The multilingual services market has received a series of innovations through computational lin-guistics or natural language processing (NLP), a multidisciplinary area that encompasses artifi cial intel-ligence, information technology and linguistics, using computer processes to handle human language. Artifi cial intelligence is the fi eld of research within computer science that studies how machines can “think,” simulating the human capacity for intelligence and solving problems. As a result of the integra-tion of these sciences, research has been providing important applications for translators’ work, such as search tools, spell-checkers and voice recognition, as well as tools in computer-aided translation (CAT), including translation memory (TM), management terminology and machine translation (MT). These proj-ects aim to develop a search mechanism for the most common terms, by segmentation, thus eliminating repetition and resulting in a more natural translation. The goal of these artifi cial intelligence researchers is to developCAT tools and MT that can simulate the human ability to think and solve problems.

Corpus linguistics studies language in use, investigating language through observation of large quan-tities of authentic data contained in the corpus, which is a representative set of texts on a particular area, electronically organized to enable searches by using specialized search tools. Corpus linguistics considers language as a probabilistic system. That is, there are many possibilities for an expression in language, but not all are as frequent.

Research in this area advanced in the 1980s with the widespread use of personal computers that led to the increased availability and accessibility of corpora and processing tools, helping to strengthen research in the fi eld and reinforcing the fact that this area of research is and always has been closely related to technology. Since then, research on the subject has contributed to translation in several ways.

Corpus Linguistics and the Translation ProcessTHIANA DONATO

Using the most commonly used standards in a language results in a translation that fl ows more naturally and is more faithful to the native language. Also, the majority of MT systems are based on a corpus com-prised of bilingual texts (original and translated).

The computational tools used by corpus linguistics provide a mechanism that collects, stores and analyzes linguistic data — the so-called corpus. This data is used as research material that can help elaborate theories about language functionality.

Some programs list words according to the frequency with which they occur in the corpus. Others are called concordancers and serve to allow specifi c word searches in a corpus, pulling up a comprehensive list of phrases that shows the contexts in which the word has been used. The use of tagging is also com-mon to automatically analyze the corpora and produce codes or tags that contain only data belonging to a particular morphosyntactic and syntactic.

This area of research has contributed to improving hybrid MT software, through its theories on lin-guistic variables, directly infl uencing the translation so that the fi nal text is as close as possible to the original one. The MT systems are based on a corpus comprised of bilingual texts (originaland translated) and a database with systems of rules and statistics. Technological innovations can therefore speed up the translation process, resulting in a better quality MT, with the human translator acting as a sort of validator of the MT data.

This is a valuable contribution when we consider that the fi rst technological advance used to support translation work was the development of MT, created by the Americans in the 1950s to spy on the Rus-sians during the Cold War period. These software components were capable of analyzing sentences based on grammar, giving rise to very unnatural, sometimes meaningless translations that had to be corrected and validated by a human translator. Today, the most famous MT system worldwide is Google’s, which proves that at least currently the results of MT cannot be satisfactory without human intervention.

Another technological contribution was the development of CAT tools, which gave rise to software products such Trados, Déjà Vu and Wordfast. These tools, besides considering grammar, use a TM that enables terms used in a text to be standardized and added to a glossary, making quality control in trans-lation easier. These tools are designed to support the translator’s work, for instance, storing previously translated segments into a TM so that when the same segment of text appears again, the software brings up the previous translation used for that phrase.

Each technological advance brings rumors that the days of the professional translator are numbered. However, the work of human translators continues to be essential. Technology is no substitute for human work, but is rather a tool to help speed up certain types of translation work.

Terminology is one of the areas that may be signifi cantly infl uenced by corpus linguistics, which has been developing vocabularies by using its own methodology. Glossaries are prepared from a corpus, cre-ating a kind of fi lter so that the vocabulary shows only terms contained in the corpus, compiled according to specifi c criteria. As a result, the glossary contains the most commonly used terms for a particular area of specialization. Another characteristic of glossaries created by corpus linguistics is that they are rich in authentic examples extracted from the corpus and other information that can facilitate the translator’s task. Therefore, the type of translation that can benefi t most from corpus linguistics is technical transla-tion, which focuses on various areas of specialization from a technical or scientifi c standpoint. This is a type of translation that involves a high degree of terminology research and the development of glossa-ries to ensure the use of standardized terminology in the document in question, and also for any future projects carried out on the same subject.

Both the reference material and the research material that have led to the development of computer tools can speed up the technical translation process and provide gains in terms of quality, by giving the translator not only a better knowledge of the specialized terminology of the industry that the translation is aimed to, but also the support of multifunctional software, like the programs that have been launching in the multilingual services market.

In Brazil, for example, research in corpus linguistics is still in its infancy, but it has been gathering strength. Brazilian research in this fi eld is carried out by interest groups such as the COMET project (Cor-pus Multilíngue para Ensino e Tradução), developed together with the modern literature department of the Faculty of Philosophy, Literature and Human Sciences at University of São Paulo (USP). Members are mostly graduate students and volunteers.

