The annual Chartered Institute of Linguists Members' Day took place this year on Saturday 29th September at Regent's College, London.
The programme included a variety of seminars, the hand over of the presidency, the annual Threlford Memorial Lecture and an update of the Chartered Linguist status.
Translation Technology: Friend or Foe? - Michael Benis FCIL
This first seminar was relatively popular and attended by both those linguists who are thinking about investing in CAT tools (Computer Aided Translation) and those who already use them.
A key factor of the talk was distinguishing between machine translation and translation memory. Essentially, machine translation involves a piece of software which converts the source text into a target text using algorithms and internal glossaries. Machine translation produces often non-viable translations and its niche seems to be quick, 'gist' translations of a text in order to ascertain whether the document is relevant and worth translating professionally. Mr. Benis gave the example of a tender document: a manufacturing company might use a machine translation to see whether the proposal is something their company might like to get involved with, and subsequently they would commission a translation proper.
Translation memory, on the other hand, is a way for human translators to keep a powerful record of terms they have previously translated. The translation memory software will prompt the translator by showing them how they translated a certain phrase or term the last time they came across it. A translation memory package (e.g. SDL Trados, Déjà Vu X, Wordfast etc.) does not usually come with any linguistic data. It gathers this data through the translation process. Therefore the more translations completed, the greater the data available. The most obvious benefit of translation memory software is consistency of terminology - particularly crucial to technical and scientific translation.
Mr. Benis gave an insightful talk, beginning with the origins of recent developments in translation technology. As machine translation is not (yet?) powerful enough to replace the human translator, the rest of the talk focused on the various translation memory packages available. He provided a useful slide showing a comparison table for the functionalities of the most commonly used software packages to help those who are thinking of buying translation memory software to decide which one might be most suited to their specific line of translation.
The conclusion this blogger drew from the talk was that machine translation software is a long way from replacing the human in linguistic understanding and conversion. Software is powerful because it is fast. Often it is fast because it is simple. The addage 'garbage in, garbage out' applies in this domain as much as any other and translation memory software should not be mistaken for its poorer cousin, machine translation, rather it is a tool which helps humans who understand the complexities of language and culture to do their jobs better.
Creating Stable Cash Flow to Run a Successful Business – Catherine Charlery, Business & Marketing Consultant
This second seminar attended was led by an external presenter.
Ms. Charlery tried to give freelance linguists a more general perspective of their role as business managers. Often this essential aspect of freelancing is overlooked by those caught up in the bubble of providing linguistic services.
The manager of an ice cream shop is unlikely to be running a profitable business by selling just one flavour of ice cream. While many freelancers find that offering only one service can be viable, the talk focussed on taking business principles from other, wider sectors and thinking about how to apply them to our own industry. Suggestions for secondary 'products' to market alongside translation and interpreting included language tutoring and industry-related training.
While perhaps not specifically geared towards the language industry, this blogger found the talk nonetheless very thought provoking.
Other Seminars
Seminars not attended by this blogger included Latest Developments in Language-related Publications – Oxford University Press and Japanese Business and Language; Overcoming the Barriers – Emma Johnson, Japan Centre North West, University of Manchester.
New President
After a break for the buffet lunch provided - a great opportunity for networking - the day continued with the hand over of the presidency from Dr. John Mitchell CBE FCIL to the new President, Lady Brewer. Lady Brewer was introduced by way of a brief overview of her multi-lingual upbringing and the linguistic links she maintained throughout her career.
Threlford Memorial Lecture: “Languages and EU Freedom, Security and Justice”
This extremely interesting talk was given by Ms. Caroline Morgan LLM, a member of the Criminal Justice Unit in Directorate-General Justice, Freedom and Security at the European Commission.
With greater movement across boarders and a widening base of EU member states, language services are increasingly in demand within EU institutions. The talk gave an insight into the inner workings of the European Commission and the organisational feat of working with the 23 EU languages.
A point highlighted by Ms. Morgan which was particularly relevant to many in the CIOL audience was the fact that the selection process for working at the EU involves candidates knowing multiple EU languages and being able to take the competitive entry papers in a foreign language. With the recent announcement that language teaching in UK schools is due for cut-backs, members and Ms. Morgan shared the concern that the UK, which is already under-represented on the EU staff, risks further compromising its position unless the onus is put on the government to re-address the issue of language learning.
Chartered Linguist
Following the lecture, there was a brief up-date on Chartered Linguist, a new status separate from the application process for becoming a member of the CIOL. The Chief Executive, Mr. John Hammond FCIL, advised interested parties to consult the information available on the CIOL website.
Social Highlights
The day ended with wine and nibbles and chance to meet the various speakers. This blogger was particularly pleased when a colleague pointed out Professor Peter Newmark. Professor Newmark, who attended the members' day, is something of a celebrity in the translating world and is known for his pioneering contribution to the field of Translation Studies. Many new-generation translators were trained using the books he has written and it was a great pleasure to have seen him in the flesh - albeit from the other side of the room!
