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Et tu, Barack?
Yet another article on how computer technology will save us all from the tyranny of having humans in charge of the task of human communication. A BusinessWeek piece titled “White House Challenges Translation Industry to Innovate” tells the tale:
Companies have combined the power of humans and computers to simultaneously double the speed of translation and nearly halve its cost. Where each translator once converted 2,500 words a day at a cost of some 25¢ per word, they can now offer 5,000 words a day at around 12¢-15¢ a word.
Marvelous. This translator makes the same amount of money per day, according to this math, but turns out twice as much text in the target language. Efficiency up, global understanding up. But there are problems here. A few quick, unorganized thoughts:
Problem 1: We aren’t worrying about the fact that this means only half as much time can be spent on proper rereading by the translator and editing by a fresh pair of eyes. The hybrid approach of MT to begin and a human to polish the turds that are MT output means there’s an unhappy person in the mix now—at least I don’t think many people are happy about wrestling with clumsily translated text. I can’t stand it when I’m dealing with stuff a human put together, and even that clumsy human translator is leagues ahead of a machine, and will remain there for the foreseeable future.
Problem 2: The editors who deal with machine output are, ideally, bilingual and capable of doing the translation themselves. If something looks truly odd in your target text, going back to the source text to figure out what’s going on is the only way to set things straight. (Well, there’s actually another way: the monolingual editor just makes a wild guess. I didn’t say it was a good way.) In other words, the ideal form of this man-machine mind meld involves taking a translator who used to be crafting his own sentences and making him clean up the ones a computer spits out at him. Job satisfaction in this new world? Heh.
Problem 3: Don DePalma, chief research officer at a translation outfit, notes that companies need to get their information out there in front of customers in their own languages. “When you’re dealing with anything really expensive or that potentially involves a long-term financial decision—like life insurance or stocks—customers prefer to have information in their own language,” he says. But this is precisely the sort of text that needs to be handled by a specialist, and the companies that sell “really expensive” products will be the very last holdouts still using human pros for the entire process. (It would be fun to see someone trying to market life insurance via Google Translate and an editor in Bangalore, though.) It’s fine to trot this out as proof that companies will need to pay more attention to localizing their material for various markets, but it’s a poor example to bring into the “MT is the future” article.
Problem 4: This.
With [human-assisted machine translation] systems, text is fed into a computer program that tackles the first round of word and sentence conversion using statistics, language rules, or matching with past translations. That covers about 90% of the work. A human then steps in to correct mistakes, clarify sentences, and refine the language for the intended audience or market.
Anyone who’s done translation (at least at a level going beyond churning out crap drafts for rock-bottom prices) or editing knows that the 90% figure here is sheer idiocy. Experienced translators don’t tend to work in phases like this (pump out rubbish at blinding speed and then go back to correct spelling and grammar errors and think about tone and style); they have all these tasks in mind as they go through their text, and it’s hard as a result to define percentages for the effort going into each one of them. But I think the thing that makes translating between human languages a steep challenge for computers is the need to “refine the language for the intended audience or market.” Computers can’t recognize context like that. Humans can, and for human translators, keeping that context in mind and crafting a target text that meets the needs of style, readership, and client preference accounts for vastly more than 10% of their effort. I’d suggest flipping this formula around and saying that the computers handle a tenth of the work, not nine times that amount.
Problem 5: “Language translation is far from being mastered by humans, computers, or any mix of the two.” This is just annoying. It reeks of creationists’ “teach the controversy” demands for equal time for unequal worldviews. Using languages to communicate is what humans do. Birds fly. Fish swim. We talk. What mastery there is in the field of translation belongs entirely to people, and articles like this one need to be written from the perspective of how close computers are to reaching that standard.
Anyway. Enough problems. I’m of two minds when it comes to predicting the future of machine translation. On the one hand, I think the human capacity for language is too deep and too broad for machines to ever take it over completely, and even if 90% of clients end up happy with dirt-cheap mediocrity, the 10% of clients still paying for human quality will represent a healthy chunk of a growing language-services pie. So the good translators will still be making money, and it won’t be by massaging the output of a Google data center.
On the other hand, though, if the scientists ever crack this mystery wide open (perhaps by giving up on computers with nothing but 0s and 1s to deal with and creating new machines that function more like a brain) then we’ll get our translating machine. I’ll be out of a job, along with all my translator and interpreter buddies. But of course we’ll have plenty of company in the unemployment lines, since computers with real thinking power will already have taken over more menial tasks like piloting airplanes, writing software, drafting legislation, teaching children . . .
