Talking about the elephant in the China shop – should translation buyers use AI/machine translation?

 

[elephant]

The most common question non-translators ask (in one form or another) after I say that I am a professional translator is whether anybody needs me anymore. Likewise, when translators gather, the hot topic is the impact of AI on the business in general and the person in specific. AI carries the image of a drum roller machine, flattening anything in its path and whose existence many prefer to ignore out of dread. Going beyond this fear, it is legitimate to consider the role of machine translation, whether of the simple Google translation, more complex neural network or Hogarthian ChatGPT type. More specifically, I will address the blunt question when a translation buyer should pay money and employ a human translator.

As a matter of introduction, each of the three main machine translations types in their various guises attain their translation results in slightly different ways. The simplest, Google Translation and its cousins, search for the most common translation of the term as it appears in bilingual texts in the Internet and any online glossaries. The results are free but not always very relevant for the context. Neural translation and other more specialized methods selectively pick corpuses, including approved high-level bilingual texts such as from the European Community or the UN, and search for terms based on the type of the texts, e.g. legal and financial. This data base is more precise but is time-consuming to build. However, the results are generally far more relevant Accordingly, this method often involves some buyer cost to cover the development costs. Finally, AI translation uses a probability algorithm based on a broad internet data base and uses prompts to fine tune the results. The costs vary on the engine. Accurate results are somewhat dependent on the ability of the person to write prompts and specify the desired result. Even in the best circumstances, AI results tend to be a bit idiot-savant, i.e., ranging from brilliant to imbecile.

Here are some pointers regarding the appropriate use of machine and human translators:

·   To state the obvious, there is no need to pay a human translator to translate most texts for private use. If the goal is to understand more or less the content of an email or website text, any of the three types of machine translation will produce a sufficiently clear result, albeit occasionally with amusing terminology errors.

·   For longer texts, when time is a premium, it is possible to use a neural network or ChatGPT to produce a reasonable translation for a small internal audience. The purpose of such translations is essentially to share information, reducing the impact of any inaccuracies.

·   For mass translations where the cost of human translation is prohibitive, such as in identifying the content of  a large volume of legal documents or producing descriptions for a multilanguage low-cost online site that does not have the profit margin to employ human translators, machine translation might be a solution although the poor quality of the less expensive options may negatively affect results.

·   For texts aimed to make an impression on the public, including marketing and menus, businesses should employ a human translation. In these cases, it is not sufficient to transmit the facts. There is a need to persuade and impress. The public often equates the care invested into the text with the care invested in the product. Seller, beware.

·   For texts with legal and medical consequences, among others, translation buyers should avoid using machine translation. The consequences of a poorly translated legal brief or medical device instruction manual far outweigh the cost of a proper technical translator.

·   In some cases, government authorities require human translation and a signed certificate of accuracy. They do not accept self or machine-made equivalents. In these cases, read the requirements very carefully. For more information on what exactly a certified translation is, see here.

In summary, if you desire more than to attain information, employ a human translator. The costs of the poor results will far exceed any savings from free or low-cost machine translation. In other words, to talk about the elephant that is machine-translation, it should not be let into a china shop of fragile words as it tends to be somewhat clumsy but it is acceptable to let it into the gym as long as you clean it up afterwards, no bull.

The 65th ATA Conference – on matter, antimatter and the translation business

 

[man on an island]

I had the pleasure of attending the American Translators Association conference in Portland, Oregon and have even recovered from the jet lag (more or less). As with all packed events, it takes some time to absorb all the impressions and information, especially when more than 1500 people attend and share their perspectives. Looking back, the conference was remarkable for the matters people discussed and no less for what they did not discuss, producing great food for thought on the future of the profession.

This large national conference featured, as always, a great variety of lectures, amazing networking opportunities and a national, if not global, view of the profession. The presentations, with a choice of 9 different topics in each time slot over 3 days, varied widely with topics ranging from approaches to technological matters and specific markets to directed advice to experienced and new translators alike. The two most striking features were the quantity of presentations for interpreters, which indicates the vivacity of this field, and the emphasis on specific markets and issues for translators. I confess that while I gave two presentations (project-based quotes and how to make a presentation), I failed to attend a lecture not because I was not interested but because the conversations in the hallways were far more tempting,  relevant and important. I had learned from my previous ATA conference 5 years ago (BC – before Corona) in Palm Springs that it is impossible to talk to each to each and every person at a conference with more than a 1000 people. Therefore, this time I strived to have longer and more impactful conversations with fewer people. This approach was less stressful and more effective in building contacts, the most important purpose of an industry conference. From these conversations, I received a feel of the spectrum of the language specialist industry, the business trends, and the hopes and fears of translators and interpreters in all fields. This conference provided much information on the state of the industry.

