The information of this blog is based on our own research, with which AI then generated a video and voice-over for.

We have had an expert from medical interpretation services to review it.

This is an interesting look at what AI generates when given human input.

For example, it starts the video by asking the question: “Am I the only one who didn’t know the true weight of medical interpreters?”

And then it asks other questions like what it thinks patients will hear: “Can I afford this?” and “Will it hurt?”

These are questions that the AI came up with on its own while the rest of the content after that is what we input into the prompt.

We also included data from various sources such as a 2023 article from Palliative Medicine.

Researching data and having AI help to put it together into an emotional video really helps to show our point about how important interpreters are and what they carry on their shoulders. They are truly so important to our lives!

Transcript

Am I the only one that didn’t know the true weight of medical interpreters? These unsung heroes are more than just translators.

Imagine you’re in a hospital room, a patient gasps for air, the doctor explains three life altering options, and the interpreter, they’re the only one who truly understands both sides. Medical Interpreters face immense challenges. They hear questions like, can we afford this or will it hurt? They must navigate these with precision, staying objective, not swaying decisions.

Studies show even a minor translation slip can impact choices. They’re not just wordsmiths. They’re crucial mediators. Did you know interpreters often experience distress, overwhelm, guilt, loneliness and discomfort?

When facilitating palliative care conversations, “76% of interpreters found end of life conversations more stressful than others” [The emotional effects on professional interpreters of interpreting palliative care conversations for adult patients: A rapid review. Palliat Med. 2023].

They need our support, debriefing, mental health resources, because their role is more vital than we realize.

Next time you’re at a hospital, remember interpreters are the fragile bridge between fear and clarity; science and the human heart. Let’s support them as they support us.

Visual Storytelling

We provided our content to AI and let the AI work its magic. Here’s how the transformation unfolded:

1. Script Adaptation: AI transformed the blog into a script while maintaining the emotional depth of the narrative. AI’s understanding of context ensured key moments, like the patient gasping for air or the interpreter navigating life-or-death translations, were vividly demonstrated.
2. Scene Composition: AI automatically selected visuals that resonated with the content. Sterile hospital rooms, moments of intense decision-making, and the emotional toll of interpreters.
3. Audio Enhancements: Voiceovers and background music were added to match the video’s tone.

After uploading the script into AI, we selected:

• Platform: “YouTube” (serious tone, fitting for healthcare content).
• Voiceover: A professional, empathetic narrator (AI-generated).
• Audience: General public
• Duration: 2 minutes

The AI synced visuals to the script, adding captions and transitions where needed.

The Result

The final video was a blend of visuals and sound, perfectly encapsulating the essence of our blog. Key moments like the explanation of palliative care, tracheostomy, or aggressive treatment options were brought to life in a way that allowed viewers to feel the weight of the decisions.

Monterey Language Services explores the emotional and professional challenges medical interpreters face from navigating complex medical jargon to bearing the weight of traumatic situations.

Stay tuned as we continue exploring the boundaries of technology and storytelling, bringing more interpretation issues into the spotlight.

The debate over the effectiveness of artificial intelligence (AI) vs. human capabilities is more relevant than ever. While it’s easy to fall into the trap of viewing them as rivals, the real question is how the two can work together to be more effective. A recent conversation inside Monterey Language Service highlighted this future trend, revealing the crucial role that human expertise plays in AI development.

Humans can make AI better

In copy editing, AI can analyze text for grammatical errors, and even adjust tone and style based on the context. However, as Gary pointed out, AI may handle at best 80-90% of the editing process, but the last step often requires a human touch: flexible, context-aware, and capable of grasping nuances that AI might overlook.

Mei-Ling, on the other hand, argued that the focus should be not on the limitations of AI copy editing but on celebrating its rapid development and the role humans can play in enhancing AI capabilities.

The Path Forward: Enhancing AI with Human Expertise

Mei-Ling emphasized the idea that humans can make AI even better by providing it with high-quality training data. This is an important insight: the future of AI doesn’t lie solely in its inherent capabilities but in its integration with humans.