Breaking into the Industry
Yet another of those translation-related essays for the JET folks. I talk about the “CIR experience” below, but there are people with the language skills they need to get onto the low rungs of the translation ladder working Eikaiwa or JET language-teacher jobs too. Hope you find it interesting.
After spending their years as coordinators for international relations and picking up some translation skills along the way, some soon-to-be JET graduates think about making the move to the language services industry. There are plenty of people out there working as translators, but how did they get that work?
A quick look at the situation might make it seem like a Catch 22: employers are all looking for someone with relevant experience, but you can’t get that without finding an employer to take you on. This might come across particularly in specialized fields like financial or legal translation.
Not all is hopeless, though. There are ways to market yourself more effectively to potential employers, and there are things you can do right now to prepare yourself for the job search when the time comes. The first of these things is fairly obvious:
Get Good
You’ll have an easier time getting a job as a translator if you’re more talented in translation to begin with. There are four tasks you’ll want to pursue during your time as a CIR in this connection:
- Do jobs. This goes without saying, really. If your CIR assignments involve translation, focus on that work and polish your skills while you produce the texts your employer needs. If you aren’t doing much translation, look around for projects you could propose—a multilingual municipal website, signage for local tourist sites, and so on.
- Get feedback. This is something that’s not always easy to do, but ideally you want to show your work to native Japanese speakers, who will tell how you’re doing in staying faithful to the source material, and native speakers of your language, who will set you straight when what you write looks like it came from a robot instead of a human author.
- Network. If you’re involved in an online forum focused on your current job you’re doing this already, to some extent; take part in discussions on translation techniques to focus that networking. (This could be a good way to get the feedback you need, too.) Consider joining groups like JAT or SWET (see the links below), or at least attending their meetings when you can; you don’t need to be a member for that. Go to IJET or an ATA meeting. Industry people you’ve met in person are people who will remember you later when you come looking for a way into the industry.
- Pay attention. Read plenty of Japanese—to get better at it, but also to get more knowledgeable about what’s being written about. Read plenty in your own language, too. You need to develop an ear for appropriate, persuasive voices in the different fields where you may one day do work of your own.
Get Focused
Most established translators will tell you that the way to success in this business is not to do anything and everything that comes your way, but to specialize in an area you enjoy. (This should also be an area with real demand for translation services. Lots of people like manga, but the population that’s paying real money for translated manga isn’t large enough to support a lot of well-paid translators in that segment. In other words, don’t think of entering a field where your competition is a bunch of college students working for free.)
It can help to think of high-quality, high-paying translation as a donut. In the middle are all those people (I was one) who started off with language skills and not much else: Japanese majors, linguists, aimless bilinguals. On the outside of the donut are all the industries that make up the modern economy. It looks like this:
As the pure linguists develop an interest in some particular field, they learn more about it. The more field-specific knowledge they gain and pair with their language talent, the better they are at translating things related to that field, and the more money they can charge for it. The people on the outside, meanwhile—many high-paid translators fall in this category—begin with a career and experience and gain the language skills as they go on. In the end we all find ourselves in the donut. (Needless to say, we all continue learning on both sides of this equation throughout our careers; nobody starts off with perfect command of two languages, or encyclopedic knowledge of an industry.)
Get a Job
There are freelance and in-house translators, and the former will often claim that they are in the best position: they make more money, they pick their clients, they set their hours. The latter, meanwhile, will point out that they don’t have to do sales, write estimates, bill clients, withhold their own taxes, or pay for their own office space. There are pluses and minuses on both sides.
In the early part of your career, though, the pluses are overwhelmingly on the in-house translation side. It’s possible to start out by marketing your services directly to clients, but it’s far easier to let the company’s sales department do that job, while you focus on becoming a better translator.
The Japan Times carries classified ads on Mondays that usually contain at least a few translation job offers. The paper also has an online ads section, so take a look there, too. The Honyaku, SWET, and JAT mailing lists all see occasional job postings. Lurk on the lists (membership is only required for the last one) and respond to things that interest you.
Joining JAT, as mentioned above, is a way to meet translators; it’s also a way to create your very own member profile on the JAT website. I get a few emails each month asking me to sign up for freelance work or get in touch regarding a project. You can also set up a profile at Honyaku Home, which doesn’t cost a thing.
What about that Catch 22 described earlier? You need experience to get the job to get experience . . . But you can get some of that experience earlier. Freelance work is a way to get your feet wet, and can be done on the side in some cases. (All situations are different, of course; you may want to check with your employer to confirm that this is all right to do.) In addition to the above sites that let you put together an online profile, magazines like 通訳翻訳ジャーナル and websites like スペースアルク contain lots of information on translation agencies. The shotgun approach can work: send your resume to 50 agencies and do the trials that some of them send back. You can apply directly with companies like Simul International, too; see the Simul website for information on doing a trial and registering as a freelancer. Even my employer has an open invitation to people who want to do work for us.