Of no less importance were the topics and statements I did not hear. First, nobody expressed the thought that AI was the death of the industry. As in all technological innovations, some language specialists were more enthusiastic about ChatGPT than others. However, I did not hear any extreme forecast of the imminent disappearance of AI or it replacing human translators. In the same vein, I did not hear about people wishing to leave the industry due to the changes in the market and translation technology, only the search for how to adapt to and effectively adopt them. Finally, I did not hear complaints about low rates. To clarify, people mentioned irrelevant and/or ridiculous rates proposed by certain agencies. However, the translators stated them as facts that are a part but not the whole of the industry. In short, I heard no prognosis of the impending death of the human translation industry.

Between the said and unsaid, I understand, perhaps incorrectly, that the future of the translation industry depends on adaption to the everchanging landscape of technology and markets and the providing of support to new translators to help them navigate it. AI, just as machine and neural translation, is changing the manner translation providers and buyers operate. This process began decades ago with the major difference today being the pace of the development. This rapid evolution creates a “future shock” syndrome even for younger professionals. Yet, each person has the freedom to leverage technology depending on the individual niche, willingness and skill. It is not an all or nothing matter but a much more subtle evolution. Concurrently, markets are changing. Some 20 years ago, local or national agencies dominated the industry, handling all types of texts. Today, multinational agencies rely on volume, causing freelancers to specialize and reach out directly to customers in order to achieve rates that allow them to earn a living. Moreover, customers no longer need to pay a human translator to handle a simple text for personal use as ChatGPT or even Google Translate handles them quite satisfactorily. As in many industries, translators must specialize, such as in the fields of medicine, law and marketing. Finally, while it was never easy, new translators find establishing a translation business quite complicated and confusing. The relevance of national translator organizations has thus only increased as they can and do provide vital information that allow newcomers to quickly find and establish themselves in this complex market. The road alone is more difficult than ever. The world of translation and interpreting is not disappearing but constantly evolving, required language providers to adapt accordingly.

One of the purposes of national conferences is to provide a wide-angle picture of the industry, similar to the image produced by the multiple eyes of a fly. ATA65 presented an industry in transition but healthy and vibrant not to mention ambivalent about the changes that are occurring but facing them at the same time. Attending it was an intense but rewarding experience for me personally. I strongly recommend any translator or interpreter, whether experienced or new to the profession, to attend such events and join your national or regional organization. To paraphrase John Donne, no translator must or should be an island. Each is part of a larger and inspiring industry as I rediscovered this month. Translators, interpreters and conferences do matter.

Rolling on to the Columbia – the upcoming 65th American Translators Association (ATA) conference

 

[Columbia River]

In around one week, the ATA conference will open in Portland, Oregon. If you have never attended a large national translation/interpreter conference, it is a special experience involving bountiful opportunities to network, learn and expand horizons. The ATA annual conference generally attracts around two thousand people.  This year, I personally have a special interest in it not only professionally but also personally but any person that is currently a part of or considering joining the language industry can benefit.

One of the amazing riches of the conference is the overwhelming choice of lectures. During each lecture period, a participant can choose among nine different presentations. It is almost too much especially since conversations in the hallway on the way to the lecture often prevent you from getting to them. This year, I will be giving two presentations, one on project-based quotes and the other demonstrating a step-by-step approach to preparing presentations. For a full program, see here. Clearly, regardless of a person’s actual area of specialization, there are numerous lectures of interest. Notwithstanding this opportunity to gain knowledge, the most important benefit of the conference is the creation and reinforcement of the feeling of a translator community, a large one even, so often lost as we work alone in our (office) caves, isolated from others. I finished my last ATA conference in Palm Springs, before Corona struck, exhausted but inspired. If you have a chance to attend this year or in the future, it is a worthwhile investment of time and money.

