Translation - art & business » Translation Theory and Practice »
Pages in topic:   < [1 2]
Is our profession becoming overgooglified?
Thread poster: Paul Dixon
Christian christian@nielsen-palacios.com
Christian [email protected]
United States
Local time: 04:07
English to Spanish
+ ...
Thanks! Nov 16, 2008

Thanks for starting this discussion. Very interesting. I am glad someone included Wikipedia in the discussion. And thanks to all for the great links!
 
Jack Doughty
Jack Doughty  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:07
Russian to English
+ ...
In memoriam
Multilingual googling Nov 17, 2008

It might be interesting to know what the new Google-related words are in different languages. I have seen the verb "гуглить" (to google) in Russian, so logically, overgooglified should be "перегуглированный", but I've never seen this.
 
Buck
Buck
Netherlands
Local time: 10:07
Dutch to English
I would say yes Nov 17, 2008

I never accept a translation given by someone whose reference is XX hits on [search engine of your choice]. Just because it's on the Internet xx times does not mean it is correct.
On a lighter note, I once did a translation for a lawyer, and part of his defence in a case was that if something wasn't on the Internet, it didn't exist.
 
Susanna Garcia
Susanna Garcia  Identity Verified
Local time: 09:07
Italian to English
+ ...
In memoriam
Google hits Nov 17, 2008

I've also had clients who think a word/term is correct because of the number of Google hits when I've used something else - the correct version!
 
Niraja Nanjundan (X)
Niraja Nanjundan (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 13:37
German to English
Slightly OT: Rapid development of Internet resources over the past ten years Nov 18, 2008

Google celebrated its tenth birthday this year and ProZ.com will be ten years old next year - I think that's quite a coincidence. I'm pretty sure the rapid increase in resources available on the web as well as sites such as this one have lured many people into the profession, many of whom probably feel ProZ.com membership is more worthwhile than spending money on good specialist dictionaries, although I would strongly disagree with that point of view.

Although I now use the web qui... See more
Google celebrated its tenth birthday this year and ProZ.com will be ten years old next year - I think that's quite a coincidence. I'm pretty sure the rapid increase in resources available on the web as well as sites such as this one have lured many people into the profession, many of whom probably feel ProZ.com membership is more worthwhile than spending money on good specialist dictionaries, although I would strongly disagree with that point of view.

Although I now use the web quite a lot for research, after sixteen years as a translator, I remember the days when I used to rely solely on paper dictionaries and reference books very well, and still double check in my paper resources even if I've found something that looks fairly accurate on the Internet. ▲ Collapse
 
Aniello Scognamiglio (X)
Aniello Scognamiglio (X)  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 10:07
English to German
+ ...
A fool with a tool is still a fool ;-) Nov 18, 2008

Paul Dixon wrote:

1. Should the number of Google hits be used as a way to choose between several translations (my answer is a definite no) and, if so, to what extent?



NO


2. What use, if any, is Google surfing to a translator? As I see it, the only use of Google for a translator is to find a site which could then be given as a reference, or from which the translator could extract an example sentence.


It's a useful tool but

"A fool with a tool is still a fool"

All said in nine words!

Aniello
 
Phil Bird
Phil Bird
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:07
Spanish to English
+ ...
An alternative Nov 21, 2008

I am currently studying on the MSc in Translation at Imperial College and this week we looked at using Wordsmith to analyse personal corpora. If you can build up a decent sized collection of target language texts you can search them, and trust the results a bit more. I don't know if anyone actually does this, but it sounded like a smart idea.

A free alternative to Wordsmith - "AntConc" was also suggested, but I haven't looked at it.
 
Pages in topic:   < [1 2]


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:

Moderator(s) of this forum
Maria Castro[Call to this topic]
Nawal Kramer[Call to this topic]

You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

Is our profession becoming overgooglified?







TM-Town
Manage your TMs and Terms ... and boost your translation business

Are you ready for something fresh in the industry? TM-Town is a unique new site for you -- the freelance translator -- to store, manage and share translation memories (TMs) and glossaries...and potentially meet new clients on the basis of your prior work.

More info »
Wordfast Pro
Translation Memory Software for Any Platform

Exclusive discount for ProZ.com users! Save over 13% when purchasing Wordfast Pro through ProZ.com. Wordfast is the world's #1 provider of platform-independent Translation Memory software. Consistently ranked the most user-friendly and highest value

Buy now! »