Is speech technology unstoppable?

Too many like-minded techies around the TAUS table?

What do you call a huge, powerful and overwhelming force? A juggernaut. This afternoon TAUS ran a webinar entitled: TAUS New Year’s Reception 2017. The TAUS tagline is Enabling Better Translation. The webinar carried out a self-congratulatory review of TAUS ‘achievements’. The TAUS website claims to support the whole translation industry. Does it?

Alarm Bells

TAUS CEO Jaap van der Meer is very pally with all the IT companies. IT Companies think TAUS is a wonderful organisation. Freelance translators don’t trust TAUS. Hardly surprising, judging by the flippant and dismissive tone adopted towards some of their key concerns. TAUS has become a juggernaut in hock* to the major, largely US IT companies. It’s another classic case of too many like-minded people continuing regardless of alarm bells. And the alarm bells were ringing very loudly. They just ignored them.

They were all so excited about the latest technological developments in speech technology, machine translation and machine learning. They touched on robots putting translators and project managers out of jobs. Oh, something else would come up for them. It was so exciting.

Dismissive of human aspects

Jaap van der Meer raised a major concern. Yet, he didn’t seem to fully appreciate its human significance and repercussions. He mentioned universities’ difficulties in obtaining software licences for students. He felt bad about it. Never mind, Mr van der Meer predicts that post-editing will be dead in the next 5 years. They need to move on to new challenges.

It’s all very well for the TAUS juggernaut and IT pals to move on, but it isn’t so simple for the universities - or past and present students trained in a soon-to-be obsolete technology. And of course, the fact that the technology will die means that he can dismiss trying to resolve post-editing pricing controversies. They will simply recur more urgently with the next technology. Wait and see.

A university curriculum cannot change at the drop of a hat. How do course leaders explain wasting so much time, money and effort on an obsolete technology? How do they explain to university administrators that the old stuff is useless? Will they trust TAUS and IT developers before making new purchases? Not one iota.

EU Linguistic Expertise v. US Isolationism

An EU Quality Manager made an interesting point. An EU survey revealed that quality is 6 times more important than cost efficiency. It seemed to fall on deaf ears. You can’t get more experienced than the EU in procuring multilingual translations. It's difficult for TAUS to listen because its advisors are largely American. They only really worry about English and Spanish. They dismiss valid European concerns as ‘scepticism’. We can’t hope for any enlightened leadership on linguistic matters from the US over the next 4 years. Hell, the President-elect wants to build a wall between the US and Mexico.

Not good enough

And what of all the translators working in the market who were trained to meet post-editing ‘good enough’ standards? How do they suddenly learn the creativity required by the increasing demand for transcreation? How do course leaders find enough trainers? The older generation learnt to translate literally. The younger generation were told that ‘good enough’ was ‘good enough’. You can change technology, but it isn’t easy to unlearn what will now be regarded as bad practices for transcreation.

Raw deal for the young

I feel for the younger generation. They endured successive, unpaid internships. Then, they got cheated out of 50% of their potential earnings. So how are they now supposed to finance their retraining and buy new software?

No answers to society’s challenges

To be fair to TAUS: Technology is transforming other industries too. Digital transformation threatens many jobs. No-one has the economic answers on how society supports a workforce for whom there are no jobs. People need to feel valued and productive to maintain good mental and physical health. Those who feel excluded can wreak havoc on society - as we have already seen with terrorist attacks. If a section of the population is left ill-informed and poorly educated, they can vote extremist political parties into power to exact vengeance.

Property prices in my London borough have increased 71% over 10 years. How do you deal with that, a reduction in earnings and a need to retrain? The UK population has the consequences of Brexit to deal with too.

Speech technology and cultural incompetents

How many other industries could start an apocalypse? TAUS says nothing on the importance of cultural competence to translation and interpreting. The lack of cultural understanding coming from the US, IT companies and the future President is alarming. Speech technology could start a nuclear war in their hands. The scientists who made atomic bombs no doubt found their technology oh so exciting too.

Implications for military applications in the field? 

It’s time to stop the TAUS juggernaut and take stock of the human implications. We need a powerful European organisation to consider the ethical, societal and human elements of current directions. TAUS is patently not representing the whole industry.

* in hock to - (meaning 3) if you are in hock to someone, you feel that you have to do things for them because they have given you money or support.
Usage example: It is almost impossible for the prime minster to stand above the factions. He always seems in hock to one or the other
Collins Cobuild Advanced English Learners' Dictionary

Karen Andrews is a freelance French to English translator, transcreator, content writer and editor. She has a strong background in global marketing.

Email Karen for further information via karenanglicityen@gmail.com in French, German or English.

Skating on ice

I arrived between sessions and stood at the side of the Christmas ice rink at Somerset House.  The ice machine renewed the ice for the next session. The man in the cab leaned over to watch carefully as he steered round.

As the machine left the ice, they opened the double doors to the cautious, enthusiastic crowd on the opposite side. All out for fun on a winter's evening.

Some stumbled onto the ice.

Some tottered around without actually falling over.

Some skated well, but wary of straying from the edges.

Two figures stood out. Both skated confidently through the middle of the ice rink and clear of the tottering throng.

The first was obviously proficient. She demonstrated her experience and ease on the ice. Nothing was obviously missing until I watched the second girl more closely.

The other girl skated as if unaware of the ice beneath her boots. She could have been on dry land.

She had a professional's beautiful white boots. Always important to have right tools for the job.

Most of all she had natural grace and style. Poise. Like an Audrey Hepburn on ice.

