Google Translate vs. post-editing - is it the future already?
TransAfrique United Kingdom Local time: 20:58 Member (2011) Japanese to English
My thoughts on the subject
Dec 2, 2011
Taking a picture with the camera key
1 Activate the camera.
2 If the camera is not selected, tap X.
3 Press the camera key halfway down to use auto focus.
4 When the focus frame is green and the focus frame are green, press the camera key fully.
The picture is automatically stored in the memory.
As a user I'd need more clarification before I could use this manual. "Camera key(?) halfway down?" "Focus frame is green and focus frame are green?" Apart from "The picture is automatically stored in the memory," pretty much every step will have to be rewritten. I'm with those who say it would be faster to the correct thing out to begin with.
To add my $0.02 to this debate, GT is utterly useless for my language pair. It can produce readable output for other languages but does it really save that much time compared to just typing it yourself?
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Paula Borges Brazil Local time: 16:58 Member (2010) English to Portuguese + ...
My point of view
Dec 3, 2011
I made the mistake of accepting a post-editing job once. My client said all I had to do was correct words that hadn't been translated correctly. It was an article published by a magazine about fashion. So you can imagine, it was a horrible experience. Upon delivery, the client complained the text wasn't as well written as my usual translations. That's when I understood his original intent by sending the originals + MT was to have me translate the entire text paying much less for it. That's what I eventually did, and it was way less time consuming than trying to edit that horrible "text".
If used as an aid, perhaps it wouldn't be so harmful but I've only seen been used by clients as an excuse to try and pay much less - which is non-negotiable since they think there is barely any work to be done in post-editing!
To make things worse, usually their databases do not differentiate between European and Brazilian Portuguese, which results in a strange, hybrid mess. Some websites attempt to advertise on social networks with MT (even if slightly edited) and end up damaging their images by becoming a joke. As most of my work is related to marketing, I have to advise my clients against it, since a badly translated text that does not sound natural and local to the target audience will certainly give them a bad, sloppy, unreliable image.
In my area of work, I have found it to be completely useless. Perhaps it can be useful and save time for technical translations, a word-by-word sentence-by-sentence approach. I work with marketing, fashion, advertising, restaurant reviews, transcreation. It cannot work for me.
The one thing that puzzles me the most when trying to "educate" clients is that many project managers or people in the industry seem to have forgotten that translating it's not so much about words as it is about meaning. At least that's how I do view it and have been educated: it's about decoding meaning and conveying it again in another language, while paying attention to details, tone, style of the author and target audience.
Maybe it's me but I can't see language as an exact science - so numbers, algorithms and 100% matches don't mean much to me. I'll always see language as something fundamentally human that is always changing and evolving.
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Vladimír Hoffman Slovakia Local time: 21:58 Member (2009) English to Slovak + ...
To Michael Beijer
Dec 4, 2011
Dear colleague,
Here are three texts from various areas (legal, technical, and medical) that I have just tried to translate into Slovak using Google Translator:
In addition to any such obligations, Bidders acknowledge that (whether or not any 'Minimum Broadcast Obligations' are referred to in relation to a particular Package below): (a) if applicable laws or regulations in the Territory impose additional requirements in this regard, Licensees within the Territory will be obliged to comply with such additional requirements in full; and (b) XXX may require a successful Bidder to contractually commit, in its applicable Rights Agreement, to exploit the Broadcast and Exhibition Rights in accordance with the proposals set out in the Bidder's 'Distribution Plan' as provided by it in its Bid
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2. Feed the rotary vibrator with raw parts.
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To say that the resulting translation is a scrap would mean gross overestimate of its quality. I wonder if you (or other colleagues) could translate the English texts in your language combination. To me, the translation is absolutely of no use.
I would like to emphasize that the samples were taken from common, simple documents for translation. Actually, two of them were taken from my current jobs and the third sample was taken from a document that I translated a month ago.
I am really curious if results in other languages will be better than in Slovak.
[Edited at 2011-12-04 19:28 GMT]
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Dallas Cao China Local time: 03:58 Member (2007) English to Chinese + ...
I don't trust GT either
Jan 13
Hi Phil,
I am the author of GT4T and I don't trust GT either. In fact when I needed to translate a slogan into some languages, I went to a professional translator, just
like most customers who need translation service.
I am glad that you agree it can be a tool for experienced translators. And it can be abused or used, like most tools.
I admit I don't know my source language well enough to know every word I translate and I have to say I sometimes check very simple words in a dictionary when my mind is stuck or misfires and I find online dictionaries and GT can be quite useful. Many times GT produces junks, but sometimes it provides suggestions that is better than the one I have in mind.
I don't think sending a whole sentence to GT is a good idea, especially for the pairs that GT doesn't work so well. But what about sending only a phrase or a word, for example, sending a list of country names?
GT makes lots of mistakes. It's a machine and it's a tool! We are lucky the tool cannot replace us. One person meat is another person's poison. Some people are possibly still arguing that writers using a computer cannot write good novels and I understand.
As my tool is in the eye of the storm and it's probably wiser for me to keep quiet:-)
Dallas
Phil Hand wrote:
Two comments to that example.
1. GT is different to your other tools if it places the GT text in your translation side. I can't tell from that screenshot (and I don't use MemoQ) if the GT version just appears up at the top or if it's actually filled into your translation window. If it goes into your translation window and so turns "translation" into "editing", then I do think there is a qualitative difference in what's happening, and one that is likely to cause problems of under-editing.
2. Your manual example is closer to being a decent text. But there's still at my count at least five terminology errors and one sentence that I can't make head nor tail of. That's not great for six short segments, you know? I'm still not convinced that a simple electronic dictionary translation of each word wouldn't get you just as close. And that's what irritates me: the function is called Google Translate, and those who don't know any better think that it translates, when it really doesn't.
So here's my problem: however good it gets, even if we get a 1000% improvement next year, I can't trust it. I still have to read every sentence like a hawk. So, as far as I'm concerned it's not helping. Typing time is such a negligible part of translation for me, and editing text takes longer, so even if the error rate comes down to one error every ten sentences, I don't think it would be quicker to use GT. And we're a long long way from one every ten.
Of course, you're right - for an experienced translator it's one tool among many. The issue is not the use by experience translators. It's the abuse by companies and inexperienced (or even unscrupulous) translators.
[Edited at 2012-01-13 15:42 GMT]
[Edited at 2012-01-14 05:08 GMT]
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George Hopkins Sweden Local time: 21:58 Swedish to English
In general
Jan 13
Men strunt är strunt och snus är snus om ock i gyllene dosor och rosor i ett sprucket krus är ändå alltid rosor...
(Gustaf Fröding 1860-1911)
But rot is rot, and snuff is snuff albeit in golden boxes, and roses in a broken pot will always still be roses.
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