An example of the contribution of corpus linguistics is CorTrad, a project developed by USP, Linguate-ca and NILC, which applies a methodology proposed by corpus linguistics that has new functionalities,

such as new search types, for translation. The project also enables different versions of the same transla-tion to be compared and specifi c structural components to be consulted. CorTrad is available on COMET’s website. One of its main advantages is its effi cient search mechanism, which refi nes the search into three different subcorpora, including genre, text type and other specifi c characteristics. So far, this project has produced two important reference materials in the areas of Brazilian cuisine and receiving guests. What makes this project different is its presentation of a parallel corpus that makes it possible to compare the original with the translation.

Another contribution is CorTec, a technical corpus for Portuguese-English that enables terminology comparisons. It is divided into 14 subcorpora segmented into specialized areas. These studies are recent and are still in the initial stages; however, they need to have their relevance acknowledged. The develop-ment of language technology is extremely dependent on these studies, which means that the growth of the translation market depends on investments in this area of research.

Some TM systems have already received new functionalities derived from corpus linguistics method-ology. Although it would be incorrect to say that statistical MT uses some type of corpus linguistics, it is true that these methods and techniques can help computational linguistics develop new mechanisms for TM systems.

Currently, corpus linguistics is being developed in various linguistic research centers around the world. One of the major centers is in Great Britain, with projects being carried out at various universi-ties, in the cities of Birmingham, Brighton, Lancaster, Liverpool, London and others. Research in British institutions has contributed to the theorization of corpora and other support materials in various areas. In the Scandinavian countries there are also active centers dedicated to this research. Corpus linguistics appears to be more widespread in Europe than in other parts of the world. In the United States, corpus linguistics exists but is more modest. North American researchers are more engaged in projects involving NLP, which, although closely related to computer sciences with various characteristics in common with corpus linguistics, is treated separately.

A new trend in the worldwide corpus linguistics scenario is investment by private companies, through partnerships between companies and universities. The business world has a great interest in studies in this area of knowledge for commercial purposes such as the automated processing of texts, computeriza-tion of databases, and the creation of intelligent voice and data management systems.

We acknowledge the collaboration of:Sandra Navarro, Tania Suraci and Professor Stela Tagnin, coordinator of Comet Project at USP.

All Tasks Traduções Técnicas Ltda. - Rua Dona Teresa Margarida, 56 - Vila Mariana - São Paulo - SPFone: (55 11) 5908-8300 - FAX: (55 11) 5908-8308

E-mail: alltasks@alltasks.com.br - website: www.alltasks.com.br

Software facilitates translation workCarol Carquejeiro/ Valor

Thrusday, january 15 - 2009

Systems: companies create programs to automate part of the process and reduce operating costs.

With increasingly shorter peri-ods between product launches, the professionals at IBM responsible for translating and adapting the soft-ware and manuals into Portuguese and Spanish haven’t had much rest. “No sooner have we finished one version than we are already starting on the next” joked Almiro Andrade Junior, manager of the translation laboratory, one of the twenty-five installed by the company world-wide.

With so many tasks to be carried out, an aspect that is of great help to Andrade and his colleagues is the intensive use of information tech-nology systems and tools (IT), de-signed to automate part of the trans-lation and adaptation process. “The average translator can do around 3.5 thousand words a day. With the technology, we can manage up to 10 thousand words”, said Andrade.

A market that most people are either unaware of or very know little about, the translation and adaptation industry is worth just over US$ 10 billion, and this figure is expected to double over the next three years. It attracts not only companies dedicat-ed to the language market, but also large technology companies like Xerox and Hewlett-Packard (HP). In general, the driving force behind the growth of this type of service is the process of internationaliza-tion of companies, and their need to adapt products, technical docu-ments and other materials.

Handling a volume of 160 mil-

lion words in a single year, as is the case at IBM, would be unfea-sible in terms of time and cost without the help of programs that create so-called transla-tion memories – databases of commonly-used terms and ex-pressions. Some are even capable of producing complete works using concepts like neural networks and fuzzy matching.

“Nowadays, machines can do around 50% of the work”, said Thi-ana Donato, founder and director of the Brazilian company All Tasks, which has operated in the transla-tion and localization market for thirty years and has already carried out a project for the United National Space Agency, Nasa. With capacity to deal with eight million words a month, the company invests in the use of technology in the translation process, and in the infrastructure of the company. Thiana promotes ideas like remote working, giving external collaborators access to the company’s network, as a means of speeding up the work flow. In 2009, with the search for contracts in other countries, the turnover of All Tasks is expected to reach US$ 7 million.

