Friday 25 May 2012

Google Translate, thanks but...

Translating. It should be easy, a job that someone, somewhere in the echelons of silicon valley should have come up with a suitable solution for.

But it hasn’t happened... yet.

The problem with using a computer to translate work is that, computers don’t understand language, or rather computers can’t understand context.

Take this translation from Google Translate.

“Nel nostro Paese chi è garantito è garantito, ma chi ha perso il lavoro o è in cerca di occupazione, magari perché giovane, è in grande difficoltà” 

Translated into;

“In our country, who is guaranteed is guaranteed, but those who have lost their jobs or are seeking employment, perhaps because he was young, is in big trouble.”

Ok, so you get a sense of what is being said here, but does that mean it is correct? Does that mean we can take something true, noteworthy and create our own interpretation and sense from it?

I would argue, no. I would after all, Google translate is being touted as the software to kill off an industry, mind you, the iPhone was thought of killing the phone. It didn’t it made it better, and that’s what something like Google Translate can do for translators and interpreters, make us better overall, but it can never replace our function.

Take my translation of the text;

“In our country, those who have a guaranteed job are ok, but those who have lost their jobs or are searching for a new one, perhaps because they are young, are struggling”

What’s the role of the interpreter for me? Someone who can bring in context and sense, someone who can carve, create, craft a meaning out of a conversation, statement, press release. Accuracy is fundamental, but making it “sing” in the face of the mother tongue reading it... Google can most definitely not give you that.

Thursday 17 May 2012

Hello, this is who we are, and what we do!


Welcome to Interpret the Future! This is a blog created by a group of young interpreters who are
interested in how current interpreting and translation practice is changing rapidly. In this blog you
will find some lively articles and discussions on the art and science of interpreting; how translation
and the skills needed to use new technology are converging; and why language professionals will be
crucial in developing the digital and social economy.

Interpret the Future has grown from a collaboration with OpenKnowledge, an international
consulting firm that specializes in helping large organizations realize their business potential through
open and collaborative approaches based on the Social Business paradigm. OpenKnowledge brought
this group of interpreters together to provide specialist language services and gain experience of
conference interpreting during the Social Business Forum to be held in Milan on June 4-5 2012.

The contributors to this blog will be providing interpreting services throughout the Social Business
Forum. They have also collaborated on translating key documents for the Forum (including the Social
Business Manifesto, a seminal text written by OpenKnowledge and published in conjunction with the
Harvard Business Review Italia).

The contributors to Interpret the Future are:

Gino De Blasio (social media expert and fluent Italian / English speaker)

Loredana Nano - interpreter

Bruno Musarra - interpreter

Ian Mansbridge - interpreter

Lara Warburton - interpreter

Isabelle Handley-Allen - interpreter

Alice Bertinotti - interpreter

Robert Dennis is the OpenKnowledge project manager for Interpret the Future at the Social Business Forum.

Holly Carlile, a freelance translator based in Milan, is translating the Social Business Manifesto for OpenKnowledge.

If you would like to find out more about new approaches to conference interpreting, social
business and how language and technology are driving change, please feel free to ask any (or all)
of the contributors. They are also available for freelance interpreting and translation work and be
contacted via this group.