Never let a machine do the job of a human...

This week, a so-called breakthrough in real-time, automated translation has made the headlines in the languages and translation sections of the international press. Not in a particularly flattering way, though.

The new technology is called “Lexifone”, and it’s main innovative feature is that it is not a machine translation along the lines of Google Translate or Babelfish per se, but rather a real-time interpreting service for eight languages that works with “nothing more than a phone”, according to information provided by the Associated Press: “The service translates spoken conversations in real time, which Lexifone says is an improvement over free, Web-based services that are typically limited to typing in text”.

Practically all Science fiction shows and movies that involve space exploration feature a highly advanced, real-time translator devices that allow seamless communication between entities from different planets –not to mention countries-, and we have now reached a point where we don’t even question the complexity behind such a technology. But when it comes to the present and our current level of technological prowess, an announcement like the one of “Lexifone” does sound quite far-fetched. Mainly, because it involves two fields where we, translators and transcriptors, see how technology fails miserably every day: machine translation AND automated speech transcription. The first, albeit useful for separate words and simple sentences, proves useless when it comes to idioms and intricate text structures. As for the second, just try throwing in a strong accent – then sit back and have a laugh watching the machine spell utter nonsense.

Those two factors already make me feel somewhat skeptical about this particular software’s functionality. But what really makes me dismiss it as a potential tool for my job as a translator is the fact that it emphasizes its low costs: “Lexifone allows people to get translations without paying hundreds of dollars for human interpreters”, writes Associated Press. Specifically, the service costs 15 to 40 cents a minute.

Now, that is plain suspicious. I know that we all live in a world where we want more for less, but one thing still stands: if, apart from quantity, you want quality in your translations, it comes at a price. And even if we are talking about a machine, there should be people behind it constantly working on improving its interface, its voice recognition system and its vocabulary banks, trying to keep the languages as fresh as possible every day. And that should cost quite a bit of money.

Unsurprisingly, the Associated Press goes on in its article to say that “tests conducted by AP reporters in Mexico, France, Israel, China and the U.S. show that Lexifone is still far from delivering the quick and seamless translations it advertises. Using the service proved frustrating, both in the quality of translations and the length of time it took to complete phone calls”. It shows promise, AP writes, and it could help in emergencies, but it’s definitely not fit for everyday use. And whereas the project deserves praise for the idea and the effort, the truth is, a machine will never beat the quality and flexibility of a translation job done by humans.

Because, just as humans, languages are alive. And in inWhatLanguage, we acknowledge it.

Inspiration in languages

Today, I have been inspired by languages.

I went to a poetry event dedicated to one of Spain’s most prominent Spanish poets, Federico García Lorca (1898-1936), a fact which, in itself, is not that amazing, albeit certainly special. The amazing part was… The event took place in Germany.

Sure, it was in the context of a Spanish learning class. But still. We are talking about some of the most complex poetry Spanish literature has seen. And yet, as soon as those complicated words were accompanied by a guitar and sung by the amazing vocal chords of an opera singer, everyone – and I mean everyone, Spanish speakers and non-Spanish speakers alike- understood it perfectly. Or, more likely, they felt it.

Poetry is a whole other dimension of language. A dimension where words are as important as their rhythm and their musicality, even if they are not meant to be put into a song. And translating these can be the work of a lifetime, or an eternal nightmare.

I have never translated poetry. I have never had the chance, but I really don’t know if I would be able to do it. It just requires a little too much of just one person: it requires not only the total dominance of a language, but juggling it to fit the cadence of a verse, not missing the subtleties of the original language, the metaphors and the hidden messages. Generally speaking, poetry is made in and for a language, and trying to change that, for many, is impossible. That’s probably why García Lorca’s work was recited in Spanish… Even in the heart of Germany.

But the beauty of it is that, if it’s done right, if it’s given the attitude it is supposed to have, even those who are not familiar with the language do feel its meaning. If, by trying to make it more understandable, we translate a poem to other languages and, in doing so, we manage to make it lose this quality, that translation is a failure.

Or maybe poems are not meant to be translated at all. Maybe there is such a thing as a message impossible to translate. Or maybe the language of poetry is just untranslatable in itself.

Furuike ya
kawazu tobikomu
mizu no oto

This is a haiku by eminent Japanese poet Matsuo Basho (1644-1694). It was translated by American poet Robert Hass as follows:

The old pond--
a frog jumps in,
sound of water.

I guess one has to be a poet to understand the secret technique of translating a poem. A world reserved for a chosen few. I will continue to admire their works from afar – they deserve it.

The dangers of a language barrier

A couple of days ago I found this article on the net:

"Translators were asked to sit in on more than 3,600 driving tests in the Black Country and Staffordshire because new motorists were not confident in their grasp of English, it can be revealed today."