On a personal basis, I lived in Oregon before I immigrated to Israel 35 years ago. I am looking forward to seeing both the friends and place I left behind. Aside from attending a reunion party of Hopa, the Balkan dance troupe in which I was a member back then, I plan to rediscover and show my wife the beauty of Oregon as I remember it: Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge, Mount Hood, the Oregon Coast, the 5^th Street Market in Eugene and any of the places I can get to. Of course, rain is forecast. The joke is that it rains twice a year in Oregon, from January to June and June to January. My wife and dealt with killer humidity in Shanghai in July; we will deal with frequent pissing from the sky in Oregon. Another, albeit unfortunate, personal benefit is that we will not have to be on constant alert for air raid warnings as is the situation right now in Israel. They do get one one’s nerves very quickly. Thus, I am looking forward to returning to Oregon even if you cannot go home again as Thomas Wolfe wrote.

Therefore, if you can attend the conference and are interested in any aspect of the translation and interpretation (including the effect of AI on the business), it is not too late to register and profit from an amazing event in all aspects. Contact me if you want to meet at the conference. As follows from the words that Woody Guthry wrote in the song about the building of a hydroelectric dam on the Columbia river, you can see the power of language turn the darkness to dawn. Roll on to the Columbia, roll on.

Inn come issues – the essentials of a comfortable hotel stay

 

[hotel room]

The British television program Four in a Bed is a reality program on hotel stay, whether a full hotel or glamping site or anything in between, and its ultimate measure, the value for the price. On that subject, ny wife and I have just completed a trip involving several, maybe too many, hotels in Crete and Nurenberg (Germany). Each of the hotels, while in a similar price category, had its unique elements that added or subtracted from the ease and comfort of the stay. I am aware people have individual priorities, e.g. the cleanliness and quality of the linen and variety of teas and coffees in the room. I am less critical of such details, within reason, but wish to share which elements influence my perception of these temporary abodes.

Two essential factors for any stay over one night are a comfortable mattress and room to open two valises. A good night’s sleep is the basis for a good day. By contrast, back pain from a poor mattress is a good reason to find another hotel if the management cannot find a solution. In fact, I stopped going to Marriot Hotels for that reason. It is important to be aware that many major chains use the same category mattress in all of their hotels. As for room size, unless I plan to spend significant time at the hotel, the physical dimensions of the room are primary visual until it is too small to lay out two valises without blocking access to the bed. European urban hotels understandably tend to be rather limited in space but proper room planning can at least allow this action. I will put up with such a small space for one night but that is all. I am happy to report that I was satisfied with all of the hotels in these respects.

The most variable room in hotels in the bathroom. I have the impression that, unlike in truly luxury hotels, nobody in the management actually spent a night in the room and tried to take a shower. In some cases, the height of the shower forces the bather to adopt a strange posture while in other cases much of the water ends up on the floor near the toilet. In terms of safety, I have experienced numerous bathrooms in which entering and exiting the shower required great dexterity and seemed an accident in waiting. I believe that the fanciness of the pieces does not make a good bathroom but instead its ergonomics. As poorly designed bathrooms are the rule, not the exception, we just have to put up with the them and complain, just like the weather.

An important factor that many hotels, even otherwise quality one, ignore is hanging space. When traveling in wet countries or in the wet season, it is often necessary to hang jackets and sweaters to dry out. The closet is not an ideal option for obvious reasons. It is sometimes possible to do so in the bathroom but that creates other issues. It is so convenient where there are pegs or other designated places to air or dry out the day’s clothing. The floor lamp works but was clearly not designed for that purpose. When the hotel considers this need, it rates higher in my eyes.

Location was a surprising unclear factor. We stayed in a non-touristy business area on the main road, a hotel in the old part of the city one block from a red-light district and in the middle of a tourist area surrounded by restaurants and shops. Curiously enough, I found advantages in each area and ignored the less attractive elements of the location. The actual surroundings had relatively little impact on the pleasantness of the experience.

By contrast, the level of service was the key for me. When I interacted with friendly and helpful front desk people that understood English to a reasonable level, I enjoyed the stay and was willing to ignore the quaintness of the hotel. On the other hand, dealing with service people that neither really understood English nor truly attempted to resolve issues was a major turnoff regardless of the fanciness of the hotel. A manager at a major international chain actually told me that it had subcontracted room service and had no direct control of room cleaning. As in all service businesses, customers want to feel appreciated and understood. Otherwise, they do not come back, in this case physically.

