Translation done by language learners? I don’t think so...

/picture: New Yourk Times/

“Translation can be done by anyone” - this idea appears to have become a general misconception which has been ravaging the translation profession and exasperating its representatives. The world has already admitted that translation cannot be done by machines. Now, Luis von Ahn, the founder of Duolingo, thinks that language learners would make excellent translators. How wrong Mr. von Ahn!

It is tempting to think that if you know a foreign language, you are able to translate. Why not? If you know what a word or a sentence means in a foreign language, you can easily convert it into your mother tongue. You can for example start translating correspondence at a simple level – saying what the author of a letter meant. Straightforward as it sounds, even a simple letter can pose a struggle, as there’s the tone, feelings and unexpressed intentions that need to be taken into consideration, meaning that the translator needs to read between the lines and skilfully render its sense in another language, really anyone can do it?

Another misconception about translation is that it is just a matter of finding words in a dictionary. Well, in that case everyone can flip pages of a lexicon and have a random pick from a word list. How would a language learner know which word to choose if three or more have a very similar meaning? Only professional translators can pick up on these subtleties and render them in the target text. The choice of words in translation is not determined solely by their meaning but equally by the register, tone, context and cultural background for that matter. Surely, studying a foreign language is not enough, unless it is supplied by pragmatics and applied linguistics.

Now, in the light of these facts, imagine that an army of language learners will translate the web, i.e. texts that you will later on read, gain knowledge from and sometimes even rely on. Inaccurate translation, poor language and lack of cohesion will definitely make the websites content deteriorate linguistically. And since we are exposed to the language of the web on a daily basis, it will influence the way we communicate.

The philosophy behind Duolingo was explained in the New York Times some time ago. The author of the article says that “ For online content providers wanting translations, Duolingo offers, for now at least, free labor.” – for now? Does it mean that in the future, companies will have to pay even for translation done, with all respect, by people who can’t do it?

Now consider this: “Because it is still in its early days, there are no independent assessments available of how accurate or efficient it can be.” No one will assess accuracy and efficiency...hmmm Essentially, you’ll be buying a pig in a poke. And I mean buying because: “People and companies can submit their content to Duolingo for translation, a service the company may begin to charge for.”  Seriously, would you agree to be operated on by a 1^st year student of medicine and pay for it?

Mr von Ahn – the founder of Duolingo explains its philosophy: “You’re learning a language and at the same time, helping to translate the Web. You’re learning by doing.” Right, great idea but don’t make other people rely on what the students of Duolingo have learnt and more importantly, don’t charge anyone for that.

He also compared this idea to using machine translation, “Google Translate, by contrast, relies entirely on machines to do the work — and while it usually captures the essence of a piece of text, it can sometimes produce bewildering passages.” Well, on this one, I couldn’t agree with you more Mr von Ahn.

However, I am more than worried by reading this: “Mr. von Ahn is thinking of taking on Wikipedia as his first translation project.” – please don’t fiddle with Wikipedia! Too many people rely on it as a source of knowledge and reference source.

“For Duolingo to work well, it needs a huge crowd of learners. The more proficient they become, the greater the chances of accurate translations.” First of all, getting an accurate translation is not winning a lottery ticket; no one should speak of it in ‘chances’ terms. Secondly, by saying that translations will probably get better as the learners progress, Mr von Ahn actually said that at the beginning – when the learners are just beginners - the translations they’ll produce will be even poorer. You couldn’t ask for a better advert, could you?

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 [E1]http://nyti.ms/NQk4jK

New website! www.transliteria.co.uk

It was high time to make some changes into the old website which (let’s be honest) wasn’t anything to be proud of:  simple Wordpress  template, plain background, nothing much going on there. It just needed that oomph to look more professional and elegant.

The .com ending in the domain had to be substituted by co.uk to indicate that I am based in the United Kingdom.