Sávio Lévi, director of the American company Lionbridge in Brazil, one of the largest compa-

nies in the sector with a turnover of more than US$ 400 million, highlights the use of the tools for accompanying the to-and-from of material between translators and clients; so-called version control, a commonly-used expression among software developers. The company also creates and sells translation and localization systems, which make up around 40% of its income, Lévi affirmed.

With the development of new technologies, machines will take the place of humans for certain tasks of the translation process, but the work of the translator will never disap-pear altogether. Andrade of IBM believes there will be a change in the professionals’ role. “It will mi-grate more towards the function of validator, accepting or rejecting the translation done by the software, he said. In Thiana’s view, the transla-tors of the future will administer the translation, rather than actually do-ing it from scratch.

Gustavo Brigatto - São Paulo

Thiana Donato, founder and director of the Brazilian com-pany All Tasks: “Nowadays, machines can do around 50%

of the work. The translators of the future will administer the translation, rather than actually doing it from scratch.”

diáriodocomércio Tuesday, 07/14/20094 - Informática

Translators help to break down barriersSystems for professional use

Patrícia Cruz / Luz

Sergio Tolezano: on-line services and the software available serve for

pre-translation, a draft with which translators can work on the idea

and prepare the fi nal text.

Companies, academic insti-tutions, students, doctors, ar-chitects, lawyers and the self-employed in general requiring translations of technical manuals, projects, theses, articles, studies, agreements and institutional vid-eos, etc cannot afford to get it wrong, which is whey they avail themselves of the specialized services offered by people with deep knowledge of the foreign language.

These translation services not only rely on professionals in Brazil and abroad, but also make use of automated tools for ac-celerating the process. These are special softwares which com-bine grammar and mathematics to translate texts based on data bases which are supplied by the human translators themselves. All Tasks, with 33 years in the market, is one of the largest translation companies in Latin America, with 70 employees and a further 300 freelance transla-tors.

According to the director of

All Tasks, Thiana Donato, the company specializes in technical work for different industry seg-ments (IT, aviation, the steel in-dustry, entertainment, medicine) while the essential tool for assist-ing in these translations is SDL Trados software, a CAT (Com-puter Assisted Translation) pro-gram. It functions as manager of a data base created from human translations done by the profes-sionals. “The program manages the use of the glossary we cre-ated”.

In addition, Trados helps to standardize terminology and language style, accelerating the work of human translators, espe-cially where technical content is involved, as it builds a standard for the most-utilized terms. “By taking advantage of complete phrases in the data base, it re-duces time and improves quali-ty”, Thiana explains. Other CAT softwares in the market with similar characteristics include Déjà Vu, Wordfast (for Word in PCs and Mac) and MetaTexis, to name but a few.

Technical consultant and translator Sergio Tolezano, with over 15 years experience, points out that technology has been a great help to this type of profes-sional, providing management tools, Internet-based research, on-line dictionaries, own and electronic glossaries and style and grammar guides. “The use of on-line translators (such as Google, Babylon and Yahoo!) is very limited among us”, says Tolezano, because they are im-

perfect and meet the needs of a niche which is not very demand-ing.

In some cases they can serve as pre-translation, a draft with which translators can work on the idea and prepare the fi nal text. Translation agencies also localize foreign web sites for multinationals vice versa, trans-lating home pages of Brazilian companies into other languages, and always preserving the local culture.

IT companies also provide localization services and trans-lation of manuals and documen-tation. IBM, for example, has 25 specifi c centers linked to its worldwide software develop-ment laboratories. Group 1, com-posed of Brazil, France, Germa-ny, Spain, Italy, Japan, China, Korea and Taiwan has the mis-sion of adapting about 90% of the software developed by IBM to the local language. The Soft-ware Localization lab, located in Hortolândia, in the State of São Paulo, receives English content and adapts edits and tests for Portuguese. In 2008, 42.2 mil-lion new words were translated involving product manuals, pro-grams and services, always with the assistance of data base man-agement programs containing more frequently used terms and expressions.

Service:http://www.alltasks.com.brhttp://www.atril.com/http://www.metatexis.com/http://www.trados.com/en/http://www.wordfast.net

BARBARA OLIVEIRA

2014 Portal now available in EnglishNew home page launched this Wednesday, April 7th

From the editorial staffposted on 04/07/2010 12:58 hupdated on 04/08/2010 14:38 h

As of today, April 7th, at 6 pm, the 2014 Portal will be fully available in English. The new home page will fa-cilitate access to the contents of the site for millions of internet users who speak English, the third most widely spoken language in the world, with 545 million speak-ers.

The company that will be responsible for translat-ing and adapting the material to the cultures of other countries is All Tasks, which has 34 years of experience

in Latin America, providing translation services in more than thirty languages. With around 500 collaborators and capacity to translate eight million words a month, All

Tasks’ client portfolio includes companies operating in various areas, such as Siemens, Alstom, TAM, Toshiba, Ericsson, Nextel, Bayer and Petrobrás, among others.

