Poll: Good translators are a dying breed.
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ProZ.com Staff
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Mar 2, 2019

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Good translators are a dying breed.".

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Tamas Balint Dr.
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Португалија
Local time: 16:24
Член (2007)
англиски на португалски
+ ...
I don't know Mar 2, 2019

Are we (I’m presuming I'm good…)? Even in a world inundated by machine translation a human touch will always be needed to understand layers of meaning in context and to create something pleasurable to read.

Maja_K
Eoghan McMonagle
Thayenga
Mario Freitas
Gibril Koroma
John Fossey
 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Бразил
Local time: 12:24
англиски на португалски
+ ...
Good translators will always exist Mar 2, 2019

The translation market is clearly split into two very distinct segments. One comprises people who work for peanuts, post-editing jobs, discounts for repetitions/fuzzies, and things like that. This group is responsible for all the terrorism and apocalyptic forecasts, for a very simple reason: They WILL be replaced by machines.
The other group comprises real professionals who will not be replaced by machines and who are not afraid of that, and who entirely agree with you.
Machines cann
... See more
The translation market is clearly split into two very distinct segments. One comprises people who work for peanuts, post-editing jobs, discounts for repetitions/fuzzies, and things like that. This group is responsible for all the terrorism and apocalyptic forecasts, for a very simple reason: They WILL be replaced by machines.
The other group comprises real professionals who will not be replaced by machines and who are not afraid of that, and who entirely agree with you.
Machines cannot and never will be able to translate:
- Misspelled words and typos. No algorithm can include all possible errors and typos.
- Poor word choice. The machine will translate the bad choice and not replace it with a better one.
- Humor, jokes, puns, metaphors, etc. No need to discuss, it's impossible to "program" a machine for that.
- Feelings reflected in the text or between the lines.

Now, we must admit the breed, although not "dying" will be largely reduced, so I still wouldn't advise a young person to invest in that career.
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Christiane Allen
 
Richard Jenkins
Richard Jenkins  Identity Verified
Бразил
Local time: 12:24
Член (2006)
португалски на англиски
+ ...
Not sure so Mar 2, 2019

I sometimes find it alarming, and reassuring at a later date, when I come across multiple pre-translated matches within documents that are simply not up to scratch. Who translated this, I ask myself, and why didn't they take more time before submitting the sentence or why hasn't this been properly revised? And then it occurs to me that because I notice these differences between my own standards and the standards already accepted by one of my agencies, there is very much a place for people like m... See more
I sometimes find it alarming, and reassuring at a later date, when I come across multiple pre-translated matches within documents that are simply not up to scratch. Who translated this, I ask myself, and why didn't they take more time before submitting the sentence or why hasn't this been properly revised? And then it occurs to me that because I notice these differences between my own standards and the standards already accepted by one of my agencies, there is very much a place for people like me and other experienced translators, and always will be, even it it's just to sift out the chaff, and produce quality work.Collapse


 
DZiW (X)
DZiW (X)
Украина
англиски на руски
+ ...
Specialists-polyglots Mar 2, 2019

I agree that looking at translation in perspective, we need replacing so-called "pure translators" (not to mention MT post-editors and bottom-feeders) with decent specialists--engineers, doctors, builders, sellers, and so on--experienced in foreign languages.

As for the near future, the real translation is not a CAT-conveyor system, but rather intuitive, subjective, and emotional process, rendering it more as an art rather than a science, let alone a trade.


 
Gibril Koroma
Gibril Koroma  Identity Verified
Канада
Local time: 11:24
француски на англиски
+ ...
Disagree Mar 2, 2019

Translators are not only getting better these days but also faster.

 
Edith van der Have
Edith van der Have
Холандија
Local time: 17:24
Член (2016)
англиски на холандски
+ ...
I know many good, talented translators ... Mar 3, 2019

... some of them just graduated or even still students. Talent will not die out.

 


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Poll: Good translators are a dying breed.






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