I knew that I am not much of a web designer, and that I can be creative when it comes to language rather than graphics. Moreover, when translation projects keep coming in there is never enough time to do anything else. This is why I decided to find a professional for the job. After receiving a few quotes I chose a freelance web designer,  who did a brilliant job. I simply loved his approach: he did not slavishly follow my suggestions just to get it done, but he was coming up with his own ideas, which more often than not turned out to be better solutions.

 And here it is! My new website! Revamped, restructured and rewritten. Another great milestone in my business. The step up has been made, time to prepare for another...

It's More Than Words: “I understand what they’re saying, but I don’t know what they mean”

Heard the one about the Bangkok dry cleaners who invited their foreign clients to “drop your trousers here and have a good time”? Or the Japanese hotel who invited guests to take advantage of the chambermaid? A Swiss restaurant was proud that their wines “leave you nothing to hope for”.  A Black Sea resort guided visitors to the beach and assured them that they were welcome to it.
These are translation gaffes apparently gathered from around the world by airline staff, and whether they’re true or not, do show that translation is a minefield.
To be sure, there’s nothing wrong with any of the grammar or the choice of the words. And the sentiments are very well-meaning. But these examples make a serious point. However painstakingly put together, they do not mean what the writer wanted them to mean, and the result, at least to English speakers, can be hilarious. Of course, in these cases, there’s no harm done. But General Motors executives were not laughing when they had to re-brand their “Nova” car in Mexico. In Spanish, “no va” means “ doesn’t work”.  At Heathrow, an operative threw the panic lever when he discovered a crate marked “bombas”, which in Portuguese can mean two things – bombs or pumps. The fact that airline terrorists aren’t usually so helpful in labelling their merchandise didn’t occur to anyone.
Communication Competence
Such mistakes can cost fortunes and illustrate the requisite for any company operating internationally, which these days can be almost any company, to have what can be termed communication competence. That is, the ability to recognize the underlay of meaning in any exchange – written or spoken. Within our own language, to extract precisely the meaning of any stretch of language can be difficult enough. How many times have you struggled with a device whose instruction leaflet, although in English, is unintelligible?
But taken to an international dimension in commerce, you have to be even more diligent, more aware of the linguistic setting. It doesn't matter what the transaction, an error can be a costly one. From the simplest transaction of obtaining money on holiday, through to marketing a new product, or to negotiating the intricacies of a cross-border contract, you can’t take anything for granted.
The Role of the Translator
So what about the role of the translator? In literature the translator can bring a creative touch to the material, which is almost as vital as the author’s.  But in the corporate world, the translator can often be seen as an academic inconvenience, unskilled, even, in the ways of trade. And now automatic translation programs such as Google Translate and Yahoo! Babel Fish, which, to be fair, can be invaluable tools, often provide the cost-cutters with an excuse to dispense with the human translator altogether.
But an able native speaking translator can help a company to avoid commercial disasters, especially when it comes to slang, colloquialisms, abbreviations and other linguistic subtleties. The translator’s brief must be to preserve meaning and nuance to translated content, for this can ensure commercial success.
The Power of Language
Take the law.  Legal power, it is said, resides solely in language. What about the growing numbers of foreign nationals, legally resident or not, who need recourse to the law? In many cases, there simply aren’t enough translators to go round for minority languages, so dialogue within the tribunal or the courtroom can be blocked. Even where translation services are readily available, a person’s life consequences can depend on a fair, accurate rendition of the facts.  The translator wields significant power within the law.
Of course, English speakers have it easy. The world has never seen a language so widespread, so strategically located around the globe, with American English at the core of the explosion.  Travelling around the world you’ll witness Russians speaking to Koreans, Chinese negotiating in Brazil, Spaniards writing to Finns, all in English.
It can be argued that this makes English native speakers lazy. And it’s a fact that the demand for foreign language learning by native English speakers is shamefully low.  In some cultures, a family will have, as well as their GP or dentist, their English teacher. But language is fixed by need – and right now English native speakers don’t feel the need to learn a foreign language.
The fact is that if we were more interested in foreign languages, we’d become more interested, and more proficient, in foreign cultures.

by Imogen Reed imogen@linegray.com