Thiana Donato, Director of All Tasks, explains that the choice of Brazil to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics has led to a major mobilization effort in the corporate world, which views these events as a historical landmark and an incredible opportunity for growth for the country. “We are a company that specializes in technical translations, so this mobilization will also give us the opportunity to win a high volume of projects over the coming years, as the demand for technical translations is set to increase exponentially” she said.

It was out of this context that the idea of forming a partnership with the 2014 Portal arose: “We did some internal research, and when we saw the Portal, we realized that this was an excel-lent information channel on the subject that was of such interest to us. We therefore established contact, based on the understanding that translating it into English would enable information on the Brazilian efforts to ensure the quality of the events to be shared internationally. In other words: publicizing the information will help attract international investments. Thus, we are help-ing to promote the important benefi ts that these two events will bring to Brazil”.

The most commonly spoken language

As the Director of All Tasks explains, English can open doors in the corporate world, as most business is conducted in English. In 1998, she said, a study found that “English is the predominant language of the Inter-net, representing 75% of the content analyzed”. Last year, she added, another study revealed that English was the second most commonly used language on Twit-ter, with 75% of messages being written in this lan-guage.

In the translations for the 2014 Portal, All Tasks will use American English, and to ensure that the language follows the journalistic style of the website, the transla-tors involved in this work will be graduates in this area, she said.

Thiana Donato, Director of All Tasks

Patricia Büll

The Translator’s Profession

01/02/2010 - Da Redação

The processes of economic, social, cultural and political glo-balization, supported by the tech-nological advances that have oc-curred in the last few decades of the 20th century and early 21st century, especially in information technology and telecommunica-

tions, have enabled the consolidation of the internet; the global communication network that has broken down boundaries for negotiations among countries. In addition, social relationships and commercial transac-tions among peoples of different languages and cul-tures have increased dramatically, a factor that has given a huge boost to the development of professional translators, especially in the technical and business areas.

This new scenario has led to signifi cant increases in volume and demands in terms of deadlines and the quality of the work of translators in the dissemination of messages, information and services via the Web, taking into consideration the diversity of languages, dialects, cultures and customs.

Translating today involves not only the rendering into another language of books, technical manuals, user support materials, contracts and documents. Glo-balization has given rise to two new disciplines that have expanded the scope of the work: localization and internationalization of contents, especially those relat-ing to products, software, and Internet websites and portals. These techniques go beyond translation per se, as they also deal with the contemporary and col-loquial use of language, subtleties of a cultural, ethi-cal, moral, religious and legislative nature, systems of weights and measurement, annotation conventions, differences in symbols, color associations, etc..

In numerical terms this market, which currently has a turnover of 12 billion dollars, is expected to reach $25 billion in revenues by 2012, according to forecasts by the Common Sense Advisory, a renowned North American consulting fi rm. All this is because in the last 15 years, global networks have ceased to be one-language (English) environments and have become multilingual scenarios, serving and reaching target audiences (customers, users, citizens, businesses, social groups, etc.) in their native languages and dia-lects throughout the world. International studies indi-cate that there are approximately 239 countries, 6900 languages/dialects, 147 currencies, 24 time zones and no fewer than 10 different calendars, all of which present enormous challenges for globalization today,

and highlight the complexity of the challenge facing translators in their profession.

Areas of work

Professional translators will work on all these fronts, and need to have a wide range of knowledge and skills to meet not only the traditional demands, but also the large number of requirements of this new scenario. In addition, of course, they need a thorough knowledge of and fl uency in at least one pair of lan-guages, which can be acquired through specifi c train-ing courses (undergraduate liberal arts, translation and language courses, and free language courses) or through familiarity and professional experience in Brazil and abroad. Furthermore, the professional will need to acquire expertise in specifi c issues (techni-cal, scientifi c, business, politics, marketing, business administration, etc..) through professional experience, research, contacts with specialists, etc..

A good mastery of reading and writing in the two languages involved is as important as the ability to communicate orally in these languages. Research skills (tools, search criteria and assessing the results obtained), concentration, discipline, a favorable work environment (at home or in companies), good organi-zation of materials and the workplace, and skill in the use of translation tools (text editors, electronic spread-sheets, presentation programs, desktop publishing, translation help tools, electronic dictionaries and glos-saries, Internet, localization tools, etc..) are also es-sential features for the professional translation in this day and age.

In addition to all of this, the advance of globaliza-tion is increasingly requiring of professional transla-tors an understanding of the cultural aspects of the destination markets for which their work is destined, the ability to work in different and multiple contexts, continual improvement of their general knowledge, and the development of administrative skills for proj-ects requiring translation and revision teams, due to the high volumes and urgent deadlines involved.

Sérgio Tadeu Tolezano has a bachelor’s degree in physics and a master’s degree in computer science from the University of São Paulo (USP). After 20 years of experience in information technology and data com-munication, he has been working as a technical con-sultant and a professional translator for 15 years. He currently provides translation services for All Tasks Serviços Multilíngues.