Clearly, each customer and each hotel have their specific demand and capacities. For me, the bed and a reasonable room size with a friendly staff available to solve a problem is the key to a return visit with other elements of less importance, depending on the daily rate even if it involves only two in a bed.

Through the looking-glass – the pleasure of technical translation

 

[photographer and a mirror*]

Most people connect translation with literature and believe that it must be a fascinating to render Tolstoy’s Russian or Balzac’s French to another language. By contrast, translating official documents or financial reports seems as dry as Alice’s history lesson. In practice, the vast majority of commissioned translation is highly technical by nature. Contrary to the general impressions, these documents often create drama by opening up a privileged view (both in terms of special access and confidentiality) of people lives. To illustrate, I will present some examples of what I look for and follow when plowing through my day’s tasks.

Marriage certificates – thought for speculation  - Israeli marriage certificates include a wide variety of information, including the age, profession and place of residence of the couple  as well as the background of parents. Sometimes it is clear what the bride and groom have in common while other times it is not.

Death certificates – the unknown – due to the vagaries of documentation in some parts of the world, the family or the deceased sometimes don’t know the date of birth, leaving the wonderful statistic of 1920, without day or month. Of course, translating the certificates of those that died very young or very old sometimes leads to personal contemplation.

Divorce agreements – priorities – What is a single mother willing to give up to be able to live abroad with her children? How strict are the arrangements for paternal visits? You would be surprised.

Commercial contracts – local character – if you want to know what problems are typical for a certain area, professional and/or geographical, look at the relative weight of the words. BTW, based on the number of pages dedicated to this matter, drinking is a problem at Russian oil fields.

Salary slips – addition with subtraction – It can rather disturbing to have to note how much of the salary or wages disappears in taxes or how much more money other people earn. On the other hand, it can be merely interesting or even encouraging.

Grade transcripts – student life – It is amazing how some students seem to wake up in 12^th grade or college and start achieving high grades. Until then, I imagine that their parents were pulling their hair. On the other hand, I wonder whether certain people ever had fun during their years of study.

Medical questionnaires – awfulness – Ignorance can be bliss. Many diseases have extreme effects on people’s lives.  I always feel appreciative that I don’t have that problem.

As you can see, while numbers and facts can appear to be dry and uninteresting, all it takes is a small leap of imagination to see the story being told and discover an unknown world. Technical translation is similar to looking at Alice’s looking glass, seeing both the subject of the document but also reflecting on the translator. I consider that far more interesting than literary translation, having no desire to get into Dostoevsky’s head, but chacun son gout, to each his/her own.

* Picture captions help the blind fully access the Internet.

Picture credit: Pixabay

The not-so-straight line – the art of finding convenient flights in the age of the Internet

 

[calcuations of the hypotenuse*]

One of my father’s favorite pastimes was arranging trips. He relished the process of making a few phone calls and then triumphantly telling my mother that that they were going to San Francisco, Las Vegas or even Paris in two weeks. While the means of locating flights have clearly changed (travel agents to online searches), the process can still be quite challenging and ultimately emotionally rewarding. Having had to fly quite often, sometimes on short notice, in the last few years, like my father, I have developed the skill, art if you will, of searching for the best flight, for me at least. This ability has become quite valuable as the current war has turned Ben Gurion Airport into a non-hub, with only a few airlines regularly serving it.  I will share my tips to finding the almost perfect flights in the age of the Internet. I will use my preferences and limitations but obviously these are individual.

Personal preferences:

1. Due to the distance to the airport and the security procedures, which in practice means leaving the house five hours in advance, I take no flight that departs before noon. I need a good night’s sleep before I began a day of travel.

2. I try not to arrive at the destination after midnight. I intend to enjoy the next day.

3. I will not spend more than 4 daylight hours at a connection airport but will insist on at least 2 hours in case (or is that when?) the plane is late.

4. I am willing to spend overnight at a connection location and have learned to enjoy my mini-stop.

Hub to Hub

For discussion purposes, a hub is major international airport, e.g. Frankfurt and Newark, to which there are many flights. By contrast, a non-hub has limited national and international flights.

