| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Machines to Replace Human Translators? They Already Have: English Tabloid
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| | | MT has a long, long way to go to replace us but... | May 24, 2017 |
...it appears that many translators are reporting a dramatic drop in their volume of work in recent months, as mentioned by Christopher & Rozilene and Juliano. I attended a conference last week and it was a hot topic, with people talking about a dramatic drop of more than 50% in demand for their services in only the last few months.... I had not been overly concerned about MT up to now, given the long, long way it has to go to be in any way efficient or reliable and therefore represent a "threat... See more ...it appears that many translators are reporting a dramatic drop in their volume of work in recent months, as mentioned by Christopher & Rozilene and Juliano. I attended a conference last week and it was a hot topic, with people talking about a dramatic drop of more than 50% in demand for their services in only the last few months.... I had not been overly concerned about MT up to now, given the long, long way it has to go to be in any way efficient or reliable and therefore represent a "threat", particularly in fields such as law or medicine, but it cannot be denied that it is already having some degree of impact on the industry.... ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:08
Member (2008)
Italian to English
If indeed there is a drop, there is not necessarily any correlation between it and a (presumed) increase in the use of MT. A drop could be attributable to any number or combination of factors.
I too had begun to worry about no work coming in until about a month ago when it suddenly picked up, for no discernible reason. And let me add: the types of document I have been translating could NEVER be translated by MT.
These inexplicable drop-offs in work seem to happen. I ha... See more If indeed there is a drop, there is not necessarily any correlation between it and a (presumed) increase in the use of MT. A drop could be attributable to any number or combination of factors.
I too had begun to worry about no work coming in until about a month ago when it suddenly picked up, for no discernible reason. And let me add: the types of document I have been translating could NEVER be translated by MT.
These inexplicable drop-offs in work seem to happen. I have no idea what causes them, but an increased use of MT would be the least likely explanation.
On the other hand, on a regular basis someone comes into these forums to extol the great progress being made by MT. I have no idea what causes that either.
[Edited at 2017-05-25 07:38 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Jeff Whittaker 
United States
Local time: 07:08
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Jeff Whittaker
United States
Local time: 07:08
Spanish to English
+ ...
| The problem is not... | May 25, 2017 |
what MT can actually do, but rather what people "perceive" and "believe" it can do. Paying people pennies to "post edit" work is going to result in a lot of critical errors being overlooked since they are not being paid enough to spend any more than seconds with each sentence.
If only we had an organization representing translators who could assist by educating the public through public service announcements, viral videos, etc.?
For example, a viral video showing the ho... See more what MT can actually do, but rather what people "perceive" and "believe" it can do. Paying people pennies to "post edit" work is going to result in a lot of critical errors being overlooked since they are not being paid enough to spend any more than seconds with each sentence.
If only we had an organization representing translators who could assist by educating the public through public service announcements, viral videos, etc.?
For example, a viral video showing the home office of a professional translator working at her computer, surrounded by dictionaries, classical music in the background, framed college diploma on the wall, talking on the phone asking experts for verifications of terms, staying up late at night to finish a project, etc. Next scene: happy client using the translation at a board meeting with now happy international clients signing deals, shaking hands.
Cut to the next scene of a young 20-year old drinking and dancing at a nightclub with loud music in the background. Suddenly, he gets a text message and sneaks off to the bathroom to quickly jot off a translation on his cell phone while angry inebriated customers with full bladders bang on the stall door. A message pops up on the cell phone "Congradulations! You've just earned another .10 cents!". The next scene is the client receiving a hefty bill and a rejected bid proposal from the very confused foreign client.
I believe that if clients were aware of what happens to their translation projects and who was actually translating them (and under what conditions) at least some would move over to better and more professional agencies.
See also: Is "post editing" a pricing scam? http://www.proz.com/forum/money_matters/303881-is_"post_editing"_a_pricing_scam.html
[Edited at 2017-05-25 14:38 GMT]
[Edited at 2017-05-25 14:39 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Jeff Whittaker
United States
Local time: 07:08
Spanish to English
+ ...
| A sample post editing project | May 25, 2017 |
I was once contacted by a "post editing" agency with a 200,000 word project (to be split up in a million tiny pieces of course). This company sent me a list of their four levels of translation that went something like this (also known as "THE MYTH"):
Level 1: Raw MT output you receive:
"After product on market launch patients complained sporadically allergic reactions."
