Slide 1
Dzjen dobre wzestkiem
Hello and thank you for being here. I am glad you’re here as
this has been a long and tiresome day. However, when dealing
about the theme “Experts at work”, we should really talk about
linguistic quality. That’s why I want to dive shortly into
Language 2.0, Linguistic quality in an era of change.
For this presentation I claimed the Twitter hashtag #Lang20.
Feel free to share any feedback or ask questions after this
presentation.
Slide 2
Let’s start with a short introduction. My name is Pieter Beens
and I am a freelance translator, translating, copywriting and
localizing from English into Dutch.
I have around 7 years of experience in translating and quality is
imperative to my business.
Slide 3
In this presentation I want to answer four important questions.
As we have only 30 minutes I can only outline some examples,
but they nevertheless symbolize many other examples.
Slide 4
Let’s have a look at trends first.
Slide 5
While working on this presentation I discovered that the trends
that impact the quality of language can be divided into four key
areas which are highly interrelated, like the teeth of gears.
They are:
- The social and cultural area
- The economical area
- The technical area
- The professional area
Slide 6
Let’s start with social cultural trends.
Language and culture are highly influencing each other. As a
Christian I have grown up with the Bible. I think the Bible is a
stunning example of changing language standards. Since the
introduction of the press, at the half of the fifteenth century
and 565 years ago now, only in the Netherlands 25 new
translations have been introduced. Some of them were
introduced to make the Bible more accessible to certain
subcultures while others were introduced because previous
versions were old-fashioned. But whatever the reason for a
new version, each new version obeyed to new or different
linguistic rules and standards.
We all know that the introduction of the television in the 1950s
has led to cultural and social changes. The same happens now
with the introduction of smartphones, tablets and smart
watches. The cultures these inventions represent, have an
impact on language as well. Think for instance about the
introduction of new words, like “apps” and “talk show”. These
words are requiring us to get updated on spelling and grammar
and to introduce new spelling and grammar rules to tackle
them.
Slide 7
Then there are the economic trends.
We all know that translation agencies and end clients alike are
demanding for lower prices. That is a market trend which in
the end is cascaded to translators.
Another demand is the demand for shorter deadlines.
Both impact the quality of our language. The demand for
shorter deadlines results in less time to check the quality, while
translators compensate the demand for lower prices by trying
to deliver more words a day albeit in lower quality.
Both demands are both a cause and result of technical
inventions: technical inventions, like the introduction of
machine translations and translation engines, make it possible
to cut down prices and shorten deadlines but in order to get
there companies need those inventions as well.
Slide 8
These machine translations and translation engines are a story
on their own.
Translation machines are giant databases with a kind of logic
which deliver translations in minutes. Companies like Microsoft
and SDL are already using those systems for years. SDL makes a
distinction between top-notch quality and satisfactory quality.
This means that the demand for one of both influences both
the price that is paid and the maximum amount of time editors
have to edit the quality of translations. But only the distinction
of satisfactory quality leaves room for errors and mistakes like
missing colons, wrong capitals and crooked sentences.
Translation engines on the other hand are publicly available
tools that generate translations in seconds. Their quality is
questionable though. Sometimes the engines generate
different translations for identical words on different
computers or at different times of the day. They are especially
unable to deal with huge amounts of texts.
And then there’s the difference between the engines itself: I
started this presentation with “Dzjen dobre wzestkiem”, Polish
for “Good afternoon everybody”. When I looked it up in
Google Translator I got this … and when I checked it in Bing
Translate I got this …
You can see the differences. I am unable to judge which of
both is good, but this makes clear that you cannot blindly trust
one of both.
Slide 11
As last I want to mention the professional trends that are into
play. Since the market is flooded by translators who think they
speak four languages fluently because they went to four
different languages zones a few years, our industry is faced
with an increasing lack of knowledge regarding spelling and
grammar rules.
That has an impact on the general rates in the industry and on
the perception of quality as well.
Last week I got feedback from a reviewer who checked a
marketing translation. It was a positive review which I was glad
with, but what surprised me was this sentence: I had really
troubles finding issues and making corrections. Not even 1
spelling mistake, also grammar was absolutely perfect!
Of course we are all humans and prone to make mistakes and
errors, it happens to me as well. But in the end we should
strive after errorless translations.
Slide 13
Finally I want to mention stress and deadlines. Many of us are
facing with high workloads and short deadlines and that
absolutely makes us prone to make mistakes and bad
translations.
Slide 14
But let’s have a look at the implications of these trends
Slide 15
The implications can be divided into the four key areas I
already mentioned:
- The social and cultural area
- The economical area
- The technical area
- The professional area
Slide 16
As we already saw, inventions and different social and cultural
developments will have an impact on language. Due to several
developments language will change and so will the perception
of quality. New words, new spelling and new grammar are
introduced and that will lead to a demand to learn and get to
deal with them.
Slide 17
The changing quality of language and changing perception of
quality is partly the result of a demand for cheaper translations
and shorter deadlines and of the invention of new translation
tools. When combining these factors, I can foresee that the
demand for cheaper translations will increase, possibly
resulting in a circle effect of cheaper translations, lower quality
and even cheaper translations, and so on.
Slide 18
From a technical perspective, the use of machine translations
and translation engines can result in lower quality and
unreliable translations. The more we rely on algorithms and
the less we use our brains, the worse our linguistic quality can
be. And when clients do not demand top-notch translations
poor translations can become a new standard.
Slide 19
Professionals at the other hand can, due to their lack of
knowledge, their over-reliance on translation tools or their
search to compensate for lower rates, be challenged to deliver
the requested quality.
At the same time they can already seek to adopt to new
language standards which are not yet officially introduced.
That can mean they are adopting too early, following unofficial
rules and therewith adapting their translations to new cultures
but not to the current spelling and grammar rules.
Slide 20
Challenges all over then. What should we do?
Slide 21
I think we should accept that language is changing. We saw
trends which make clear that languages are continuously
evolving. At the same time the rules for linguistic quality are
changing accordingly. The pace of change can be different from
language to language, but it is unavoidable.
Put simply, we can react in three different ways: we can resist,
take a neutral stance or accept the changes.
I think there is only one option to deliver the best quality in all
circumstances: by following the rules.
Slide 22
That’s the only way to stay safe in the future …
Slide 23
So, will we stick to the rules we once learned?
No. I know it is different for many of us to accept change, but
sticking to the rules we once learned is impossible if we want
to go forward.
Following current rules however will make sure we always
deliver according to current standards and securing our
business. Economic, social and technological trends should not
withhold us from being professional.
That’s why I want to end with a tip: accept that language is
changing and embrace rules like oxygen. There are plenty of
them and you need to breath them to survive. And once you
have exhausted them, you need a new bite to survive again.
Slide 24
I wish you all a safe journey on the road to the future.
Do you have any questions?
Slide 25
I want to thank you for your attention. I will make this
presentation available at vertaalt.nu/blog tonight.