As a person who has been living in a foreign country for a number of years, I have pretty much experienced it all already. I have grown accustomed to certain situations, and even if my control of the local language is far from perfect, I have my little “vocabulary departments” for each and every situation that I encounter in my daily routine: buying products over the counter, asking for information on train routes, that sort of thing. However, I do not cope well with unforeseeable eventualities.

The other day, for instance, a nice couple asked me for directions, and for the life of me I couldn’t seem to be able to put two coherent words together. Okay, partly because a, I wasn’t sure how to reach the desired destination, and b, because my dyslexia makes it naturally difficult for me to know which way to go anyway. But still. Up until now, I haven’t had to drive around here, and after this, I don’t think I ever will.

Not being able to understand basic information in dire situations, like driving –where there really is no time to look up stuff in the dictionary-, can be a terrifying thing. Just imagine the following: you are in the passenger seat with a foreign driver, and you see that he is going way too fast. You smell the danger. You shout: “Break!” And he doesn’t understand.  Not a pretty picture.

Probably that’s why the people doing the driving tests in Black Country and Staffordshire thought it would be worth it to pay professional interpreters to help them. And you know what? It surely was. If you are driving alone, you are guided by your own sense of direction, but when you have to follow other’s instructions, a language barrier is an obstacle only for those who want it to be.

With years of experience, inWhatLanguage's worldwide network of clients relies on our interpreting services because our interpretation firm goes the extra mile to ensure that we work with the most talented and professional interpreters in the world. And we work both via telephone and on-site, in more than 160 languages.

Don’t take any risks – where there is a will, there is way. And inWhatLanguage is definitely the way.

English here, English there... English Everywhere

Today, while surfing the net trying to find interesting stuff about languages for our awesome Facebook community, I stumbled upon the following joke:

An American visiting in England asked at the hotel for the elevator.

The portiere looked a bit confused but smiled when he realized what the man wanted.

"You must mean the lift," he said.

"No," the American responded. "If I ask for the elevator I mean the elevator."

"Well," the portiere answered, "over here we call them lifts".

"Now you listen", the American said rather irritated, "someone in America invented the elevator."

"Oh, right you are sir," the portiere said in a polite tone, "but someone here in England invented the language."

I found that hilarious. But then, it made me think. There is always this sort of squabble about which English is the norm – British or American. And I’m not trying to exclude other “English languages” in the world; but, I mean, in a world where 375 million people speak English as their first language, it is hard not to simplify.

I am not an English native speaker. My native language is Spanish, European Spanish – the comparison between British and American English and Castillian Spanish  and Latin-American Spanish is inevitable, but that’s a topic for another post-, and during my school years, British English was the norm. What can I say, our English standards were defined by the Cambridge exams. The speaker from the tapes that we used as listening exercises had a very diplomatic, yet distinct British accent.

And yet, probably because my English comes primarily from the American media –movies, shows, online radio programs-, I unknowingly developed a tendency towards American English. I write “center” with the “er”, and when I say it, I pronounce the final “r” lifting the tip of my tongue. When I get “mad”, I’m angry, not crazy. And when I’m told I’m “smart”, I don’t think of my attire. And when I want to reach my apartment floor… I take the stairs :)

Do I think American English is the norm? No. Nor am I denying it. Languages have a history that no one can deny, and knowing it makes our culture and vocabulary richer. Having a clear view of these two particular “English languages” gives me an insight into the overall language that I wouldn’t enjoy if I closed my mind to the possibility that they are both just as valid and as wonderful.

Furthermore, as a translator, an open mind about the regional differences in a language –not only English, but pretty much any language- is a valuable asset. People want to be talked to in their very own language, with their very own quirks and expressions, and if you consider yourself a good translator, you have to be able to respond to this demand.

inWhatLanguage's professional, native-speaking language translators understand this need. They are among the most qualified in the translation services industry. Every language translation project is treated with the same degree of quality and precision, which is why our firm has one of the best reputations in the language translation industry with regards to customer satisfaction and quality translations.

It doesn’t matter who invented a language, or who changed it along the way… We are up to whatever challenge comes our way.

inWhatLanguage: a translation agency as it should be

What is a translation agency?

Despite how simple this question sounds, it is, in fact, a tricky one. A translation agency is, or should be, a company that provides services to cover its clients’ translation needs.

Then, why is it that when one says “translation agency”, people usually automatically think of a guy sitting at a desk with a stack of papers in different languages, or wearing headphones and writing a translation of what he hears, like the guy in this picture?

It’s not that this is not a correct perception. Document translation and audio transcription is, without a doubt, a major part of a translator’s job. But a language agency is so much more.

Nowadays, the needs one may have for a translation agency are rarely limited to a paper document or a recorded audio conference. In the era of iPads, YouTube, of Facebook, of daily updated websites and monthly newsletters, a company that sticks with just document translation can hardly be called a modern business.

As I was doing a subtitling job the other day, changing video formats to suit the clients’ needs, moving or extending a subtitle a quarter of an inch longer to make sure that it’s perfectly synchronized to the person talking in the video, I realized how wonderfully versatile inWhatLanguage is.