The programme included a variety of seminars, the hand over of the presidency, the annual Threlford Memorial Lecture and an update of the Chartered Linguist status.
Translation Technology: Friend or Foe? - Michael Benis FCIL
This first seminar was relatively popular and attended by both those linguists who are thinking about investing in CAT tools (Computer Aided Translation) and those who already use them.
A key factor of the talk was distinguishing between machine translation and translation memory. Essentially, machine translation involves a piece of software which converts the source text into a target text using algorithms and internal glossaries. Machine translation produces often non-viable translations and its niche seems to be quick, 'gist' translations of a text in order to ascertain whether the document is relevant and worth translating professionally. Mr. Benis gave the example of a tender document: a manufacturing company might use a machine translation to see whether the proposal is something their company might like to get involved with, and subsequently they would commission a translation proper.
Translation memory, on the other hand, is a way for human translators to keep a powerful record of terms they have previously translated. The translation memory software will prompt the translator by showing them how they translated a certain phrase or term the last time they came across it. A translation memory package (e.g. SDL Trados, Déjà Vu X, Wordfast etc.) does not usually come with any linguistic data. It gathers this data through the translation process. Therefore the more translations completed, the greater the data available. The most obvious benefit of translation memory software is consistency of terminology - particularly crucial to technical and scientific translation.
Mr. Benis gave an insightful talk, beginning with the origins of recent developments in translation technology. As machine translation is not (yet?) powerful enough to replace the human translator, the rest of the talk focused on the various translation memory packages available. He provided a useful slide showing a comparison table for the functionalities of the most commonly used software packages to help those who are thinking of buying translation memory software to decide which one might be most suited to their specific line of translation.
The conclusion this blogger drew from the talk was that machine translation software is a long way from replacing the human in linguistic understanding and conversion. Software is powerful because it is fast. Often it is fast because it is simple. The addage 'garbage in, garbage out' applies in this domain as much as any other and translation memory software should not be mistaken for its poorer cousin, machine translation, rather it is a tool which helps humans who understand the complexities of language and culture to do their jobs better.
Creating Stable Cash Flow to Run a Successful Business – Catherine Charlery, Business & Marketing Consultant
This second seminar attended was led by an external presenter.
Ms. Charlery tried to give freelance linguists a more general perspective of their role as business managers. Often this essential aspect of freelancing is overlooked by those caught up in the bubble of providing linguistic services.
The manager of an ice cream shop is unlikely to be running a profitable business by selling just one flavour of ice cream. While many freelancers find that offering only one service can be viable, the talk focussed on taking business principles from other, wider sectors and thinking about how to apply them to our own industry. Suggestions for secondary 'products' to market alongside translation and interpreting included language tutoring and industry-related training.
While perhaps not specifically geared towards the language industry, this blogger found the talk nonetheless very thought provoking.
Other Seminars
Seminars not attended by this blogger included Latest Developments in Language-related Publications – Oxford University Press and Japanese Business and Language; Overcoming the Barriers – Emma Johnson, Japan Centre North West, University of Manchester.
New President
After a break for the buffet lunch provided - a great opportunity for networking - the day continued with the hand over of the presidency from Dr. John Mitchell CBE FCIL to the new President, Lady Brewer. Lady Brewer was introduced by way of a brief overview of her multi-lingual upbringing and the linguistic links she maintained throughout her career.
Threlford Memorial Lecture: “Languages and EU Freedom, Security and Justice”
This extremely interesting talk was given by Ms. Caroline Morgan LLM, a member of the Criminal Justice Unit in Directorate-General Justice, Freedom and Security at the European Commission.
With greater movement across boarders and a widening base of EU member states, language services are increasingly in demand within EU institutions. The talk gave an insight into the inner workings of the European Commission and the organisational feat of working with the 23 EU languages.
A point highlighted by Ms. Morgan which was particularly relevant to many in the CIOL audience was the fact that the selection process for working at the EU involves candidates knowing multiple EU languages and being able to take the competitive entry papers in a foreign language. With the recent announcement that language teaching in UK schools is due for cut-backs, members and Ms. Morgan shared the concern that the UK, which is already under-represented on the EU staff, risks further compromising its position unless the onus is put on the government to re-address the issue of language learning.
Chartered Linguist
Following the lecture, there was a brief up-date on Chartered Linguist, a new status separate from the application process for becoming a member of the CIOL. The Chief Executive, Mr. John Hammond FCIL, advised interested parties to consult the information available on the CIOL website.
Social Highlights
The day ended with wine and nibbles and chance to meet the various speakers. This blogger was particularly pleased when a colleague pointed out Professor Peter Newmark. Professor Newmark, who attended the members' day, is something of a celebrity in the translating world and is known for his pioneering contribution to the field of Translation Studies. Many new-generation translators were trained using the books he has written and it was a great pleasure to have seen him in the flesh - albeit from the other side of the room!
1 comments:
Thanks for the rundown, Rebecca. I've linked to this from my blog as I couldn't make it in the end.
Keep up the good work, I really enjoy your posts.
Sarah
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