented" languages are quite easy to learn. The motivation is the Internet, which allows for direct, international communication, but hits the language barrier.

coin2@hybotgmail.com

Hi Matt, I agree with you in principle. MT is already one of the killer app's on the web. If it was not, Google and Yahoo would not be active in the field. The quality of MT will keep on improving and more and more people and industries will find valuable uses for it. This is not to say that MT will replace human translation or human translators. I think that the demand for translation services will increase across the board both for human and machine based services.

Global Translations has its own free translation tool which you can see at http://www.gts-translation.com/freetranslation.asp. We also have a free tool which you can add to your website or blog to enable translation of it to French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian and Catalan. See http://www.gts-translation.com/webtranslation.asp.

And Matt, being called a dreamer is not insulting. I bet that Thomas Edison was often called a dreamer, as were Bell, the Wright Bros, Henry Ford and many others that have shaped the world as we know it. Keep dreaming and thanks.

You must be dreaming. Or perhaps we are entering a new technological age, fit for robots, cyberpeople and not humans.

Up until now, the single most common motivation for translators and translation companies to purchase translation support software has been client demand. For the client, maintaining a greater degree of control over the translation process, and building a client-side translation memory equates to reduced costs and faster turnaround. A client-maintained translation memory also allows the client to ensure a greater degree of consistency in translations. The problem, however is that most translation support software up until now have been designed mainly for the client's use, and given little, if any consideration to the needs of the translator. Original designs and later updates tend to focus mainly on translation memory management and features useful for the client, but rarely show any great increase in productivity for the person actually producing the translation, the translator. I think electronic programs are the future of translation, on memory and translation support tools, allowing faster, more accurate and consistent translations, increasing the productivity and efficiency of the translator.
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