Our translation firm can translate all forms of multimedia, whether it's a web conference presentation, a global training video, or an interactive Flash demo for your website. Our translation team understands the importance of providing leading experts in all file types and technologies who can consistently recreate and adapt your multimedia translation project for any language and/or international market.

We have tons of stuff that goes beyond just the services you would naturally assume a translation agency would have:

• ·        Software localization services
• ·        eLearning localization translation
• ·        Multilingual voice-over recording and synching
• ·        Desktop publishing translation services
• ·        Script localization
• ·        Subtitling and dubbing translation
• ·        Foreign voice talent
• ·        Graphics and animation editing
• ·        Testing & quality assurance translation
• ·        Translation of DVDs and videos
• ·        Verbatim recording Translation
• ·        Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) translation
• ·        You name it!

No matter the format, no matter the subject matter, no matter the linguistic or cultural targets, inWhatLanguage will translate and localize your multimedia content with unparalleled speed and accuracy.

Translation: literal, literary, and all that is in-between

To think that the act of translating means the act of simply transforming words from one language into words in another language is a big misconception. That would, by definition, mean that a single person who is fluent in two languages could potentially do a translation. Which could be compared to saying that anyone who can put together a complete sentence with a subject, verb and predicate is capable of writing a novel.

A translator is, above all things, a writer. And as writers can –and must- specialize in certain fields of literature, so can translators. As great as it would be to have a single person capable of translating any kind of text out there and producing documents with minimal loss in translation, that is not possible if you are only looking for the best results. That would be the equivalent of having a reporter writing every single section of a newspaper. No, there are different people for different tasks – those who have the speed to write last minute news, those who have the analytic mind to write in-depth articles, or those who have the tact and the literary abilities to write the obituaries.

A translator who is great at translating marketing campaigns might leave something to be desired when it comes to legal documents. A translator who has a gift for translating song lyrics and poetry might not be the best option when the client asks for an instructions manual translation.

Even if the root of both adjectives “literal” and “literary” is the same, when it comes to translation, these two qualities can make a world of difference. Neither of them defines a better or worse translator, they just make them more apt for certain kinds of texts, more adequate for certain target customers.

And a good translation agency must have plenty of both, in as many languages as possible.

inWhatLanguage prides itself in its huge range of exceptionally gifted translators located all over the globe. They provide customer-oriented language translation, transcription and language interpreting services that absolutely blow away what you get from automated translation tools and websites. 

inWhatLanguage's professional, native-speaking language translators are among the most qualified in the translation services industry, boasting years of experience and specific expertise in a variety of content areas, including law, education, healthcare, and more.

inWhatLanguage recognizes the difference between the need for a “literal” translation and a “literary” one, and has an offer big and good enough to deliver high-quality work for both at affordable prices, always listening to what the client has to say.

Because, in our case, the client is, literally, our first priority.

inWhatLanguage: a family without borders

Last Wednesday was International Work Day, and as a person living in Europe, I enjoyed the holiday and congratulated all the hard-working people that surrounded me – including the members of the inWhatLanguage family via Facebook. I wrote that they are the best because, well, they are, for many reasons that I unfortunately couldn’t specify in the post.

First of all, for their professionalism. They keep their promises, they guarantee certain standards and they deliver, and that is something that our clients can confirm. They are fast, friendly and communicative. That is what others can easily see for themselves.

As for me, for instance, someone who can speak from “the inside”, I can add a couple of things that could be surprising for many. When I talk about the “inWhatLanguage” family, it’s not just a literary embellishment – I do it for a simple reason: inWhatLanguage DOES feel like a family. We are all young, driven people with a passion for languages, who can get sometimes so excited about them that we ask each other “geeky” questions or tell jokes that only people in this circle would find funny.

Last week, for instance, I was writing my previous blog post about proofreading and came up with the following sentence: “Proofreading is to a translation what yeast is to a good loaf of bread: without it, they both feel half-baked”. After reading it a couple of times, I felt that the “half-baked” part could potentially sound inappropriate, so I went around asking what other people thought. After some laughs and suggestions, we manage to change it to “without it, they both fall flat”.

It’s a funny anecdote, but it goes to show how much we care about making ourselves understood, and how much we enjoy playing with languages and exploring their possibilities.

The members of this family are always there for each other, despite the thousands of miles separating us. More than once I’ve actually talked freely with my superiors about stuff happening in my daily life – that is not something one usually does with one’s boss, but in our case it’s just natural. We work together, and we care for each other – and it works. And that is possibly why inWhatLanguage also feels like that to others, and why our clients immediately notice the closeness and the welcoming atmosphere.

I’ve been working with inWhatLanguage for a while now, and I felt like this from the beginning. With time, the feelings have only intensified. Luckily enough, because the future looks promising – inWhatLanguage is sure to keep providing quality translation services for a good while. And its fun personality is not about to change.