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Translators: There is no future for 90 % of us.
Thread poster: Maya Jurt
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 14:05
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...
In 50 years time Jul 15, 2008

Let's go 50 years back in time. Some things our grandparents and parents reasonably expected to happen by 2008:
- Cars don't fly
- We haven't set foot on Mars (some even doubt that we set foot on the moon)
- No man-made vehicle has reached light speed
- We don't have brain implants to communicate with others
- We don't eat pills
- We don't learn with tapes played while we sleep
- We cannot teletransport anything yet
- Human rights are still not res
... See more
Let's go 50 years back in time. Some things our grandparents and parents reasonably expected to happen by 2008:
- Cars don't fly
- We haven't set foot on Mars (some even doubt that we set foot on the moon)
- No man-made vehicle has reached light speed
- We don't have brain implants to communicate with others
- We don't eat pills
- We don't learn with tapes played while we sleep
- We cannot teletransport anything yet
- Human rights are still not respected in half of the planet
- People keep dying because of a flu or lack of safe water

So some things evolve quite slowly. Our sons and grandsons might laugh at us in 2058 when we say that we expected machines to translate everything.

[Edited at 2008-07-15 11:05]
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Georgios Zoumpoulidis
Georgios Zoumpoulidis  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:05
English to Greek
+ ...
Another POV - or not :) Jul 17, 2008

Tomás Cano Binder wrote:

Let's go 50 years back in time. Some things our grandparents and parents reasonably expected to happen by 2008:
- Cars don't fly
- We haven't set foot on Mars (some even doubt that we set foot on the moon)
- No man-made vehicle has reached light speed
- We don't have brain implants to communicate with others
- We don't eat pills
- We don't learn with tapes played while we sleep
- We cannot teletransport anything yet
- Human rights are still not respected in half of the planet
- People keep dying because of a flu or lack of safe water

So some things evolve quite slowly. Our sons and grandsons might laugh at us in 2058 when we say that we expected machines to translate everything.

[Edited at 2008-07-15 11:05]


Thank you Tomás for a very provocative post indeed! But:

- Cars do fly: any auto commercial or Bond movie will easily convince you!
- The only reason we did not set foot on Mars is because the markets crashed before the Mars IPO went public
- Many solo translators are being asked by agencies to maintain a constant rate of 8-9,000 words per day, so the light speed barrier does not appear to be any kind of obstacle to them
- Actually, the *ONLY* way to intelligently communicate with most people now *is* a brain implant
- Most of us really do live on pills or other medications
- Most of us do not learn, period - regardless of being asleep or not, so using tapes (or not) makes no difference
- (That's probably the only solid piece of info I'll provide): In fact, teleportation of atoms is being experimented upon with some success as we speak (in fact for a few years, check out http://www.lanl.gov/news/releases/archive/04-056.shtml, for example)
- Human rights are actually respected all over the world. We do have sort of a problem defining them - not de lege ferenda or even lata - but in the realisation of said rights ...
- People do not die because of flu or lack of water, but, among other things, because human life has become cheap and ergo the cost of providing a cure for these or allocating the necessary resources is prohibitive.

I also disagree (or not!) with the last few sentences you wrote. In fact our grandchildren in 2058 will laugh at us no matter what we do or say here and now

...And that would hold true even if by some miracle or other external intervention we actually played our cards right!


 
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 14:05
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...
I need mo' batteries! Jul 17, 2008

Georgios Zoumpoulidis wrote:
Tomás Cano Binder wrote:
Let's go 50 years back in time. Some things our grandparents and parents reasonably expected to happen by 2008:
- We don't have brain implants to communicate with others

Thank you Tomás for a very provocative post indeed! But:
- Actually, the *ONLY* way to intelligently communicate with most people now *is* a brain implant


Oh my, I think I need to replace the batteries in my implant to understand this Georgios.

You made me laugh!!! Thank you!!!


 
Jeff Whittaker
Jeff Whittaker  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 09:05
Member (2002)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Specialization Aug 12, 2008

MT is not adequate for many types of translation work. In a specialist field, such as legal translation, for example, you not only have to deal with the asymmetry of two different language systems, but there is also a second layer of asymmetry between two different cultural systems (ex. common vs civil law). In this sense, translation becomes an exercise in problem solving. How do you translate a concept or idea that does not exist in the target language? Sadly, many translators who work with le... See more
MT is not adequate for many types of translation work. In a specialist field, such as legal translation, for example, you not only have to deal with the asymmetry of two different language systems, but there is also a second layer of asymmetry between two different cultural systems (ex. common vs civil law). In this sense, translation becomes an exercise in problem solving. How do you translate a concept or idea that does not exist in the target language? Sadly, many translators who work with legal documents do not even seem to know the difference between "subject to" and "pursuant to".


