Question anyone? – What translators should ask and translation buyers should provide

 

It can be said that wisdom is a certain lack of certainty. One of the characteristics of truly professional translators is that they ask questions before they start a project. Depending on the situation, these queries can relate to audience, purpose, names and legacy translations. The failure to ask these questions can lead to frustration and disappointment.

One essential element of every successful translation is the match of the style to the intended audience. For example, in medical translation, the target population is the patients, who may have no knowledge of medical terms, as compared to the medical staff, who are quite familiar with them. Even more common, linguists must carefully choose the vocabulary in books and material intended for children. In the entertainment business, subtitlists need to keep in mind that the consumers of their translation come from all ages and adjust the vocabulary level accordingly. Thus, translators need to find out for whom the text is intended.

Likewise, the purpose of the document will affect the translation. Linguists working on marketing or sales texts have wide freedom to render their message into the target language, especially as compared to technical specifications documents. Subtitlists face serious challenges as they must avoid exceeding a specific number of characters due to screen space limitations. In legal translation, incorrect language is a serious error when translating briefs and court documents while they may need to be reflected when translating depositions for court if they appear in the original. One translation trash is another translation treasure.

It is impossible to assume how names are spelled, meaning that translators should confirm the spelling if possible. Sometimes, the name spelling reflects another language. Just recently, I discovered (in time), that the common English name Felix was spelled Feliks in Polish. In other cases, immigration officials or immigrants adjusted the spelling, especially of the last name. An example in my family is Bronstein as compared to Bronstejn. Most often, a country simply has several spelling variations, e.g., Steven vs Stephen. As there are no rules, translators must exercise diligence.

An interesting issue, which many translators often ignore, is legacy, i.e., previous completed translations that include terminology decisions of previous translators. For example, in the Hebrew translation of the Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, there have been four translators. Curiously, they have not always translated a concept or spelled a name or concept in the same way, which can be confusing to the reader. In product information material, especially over a series of similar products, it is vital to maintain consistency when referring to specific parts or processes. In general, in marketing, unless the company has decided to change the style, translators need to be aware of the material previously released to the public to render the introduction of new text seamless. The customer may insist that the translator follow previous translations, mistakes and all. Thus, it is important to know that such material exists and ascertain the level of consistency demanded by the customer.

Therefore, as in most services, professionals not only listen but ask questions. To provide a proper translation and meet expectations, translators must attain all the information they require to produce the required document. The failure to do so leads to wasted time, frustration and lost customers. The answer to the query in the title is “yes”.

I’ve got that (May 1) feeling

 

May 1 was a fine day for barbequing. This year, while some workers of the world celebrated International Workers’ Day, Israeli marked its 77^th Independence Day. With the long weekend, Thursday to Sunday, one would think that joy dominated both occasions but many felt the exact opposite. As in most impressions, each person viewed the event through personal lenses, pessimistic, fatalistic or even optimistic.

The negative thinkers among us noted that beyond the Potemkin village celebrations and fronts of joy , the situation is rather depressing. At this moment, Trump is doing his best imitation of Atilla the Hun and ruining the US economy and wiping the savings, not to mention the financial and  job security, of workers in the United States. Of course, when the United States sneezes, the whole world economy, including its workers, gets a cold and starts to worry. Israeli’s celebration was physically darkened by a serious fire in the Jerusalem area as well as other areas, which required a callup of all firefighters, meaning that all local events were cancelled due to lack of fire protection. Symbolically, many Israelis  feel that that the national situation is just as dark with the continued war with Hamas and never-ending captivity of the hostages. For many anti-Bibi voters, the political situation does not provide much hope. Thus for many, neither event was “an ode to joy”, as Beethoven would say.

Those fatalists that view local events as mere parts of larger systems shrugged off the holidays and the circumstances. A holiday is an arbitrary date determined by pollical organizations. Thus, there is no correlation with the date and any events that occur before, during or after it. The world seems in a mood for certain extreme solutions, back to the future if you will. Trump is merely an oversized example of this type of populism. Employment levels ebb and flow to one degree or another over time. Wars usually end long after they have lose any reason to continue just because of personal and national pride but they do eventually run out of gas. Unfortunately, this superfluous period merely creates more tragedy. As is written in Book of Ecclesiastes, there is nothing new under the sun and, therefore, no reason to get overly emotional.