Sérgio Tadeu Tolezano

It’s not enough simply to speak

also essential to have a good mastery of Portuguese. This is

just one of the requirements of a trans-lator, a professional who is increasing-ly sought after by the market. Besides the selection process for public trans-lators, which is now carried out by the Board of Commerce of the State of Rio (Jucerja), there are also oppor-tunities to work with publishers and specialized companies.

With inscriptions up to August 21st, the selection process of the Jucerja – which has not taken place in twenty-six years – offers an oppor-tunity for translators and commercial interpreters in various languages, in-cluding English, French, Spanish, Ital-ian and German, to be nominated and enrolled with this public body.

— This new competitive exam is long overdue. Lots of foreign com-panies are setting up branches in the state, and much of this documentation needs to be translated, in accordance with the local legislation, said Carlos de La Rocque, president of the Jucerja.

According to All Tasks, which specializes in the translation of techni-cal documentation (such as operating manuals and equipment of large orga-nizations), the multilingual services industry had a turnover of around US$ 15 billion on 2008, and is expected to show a total turnover of US$ 25 bil-lion in 2013.

— All the segments no realize the important role of the translator for the process of international and globaliza-tion. Last week alone, we recruited eight new members of staff, and we still have places – said Thiana Donato, the company’s director.

audiovisual translation, due to the ex-pansion of cable TV systems. Gemini Media, for example, offers translation services of voiceover/dubbing and

subtitling, to around thirty-two chan-nels, including GNT and Telecine. But according to Sabrina Martinez, partner and director of the company, there is a

have higher education degrees and in-vest in specialization within the area. This is why we carry out a rigorous selection process, and offer training courses.

For Kátia Alves, supervisor of edi-torial production at Campus-Elsevier

— which specializes in professional,

works – even more important than specialized training is the fact that the translator must enjoy reading and

— We have a team of professionals in various areas of knowledge among the humanities, such as journalism, languages and literature, and anthro-pology. When we hire professionals, we observe, besides their mastery of the foreign language and Portuguese,

Board of Commerce of the State of Rio (Jucerja) is holding a com-petitive exam as part of its selec-tion process for the nomination and enrollment of public transla-tors and commercial interpreters in English, French, Spanish and Italian, among other languages. The cost of inscriptions is R$ 260. Pay is accepted only via the Internet, up until August 21st, through the website www.con-curso.fgv.br/jucerja09.

-lhante de Brito (DBB) specializa-tion course for translators offers different types of training, such as sworn translation in English and Portuguese for translators. There is also the preparatory course for the Jucerja. The cost of the course is R$ 780. Further information via +55 2549-5151 or website info@dbb.com.br.

-dia has a training center for au-diovisual translators. The basic course in translation techniques for subtitling lasts 16 hours and costs R$ 720. The advanced course lasts 36 hours, and costs R$ 1,200. Depending on the translator’s performance on the course, they may be offered the opportunity to join the company’s team of translators. For further

com.br/gtc.

group of the PUCRio course for English/Portuguese translators will start in March of next year. The can-

in English at higher education level, as well as excellent command of Portuguese. The inscription fee is R$ 30, and the full cost of the cour-se is R$ 8,805. For further informa-

Growth of the translation market creates opportunitiesProfessionals can enter the selection process for public translators,

05/04/2009

Computer programs will do the spadework for translators

Automated , computer-driven translation was created by the Americans in the nineteen-fi fties to spy on the Rus-sians during the Cold War. At that time, it was based on grammar and phrasal analysis. Attempts to cre-ate versions in other languages led to crude ver-sions of the text. Many literally translated phrases made no sense at all. An English expression like “out of the blue” was rendered as “fora do azul” – when the correct translation was “unexpectedly”. Nobody took au-tomated translation very seriously and things remained like this for de-cades. Over recent years, translation programs have taken a leap forward. Today, they bring together grammar and mathematics. They analyze the most common translation for a word or expression, and after consulting a data base they are capable of offering results which are closer to a profes-

sional version.The world’s most popular auto-

mated translator is Google Translate. Thanks to contributions from inter-nauts, it has been able to maintain a process of continuous improvement. At the end of the translation there is a link to “suggest a better translation”. In this manner Google is increasing its data base of words and expres-sions – and the quality of new trans-

lations. It has even become a reason-able tool for those wanting an idea as to the content of a sentence or short text. But it far from meets the requirements cre-ated by the global-ized world.

While a doc-tor is writing a scientifi c article in Germany, a Finnish company is launching a new cell phone in Argentina, while a Japanese motor manufac-turer is preparing to launch a new car in the Unit-ed States. Local products can now be found every-

where. Greater launch speed requires rapid global distribution. The Ger-man doctor’s scientifi c article will be translated at least to English, but possibly also to other languages. The Finnish company’s cell phone – made in China – will circulate in dozens of countries with the user’s manual properly translated and adapted. It’s not enough to use the Spanish spoken in Spain in a manual in Argentina. It

How the use of technology is raising productivity among professional translators, reducing costs and helping to break down language barriers.

