NCTA members can download the Spring 2016 edition of the Translorial in print and downloadable PDF versions, covering a variety of topics.
If you are not an NCTA member, you can join here.
Table of contents of the Translorial Spring 2016 edition, Vol. 38, No. 1: → continue reading
Auto-translation tools are increasingly used for quick translations; but once thrown, will the boomerang return to its originator or spin wildly off into an incomprehensible back translation?
An abundance of free translation services are available online; but what do you get for free? Will a simple sentence auto-translate cleanly across multiple languages? Or will the end result bear little resemblance to the original language? BY SARA GREENWALD
Most translators are all too familiar with the “free instant translation” services available online. I tried boomerang-translating, first using a translation website to translate from English to a target language, and then back-translating to English. Doing this shows what happens when the peculiarities of English are stripped away. If an English phrase or construction doesn’t have an exact counterpart in the target language, the translator has to make decisions based on meaning. When the translator and back-translator are making decisions based on words and phrases in their databases, the result can be pretty odd. → continue reading
A timely and entertaining introduction to the tools of our trade. BY NIELS NIELSEN
On Saturday, October 2, 2010, Jost Zetzsche, perhaps best known to most for his GeekSpeak column in the ATA Chronicle, presented a workshop on CAT tools from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm at the downtown campus of San Francisco State University. In view of the ongoing changes in the translation industry brought about by technology, the importance of this topic was not lost on anyone. → continue reading
Machine Translation: Part 1 of 5 – Dr. Raymond Flournoy, Adobe.
Find the remaining 4 parts of that NCTA Presentation Series at Vimeo.com.
“Hybrid” is the way to go in machine translation systems. BY BARBARA GUGGEMOS
At the NCTA’s general meeting on May 1, a packed room heard three perspectives on current uses of machine translation (MT) and the role of professional translators in this rapidly evolving field. → continue reading
Is post-editing in your future? Will you soon be cleaning up after the machines? The AMTA Conference addressed this and more. BY MIKE DILLINGER, FOREWORD BY YVES AVÉROUS
Jiri Stejksal, President of ATA, attended the Waikiki conference to represent us.
What’s not to like in a conference taking place in Waikiki, Hawaii? Besides, the program put together last October by AMTA, the Association for Machine Translation in the Americas, was quite compelling. After a recent general meeting presentation touting the merits of post-editing-or fixing the manageable translations some machines achieve today, it looked like the matter needed more examination. The MT trend also reached the halls of the ATA conference that followed a month later. Not coincidentally, Jiri Stejksal, President of ATA, attended the Waikiki conference to represent us. → continue reading
At the NCTA September meeting, Dr. Anthony Pym discussed his research findings and explained “what happens” when translators work under pressure. BY RAFFAELLA BUSCHIAZZO
The September General Meeting took place on Saturday the 13th in downtown San Francisco and was presented by NCTA President Tuomas Kostiainen. Vice President and Translorial Publisher Yves Avérous offered potential volunteers free training on layout and Translorial blog site management. Then he praised the excellent work Translorial’s new editor, Nina Bogdan, did on the September issue. He also showed everyone how to join the new NCTA Group in LinkedIn, the professional network website. All active NCTA members are welcome to join the group. At the December General Meeting we will present the most popular network websites where you can promote your professional skills online. → continue reading