So maybe the dreaded Wikipedia isn't that dreadful after all...
"Now the American Palo Alto Research Centre (Parc) is working on an ambitious project with the aim to take computers' language skills to the next level.
Parc's research on natural language processing was bought by search engine Powerset who combined it with data from online encyclopaedia Wikipedia.
Users can search Powerset with keywords, phrases, or simple questions - the results are aggregated from multiple Wikipedia articles. The aim is to provide more accurate results and answer questions directly."
more on this in the BBC article with the same heading as the one title of this brief post, although an article in BusinessWeek might in fact give more details on the matter.
Saturday, 10 April 2010
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
Interview with Jorge Diaz-Cintas
Portal 7, a website on translations for cinema television and theater, has an online interview with Jorge Diaz-Cintas.
Below, you can find two highlights from that interview.
hat exactly does AVT stand for?
"From a theoretical perspective, AVT is a scholarly field of study within the wider discipline of Translation Studies. Traditionally, it was considered to be a branch of translation parallel to literary or drama translation. One of the downsides of this perception is that the whole area was equated with the translation of films and many scholars used to refer to it as Film Translation or Cinema Translation. However, this is clearly a terminological misconception. AVT cannot be categorised only in terms of the genres it deals with, i.e. films, as it is obvious that audiovisual translators work with a panoply of programmes such as documentaries, DVD extras, sitcoms, advertisements, cartoons, reality shows, etc."
What is the cultural interest of AVT from a European perspective?
"In my opinion, and I think increasingly so in the EU’s opinion too, audiovisual communication in general, and AVT in particular, is truly essential for our (European) society. In these parts of the world, we’ve always needed translation to communicate with each other and it’s only natural that the increase in audiovisual output will bring a parallel increase in AVT. The European Parliament has clearly realised the power of the audiovisual word, as opposed to the printed word, to reach audiences and has taken swift action with the creation of their own television channel, EuroparlTV, where most material is subtitled in all EU languages."
You can read the entire interview, along with its various hyperlinks, by following this link.
Below, you can find two highlights from that interview.
hat exactly does AVT stand for?
"From a theoretical perspective, AVT is a scholarly field of study within the wider discipline of Translation Studies. Traditionally, it was considered to be a branch of translation parallel to literary or drama translation. One of the downsides of this perception is that the whole area was equated with the translation of films and many scholars used to refer to it as Film Translation or Cinema Translation. However, this is clearly a terminological misconception. AVT cannot be categorised only in terms of the genres it deals with, i.e. films, as it is obvious that audiovisual translators work with a panoply of programmes such as documentaries, DVD extras, sitcoms, advertisements, cartoons, reality shows, etc."
What is the cultural interest of AVT from a European perspective?
"In my opinion, and I think increasingly so in the EU’s opinion too, audiovisual communication in general, and AVT in particular, is truly essential for our (European) society. In these parts of the world, we’ve always needed translation to communicate with each other and it’s only natural that the increase in audiovisual output will bring a parallel increase in AVT. The European Parliament has clearly realised the power of the audiovisual word, as opposed to the printed word, to reach audiences and has taken swift action with the creation of their own television channel, EuroparlTV, where most material is subtitled in all EU languages."
You can read the entire interview, along with its various hyperlinks, by following this link.
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
Mona Baker - 3 March 2010 - 5-6pm Huxley Building 144
Mona Baker is Professor of Translation Studies at the Centre for Translation and Intercultural Studies, University of Manchester, UK. She is author of In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation(Routledge, 1992; second edition in preparation) and Translation and Conflict: A Narrative Account (Routledge, 2006), Editor of the Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies (1998, 2001; second edition, co-edited with Gabriela Saldanha, 2008); Critical Concepts: Translation Studies (Routledge, 2009); and Critical Readings in Translation Studies (Routledge, 2010). She is also founding Editor of The Translator (St. Jerome Publishing, 1995- ), Editorial Director of St. Jerome Publishing, and Vice-President of IATIS (International Association of Translation & Intercultural Studies.
Today's talk
Narrating the Arab World - ‘Accurate’ Translations, Suspicious Frames
Talk outline: Constructing and disseminating ‘knowledge’ about the Arab World is now a big industry in the West. Much of this industry relies heavily on various forms of translation, and in some cases is generated by a team of dedicated translators working on full-blown, heavily funded programmes that involve selecting, translating and distributing various types of text that emanate from the Arab World: newspaper articles, film clips, transcripts of television shows, selected excerpts from educational material, sermons delivered in mosques, etc. Examples of organisations engaged in such programmes and employing a large number of translators include the Middle East Media Research Institute, Palestinian Media Watch, and The Medialine, among others.
