Struck by Honey Fungus?

Armillaria is fatal. It attacks the roots. By the time the danger is spotted, you’re a goner. Honey Fungus (Armillaria) attacks trees not the translation industry. It nonetheless provides an interesting metaphor for the current state of the translation ‘family’ tree.

If you are bathed in sunshine in the topmost branches, it’s easy to overlook or play down the creeping fungus. A well-known proverb states:

‘A fish rots from the head down’.

When an organisation fails, it is the leadership that is the root cause. By contrast, a tree rots from the bottom up. When the root system fails, the top of the tree comes crashing down too.

Pollution is reportedly bad in London. There is a fight for oxygen in the upper branches. It is no doubt a relief to see that competitive Lionbridge branch take a pruning.

While your eyes are focused on the competitive branches, the honey fungus takes hold below. No problem, you think? You’ve taken measures to ensure a good flow of nutrients; the direct flow of the best university students is secure for your future growth. I’m all right, Jack*.

Future represented by conkers

Those down at the roots are much more aware of how toxic the environment is becoming than those in the uppermost tree branches.

Every now and again, those in the topmost branches have a ‘little chat’ with the established freelancers below. Those below naturally want a good rapport with those above. They need the light from above. Even if deep down they are more than a little worried about the impending storm above and the creeping fungus below, they want to sound positive and smile sweetly.

Established freelancers are the trunk of the tree. It’s a good, solid place to hang on. Honey fungus is merciless. It cracks and bleeds the bark from the base. As the summer temperatures rise, upper parts of the tree die too. The leaves look smaller, paler and less healthy than in the past. Branches die back over several years. The root system fails, just like the feared toxic environment for today's freelancers and future generations of linguists.

Horse Chestnut tree with leaves turning yellow

Until recently my mother’s house looked out on a magnificent horse chestnut tree. Now, there is a gaping hole in the view and a rotting stump. The local children used to love collecting the conkers as they waited for the local school bus in the autumn.

Honey Fungus on a rotting tree stump

The honey fungus has spread from garden to garden – just as toxic pricing and anti-competitive practices have spread from continent to continent, country to country and company to company.

When honey fungus brings a tree down, it’s the uppermost branches that take the biggest crash of all.

Can we plant a new tree? The ground remains toxic. There are no effective chemicals. The only effective remedy is to excavate and destroy. Burn all the infected root and stump material.

To stop the fungus spreading you need to build a physical barrier and bury it deep in the soil. Very few trees are resistant to honey fungus.

Maybe tech has the solution? Hasn’t it got the solution for everything according to all the hype? I recently revisited Bristol’s Millennium Square. The metal Energy Tree looked somewhat sad after its European Green Capital heyday. I can’t help thinking that it’s a bit like Rules-based Machine Translation (RMT) or Statistical Machine Translation (SMT). They are now abandoned for the shiny new Neural Machine Translation (NMT).

A metal tree is no match for a real tree's healthy foliage however shiny

NMT isn’t a match for strong, healthy human translation despite the hype. And that metallic Energy Tree is no match for the gloriously healthy foliage of a Horse Chestnut.

The moral of this tale for those in the uppermost branches of the translation industry at GALA, EUATC, ELIA and FIT? Watch out for the translation equivalent of honey fungus. Deal with the problems at the roots, even if you feel that they are not your problems... YET.

References:

A fish rots from the head down

*I’m all right, Jack.

Collins Dictionary: a remark indicating smug and complacent selfishness.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/18/im-all-right-jack-philip-french-classic-dvd

Honey Fungus

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.

A Bubble about to Burst?

Asset Bubbles, Derivatives and Translation. The title of the President of the International Federation of Translators’ presentation at the University of Bristol sounded intriguing in advance. So it proved. Henry Liu gave a fascinating presentation to a room full of experienced translation colleagues, lecturers and eager MA students.

This was certainly not a ‘Death by PowerPoint’ presentation. It was full of colourful pictures, photos and charts.

Henry showed us a picture of the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street, the Bank of England, then switched to the modern towers of Canary Wharf. What happened? London’s financial district relocated.

Canary Wharf's modern tower blocks in London

Pictures of the old stock market appeared including the old global stock market sign language. Today, there is hardly any stock. It’s all on screen.

The old Silk Road has been replaced by the new Silk Road. Frankfurt?

Then came the big bubble. The impact of the Global Financial Crisis needs no explanation.

Everyone wants to go back to a simpler life. Let’s go back to the good old days, when things were so much better.