The importance of the right tools for the job

Translation is a lot like skating on ice. You have to skate a careful line between two cultures.

Machine translation can deal with some types of work. It can give you the gist of a subject. However, like the ice machine, it still needs the eyes of a driver to ensure a thorough job over the ice. A professional to make sure that there are no unsuspecting pitfalls. No broken bones on the ice.

The enthusiastic crowd remind you of some bilinguals operating in the translation field. Or the cousin of the friend of a friend who sometimes offers translation as a "bit of a sideline". It's fun. A hobby.

When you select your translator, you want someone with the right skills, experience and tools for the job. You want a professional.

Your translation must be fit for your business domain and purpose. No good choosing a rugby player for the ice; any more than an ice dancer for a rugby match.

Transcreation is like ice dancing for marketing translations.

You don't want an ice skater who stays too close to the edge. Too literal.

You want a translator who will skate a skillful line through the middle. With grace and poise.

You want your copy to dance and sing. You want your brand to stand out from the throng.


Please call or email Karen to discuss your transcreation or copywriting projects. All contact options are detailed above.

Hitting your target audience with blogging

In this third blog on target audiences, I move on from the National Gallery documentary to my own blog. Marketing is not an exact science. There are constant adjustments. Sometimes you hit your target audience. Sometimes you miss. Sometimes you hit an unexpected target. I will share what I have learnt from my own blog targets.

Early blogs

I wrote my first blog back in 2012. I came from the conservative marketing world of financial services. The reaction to my first blog was unexpected. My perspective was still very much that of a client on translation. That first blog went "viral" on Proz.com. Success or failure?

Other early blogs drew vocal reactions. They were not generally my targets at all. Over time I have developed my style and tone. Adverse comments can make you think that you have got something seriously wrong. To the outside world, it may appear that blogging is risky. However, I have now learnt that if something feels 100% comfortable and safe, it won't have many readers.

Analytics

Checking my blog, Google+ or Twitter analytics is like looking under the bonnet of a car. I can see which subjects gain a bigger readership, on which devices and in which countries. Initially, a post receives some adverse comment perhaps. The uproar is visible. But analytics show that my blog has a much larger, quiet readership.

Blog content often seems to reach a wider audience than even analytics reveal. Other translators refer to my blogs at events. I hear my own written words quoted quietly and indirectly. Some disagree. Some agree to disagree. But many more seem to quietly agree. Translators are not my target audience, but they do sometimes give referrals.

Evolution

When I started my blog, my target audience was direct clients. My actual clients and prospects have turned out to be direct clients (private individuals, freelance translators and companies), translation, transcreation and content management agencies. Blogging hasn't brought this about in isolation. My strategy has evolved. I have tested out different content to reach my varied target audiences.

It's a bit like ten pin bowling. Some blogs end up in the gulley. Others hit the buffers and bounce back in. Sometimes you hit the outer pins only. Over-adjust and you hit the pins on the opposite side. Sometimes it takes two blogs to hit all the pins.  And then, just when you think the ball is rolling off to the side, you get a strike.

Whatever... I enjoy writing and building up a portfolio of work. It's a hit.

What are your views on blogging?

Karen Andrews runs
Anglicity Ltd. She is
an entrepreneurial
French to English
translator, editor,
content writer and
marketing consultant. 

Contact: karen@anglicity.com 
for further information 
on Anglicity's services.

Transcreation = Translators + Teamwork

On the evening of 24^th March, Creative Culture held an inaugural Transcreation Gathering at the Durrell Arms in Fulham. The turnout was excellent. The evening was very friendly, interactive and collaborative. The benefits of teamworking for transcreation were very apparent by the end of the evening.

Founder Mel introduced the evening. Roz and Julia then opened a debate about transcreation. They used slides, a flip chart and even a Venn diagram to help shape and capture our thoughts. What is transcreation? What comes to mind? Overlaps? When would a client choose transcreation over translation?

All translators present were invited to share their experiences of creative projects - within the confines of client confidentiality of course. Examples on the night came from French and Russian. When translating between French and English, it may be necessary to shorten sentences and use a less florid style. Limited headline space can be particularly tricky in Russian adverts. Sometimes deleting text is unavoidable. Pre-set client visuals impose considerable restrictions. Jokes can be especially tricky and sometimes have to be dropped altogether.

Transcreation is not easy to define. Born of globalisation, the term has come into use relatively recently. It is most definitely not a literal translation. Transcreation attempts to capture the style, tone of voice, phrasing of the original text. Visual elements have to be taken into account too. Balancing the client brief against the possibilities within another language and culture can be challenging.

After the break, we were split into three teams. Each team comprised a mixture of different nationalities. One of the Creative Culture team sat at each table for guidance. We were given a visual of a VW car key. We had both a verbal and detailled written brief. Each team had to create 3-4 headlines for an advertisement. I found myself “volunteered” as team leader of the Blue Team. Creative Culture is a demanding client: only 15 minutes for our creativity! 

Were our creative juices restricted as all the team had to work in English? Not at all. Many ideas had their roots in other languages. Indeed, the Blue Team’s best headline was very much a collaborative effort. It combined several suggestions from different team members.

At the end, each leader presented their team’s most creative suggestions. The difficulties in meeting all elements of the brief in a single headline were apparent. Which headlines held the most masculine appeal for the male target audience? Which words did all teams use? Which headlines were totally original? The comparisons were fascinating.

We ended the evening by voting for the best headline. We were each invited to stick a little pink heart alongside our personal favourite. Voting for your own creations was banned. On leaving, there was a nice little row of hearts against the Blue Team’s best effort.