[Edited at 2008-08-12 15:20]
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Jeff Whittaker
Jeff Whittaker  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 09:05
Member (2002)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Technology Aug 12, 2008

Indeed. I recently re-watched the movie "Back to the Future II". The movie is set in the year 1985 and the main character travels to the future (2015) where flying cars (and flying skateboards) are the norm. It was funny to see the things that (in 1985) we once believed would be a reality in thirty years.

Tomás Cano Binder wrote:

Let's go 50 years back in time. Some things our grandparents and parents reasonably expected to happen by 2008:
- Cars don't fly
- We haven't set foot on Mars (some even doubt that we set foot on the moon)
- No man-made vehicle has reached light speed
- We don't have brain implants to communicate with others
- We don't eat pills
- We don't learn with tapes played while we sleep
- We cannot teletransport anything yet
- Human rights are still not respected in half of the planet
- People keep dying because of a flu or lack of safe water

So some things evolve quite slowly. Our sons and grandsons might laugh at us in 2058 when we say that we expected machines to translate everything.

[Edited at 2008-07-15 11:05]


 
Izabela Szczypka
Izabela Szczypka  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 14:05
English to Polish
+ ...
Jeff, I sincerely hope you're exaggerating Aug 12, 2008

Jeff Whittaker wrote:
Sadly, many translators who work with legal documents do not even seem to know the difference between "subject to" and "pursuant to".

Because if you're not, then all the references to quality, professional ethics etc. made both here and on other industry sites are mere rubbish.
And I must say I do not observe anything like that in the legal translation field. An occasional lapse here and there, but not anything horrid. Please, don't make me believe I live in a parallel reality...


 
Georgios Zoumpoulidis
Georgios Zoumpoulidis  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:05
English to Greek
+ ...
Well ... Aug 25, 2008

Iza Szczypka wrote:

Jeff Whittaker wrote:
Sadly, many translators who work with legal documents do not even seem to know the difference between "subject to" and "pursuant to".

Because if you're not, then all the references to quality, professional ethics etc. made both here and on other industry sites are mere rubbish.
And I must say I do not observe anything like that in the legal translation field. An occasional lapse here and there, but not anything horrid. Please, don't make me believe I live in a parallel reality...



No, not a parallel reality, but I guess you fell victim to the legal maxim ...

... "Qualitas quae inesse debet, facile praesumitur"

As to what Jeff said, I'll agree with you Jeff; no MT implementation is or will ever be able to translate anything, as you put it, "asymmetrical" - in order to do that, it would have to display higher cognitive functions and abilities.

But, to deliver a final cheap shot, if it could, and if it did, such a system wouldn't be classified as a "machine", would it?


 
Ali Bayraktar
Ali Bayraktar  Identity Verified
Türkiye
Member (2007)
English to Turkish
+ ...
Its too early to be worried about... Aug 25, 2008

MT has recently begun its evolution. And now its evolution only helps people to understand the concept. But for complete evolution IMHO it needs at least 100 years.

MT will never be able to "create", it will never have mind, insight, experience.

The only thing that can destroy translation business (and not only translation business) will be the discovery of "artificial mind" (thinking robots, programs, etc.). But it wont be possible within next 300 years.

T
... See more
MT has recently begun its evolution. And now its evolution only helps people to understand the concept. But for complete evolution IMHO it needs at least 100 years.

MT will never be able to "create", it will never have mind, insight, experience.

The only thing that can destroy translation business (and not only translation business) will be the discovery of "artificial mind" (thinking robots, programs, etc.). But it wont be possible within next 300 years.

That means we have at least 300 years




[Edited at 2008-08-25 23:45]
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Miroslav Jeftic
Miroslav Jeftic  Identity Verified
Local time: 14:05
Member (2009)
English to Serbian
+ ...
Machines... still long way to go ;) Aug 30, 2008



 
Carla Guerreiro
Carla Guerreiro  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 14:05
Member (2006)
French to Portuguese
+ ...
No reason to worry Sep 1, 2008

Machines can NEVER replace human reasoning. Maybe in the 25th century, but not now...

 
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