1. I check the direct routes. They can be more expensive but are easier on the body.

2. I check flights from another hub to the destination with a short wait over seeing if their price justifies the extra flight time. Total flight time is a key statistic here.

3. When flying international, such as to the United States, I try to stay on the international flights as long as possible as the plane is more comfortable. For example, it is more pleasant to fly from Israel to San Francisco and then to Los Angeles as compared to the Israel to Newark and then to LA.

Non-hub to hub

1. Due to limited and expensive direct options, I look for convenient lower-cost flights to other airports that may have better direct flights to the destination.

2. It is vital to check the arrival times in order to allow for late arrival but avoid wasting too many hours in the airport. Duty free is not that interesting regardless of the airport.

3. I reconsider the direct option and make a choice, i.e. time vs. money.

Non-hub to non-hub

1. This is the fun one. Here, I work backwards. I ask Dr. Google “from which city can you fly directly to X” and get a nice map with lines indicating various cities.

2. I crosscheck that list with the cities to which I have a direct connection.

3. I then spend time trying to ascertain which combination of dates, times and price is the most practical, all issues considered.

In this manner, after several hours of intense effort, I found a convenient way of getting from Israel to Portland, Oregon, site of the American Translators Association conference next month where I will make two presentations. If you are wondering, the connecting flights to Portland is to and from Amsterdam, with an overnight stay on the way there and three hours wait at the airport on the way back, all without losing a night’s sleep. When I completed the purchase of the tickets, I experienced the thrill of victory just as my father would do. I suppose if you turn trip planning into a game, it becomes a rather fun challenge. The shortest line takes some calculation.

* Picture captions help the blind fully access the Internet.

Picture credit - Pixibay

Words and their derived meanings – how far does a ball roll in different languages?

[Effy the kitten with ball*)

 

If we look at the idea of a word, it is fundamentally a concept that human beings apply to various objects, real and theoretical. The Chinese language is the perfect embodiment of this vocabulary building approach but the process also occurs in alphabetical languages. For example, a round object is called a ball, balle, шар [shar] and כדור [kadur] in English, French, Russian and Hebrew, respectively. While each refers to the ball that is the fascination of children, puppies and kittens (especially mine currently), the word also is used for many other round objects with slight differences.

While the origin of the word ball in English is rather fuzzy, its primary meaning is quite clearly, i.e., according to the Oxford Dictionary, a solid or hollow spherical or egg-shaped object that is kicked, thrown, or hit in a game. Clearly, a really heavy one that requires explosive power to launch is a cannon ball, not an object to play with. On a smaller basis, balls can be loaded into cartridges and cause terrible casualties. For that matter, a great ball of fire is also rather threatening. On a less serious note,  ball in baseball can mean that the pitch fails to cross the plate between the knees and numbers of a player and within the side boundaries of the home plate. Not surprisingly but quite differently, testicles are sometimes referred to as balls., This may explain the application of the word to describe the willingness to take a great risk as in the sentence General MacArthur had the balls to land at Inchon. Confusingly, derived from a completely different root, a ball is a formal dance from which probably the term having a ball, i.e., having a good time, may have been derived, although my forementioned kitten might disagree.

The French balle also is generally used to refer to the toy as in the short form of ballon. However, it refers to pills, which are round, and bullets and slugs, which generally are not. In the days of the French Franc (pre-Euro), it was another term for that national currency. In agriculture, a balle refers to a bale in English and  applies to any similar bulky packaging, round or not.

Russian is even more generous is the use. шар [shar] refers to the toy but also to a globe and bowl and other round objects. In the plural, it is another term for eyes. It is used as a term for a lightbulb. Russian even uses it for a vote or ballet. (If a language refers to communication tower as an “object”, everything is possible).

Hebrew almost equates ball and round in the word כדור [kadur]. Sports equipment, pills and tablets and well as spheres and planets are balls. In line with the old traditional ammunition, so is ammunition for rifles and machine guns (despite their modern long shape).

So, as true for many languages, words evolve to expand their meaning to directly and not-so directly connected items and sometimes retain the use when the original shape of the object changes.  Balls really roll far away sometimes.

* Picture captions help the blind fully access the Internet.