We used to trade goods. Now the link to the real world is tenuous. Today’s Governor of the Bank of England can’t use the gold reserve to help interest rates. His hands are tied.

A photo of the long queues outside Northern Rock following its collapse in 2008 appeared on screen. Too much debt. People unable to pay. The right to own your own home is again in the news. A past aspiration for many.

And the translation comparison?

Clients expect cheap or free translation today.

There are various ways of certifying translators.

Lots of translation companies are being sold at higher prices.

A photo of Jochen Hummel appeared on screen - founder of Trados and the industry’s hated discount rates table. Nick Rosenthal, former Chair of the UK’s Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) kindly stepped in to explain Translation Memory (TM) matches.

It’s all in the perception of value. Henry ridiculed TM matches by comparing them to interpreting for the G8 or G7. You can’t take 10% out in interpreting, yet translators are regularly asked to do so. You wouldn’t ask a radiographer to deduct 5%, would you?

Data, data everywhere.

Neural Machine Translation is approaching human translation skills - if you read the Press. 

The Language Barrier is about to fall. 

It’s hype. Yet, it’s hype that the world’s decision-makers are reading about our industry.

If it's not happening right now, then the Media are forever suggesting that the great automated translation breakthrough is imminent.

HYPE. ALL HYPE.

We can all be Nigella Lawson at home in the kitchen. We just buy all the ingredients. And hey presto, we can all  cook equally as well. Can’t we?

HYPE.

Latest craze burns the old ways with human faces? c. Freshidea

Hype catches on. We saw last summer's Pokemon craze.

Hype has consequences. It has been suggested that they are not planning to use interpreters at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Hype suggests they won’t be necessary.

REALITY

What of reality? When the first terror attack occurred in Belgium, there were only two qualified Arabic interpreters in the whole of Belgium. Impossible to work efficiently.

All the talk is about tech. There is so little talk about PRACTITIONERS + TECH. Instead we hear about the looming singularity, the hype curve or cycle.

How do we find more interpreting and translation experts? How will we finance CPD and degree expectations? Who is going to pay? If clients continue to buy cheaply, we will have a serious problem.

We still need humans to assist the automated translation process. What’s the translation market’s future? Will you have to marry someone rich to be an interpreter or translator?

We need strong collaboration. 

Twitter Selfie of the night: Jesper Sandberg (GALA), Nick Rosenthal (ITI) & Henry Liu (FIT) 

Are we really better off with more data? More volume = greater diversity. The most obvious statistical match is not always the most appropriate. Frequency does not always correlate, as Microsoft knows to its cost. Microsoft's MT replaced 'Saudi Arabia' with 'Daesh'. 

And what of rare language pairs? What of those languages with no written script?

Non-native speakers often reveal themselves not by using the wrong terminology but by the little connecting words that they get wrong. Henry gave the example of a New Zealand legal text that received the comment:

‘It’s not the same. It’s not how we write’.

What is native? What is distinctive? How clean is your data? Where has the data come from?

What happens to the data when past scientific facts are no longer considered valid?

95% of new products fail. There is an increasing reliance on automation instead of on people and services.

Henry continued to highlight the similarities between the Financial Crisis and the situation in the translation industry today. We all know that the bubble will burst. We need a new paradigm. Not to go back. We must avoid half-truths, overestimations and nostalgia for an unrealistic glorious past.

Put the dates in your diaries: 3-5 August 2017. The FIT Conference in Brisbane, Australia will discuss the theme ‘Disruption and Diversification’.

Q&A

A lively debate followed Henry’s presentation. Nick Rosenthal described the sale of Lionbridge for 70% of turnover as a massive own goal for the perception of value. Jesper Sandberg, the new Chair of the Globalization and Localization Association (GALA), argued that translation companies generally sold for a third less than turnover rather than 1½ x turnover.

Charitable Translations

Is there another own goal in translators being expected to work for charities for free? Amnesty International pays its translators. Non-payment is particularly unfair for translators and interpreters working in rare languages. They simply can’t support services on this basis.

Role for LSPs?

Discussions highlighted the need for closer collaboration between freelancers, LSPs and the IT industry. Jasper Sandberg argued that LSPs will always exist as they add value for clients. The likes of Microsoft will never work with freelancers, unless it is in a very niche area.

GALA's Pessimism

I asked why the Chair of FIT and the Chair of GALA could not work closely together to dispel all the hype. An individual freelancer is limited in what they can achieve against the tide of exaggerated claims for MT. I was frankly disappointed in the new GALA chair’s reply. He pleaded lack of resources, yet his new role places him in one of the most powerful roles in the Localization Industry with strong contacts in the IT industry. If the new GALA Chair is so pessimistic at the start of his new role, it makes you wonder how much lower his pessimism can go by the end of his tenure. 