While refining AI’s editing capabilities, we need to provide it with a variety of professional materials to cut its teeth on. There are several ways that humans can do this, and it all begins with giving AI high quality writing to train on.

But what specific steps should be taken to move forward? There are many things we can do including, but not limited to the following:

• Clearly sharing context information with AI concerning the relevant conversation or the audience
• Exposing AI to detailed examples of human conversation, including informal language, idioms, and regional dialects
• Training AI to recognize and respond to emotional cues
• Sharing cultural nuances and social norms
• Guiding AI to better understand references and humor
• To model turn-taking and back-and-forth dialogue to AI
• Helping AI understand the tone, rhythm and flow of human conversation
• Feeding high quality content to AI
• Providing feedback on how the AI’s responses come across

By combining these approaches, professional linguists can play a vital role in shaping AI. More than ever, we as human translators and interpreters have a lot of work to do, particularly in connection with individual creativity and uniqueness.

Our Previous Blogs about AI

Monterey Language Services has constantly kept an eye on AI development. Our blog series since August of 2023 has been aimed at showing how the synergy of human creativity can elevate AI performance.

Check out our previous blogs about AI:

Professional Copyediting after Content Creation: Staying ahead of the AI curve

Blue and White Porcelain: The Joy of Translation from Behind the Scenes

A Love Letter to Chinese Culture — Blue and White Porcelain Lyrics

Advice to Future Interpreters

Interpreters and Music: Translation Accuracy

Interpreters and Voices: On Human Aura

Interpreters and Voices: On Human Recording

AI Performing Music: On Human Individuality

Diversity and Richness: Interpreters and Music

Thoughts about AI: Interpreters and Music

AI and Translation

These blogs discuss AI’s capabilities, how we have worked with it and what our expectations are.

“AI is able to follow patterns to come up with solutions that others may have thought of and implemented before, but without managing to achieve such originality on their own. Is it possible for AI to progress towards greater individuality and uniqueness?” ( AI Performing Music: On Human Individuality)

“AI is capable, but then can AI interpret our tones, our feelings, our energy, our life, our passion, our emotions, and our sense of mission that professional interpreters have shared?” ( Thoughts about AI: Interpreters and Music)

 Conclusion

Rather than debating whether humans or AI did better in copy editing, the blog is intended to celebrate the collaborative efforts that can make AI development and human creativity progress together. Ultimately, it’s essential to value partnership over competition. The future of copy editing will depend on our ability to combine human expertise with artificial intelligence to create something truly remarkable.

When it comes to professional copyediting, the conventional wisdom is that professional translators and editors generally perform better than AI. However, we may find striking similarities between an AI’s output and the professionally edited version.

Recently, we experienced an intriguing situation: after copyediting and publishing a text on our website, we later asked an AI to edit the same raw text. Please see one example below.

Raw version: The video is aimed to relax people, not speed them up,

Professionally edited version: The video is aimed to relax rather than energize,

AI edited version: The video is intended to relax viewers, not energize them,

How does AI ‘write’?

Large language models (LLMs) have been trained on a massive collection of text from books, articles, websites, and other published materials. Over time, our blog could be among those texts included in the training materials.

Generative AI “writes” or “edits” texts by using statistically common phrasing and word combinations that frequently appear together.

However, as more AI writing is created and published on the web, more and more of the training data will be AI generated text.

This may result in degrading performance over time, as more low quality LLM-generated content enters the pool. In writing, this could look like an overrepresentation of certain phrasings that sound awkward to the human reader, “hallucinations,” and other distortions.

A professional, human editor can easily identify these issues. If you use AI as a writing aid, a professional editor can add value by introducing a human element that will make your content stand out.

Our experts can help you stay ahead of the curve. Below are some examples of our professional copyediting. Feel free to contact us for full copyediting services in all languages.

Examples of Professional Copy Editing

Conciseness

Raw version: Layla thought the English translation is poetic, so she read the English lyrics as a poem. She has a gentle and clear voice. Her tone is soothing, and the poem is relaxing. Shreya immediately suggested these all work perfectly for ASMR.
Human Edited version: Layla thought the English translation was poetic, so she performed a reading in her clear and gentle voice. Her soothing tone inspired Shreya to suggest creating an ASMR version.