EXPERIENCE:Thiana Donato, All Tasks´ owner, has been in the translation market for 30 years. She says that the use of computer programs reduces the translator job costs.

The communication channel from All Tasks

PORTUGUESE AND SPANISH VERSIONS

AVAILABLE ON THE WEB SITEwww.traduziremnoticias.com.brYear IV – Retrospective Edition

In January 2009, the Brazilian press for the first time published an article highlighting the multilingual services sector. The article focused on the applications used in trans-lation work and, as we had anticipated on our site, we are bringing you a series of articles to better clarify this subject.

To begin with, let’s talk about the doubt which for some time now has been hanging in the air: is automated trans-lation a CAT (Computer-Aided Translation) tool? No. CAT tools and automated translation pursue entirely different objectives, but because they are relatively new to the multi-lingual services environment, it is still very common to find clients who are unable to distinguish one from the other. Im-proving the perception in this respect could make an enor-mous difference at those different times when the subject of translation is broached, from whatever angle.

CAT tools are software specially designed to support human translation, accepting the fact that the role of the translator for the machine environment is unthinkable. On the other hand, in automated translation, which became popular on several sites like Google and Babel Fish, the work gets done with no human intellectual interference, the main difficulty lying in considering the semantic and gram-

LANGUAGE TECHNOLOGIES

Important differences between translation support software and automated translation

matical differences inherent to all languages, and conse-quently producing texts of an inferior quality to those pro-duced by man.

Recognizing these limitations, CAT tools confine them-selves to suggesting to the translator terminological pat-terns picked out from a data base composed of previous human translations, in addition to taking advantage of re-petitive phrases. The purpose of these tools is to assist and not take the place of man, with no ambitions towards impos-sible achievements.

It is the translator, with his knowledge of the languages involved, the culture which expresses them and his techni-cal field of specialization, who has to choose between the alternatives suggested by the machine, quite often making correct adjustments to the best option.

Bearing the mind the sharp increase in the demand for multilingual services in all sectors of the economy at in-ternational level, the advent of CAT tools could not have occurred at a better moment. Discussions are also taking place in anticipation of their likely integration with automat-ed translation.

Whether this integration actually happens or not, it must be remembered how important it is for the translation pro-fessional to make increasing use of these resources which have been made available by technology, thereby assur-ing their clients of quality gains with a resulting reduction in costs.

- LANGUAGE TECHNOLOGIESl Important differences between translation support

software and automated translation

- LINGUISTICl The contributions of Corpus Linguistic for Language Technology

- MARKET l Nine in ten companies prefer to buy localized

software

- TECHNOLOGY l Semiology and Translation: Who will make translations in the future? Man or machine?

- TECHNICAL TRANSLATION l Myths about technical translation

IN THIS EDITION

TRADUZIR EM NOTÍCIAS 2

Nine in ten companies prefer to buy localized soft ware

MARKET

It is proven: localizing software or a website truly ensures the conduction of large scale international business. A study conducted by the consulting website Common Sense Advisory (www.commonsenseadvi-sory.com) has shown that nine in ten companies will prefer to buy products in the international market if they are adapted to the needs and language of their local market.

To compare the receptiveness of traders in relation to the purchase of localized and non-localized prod-ucts, 351 international customers of software products were interviewed, distributed in eight countries: Brazil, China, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, Spain and Sweden.

The results were surprising. To give an idea, one in six buyers will never consider purchasing non-localized software! According to the research, even people fl u-ent in English, a language frequently used to conduct global businesses, prefer to buy products that meet the requirements of their local markets. “This information clearly shows that even when people speak English fl uently they prefer products in their native languages, because they want to learn about these products in

their own language and use complex products adapted to their cultural and business environment”, explains the head of research for Common Sense, Donald A. DePalma.

Among other information re-vealed by the research there is the fact that, for four in five buy-ers, having access to translat-ed information and to localized software has major influence on their intentions of pur-chase, and more than 80% of the interviewees virtually dis-regard the product that does not make information properly trans-lated available.

Software manufacturers must be aware of the new reality pre-sented along with the globalized world, realizing that being fl uent only in English is no longer enough to ensure the closure of busi-ness deals. We must enhance our perception to the unquestion-able conclusion that languages are currently the true frontiers for profi tability, making Localization the only visa that enables to over-come them, ensuring the conduction of commercial transactions in any country in the world.