However, it must be noted that many people, possibly the silent near majority, do count their blessings on these holidays. Marx would have been shocked if not entirely overjoyed that so many workers in the West actually own shares of those capitalist companies. In the West, the vast majority of the populations enjoys some kind of safety net when facing unemployment and even profits from two days off a week. Quite a few can even send their children to college so they can have better jobs. In Israel, despite the challenges of the last two years, and more importantly the last 77 years, Israel stands strong in terms of having an army, a democracy and a strong identity. Admittedly, the war and the period before it have challenged those elements but they have stood up to the test. The world may not be pink but it is not black either and will improve, hopefully soon. Optimists follow Kate’s (of Kiss Me Kate) advice and “accentuate the positive”.

So, as I was cooking my steak on the barbecue in the garden of my house talking to my friend and drinking a beer, I thought to myself, or at least choose to, “life isn’t bad at all”. In Hebrew, the expression is  יהיה בסדר [yehiye besder], everything will work out. May 1 can be a happy day.

Bonne route – Process, pleasure and AI

 

[Painting by Dina Levin]

In one of La Fontaine’s fables, a pig, sheep and goat are on a wagon on their way to the market. The pig squeals in fear (justified in the case) but the sheep and goat prefer to enjoy the view. I cannot say who is more correct or whether this fable applies to AI. However, after listening to my engineering students make oral presentations about processes pre- and post-AI, I definitely understand that there is a certain pleasure in the actual process independent of the result as I will demonstrate with three examples provided by my very talented engineering students.

Among the many lectures were presentations on the revolution in  travel planning, translation and image creation. Specifically, before AI, travel planning necessarily involved either consulting a travel agent or spending hours finding appropriate flights, assessing hotels and investigating potential tourist sights. With AI, a series of prompts with follow up questions can theoretically create a complete vacation plan in minutes. Likewise, as I know too well, human translation involves a significant investment of time and effort to reproduce a given text into another language. With AI, this same process can take less than a minute and involves almost no effort at all, leaving plenty of time and energy to edit and improve the created text. Even more extreme, AI makes it possible for the artistically-limited to create any image, real or imagery, without any skill  in graphic arts or software. AI can take over the process of creation, benefiting people by saving time and effort.

Granted, at least at this point, AI often produces a flawed product, sometimes to the point of non-relevancy. For example, the AI engines I tried for finding flights failed to identify the most convenient flight of a given route (Tel Aviv, Israel to Portland, Oregon) , which I was able to find. It may be a matter of the nature of the prompts or the type of AI but the results do not seem sufficiently exhaustive. In language, AI translations of specialized texts exhibit far too many serious terminology and syntax issues. This tendency means that a skilled human translator must invest time and energy in reviewing the text before the text is relevant. AI images quite often look artificial, which can be a detrimental feature in many of their uses, especially commercial. Furthermore, humans creates images that are much more individual and unique. Thus, AI is not yet capable of  fully replacing the process of human creation.

For me, the greatest issue is that I enjoy the challenge of creation both despite and because of its challenges and investment. It is strange but one of the greatest pleasures of traveling is planning it, including finding the “best” flight. My father took great pleasure in that art as do I. It is my trip as I have invested in it. Similarly, translation is an act of writing and creation just as much as writing the original version. The transformation of a text from one language to another can be challenging but that aspect is precisely what I seek, at least up to a certain degree. It is the pleasure of learning and testing oneself. As for pictures, I find an artist’s rendition of a scene in pencil, oil, watercolor or even using a digital photograph is far more impressive than any AI image. The reasons may be that I have no talent in that direction and find the process magic or that I seek the privilege of seeing the scene exactly how the artists viewed it. Human creation has a far greater impact on me regardless of whether the creator is someone else or myself.

It is clear that there are solid economic reasons for adopting AI processes whether on an industrial or smaller scale. However, as a matter of personal taste, I tend to focus on the experience of the process more the result. In fact, I wish myself and others what Serge Reggiani sang in “Ma fille” (admittedly in another context): “Bonne route” – a good journey.