• These sentences were reworked from 41 words to 29 words.
• Redundancies were removed and similar ideas were combined for a more fluid reading experience.
• The tense was also made consistent throughout the passage.
• Word choice and phrasing were adapted to a more formal register.

Word Choice

Raw version: The video is aimed to relax people, not speed them up, so instead, we slowed the animation down, reducing its speed to half its normal speed, and like magic, all of a sudden, everything became seamlessly in harmony.
Edited version: The video is aimed to relax rather than energize, so we decided to slow the animation down, reducing the speed by half. The effect was immediate and magical. The animation was seamlessly integrated into the rest of the video.

• “Speed [people] up” sounds a little unnatural and might have unwanted connotations. “Energize” is more appropriate in this context.
• “All of a sudden” was replaced with “immediate” to describe the change more clearly.
• “Seamlessly in harmony” was revised to “seamlessly integrated” to fix the grammar of the sentence.
• The long, run-on sentence was broken up into multiple sentences. Varying sentence lengths makes for a better reading experience, and a shorter sentence between longer ones helps add emphasis.

Style

Raw Version: Some words such as the “jiangnan” area were not possible to include. It is a word that can evoke so much imagery to a Chinese listener, but there was not anything appropriate that fit and could evoke the same imagery to an English speaker.
Edited Version: On the other hand, we omitted the reference to the Jiangnan region altogether. As Jiangnan’s literal meaning is “south of the river,” we gave up geographic specificity but kept its romantic associations by using the word “enchanted” in the same line.

• The copyedited version explains the meaning of Jiangnan and elaborates on the trade-offs in the translation. Instead of stating that nothing could evoke the same imagery as the Chinese words to the English language audience, the copyedited version clarifies that translation strove to preserve its romantic associations at the expense of geographic specificity.

Conclusion

Copyediting is especially important in today’s digital landscape, where AI-generated writing is becoming more common. Over time, if the training data pool becomes more saturated with AI-created content, there is concern that the current performance state of AI will be negatively affected.

Therefore, it is essential for the AI industry to utilize human experts to improve on AI generated text. We as language professionals can stay ahead with our unique and creative perspectives.

A professional copyeditor can polish your content to present your ideas in their best form. Having your work edited by a natural language expert will keep it sounding fresh.

Professional copyediting may be even more valuable if performed by an editor who can provide a fresh perspective. Consider hiring an editor outside of your team!

It may be easy to overlook the importance of having your content professionally copyedited prior to publication. Below are some reminders for today’s fast-paced digital world.

• Copyediting tightens up the message of your content and improves readability.
• Expert advice can help your work attain its maximum potential.
• A creative human touch can take your content beyond AI’s limitations.

The series consists of three engaging parts:

1. Educational Video: An introduction to the key terms and concepts in the song, providing valuable insight into its cultural and historical references.
2. English Translation: A clear and thoughtful translation of the lyrics, making the poetic beauty of the song accessible to a broader audience.
3. ASMR Lyrics Reading: A soothing experience featuring an ASMR reading of the lyrics, allowing you to enjoy the lyrics in a unique and calming way.

Click to watch all three parts combined in one video on YouTube.

Feedback Received

It is delightful to be able to engage our clients in a dialogue about culture, poetry and translation!

A client of Monterey Language Services shared a wonderful interpretation of Blue and White Porcelain of her own with us after reading our translation. She thought the song described the beloved landscape scenery of China as captured in blue and white porcelain pottery.

How did this story happen? Let us share how Monterey Language Services turned this beautiful piece into a fascinating project!

Spreading the Joy of Translation

The song “Blue and White Porcelain” by Taiwanese artist Jay Chou was released in 2007, so why did we choose it for our 2024 summer project? The idea didn’t come after a lot of planning or brainstorming, but as a sudden enlightenment.

At the start of the summer, Mei-Ling kept hearing “Blue and White Porcelain” in different places, so she decided to learn it. The more she sang the song, the more the beauty of the Chinese culture embedded in the lyrics resonated with her. Appreciating the poetry of the lyrics, Monterey Language Services decided to share the song with a broader audience by translating the Chinese lyrics into English.

