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.

Welcome 2017

I started my event list blogs at the end of 2015. The posts snowballed in 2016 in response to popular demand. I moved from an annual post to monthly posts. As London gained its first Muslim major in Sadiq Khan in 2016, I noted how it was possible to make my event lists an example of cultural diversity and inclusion.

Original intention

My original intention was simply to bring together a wide range of sources for my own diary. I could see the benefits of sharing my efforts with others. I was amazed at how many events take place within the translation industry. I was also conscious that many were not keen to promote the activities of rival organisations.

Active, Energised Sector

I saw the benefits of promoting an active and energised translation sector to potential clients and the outside world. It is not possible to attend every event. We can consult the programmes and gain an awareness of what is happening in our industry. Good ideas are shared by other colleagues and countries.

Change

When I started out as a freelancer many within the translation industry regarded marketing and social media somewhat dubiously. It has been interesting to see others actively promote themselves and their organisations in similar ways.

Cultural Diversity and Inclusion

As cultural competence is so important to good translation, I started including more and more cultural events. Along the way, it has become a labour of love motivated by my firm beliefs in cultural diversity and inclusion.

Remaining Connected

Brexit came as a huge shock. It became more important to stress a desire to remain European and globally connected.

Access to Multicultural Events

My modest contribution has simply been to include events from varied cultural backgrounds beside each other. My London base gives me access to a wide range of free multicultural events. I have shared my experiences on Twitter or in blogs.

Shared Customs

When we respect another culture’s festivals, we realise that have a lot in common and much to admire. The Bonfire Night firework display at Alexandra Palace mixed celebrations from different cultures. I noted how many festivals have their roots in customs adopted from earlier civilisations. Sometimes the true origin of a custom is disputed, confused or claimed by another country.

Merry Christmas again

Britain is traditionally a Christian country. It was interesting to note that this year, we could say ‘Merry Christmas’ more easily - rather than the PC ‘Season’s Greetings’ or ‘Happy Holidays’. 

British religious tolerance was very hard to win over centuries. It is a pity that there is no short-cut for other nations. We should all guard against any deterioration in British religious tolerance.

Inclusive Celebrations

London celebrates a wide variety of festivals for its multicultural communities.  I remember Chinese New Year, Easter, Eid, Diwali, Holi Festival of Colours, the Sikh festival of Vaisakhi and Hanukah. We had the Irish St Patrick’s Day Parade, Days of Poland, Hungarian Culture Day, a Malaysian day and the Japanese Matsuri festival. There was the Pride parade too. I have also deliberately highlighted events that consider accessibility for the visually impaired, deaf and disabled. I fear that I may have left many excellent events out.

Closer Communities

My 2017 wish is for London’s various communities to mix more readily. 2016 has been a worrying year for terrorism and extremism. The terrorists are a minority. I believe that allied with increased security to protect honest, law-abiding citizens, London has a good recipe for bringing its diverse communities closer together.

I share my hope for peaceful, inclusive communities in London with Paris, Nice, Brussels, Berlin and the world in 2017. Let's welcome 2017 with renewed hope.

I wrote the above before the terrible events in Turkey. My condolences to all the bereaved and injured. My hopes for 2017 remain and are redoubled.