| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: Machine Translation: a translator's friend or foe? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Machine Translation: a translator's friend or foe?".
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| | | | Ashutosh Mitra 
India
Local time: 01:09
Member (2011)
English to Hindi
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SITE LOCALIZER | what came first... | Mar 30, 2011 |
It is like asking what came first egg or hen...?
| | | | Mary Worby
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:39
German to English
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| Neither one nor the other ... | Mar 30, 2011 |
It has applications. I have been known to use it myself to determine the sense of e-mails erroneously sent in the wrong language, or to interpret friends' status updates on Facebook when I don't speak their language. So in that instance it is my friend. It is also useful for formulaic translation.
When I'm asked to 'proof-read' machine translated drivel, I am less keen.
| | | | | Per se no reason for it to be a foe | Mar 30, 2011 |
And it could even be an ally, but in the hands of the ignorant, the opportunist, the moneygrabber, the shoddy....
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John Cutler
Spain
Local time: 21:39
Spanish to English
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| A matter of prerogative | Mar 30, 2011 |
I agree that it depends on how it's used. Running a text through a machine translation program and then asking for a "correction" is definitely a skanky practice.
I believe, on the other hand, that it is a translator's prerogative if he or she decides to use MT and is willing to invest the time involved in making the output acceptable.
| | | | | It's definitely a foe! | Mar 30, 2011 |
I'm working for an agency that offers his clients a word rate of € 0,03! They are pre-"translating" the text (with a tool like Google) and ask their translators to make a revison of this pre-"translation", which is paid € 0,015/word.
So I think, every translator should be concerend about this development, because this technology is advancing more and more... and one day a traslator will be considered just as a revisor of poor quality "translations".
| | | | Ashutosh Mitra
India
Local time: 01:09
Member (2011)
English to Hindi
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SITE LOCALIZER
How can you bring emotions of a particular word specific to a sentence written for a specific purpose.........by a machine.
No machine can beat human brain.Human feeling is also something which can't be expressed by a machine though being made by Human...
[Edited at 2011-03-30 09:28 GMT]
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 21:39
Spanish to English
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While agreeing with Noni, John and Mary, the question is more complex.
Basically, "friend" if it's ME using it; "Foe" if it's not. I use/have used an MT tool. It is one of several that I use to reduce the amount of typing that I have to do.
However, I am only happy with it if I am using it myself. I don't "trust" MT translations and am fed up being asked to "revise" botched MT products, which is happening increasingly these days.
I recently even paid for an updated version, ... See more While agreeing with Noni, John and Mary, the question is more complex.
Basically, "friend" if it's ME using it; "Foe" if it's not. I use/have used an MT tool. It is one of several that I use to reduce the amount of typing that I have to do.
However, I am only happy with it if I am using it myself. I don't "trust" MT translations and am fed up being asked to "revise" botched MT products, which is happening increasingly these days.
I recently even paid for an updated version, and was dismayed to find that all the features that I enjoyed in the old version had been replaced with a baffling new interface involving a learning curve which I may never get round to grappling with. For now, it sits on my spare PC like an unwanted toy until I have time to grope my way around it.
This seems to be happening with other translation softwares too; the new "professional" Wordfast has (in our opinion) too many unwanted features and we don't like the "Deja-Vu" style interface (2 vertical columns) either, although people keep saying the majority of translators prefer it...
[Edited at 2011-03-30 09:29 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 21:39
Member (2009)
English to German
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| It can come in handy | Mar 30, 2011 |
aceavila - Noni wrote:
And it could even be an ally, but in the hands of the ignorant, the opportunist, the moneygrabber, the shoddy....
I couldn't agree more. There's always to sides to consider.
| | | | Adnan Özdemir
Türkiye
Local time: 22:39
Member (2007)
German to Turkish
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Because, only via machine translation can see the industry how the human labour precious and important is !
Especially for INTO > TURKISH translations__ 
Anadolu'dan selamlar
Saludos desde Anatolia
[Edited at 2011-03-30 12:42 GMT]
| | | | MM^^
Local time: 21:39
Chinese to French
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| I don't use machine translation, but... | Mar 30, 2011 |
When I really don't understand the source text, putting it in google translation can give me some clues of the real meaning.
| | | | | In the wrong hands, could be suicidal. | Mar 30, 2011 |
As some of you already pointed out. I only want do give my 2cents. This is an offer that I received yesterday:
For words contained in segments without a match in the Translation Memory: EUR 0.02 per word in the source text.
For words contained in segments with a fuzzy match: 60% of base rate per word.
For words contained in segments with a full (100%) match: 30% of base rate per word.
Are you kidding me?!
Bad news is that SOME people accept these out... See more As some of you already pointed out. I only want do give my 2cents. This is an offer that I received yesterday:
For words contained in segments without a match in the Translation Memory: EUR 0.02 per word in the source text.
For words contained in segments with a fuzzy match: 60% of base rate per word.
For words contained in segments with a full (100%) match: 30% of base rate per word.
Are you kidding me?!
Bad news is that SOME people accept these outraging rates!!
Sonia ▲ Collapse
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Michael Harris
Germany
Local time: 21:39
Member (2006)
German to English
but if the development proceeds in the same way as a translation that I reviewed (have done it onece and never again), then we dont have much to worry about as the quality was appalling and everything had to be re-translated as I refused to correct it.
[Edited at 2011-03-31 07:49 GMT]
| | | | artyan
United States
Local time: 12:39
English to Russian
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| A Friend, but... | Mar 30, 2011 |
It depends on each particular case.
Indeed, MT has helped me on a couple of occasions. Once I was translating a brochure, and reached a table with 100+ country names (most of them were not in my TM so I had to translate them for the first time). Typing each name in Russian would have taken me a few minutes, but MT did the piece in a split second, and the result was impeccable. I also noticed that MT helps a lot whenever I have a list of proper names that have to be transliterated ... See more It depends on each particular case.
Indeed, MT has helped me on a couple of occasions. Once I was translating a brochure, and reached a table with 100+ country names (most of them were not in my TM so I had to translate them for the first time). Typing each name in Russian would have taken me a few minutes, but MT did the piece in a split second, and the result was impeccable. I also noticed that MT helps a lot whenever I have a list of proper names that have to be transliterated to/from Cyrillic.
However, MT failed miserably when I tried to use it to translate another brochure. To try to speed up the work, I went for using a CAT tool in combination with MT. As I was under a pressure, I was not noticing the main drawback: At each segment, my mind would get "anchored" to the quick result proposed by the MT, and this did not allow me to think clearly. As you can imagine, editing this translation took a lot of time (and had to be done by someone else). After that, I spent a few days trying to make MT work better, but it didn't help.
The lesson I learned is simple: It is a friend, but one has to know when to use it. ▲ Collapse
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It's a tool, the world changes and so do the tools. A hammer is good for hammering and a drill for drilling, and so is the case with MT too. It's not good for every purpose, but in some cases really handy and certainly has its professional applications.
I think its better to think how we can benefit from new tools than to think how we can defend us against them.
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