“Machine-assisted human translation vs. human-assisted machine translation” was the topic that won the Monterey Language Services Tech Contest, which took place on Monterey Language Services’ Facebook page and ended today at noon.

Participants were mainly from the Chinese program of the Translation and Interpretation School of the Monterey Institute of International Studies, which is the largest program in the school. Congratulations to Qianxi, the winner, and all who participated! (See his victory speech here.) We felt your energy and it was breathtaking. We hope to see you next time.

The 36 comments touch upon the future for translators, development of language technology and machine translation, CAT tools such as Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast, power of machine translation, human translators versus machine translators, translation software, how machines can improve efficiency and productivity for translators, a real life story with Google Translate, training machines to translate, coding and decoding, translation segmentation, machine language, repetitions in text, subject knowledge and specialization, theory versus reality, and more.

Monterey Language Services strives to provide the highest quality of translation and interpretation services. Please feel free to contact us for a quote.

To assure this, we have developed a rigorous management process, starting with choosing the best translators from our translator database. We always select translators with the subject matter knowledge and experience necessary for the project at hand, using translators who specialize in marketing for marketing translations, medical translators for medical translations, legal translators for legal translations, and technical translators for technical translations.

Using translators unsuited to the subject matter leads to mistakes, and it is the most common problem in translation projects. That is why selecting the right translators is a fundamentally important step in our process.

We don’t rely on just a handful of translators. We have a huge database and network of linguists, many of them accredited and certified, and we are continually expanding it, always looking for the best translation professionals in their fields. We start by screening our translators and testing them to make sure they are able to perform to our standards. We also build and maintain a professional working relationship with them, to make sure they understand our standards and our clients’ needs.

Even after the translation is complete, we further review our translators’ work to make sure they meet our quality requirements. We find, isolate, verify and resolve any issues. With the multi-stage quality assurance process, which uses at least two linguists for every translation, followed by an extra round of QA and Verification, we ensure that no mistakes slip past us into the final product.

Doing the job right the first time is utterly important. It saves time and avoids extra cost. Best yet, it helps our clients increase communication success and business growth. This is our mission every day and we are loving it!

Monterey Language Services strives to provide the highest quality of translation and interpretation services. Please feel free to contact us for a quote.

French: “Top des Mornin à Ya!”
German: “Spitze der Mornin zu Ya!”
Simplified Chinese: “顶部以遐的早晨！

When most people think of translation, they may think of someone flipping through a dictionary and finding a direct substitute. However, a translator who literally translates a document word for word does not necessarily create a readable document.

Translation is more than using a dictionary; it’s also a form of writing. In order to write a clearly understandable document, you must fully understand the nuances of the meaning and the culture into which you’re translating. Then, instead of just looking at one word at a time, you must find a way to convey that same meaning into the second language. This may mean adapting idiomatic expressions, as we saw in “Top of the mornin to ya!”

A different way of seeing the problem is with machine translation programs. A friend of mine used a machine translator and the result often came out laughable. A prime example is her nickname, “Moonshine”. The machine translator communicated it as “Alcool de contrebande”. Yes, this does mean Moonshine in French, but it means the illegal hooch created during Prohibition. We found it much funnier than her usual nickname, which refers to the moonlight.

Another important point is to think of your audience. You may be translating for high-level technical people, in which case a more direct approach might work. However, you may be translating for people who don’t have a great understanding of the subject. In this case, you may need to find a clearer way of stating the subject.

Monterey Language Service specializes in clear and meaningful translation/interpretation.   We can assist you in all your translation and interpretation needs in every language.

By Heidi Ripplinger