AI and I – an attempt at perspective

 

I admit to feeling somewhat hostile about the idea of using AI in my work as a professional translator.Thus, I felt (and still feel) a need to ascertain whether my internal resistance is stubbornness or intuition, two similar but not identical impulses. Consequently, I invested the time to listen to Doron’s Tzur excellent 2-hour presentation to the Israel Translators Association on March 26, 2025 on the subject of AI for translators. He gave an excellent introduction to the approach of AI as well as its practical use in translation, providing examples using several different AI applications. Granted, this presenting does not make an expert on the subject but the lecture did provide me with some updated data. I thus feel more at ease discussing my perspective. I now understand that an AI-based translation method does not fit me in terms of task/time allocation, the resulting standard and the produced style. Yet, while I do not see AI as a practical tool in the initial translation phase, I definitely can see its value in the editing stage, when it is possible.  In short, my personal answer is: “No, but”.

One of the Doron’s first points is that AI can and does change the time relationship between translation and QA, which include both finding errors and improving style. Specifically, he noted that the initial translation process, what he called the white paper stage, using AI takes minutes, if not less, allowing translators to focus their energy and skill and improving the text, rendering it both accurate and human. It should be noted that many translators, including myself, actually prefer the creative stage, the writing of the first draft, over the editing stage. An important passion in translation is the joy of playing with words, preferably in at least two languages. Thus, as demanding and time-consuming as translation can be, the work is fascinating and satisfying. By contrast, editing is a technical skill requiring great attention to detail and great discipline. Consequently, as I have no great desire to specialize in editing, I prefer the traditional method of translation, i.e., without AI.

Another point made by Doron is that AI is becoming or has become the new standard. He noted that it is possible to produce a workable translation of even long texts in hours, not days. I certainly do not dispute his assessment of time requirements or creation of a standard. However, I do challenge the worthiness of the standard. Written communication, especially in English, necessarily involves polishing and repolishing. Each QA session reveals more underlying issues, theoretically infinite but in practice limited by delivery deadlines. Clearly, any translation produced and edited in three hours lacks that polish if even it suffers from no concrete language error. Thus, it is possible to produced rushed translation but the issue is to what standard.  I am aware that, historically, people have come to accept lower quality standards, e.g. cars and clothes, but I find that disturbing.

Finally, AI, because it is based on statistics, not intelligence (Doron’s words), produces a clear but somehow flawed text based. To paraphrase Doron, average is never good as the 50% of the other texts are better.  The actual level of finishing depends on the skill and knowledge of the editor, many of whom are not even native speakers. Consequently, the AI-produced and human-edited translation often is correct but off, like a fluent but non-native speaker telling a story. Everything is clear but a real person would not write that. For many purposes, this artificialness is not an issue, in particular when a person only requires the translation to ascertain the main idea or find a detail. However, if the writer wishes to move the reader to buy, be inspired or any other action, this dissonance ruins the effect. People believe writers and speakers because they are authentic even if their facts are not quite accurate. Effective written communication must reflect the writer’s voice, not the statistical average. Therefore, I feel that using an AI-produced translation does not serve the needs of most if not all my customers’ needs.

One of the most attractive features of AI was its editing capacity. The ability of AI to identify errors of all types, including context-based spelling errors on some applications, is highly useful and a significant improvement on Word’s Spellcheck and even Grammarly, to name a few non-AI applications. However, to use these AI-tools efficiently requires consistent effort and time investment in attaining the computer skills and keep up with the weekly changes and newest versions. Moreover, translators cannot upload many legal, commercial and medical documents  due to confidentiality issues. I would love to upload the first draft 18,000 words I am working onto AI but will not do so because of the fear of it entering the public realm. Finally, it should be noted that most older people and quite a few younger people are not native to technology.  Yet, for many translators, using AI for editing makes sense both in terms of effectiveness and economics.

If I view the translation economic equation as time/effort as compared to income, at this moment at least, I feel that it is correct decision for me is to ignore AI but to keep an eye on it. AI is not the end of translation just as Computer Aided Translation and Google translations did not destroy the profession. Clearly, AI will change the industry but in what manner and which degree, nobody can say. It remains for each translator, or any other professional for that matter, to examine and decide, as Kirstie and Phil would say, to love it or leave it. I am leaving it for the moment.

Endearing words – price, value and the English language

 

Individual words have a unique and rich texture, describing a reality far more complex than their formal equivalents. To illustrate this texture, I will analyze words that describe prices and their accompanying value perception to show that these words are not true synonyms but instead complementary words.