Drawing on narrative theory, this talk will attempt to demonstrate that recent efforts (for example, by MEMRI Watch) to discredit Zionist-led organisations like MEMRI by questioning the ‘accuracy’ of their translations miss the point. The narratives we elaborate about any aspect of the world through translation do not have to be linguistically ‘inaccurate’ in relation to their source in order to mystify and mislead. Because translation is a textual activity that is closely scrutinised and often treated with suspicion, undermining a narrative encoded in the source text does not necessarily mean direct intervention in the text itself. Often, this is done around the text (footnotes, prefaces, addition of visual material) and by the very selection of texts to be translated. This is particularly the case in politically sensitive contexts, where the translators or those who commission them are aware that other advocacy groups working on the same or similar issues will be scrutinising their translations carefully.
Today's talk
Narrating the Arab World - ‘Accurate’ Translations, Suspicious Frames
Talk outline: Constructing and disseminating ‘knowledge’ about the Arab World is now a big industry in the West. Much of this industry relies heavily on various forms of translation, and in some cases is generated by a team of dedicated translators working on full-blown, heavily funded programmes that involve selecting, translating and distributing various types of text that emanate from the Arab World: newspaper articles, film clips, transcripts of television shows, selected excerpts from educational material, sermons delivered in mosques, etc. Examples of organisations engaged in such programmes and employing a large number of translators include the Middle East Media Research Institute, Palestinian Media Watch, and The Medialine, among others.
Drawing on narrative theory, this talk will attempt to demonstrate that recent efforts (for example, by MEMRI Watch) to discredit Zionist-led organisations like MEMRI by questioning the ‘accuracy’ of their translations miss the point. The narratives we elaborate about any aspect of the world through translation do not have to be linguistically ‘inaccurate’ in relation to their source in order to mystify and mislead. Because translation is a textual activity that is closely scrutinised and often treated with suspicion, undermining a narrative encoded in the source text does not necessarily mean direct intervention in the text itself. Often, this is done around the text (footnotes, prefaces, addition of visual material) and by the very selection of texts to be translated. This is particularly the case in politically sensitive contexts, where the translators or those who commission them are aware that other advocacy groups working on the same or similar issues will be scrutinising their translations carefully.
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Borrowing and translation - Fatwa becomes "ruling" for the BBC
Has anyone noticed how the BBC has stopped using "fatwa"? Fatwa was borrowed into English a couple of decades ago but immediately acquired a completely negative "meaning". ie something like a death sentence. The distortion was dangerous, as it turns out: the BBC has now had to revert to a translation: an Islamic cleric is about to deliver a fatwa/ruling which condemns suicide bombings. Guess which they've chosen to use - borrowing or translation?!
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
New modules on our MScTrans allow for even more specialised AVT
We are delighted to announce that from October 2010 we will be adding two brand-new modules on audiovisual translation to our MSc in Translation.
These two options - Translating for Voiceover & Dubbing and Accessibility to the Media - together with our existing module on Subtitling will allow participants to specialise in audiovisual translation.
For more information on these exciting changes please visit our website.
These two options - Translating for Voiceover & Dubbing and Accessibility to the Media - together with our existing module on Subtitling will allow participants to specialise in audiovisual translation.
For more information on these exciting changes please visit our website.
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
Imperial College has just launched the first International joint PhDs with the University of Hong Kong, the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. The first two of these are offered across all subjects at Imperial. See here for further details.
Mark Shuttleworth
Mark Shuttleworth
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
ITR - a London-based translation and localisation company
ITR, International Translation Resources, is a translation and localisation company based in West-London. They provide the following services
Technical translation
Software localisation
Website localisation
eLearning localisation
Foreign language DTP
Translation project management
Translation quality assurance
Technology services
Training courses
Quite a few of the MScrans alumni work or have been working for or with ITR, in various roles ranging from in-house to freelance. Have a look at their current vacancy openings . The company's CEO, Helen Eckersley, has been a highly valued visitor to the MScTrans for years.
Technical translation
Software localisation
Website localisation
eLearning localisation
Foreign language DTP
Translation project management
Translation quality assurance
Technology services
Training courses
Quite a few of the MScrans alumni work or have been working for or with ITR, in various roles ranging from in-house to freelance. Have a look at their current vacancy openings . The company's CEO, Helen Eckersley, has been a highly valued visitor to the MScTrans for years.
Alta language services
Alta language services is an American LSP based in Atlanta and with subsidiaries across the States. Other than some free resources, their website also includes an interesting blog called 'beyond words'. The last two blog posts include one on Language Testing as well as the upcoming Oscars , with brief reviews of the 5 feature films listed in the Foreign Film Language category. Quite cross-cultural indeed.