Level 2: Light editing (only correct serious errors, ignore incorrect syntax and what is otherw... See more I was once contacted by a "post editing" agency with a 200,000 word project (to be split up in a million tiny pieces of course). This company sent me a list of their four levels of translation that went something like this (also known as "THE MYTH"):
Level 1: Raw MT output you receive:
"After product on market launch patients complained sporadically allergic reactions."
Level 2: Light editing (only correct serious errors, ignore incorrect syntax and what is otherwise understandable)
"After product launched on market, patients complained sporadically about allergic reactions."
Level 3: Detailed context-level post editing
"After the product was launched on the market, patients complained sporadically about allergic reactions."
Level 4: Full translation
"After the product was launched on the market, there were sporadic complaints from patients regarding allergic reactions."
The goal, they said, was to provide a post-edited translation of at least level 3.
Looks easy, right?
Now, "THE REALITY":
Then they included the document to be "post edited", which looked like this:
"Turning work includes 4-axis Präzisionsmaschinen on-turning milling vertical machining for Fahrständer"
and
"The agreed according to paragraph 7 deemed value guaranteed is done in accordance with indexation clause which when beyond this threshold, represents the change to the full extent and forms the initial basis for the calculation of further exceedaances."
Any takers, it pays .02 a word and it's really easy.... just make some quick corrections...
[Edited at 2017-05-25 14:58 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | MT makes my jobs simplier | Jun 2, 2017 |
I win a number of urgent translation projects biddings. MT or Google Translate is prohibited since confidential matters can leak to outsiders. I selectively apply MT methodology to improve my translation efficiently and protect confidentiality strongly. I(n my idea, a translator with advocate on technology can develop translation jobs to be better and better e.g. application of software algorithm into sentences to be translated.
Soonthon L.
| | | | | Educate or inform clients, some of them have already seen the dangerous results ... | Jun 13, 2017 |
LegalTransform wrote: what MT can actually do, but rather what people "perceive" and "believe" it can do. Paying people pennies to "post edit" work is going to result in a lot of critical errors being overlooked since they are not being paid enough to spend any more than seconds with each sentence. If only we had an organization representing translators who could assist by educating the public through public service announcements, viral videos, etc.? For example, a viral video showing the home office of a professional translator working at her computer, surrounded by dictionaries, classical music in the background, framed college diploma on the wall, talking on the phone asking experts for verifications of terms, staying up late at night to finish a project, etc. Next scene: happy client using the translation at a board meeting with now happy international clients signing deals, shaking hands. Cut to the next scene of a young 20-year old drinking and dancing at a nightclub with loud music in the background. Suddenly, he gets a text message and sneaks off to the bathroom to quickly jot off a translation on his cell phone while angry inebriated customers with full bladders bang on the stall door. A message pops up on the cell phone "Congradulations! You've just earned another .10 cents!". The next scene is the client receiving a hefty bill and a rejected bid proposal from the very confused foreign client. I believe that if clients were aware of what happens to their translation projects and who was actually translating them (and under what conditions) at least some would move over to better and more professional agencies. See also: Is "post editing" a pricing scam? http://www.proz.com/forum/money_matters/303881-is_"post_editing"_a_pricing_scam.html [Edited at 2017-05-25 14:38 GMT] [Edited at 2017-05-25 14:39 GMT]
The problem is not only accepting so called "post-editing" jobs derived from MT results, I also think that the major issue here is informational. The client should be educated regarding all issues involving the practice of machine translating a project and sending it to some person to work twice the time necessary in order to just translate a segment ... for peanuts. Some clients who had bad experiences with post-editions from machine translated texts already understand that algorithms for language translation are not that advanced as to be able to replace correct syntax, terminology, perfect fluency, etc.; all of which a professional translator could provide.
I've seen results by GT that could be considered correct spelling and speeding-up the process of searching some terms in the Dictionary (nothing more). The autocomplete features available in many current versions of CAT Tools also help to speed the process up and improve quality. Besides those points, the upload of information that might be protected by NDAs could break the terms of such agreements, and therefore, also come down to an ethical problem.
| | | | Andy Watkinson
Spain
Local time: 13:08
Member
Catalan to English
+ ...
| What's the problem? | Jun 14, 2017 |
LegalTransform wrote:
"The agreed according to paragraph 7 deemed value guaranteed is done in accordance with indexation clause which when beyond this threshold, represents the change to the full extent and forms the initial basis for the calculation of further exceedaances."
I always write like this.
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