Evolution or Revolution?
The GALA Chair says that he favours 'Evolution not Revolution'. That's all very well, but there is a digital Revolution going on. Evolution sees the survival of the fittest. If translators 'die out', his precious LSPs die out too. In the second stage of a Revolution you need a new leader who can return followers to Law and Order and establish a new stability.

Future Translation Students

Carol O’Sullivan, Director of Translation Studies, was asked about Bristol University’s MA intake. She seemed optimistic, claiming that she had seen no slowing in applications. She noted that there are now a greater number of ‘portfolio career' students.

My own personal contact with Generation Z suggests that there is little interest in languages. There is a perception that it is harder to achieve high grades in language A’ Levels. Choosing languages could potentially harm university entrance prospects. Yet, downgrading grade expectations also downgrades the attention to detail that is so important in translation and interpreting. Today’s young people believe that there is no future in translation. They use Google Translate to do their language homework much to their teachers’ exasperation.  They’ve all heard that 2020 HYPE - and they believe it.

When I left, the FIT Chair was surrounded by Bristol’s eager and optimistic MA students. I wish them every success in their future careers. I hope someone in power will have the motivation and resources to tackle the HYPE before the bubble bursts.

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.

Landing on a Comet

It woke up. Phew!

It bounced a bit. Well, the unplanned bounce had unexpected benefits.

Two scientists described the European Space Agency’s Rosetta Mission to land the probe Philae on a comet. Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko to be precise. Comet 67P for short.

The New Scientist magazine hosted the lecture at London’s Conway Hall to a packed house. The words “To Thine Own Self Be True” were emblazoned above the stage. The two strong characters on the stage, Matt Taylor and Monica Grady, certainly lived up to that expression.

As they discussed the highs and lows of the Rosetta Mission, my mind could not help wandering. I contemplated the occasional bruising bounces of the freelancer’s life.

Portent of doom?

Comets were traditionally seen as portents of doom. A comet appears in the Bayeux Tapestry. Doom for Saxon Harold, but not for Norman William the Conqueror. His Tower of London still stands firm on the banks of the River Thames today. Many more recent constructions have fallen or been demolished.

Stefan Gentz issued a wake-up call at ITI’s 2015 conference in Newcastle. He foretold the doom of the traditional translator. While we slept 99% of the market has been lost to Google and Microsoft. The remainder is still sizeable and worth the fight.

I’m convinced that language professionals will survive under a different guise. They will perform different roles and tasks.

We must reposition the translation industry. We must reinvent, rebrand and promote our creativity.

A past innovator

A suitable comparison emerged from the Wallace Collection’s Friday Late in June 2015. The exhibition was entitled: Joshua Reynolds: Experiments in Paint. This British artist is widely regarded as one of the greatest portrait painters of the 18^th Century. His taste for innovation and experimentation with pigments have not always stood the test of time. And yet, you can see in the life and creativity of his early portraits that he was destined to excel his master.

Historical Professional Guilds

The Guild of Wigmakers was so outraged that young men were wearing their hair naturally that they protested to the King. The Guild of Wigmakers ultimately gave way to the Guild of Hairdressers.

One man’s loss is another man’s gain.

The Worshipful Company of Armourers and Brasiers was founded in 1322. Its first Royal Charter dates back to 1453. Today, it maintains its link with metal. Now it focuses on charity work.

Technological disruption in translation

The translation community is experiencing major technological disruptions. Barely has one innovation bedded in as more appear on the horizon. For practitioners, there is a choice. You can either rigorously hold onto the past or embrace technology. The later course offers the best chance to shape the future and nudge it in a more palatable, less threatening direction.

By way of example, there is an enormous gap between the modern active Hair Council and the historic relic of a Worshipful Company.

Free oxygen

As freelancers in the disruptive digital age, we may feel that we are trying to land on a comet. It sounds crazy to even try. The Rosetta Mission succeeded and is ongoing. It is sending high resolution pictures back to Earth.

In October 2015, Rosetta’s scientists discovered oxygen in the comet’s atmosphere. The finding contradicted long-held theories that free oxygen can’t survive in space.

As we head rapidly towards 2016, freelance translators can take heart from the inspirational Rosetta Mission. The translation profession is not doomed. It is simply undergoing a major transformation as professional guilds have done in the past.

The choice of direction is ours.