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Varieties of medical practice
Of use to anyone translating medical texts, Dr. Rivera has an article in Translation Journal on "How Many Varieties of Medical Practice Are There?". You can find more on this via http://www.accurapid.com/journal/51medical.htm
Friday, 5 February 2010
Latest words on translation from Lawrence Venuti
Internationally known translator and translation theorist Venuti wants both translators and readers of translation to be more mindful and appreciative of the cultural differences they encounter in a foreign text.http://www.temple.edu/newsroom/2009_2010/02/stories/Venuti.htm
Saturday, 30 January 2010
Jost Zetzsche
Jost Zetsche's e-letter for translation professionals is an interesting insight into various recent developments.
Its 158th issue includes a note on translation quality: in the brave new world of machine translation and crowdsourcing (now "sharecropping"), quality has been replaced by the concept of usefulness.
Also mentioned is the latest batch of Google Input Method Editors (IME) for 14 languages (Arabic, Bengali, Farsi, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu). They can be downloaded for free.
"Once installed, they become one of the keyboard languages you have available in Windows (just like the different languages you can install via Windows that are accessible through the small language icon on your taskbar). The concept is that you have easy access to those languages by being able to use a Western-language keyboard, type the pronunciation of the word in the respective language, and the IME will give you a number of auto-complete suggestions of alike-sounding real words in that language with the language-specific characters you can choose from (very much like Windows IMEs for Chinese, Japanese, or Korean)."
And finally, some free alignment editors:
"The alignment tool YouAlign from the same company as the above-mentioned SynchroTerm has now been declared free for good (it was originally supposed to be for a limited time). It's a fantastic offer -- it uses the same engine as the commercial counterpart AlignFactory; it offers the same wide range of file formats, including PDF; and the only limitations are file size (1 MB) and that you can align only one file pair at a time (the latter limitation can easily be circumvented with file concatenators -- I use Twins File Merger)."
More information on Jost can be found on this website. You can subscribe to the fortnightly free newsletter via this site.
Its 158th issue includes a note on translation quality: in the brave new world of machine translation and crowdsourcing (now "sharecropping"), quality has been replaced by the concept of usefulness.
Also mentioned is the latest batch of Google Input Method Editors (IME) for 14 languages (Arabic, Bengali, Farsi, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu). They can be downloaded for free.
"Once installed, they become one of the keyboard languages you have available in Windows (just like the different languages you can install via Windows that are accessible through the small language icon on your taskbar). The concept is that you have easy access to those languages by being able to use a Western-language keyboard, type the pronunciation of the word in the respective language, and the IME will give you a number of auto-complete suggestions of alike-sounding real words in that language with the language-specific characters you can choose from (very much like Windows IMEs for Chinese, Japanese, or Korean)."
And finally, some free alignment editors:
"The alignment tool YouAlign from the same company as the above-mentioned SynchroTerm has now been declared free for good (it was originally supposed to be for a limited time). It's a fantastic offer -- it uses the same engine as the commercial counterpart AlignFactory; it offers the same wide range of file formats, including PDF; and the only limitations are file size (1 MB) and that you can align only one file pair at a time (the latter limitation can easily be circumvented with file concatenators -- I use Twins File Merger)."
More information on Jost can be found on this website. You can subscribe to the fortnightly free newsletter via this site.
Thursday, 28 January 2010
JoSTrans special issue (13) now online
This issue is devoted to Chinese<> English translation. All articles are free to view online here:http://www.jostrans.org
Translators Struggle to Prove Their Academic Bona Fides
I've already sent this round as an email, but I think it has a place on the blog too. See this article: http://chronicle.com/article/Translators-Struggle-to-Prove/63542/?key=SzglJ1FrMiQeYnE0eiBCKCYBbnMtdRotOCVEYHkaYFFc
2010 EU English-language translation competition
"We are waiting for the 2010 EU English-language translation competition!" is the name of a new group on facebook.
If you are able to translate from at least two official EU languages into native-standard English and are interested in a varied, interesting, challenging and well-paid position as an EU institution translator, join this group now!
You must also hold an EU passport to be eligible.
When the competition is officially announced, all members of this group will be informed.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=189470229968&ref=mf
If you are able to translate from at least two official EU languages into native-standard English and are interested in a varied, interesting, challenging and well-paid position as an EU institution translator, join this group now!
You must also hold an EU passport to be eligible.
When the competition is officially announced, all members of this group will be informed.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=189470229968&ref=mf
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