On the upper side, some items are expensive, which merely implies that the price is above average with a tad bit of judgment regarding its worthwhileness, which can be explained. For example, I can say that that that the cake is expensive but worth every cent. On a more generic note, a purchase may involve a big-ticket item, such as a truck, which, by definition, costs more money objectively. People with a desire to impress or a need for quality may choose to purchase a top-of-the-line or high-end model, the fanciest option, or make their purchase at a high-street location, where the most expensive stores are located. What is lost in savings is gained in prestige and quality. For elegant parties, hosts may choose to invest in premium products, such as imported ham, or lavish entertainment, such as full orchestra, which do luxuries. Swanky hotels are really good at impressing but come at a high price. Many guests will appreciate the effort. Somethings that glitter are gold in price and quality.

However, far more people and cultures frown on wasteful spending. In other words, they hate to overpay and avoid buying overpriced goods and services, defined as more expensive that they “should” be. If people feel that the price is above the market, i.e., too high, they might be embarrassed to discover that they had paid a pretty penny, which is not attractive at all, or been a victim of highway robbery, as the cost of an ice cream from a beach vendor, which borders on criminal. If goods are in short supply, sellers ask for an exuberant price, which is far more than it should be, meaning it is sky high. Of course, nobody wants to pay an arm and a leg for anything if they have a choice.

By contrast, many families are proud of being thrifty, knowing how to the get the most from their money. They appreciate a good value, one where the quality and cost reflect each other. They have no problem being popular priced items, those are inexpensive, and get by with budget options, those costing less. Everyday low prices are what they seek.  Even better, they relish finding items on sale for that day or discounted for any reason since these prices are especially low. They enjoy making a real steal if they can find an item at wholesale prices, which are clearly less than any retail ones. Low-street vendors, located far from the main shopping areas, and the bargain basement, the lowest floor of many department stores where one can find a real buy, are their favorite venues. Many people by choice or necessity must be very economical.

However, everything has a limit. Cheap goods are, unfortunately both low in price and quality. If it is a dime, a dozen, it fails to impress those in the know. If someone buys cut-rate or insists on dirt-cheap goods, it is clear that quality is completely irrelevant. Items bought for a song are often too good to be true but not always. For example, the Dutch sold New Amsterdam to the British, who renamed it New York, for the equivalent $24. Anybody selling at rock-bottom prices is not making money, which makes no sense in most cases. Thus, there is a floor somewhere in low prices.

Therefore, when choosing which word to describe a price, consider all elements, not only the direction but also the connotation. Calling your mother-in-law cheap or accountant exuberant could have unpleasant results. In practice, choosing the wrong word can cost you dear, meaning have a high price beyond your expectations. May this column enrich your knowledge and save you from misunderstandings.

A rose is not always a rose – on bagels, biscuits and ice cream

 

Casual travelers reading foreign menus may find themselves surprised but disappointed when they see a treat from home. Towards the end of a long trip in a distant land, it may seem such a relief to find a familiar food item on a menu, creating an expectation of a certain known taste. However, in some cases, the name of the item is the same but the form and/or taste can be quite different. Some examples of this are bagels, biscuits and ice cream.

Bagels are technically dough that is boiled and then baked. That said, their texture varies from country to country. In the United States, especially New York, bagels are hard on the outside, dense in the middle and relatively small. They are generally cut in half, with each soft side generally coated with butter or cream cheese. By contrast, the bagels in Germany are quite big, rather hard and served as sandwiches. My wife and I especially enjoyed the brie bagels, probably the best dish we ate there. In Israel, a bagel, generaly referred to as a "bagelleh", generally has the texture of white bread with a slightly harder outside, sprinkled with sesame seeds or nuts. A bagel toast in Israel tastes a bit like a brioche toast in the US but the bread is round with a hole in the middle. To be fair, it is possible to buy hard pretzels, but they are the exception. All bagels are tasty but their exact form can differ.

Biscuits can refer to very different goods depending on country. In England, any small, sweet and thin baked item is a biscuit, ideal for tea time (or any time for that matter). In the United States, the same treat is called a cookie. In Israel, biscuits mainly refer to Petit-Beurre or similar crispy bites but definitely not a Moroccan ghoribas, a honey and orange delicacy. Strangely enough, in the United States, especially in the southern part, the biscuit of biscuits and gravy is doughy and soft, ideal for absorbing the gravy. KFC biscuits somewhat replicate its texture and flavor. Regardless, this biscuit is worlds away from the British dessert.

