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Article: Me Translate Pretty One Day
Thread poster: Elliot Everett (X)
Elliot Everett (X)
Elliot Everett (X)  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 20:28
Spanish to English
Dec 1, 2006

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.12/translate.html?pg=3&topic=translate&topic_set=

from Wired Magazine. MT is getting better every day. Here is the latest attempt by a Uruguayan-born programmer.

Enjoy!
Elliot
 
Stanislaw Czech, MCIL CL
Stanislaw Czech, MCIL CL  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:28
Member (2006)
English to Polish
+ ...
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Still some time left Dec 1, 2006

So it seems that we won't be out of business for another decade or so

But I believe that at some point in the future the machines will be able to replace humans at leas in translation of non-literary text.

Have a one pretty day

SC
 
Henry Hinds
Henry Hinds  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 18:28
English to Spanish
+ ...
In memoriam
Don't worry, Stanislaw Dec 1, 2006

There are plenty of things that machines can be designed to do better than humans. But their applications in translation will always be limited to specific, highly controlled areas.

Language is a purely human function, and the only thing capable of dealing with it is the human mind itself.

We'll always have to be there.
 
Jaroslaw Michalak
Jaroslaw Michalak  Identity Verified
Poland
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Member (2004)
English to Polish
SITE LOCALIZER
We will be there, but doing what? Dec 1, 2006

The output from the automated system required twice as many human hours to clean up. But the experiment also showed that cleaning up errors takes only a small fraction of the time required for the initial human translation. Thus, even with slightly sloppier first drafts, replacing the initial translator with a machine cuts the total human-hours of paid work in half.


This does not sound good! I would certainly resent downgrading from translator to proofreader of machine-translated texts...
 
Dyran Altenburg (X)
Dyran Altenburg (X)  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 20:28
English to Spanish
+ ...
Silver Lining Dec 1, 2006

Jabberwock wrote:
This does not sound good! I would certainly resent downgrading from translator to proofreader of machine-translated texts...


You could always upgrade to writer of the carefully crafted source texts that will be run through those machines.

--
Dyran
 
Veronica Coquard
Veronica Coquard
France
Local time: 02:28
French to English
+ ...
Meaningless Machines Dec 4, 2006

Thank you for the article. I must say that the "Meaningful Machines" sound ominous.

That being said, I have already been hired as the proofreader for a machine translation (I didn't accept the job knowing that this was the case). A proofread is cheaper than a real translation, that was the client's reasoning. Except that it took me longer to make sense of it than if I'd been simply translating. It wasn't a lasting collaboration, I can tell you.

On a lighter note, I j... See more
Thank you for the article. I must say that the "Meaningful Machines" sound ominous.

That being said, I have already been hired as the proofreader for a machine translation (I didn't accept the job knowing that this was the case). A proofread is cheaper than a real translation, that was the client's reasoning. Except that it took me longer to make sense of it than if I'd been simply translating. It wasn't a lasting collaboration, I can tell you.

On a lighter note, I just wanted to mention that the title of the article is a play on words of the book "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris, which I heartily recommend. ▲ Collapse
 


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Article: Me Translate Pretty One Day







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