LINGUISTIC

The contributi ons of Corpus Linguisti c for Language Technology

The multilingual services market has received a lot of buzz through Computational Linguistics (or Natural Language Processing), a multidisci-plinary field involving artificial intelli-gence, computer science and linguis-tics that uses computational processes to handle human language. Research has provided important applications for the work of translators, such as search engines, spell checkers and voice recognition, as well as memory systems and machine translation. Cor-pus Linguistics, an area of study within Computational Linguistics, has also had a major influence on translation, including machine translation. This is an area that studies language in use, that is, it investigates language by observing large amounts of authentic data contained in the corpus. To do this, it makes extensive use of compu-tational tools to organize, extract and interpret information from the corpus. Corpus Linguistics considers language as a probabilistic system, i.e. there are many possibilities of expression in language, but not all are used with

the same frequency, as some have be-come conventionalized through use.

The findings of Corpus Linguistics have contributed to conventional and machine translation in various ways. By knowing and employing the stan-dards most commonly used in a lan-guage, the result is a translation that is

more natural and faithful to the native language. In addition, most machine systems use a system based on a cor-

pus consisting of bilingual texts (origi-nal and translated).

With every technological ad-vance come rumors about the end of the translator’s profession. However, contrary to predictions, human work continues to be indispensable. This is because machine translation systems

are able to provide a draft but not a final text that is coherent and concise. Therefore, the translator acts as a validator of the translation, a technical and terminology consultant, and also helps improve the automatic system. Additional-ly, literary texts, which require more translational freedom, and legal texts, which require more rigid interpretation, are types of text that cannot be accommodated by the auto-mated system. Technology should not be considered a

substitute for human work, but rather a tool to help expedite and facilitate translations.

TRADUZIR EM NOTÍCIAS 3

TECHNOLOGY

Semiology and Translation: Who will make translations in the future? Man or machine?

Does technology manage to embrace all the particularities of language, including those that are semiotic in origin?

It is a question related to semiology, the science that treats language as a social product, whose minimum unit of communication, the sign (the word) is endowed with a meaning (the concept/function) and with a significance. In this way, according to semiology, the words make up part of a code and, because of this, reflect customs, superstitions, religious beliefs, or simply the material culture of the community that speaks a certain language.

“Although automatic translators can, even in an inefficient way, assist in the translation of texts, that does not mean that technology has the possibility of replacing human translation” vouches Lincoln Fernandes, specialist in English and Applied Linguistics and Professor of Translation Studies at the Federal Uni-versity of Santa Catarina, UFSC (Uni-versidade Federal de Santa Catarina). “It is possible to use them as a way of getting a fast translation, but to trust them blindly is a risk the cautious do not run. In the end, in the best of cases, hu-man revision will always be necessary to correct expressions, reveal ambigui-ties of syntax or vocabulary or to review contexts” he explains.

Therefore, a good translation, writ-ten or spoken, requires the exclusively intellectual capacity to identify nuances and phonetic, syntactic and semantic aspects. “Human logic interprets, cre-ates and identifies contradictory and il-logical elements and manages to give meaning to everything. Even the most sophisticated machine cannot yet com-prehend the subtleties of figures of speech or of the meanings just by the context”.

Moreover, unlike other forms of knowledge, human language presents a paradox: although it is a system of rules, units and values used by a community and, as such, presenting a fixed and stable character, it evolves, acquires and eliminates elements and rules. “Anything that happens influences the language, affecting its grammatical and phonological structure” said the French

linguist, André Martinet, in his book “Lin-guistics and Significance” (“Linguística e Significação”).

In the case of neologisms, for exam-ple, which concern the creation of a new word or expression or a new attribution of a new sense for an already existing word, some languages do not have the structure to be able to accept this type of phenomenon. “Some societies react unfavorably in the face of the introduc-tion of foreign terms and prefer to re-sort to the dictionary by combining ele-ments that resolve the issue” explains Martinet. “The structure of the Chinese linguistic model, for example, is such that one polysyllabic foreign word can-not replace another. Chinese are used to interpreting and giving meaning to each syllable, something that is clearly impossible in a word like electricity. The way to do it is to substitute the foreign term for one built from a combination of local elements”.

Clearly, the example is relevant to any language. In Portuguese, the word “longing” (saudade) has no correspond-ing word in English. The Guarani had no knowledge of the kiss as a social custom and in order to denote this new concept made use of the verb “hetû” (to smell), and “yurumboyá” (small mouth), to create the new word: “yeyurumboyá”. And so it goes. “In other words, tech-nology helps, but does not replace the complexity of thought and of the human language – not yet”.

Latest generation of computers, lim-itless access to the internet and modern voice and image capturing tools arouse controversy about the future of objects such as books, newspapers, televisions, among others, just as they raise a series of questions about the destiny of trans-lation – wondering whether, eventually, it could be threatened with extinction because of the success of automatic translators.

Automatic translation: the origins

Created at the beginning of the 1940s by Englishman Andrew Booth and the North American Warren Weaver as a way of getting strategic informa-tion about Soviet military positions dur-ing the Second World War, Automatic Translation was the first non-numerical computer application to be implemented

in Computer Science. At that time, the scientific calculator had enough data to make word for word translations, but could not handle syntactical or lexico-graphic issues.