Even non-Chinese speakers were able to join in this effort. In this video, Layla, a Spanish interpreter whose native language is English, read the translation as a poem. We then developed the reading further using ASMR techniques.

This story is an inspiring example of the power of translation to facilitate communication between people of different languages and cultures.

Collaborative Teamwork

This project is the product of collaboration between many colleagues and professionals. The end result surpasses what one person is capable of doing alone.

We started the project with Christoph, whose Chinese-to-English translation follows the syllable-count and meter of the original song and provided the foundation for what was to come. See our previous blog post for more information.

After the English translation video was complete, Shreya joined in. She suggested adding an educational video with eye-catching images to explain the key terms in the lyrics.

Layla thought the English translation was poetic, so she performed a reading in her clear and gentle voice. Her soothing tone inspired Shreya to suggest creating an ASMR version.

Finally, we wanted to create a complete sensory experience. Gary edited the background music and added sound effects such as rain falling on leaves, fire crackling, and pottery wheel clicking. These effects enhanced the video and made it atmospheric.

We are proud to mention that the younger generation also played a part. The background image of the ASMR video was drawn by De-Yi Lee, a junior high school student.

For this project, we have many people to thank, including the song’s original composer and singer Jay Chou and lyricist Vincent Fang. The song inspired a lot of creativity, which has made this project very enjoyable.

Through the collaborative efforts of many talented individuals, we were able to produce a video with a clear vision.

Video Editing

The combined video has three parts, and we created it in three different phases. As the videos consist of many different elements, video editing was required to combine and synchronize them. Smoothing the audio and creating seamless transitions between different segments were also fun to handle.

In the introduction to Parts One and Two, we used a stunning animated image of falling flower petals, while a blue and white bowl rotates in the background. On its own, the animation is beautiful, but when put it into our video, we felt that the speed was a little too fast.

The video is aimed to relax rather than energize, so we decided to slow the animation down, reducing the speed by half. The effect was immediate and magical. The animation was seamlessly integrated into the rest of the video.

From start to finish, we made sure that there are smooth transitions throughout the video. Our aim was to find a balance between joy and serenity as well as between majesty and simplicity, while maintaining a relaxing mood on the whole.

Translation Journey

Before translating the lyrics, we took the time to decide on our approach. We weren’t merely trying to produce a mechanical, one-to-one translation of the words. Instead, we aimed to create a singable English version that mirrored the rhythm and flow of the original song.

At the same time, we also wanted to faithfully convey the story told by the original lyrics. Therefore, every word went through a great deal of consideration and scrutiny.

To keep the translation accessible and easy for a non-Chinese audience to understand, some proper nouns had to be dropped. These included references to a Song dynasty style potter’s mark on a vase, and a town in Jiangnan, a region in China known for its romantic river scenery.

Both terms are richly evocative to a Chinese listener, but their dense cultural meanings could not be explained within the limitations of the syllable count.

For the Song dynasty reference, we simplified the phrase to “old potter’s mark”. Although “antique” may have been better at capturing the intended meaning, “old” was a better fit for the syllable count.

On the other hand, we omitted the reference to the Jiangnan region altogether. As Jiangnan’s literal meaning is “south of the river,” we gave up geographic specificity but kept its romantic associations by using the word “enchanted” in the same line.

After a process of painstaking deliberation, we are happy with the translation. It is both faithful to the original lyrics and singable to the original meter.

Interpretations of the Song

Song lyrics can be considered a form of poetry and can have many different interpretations. During the translation of the song, we had a debate about whether the speaker in the lyrics is addressing a blue and white porcelain vase or a human love interest.

One interpretation was that the speaker is an art lover recalling his encounter with a beautiful blue and white porcelain vase in Jiangnan. The art lover’s treasure hunt led him to discover the porcelain vase hidden behind a splashed-ink landscape painting among other works of Chinese art.

The other interpretation is that this is a love song that uses metaphors from Chinese art to describe his longing and the beauty of his lover.

Creative translation, also known as transcreation, of works such as “Blue and White Porcelain” can spark lively discussion, as there can be many different interpretations of the same text.