When a company says something like “three years experience required,” it often isn’t a hard requirement. When applying for jobs, don’t forget to add a mental or equivalent to the end of phrases like those, and boldly send your application in just the same. The worst that can happen is a “No thank you” note or phone call, and you won’t have a job with that firm—but that’s exactly where you are right now. Be confident, too. You don’t have years of experience as a full-time translator, but CIR experience shows that you’ve functioned in a Japanese office setting, doing many of the tasks these employers are looking for.
Consider also casting your net a bit wider. You may want a job as a translator, but look at the ads for positions like “in-house editor” and “communications specialist” as well. These are jobs that can involve lots of brushing up other people’s translations, but once you’re on the inside of an organization doing this work you will have a shot at taking it on yourself. And because translation is a writing skill in the target language, producing copy for a company is a good way to get better at all forms of writing, including translation. Even executive secretaries do their fair share of translation work, and can find themselves transferred to divisions doing purer word work later on.
Get Informed
Below are some links to online information that you might find helpful:
Articles About Translation (Language Realm)
A good collection of essays on the language services industry. The “Translation as a Profession” series in particular is worth a look.
Getting Started as a Translator: Gleanings from Honyaku
A collection of posts from Honyaku mailing list threads going back to 1994. Very applicable to the field, even a decade or more later.
Translation as Vocation
A slideshow that accompanied a March 2007 presentation on ways to break into the field of J-E translation.
John Scalzi’s Utterly Useless Writing Advice
Not on translation per se, but it’s a worthwhile read for all people who want to write words for money.
Honyaku
This is a mailing list where translators facing problems in a job ask for help. There’s also occasional discussion of matters peripherally related to dealing with words on pages, so it can be good to lurk and learn. Job offers come down this pipeline from time to time, too.
The Society of Writers, Editors, and Translators
This group holds monthly meetings on topics you may find interesting. The mailing list is free to join for nonmembers; become a member for reduced admission to those meetings and a spot in the SWET directory.
The Japan Association of Translators
This group also holds monthly meetings in Tokyo, as well as other places in Japan and around the world from time to time. The profile you can create here as a member will attract messages from agencies looking to add people to their rosters. JAT organizes the annual IJET conferences (coming up next in Miyazaki in April 2010), which are great to attend. The organization was also crazy enough to elect me director as of May 2009.
The Correct Translation
Posting another one of those translation essays I wrote for some people on the JET Program:
“Can you look over this translation to make sure it’s correct?” This is the sort of request you might hear from time to time. What does correctness mean in this case, though? There are many ways to measure how good a translation is—its accuracy, its effectiveness, and even its beauty might be yardsticks to use. But the yardstick you choose depends on context. And context, as we have seen, means more than just words on the page.
Let’s start with this short statement from the website of the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum:
江戸東京たてもの園は、1993年（平成5年）3月28日に開園した野外博物館です。都立小金井公園の中に位置し、敷地面積は約７ヘクタール、園内には江戸時代から昭和初期までの、27棟の復元建造物が建ち並んでいます。当園では、現地保存が不可能な文化的価値の高い歴史的建造物を移築し、復元・保存・展示するとともに、貴重な文化遺産として次代に継承することを目指しています。
This is fairly straightforward information. We’ll begin by putting together a similarly straightforward English version along these lines:
The Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum is an outdoor museum that opened on March 28, 1993 (Heisei 5). Located in Tokyo Metropolitan Koganei Park, the museum is about 7 hectares in size; on its grounds are 27 restored buildings dating from the Edo period to the early Showa era. Historical structures with high cultural value that cannot be preserved on their original sites are moved to the museum, where they are restored, preserved, and displayed, with the goal of handing them on to the next generation as a precious cultural heritage.
This translation adheres closely to the original Japanese in the order in which it presents the information. Does this make it the correct translation? . . . Maybe.
What is the purpose of this translation?
If your boss asked you to translate this site because he wanted a quick look at what it says, your job is done at this point. You’ve provided all the relevant information, and your translation is a correct fit for the task at hand.
If, however, your job is to create an English version of the site to inform potential visitors who don’t read Japanese, you need to work on this text some more. You aren’t just laying out information; you’re advertising the museum, and that means making your translation more attractive. Present the place as exciting, educational, and worth a trip to Koganei.
The Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum, located in Koganei Park, features 27 restored buildings dating from the Edo period to the early Showa era. These culturally valuable structures were moved to the museum when they could no longer be preserved on their original sites. Here they are carefully restored, displayed, and preserved as a precious cultural heritage to be passed on to future generations.
It’s shorter now, and we’ve lost some information. But that wasn’t likely to motivate people to come see the preserved structures—readers won’t care so much when the place was established, and “Heisei 5” is particularly unhelpful; the full name of the park is similarly unneeded here. It’s no longer an exact match for the Japanese, but for our advertising purposes this might be a correct translation.
What do the readers need?
Above we took out the Heisei year designation. Japanese readers may appreciate that information, but foreign readers aren’t apt to count years according to imperial reigns. We need to consider what our readers will want from the text, and provide them with a translation that serves their needs.
Perhaps the English website will help direct visitors to this place. In that case we’ll need some geographic pointers. Perhaps the visitors would benefit from additional historical background—not everyone knows when the “Edo period” was, for instance. Here we go again:
The Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum opened in March 1993 in Koganei Park, north of Musashi Koganei station in western Tokyo. The expansive outdoor museum contains 27 restored buildings dating from the eighteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries. Historical structures from around the Tokyo area that cannot be preserved on their original sites are restored, preserved, and displayed on the museum grounds, with the goal of handing these precious cultural properties on to the next generation.
Note also that not all readers will be familiar with the hectare as a unit of area, and the exact size of this place isn’t vital information in any case. This isn’t a history essay, so we don’t need to give the precise years for the Showa era. A quick look around the website lets us know that the buildings date from the middle of the Edo period to the early postwar era; we use that information here.
What does the client want?
In addition to thinking about the sort of text you’re writing and the needs of your readers, you have to consider what the client wants to see in your translation. Japanese bureaucrats often prefer to see a particular flavor of English writing—a “governmentese” that isn’t necessarily natural, but is a very straight translation with which they are comfortable. (The first draft above might be a good fit for them.)
Maybe this client wants to put together a pamphlet for kids. You’ll be asked to write for younger readers in this case:
The Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum was founded in 1993. This large museum in Tokyo’s Koganei Park contains 27 historical buildings. Some of these are very old, dating all the way back to the middle of the Edo period—that was hundreds of years ago! When these important buildings from around Tokyo were about to be torn down, people worked to save them, bringing them all the way to this museum. Here these cultural structures are preserved so people can continue enjoying them today, and into the future.
The sentences are shorter. The vocabulary is simpler. And the text is more energetic, to hold the children’s attention. (We might also note that some of the buildings here inspired Miyazaki Hayao’s art in Spirited Away.) If the client comes to you with a request for a certain kind of language, it’s your job to produce that. Stay flexible!
In its most basic form, translation requires you to include all the information in the original, adding nothing and taking nothing away. But translators are called on to do jobs closer to copywriting much of the time. The examples above show some very different approaches to the same paragraph in Japanese, but depending on the kind of writer you are, the needs of your readers, and the demands of your client, they might all be correct.
Keeping things cool
A quick post to note that I’ve uploaded more photos to the Flickr set of shots from Hokkaido. I wrote about what’s happening over on the SWET blog, so I’ll just point you that direction instead of reprinting everything here.
One update to that previous post: I haven’t been arrested or interrogated about the bits of electronic detritus in the hotel wastebasket. Apparently someone here could tell the difference between a broken SD card reader and a left-over missile timing device. Lucky me.
More from Hokkaido
I had planned to grab a bunch more photos from my camera and upload them to Flickr, but my SD card reader crapped out last night. So I still have only that first batch up. Here’s one of the delightful Pokemon bus that took us from Chitose Airport to the site a few days ago.
Work has been rough for me and my teammate (we’re working in pairs of a native-English-speaking translator and a Japanese checker/E-J translator). We were in the work room until dawn the first night, when there was a lot of information to get into the system in time for it to go live, and until well past dawn the second night, when there was little to do. Then it was decided that the media site admin room didn’t need to be manned 24 hours a day, so all the teams who were looking at similar schedules for the rest of our time here got a reprieve. There’d better be a bonus of some kind in this for us!
The schedules are friendlier now, at any rate. Today my team is in until around 8:00 in the evening. We have most of tomorrow off, so we might take a walk up on the golf courses and ski runs on the hills behind our hotel and see if we can spot a fox or deer or SDF special forces sniper or something. Photos to follow, if I can track down a card reader! This is the freaking International Media Center, so there must be some sort of support office for photographers that can hook me up.
Flickr photos
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