The great possibilities powered by the task filled scientists with enthusiasm. For them, it would be enough to add some grammatical descriptions and, in as many other words, for the mecha-nism to achieve perfection. The suppo-sition showed itself to be mistaken and somewhat naïve and automatic trans-lators only returned to win the interest researchers in the 1980s, with the rein-vigoration of computer science and the computerized processing of languages with different grammatical bases.

Today, Google Translator is the most used automatic translator in the world. Capable of translating any text into 52 languages possesses a huge bank of data, fed and updated by its in-numerable users and there are studies that foresee the inclusion of grammati-cal rules with the aim of making it even more fluent.

Qualitatively, however, automatic translation for the six main western languages: German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, English and Italian, are still limited to a 35% efficiency on the Bleu scale. The results of automatic transla-tion today allow a general comprehen-sion of the text, but obvious mistakes of interpretation frustrate the reading speed. The goal for the developers of this tool is for it to reach a 65% level of satisfaction.

And perhaps there will continue for many years a question whether technol-ogy can develop mechanisms that en-able effective consideration of all the peculiarities of language so as to obtain a good translaThe debate about tech-nology in the service of translation is not new.tion, above all, a good technical translation.

TRADUZIR EM NOTÍCIAS 4

TRADUZIR EM NOTÍCIAS is a newsletter published by All Tasks Traduções Técnicas LtdaRua Dona Teresa Margarida, 56 - Vila Mariana - São Paulo - SP - Brazil - CEP 04037-040

Phone: +55 (11) 5908-8300 - Fax: +55 (11) 5908-8308E-mail: alltasks@alltasks.com.br - website: www.alltasks.com.br

Myths about technical translati on

TECHNICAL TRANSLATION

All Tasks has become the market leader in Latin American multilingual services market, dedicating itself to technical trans-lation since it was founded, in 1976.

This focus is justifi ed by the vast amounts of technical data that is shared by organizations, in today’s era of communica-tion and globalization. Despite its unquestionable importance to the market, there have been few studies, in the academic area of Translation, dedicated to furthering understanding of the mechanisms in this area.

In fact, there are many myths surrounding this practice, as Jody Byrne (2006) discusses in his book Technical Translation: Usability Strategies for Translating Technical Documentation.

Learn some of the common myths surrounding technical translation:

Technical translation is just a question of knowing the technical vocabulary

It is essential for the translator to have a good knowledge of the technical vocabulary in the area in which he or she is trans-lating. However, this has led some to claim that with a good dictionary, anybody can translate a text. But studies show that technical vocabulary represents only 5% to 10% of the knowl-edge needed in technical translation. In fact, a determining fac-tor for the quality of the translation is the ability to write well. In other words, it is necessary to “know how to write” clearly and accurately, as well as having a knowledge of the linguistic con-ventions and text typology of the target language.

The translator also has to deal with unstable and incon-sistent terminology. This is because in most cases technical documentation takes years to be written, and is retyped and compiled in different countries, by various authors, through the different stages of development of a sector. The translator, in turn, needs to identify and be able to deal with this variation, which dictionaries are not always able to keep up with. Techni-cal translation therefore provides important input to the estab-lishment and standardization of the terminology of a sector.

In technical translation, style does not matter

Written form, clarity, choice of vocabulary, and sentence structure are crucial for the quality of both literary and technical translation. This fact is evident in the results of translation tests: Most tests fail not because of errors in specifi c terms, but due to problems of style, i.e. because they are badly written.

The translator needs to have a good writing style, togeth-er with a general technical knowledge of the area. Often, the

translator also needs to deal with badly-written source texts, a very common problem. In these cases, the more qualifi ed pro-fessional doesn’t simply reproduce the problems of the original, but actually improves the style, to convey the intended mean-ing. As a result, a translated text is often better written than its original.

Technical translation requires no creativity

Translating is not just a process of transfer by reproduction, but rather, a linguistic adaptation to the culture of the target text. This process requires of the technical translator a good dose of creativity, to know how to selected the best strategy for the translation, resolve cases of non-equivalence (when a term exists in one language but not in the other), and know how to deal with cultural aspects.

The translator needs to be a specialist in order to translate technical texts

No translator is capable of mastering all technical areas. However, it is possible to have good knowledge in a group of technical areas that have terminology in common, such as: Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Technology. This knowledge, together with strong research skills and good written style, can guarantee an excellent translation, not only in the technical area in which the translator specializes, but also in related areas.

To summarize, these myths show that the complexity of technical translation is often over-simplifi ed. In practice, these erroneous beliefs explain why some companies prefer to hire an engineer to translate a technical manual than a professional translator, little realizing that a successful trans-lation involves more than just transferring terms between two languages.

EDITORIAL STAFF