Finally, I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream but the actual product varies by country. A scoop of ice cream in the US is generally creamy and large, more sugary than tasty unless you go luxury. By contrast, Italian ice cream, gelato, is far more icy and finely flavored, not to mention served in smaller portions. Quality is more important than quantity. TypicalFrench ice cream is somewhere in between them. Most do have a decent cream content but also contain quality flavor ingredients. As for Israel, as should be in a country of immigrants, there is everything from delicate gelato to pure creamy decadence. Whatever the form, everybody loves ice cream.

In terms of managing expectations, when ordering foods abroad, I suggest keeping an open mind. The flavor or form may be different but it may be quite tasty in itself. Expecting the same everything as at home is a bit unrealistic and ultimately boring.

War and Remembrance – the challenge and satisfaction of translating Holocaust related documents

 

[train to Auschwitz]

Technical translators generally translate, well, technical documents, whose drama is in the subtext of the document, i.e., how the specific details are somehow extraordinary. On a few occasions, I have had the opportunity to translate documents related to the Holocaust. These documents are in most cases stories of tragedy with some rays of light, storytelling at its simplest and grimmest. Interestingly, I find these document far more challenging to translate than any legal or financial document. Yet, despite these difficulties, I take on these projects as they are important to both past and present.

I have had the privilege of translating several Holocaust-related documents. My first serious translation were the memoires of Jewish partisan from Minsk, Belarussia. I later translated the memoires of a German Jew that was sent to a camp in the Baltic, who described that particular hell. For several years, I would translate the requests of Jews submitting requests to Generali, the insurance company, to receive the benefits of insurance of their long-perished parents. Just this week, I began translating a monograph on a “Righteous among nations”, a person that helped Jews survive the Germans. Each of these documents were both historical and personal documents filled with pain and joy.

In practice, translating these tragic narratives might seem rather straightforward but they are far more complex than any technical document. First, my source language, whether Hebrew, French or Russian in my cases, was not the original language of the memoires or, in one case, the native language of the narrator. Thus, as in all translations of translations, the text lacked elements of the writer’s voice while the translators down the line added elements. As a result, it was extremely difficult to be certain of the writer’s way of expressing and, thus, almost impossible to precisely recreate it in English, the target language. Second, while literary translators are expert in identifying stylistic elements and finding their equivalent elements, technical translators tend to focus on precision with the style a matter of an accepted standard. As these are both personal and historical documents, both precision and style are important and unique. Unfortunately, translation suffers to a certain degree an inherent conflict between faithfulness and beauty. Finally, these documents are very precious to the people commissioning their translation, who often have limited budgets. This combination of high expectations and a limited ability to pay naturally creates a tension. Since the budget does not allow for the editing framework involved in commercial publication, there can be dissonance between the expectation and result. Translating holocaust material, as in all literary work, is a labor of love and challenging.

Yet, I welcome such projects because the stories enrich my understand of my family’s experience, illustrate human nature and remain so relevant to the present. To explain, my mother survived the German occupation of France as did her mother and sister but lost her father and many others in her family. Her stories and letters from that period show the strength and luck that certain people had and how they survived against all odds. Her story is mirrored in the memoirs I translate. On a mixed note, we see how the Holocaust brought out the best and worst of people. Some people risked to lives to save Jews as a matter of principle while others willingly participated in murder whether by informing the authorities or even carrying out the killing. Everybody had a personal choice just as we have today. As for the relevance of such stories to the present, evil has become even more banal in current times, to quote Hannah Arendt. Worldwide, regimes and those that cooperate with them are repressing and oppressing minorities with greater cruelty than ever, showing no compassion or empathy. In such tough times, it is important to read about the choices of a previous generation faced with such choices and educate people that there are consequences to actions or inertia. I believe that Holocaust documents are far more than historical records; they are timeless calls to conscience.

Thus, despite the challenges, I choose to take on translation of Holocaust-era documents. The material, maybe because of its disturbing nature, enriches my life, my appreciation of human strength and weakness, which actually gives me hope, and allows me to do something, however small, to fight those that do not value human life. Contributing to the remembrance of that war is a call to action in the present.