Comments on: Lost (and found) in Translation http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2007/07/10/lost-and-found-in-translation/ EthanZ's musings on Africa, media and international development Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:45:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Ashley Rose http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2007/07/10/lost-and-found-in-translation/comment-page-1/#comment-433312 Ashley Rose Sun, 15 Jul 2007 12:53:29 +0000 http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2007/07/10/lost-and-found-in-translation/#comment-433312 I think you have raised a very valid point, that generally we tend to ignore the wealth of content and ideas in the world if its not written in our own language. Although clearly for someone like myself who has been 'attempting' Ilalian and Japanese for several years - the process of interpreting such content is slow and often with error. Then again with the assistance of tech-translators the possibilities are endless. Personally I would like to see translation ramped up for academic journals. I think you have raised a very valid point, that generally we tend to ignore the wealth of content and ideas in the world if its not written in our own language. Although clearly for someone like myself who has been ‘attempting’ Ilalian and Japanese for several years – the process of interpreting such content is slow and often with error. Then again with the assistance of tech-translators the possibilities are endless.

Personally I would like to see translation ramped up for academic journals.

]]> By: ed http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2007/07/10/lost-and-found-in-translation/comment-page-1/#comment-427663 ed Fri, 13 Jul 2007 22:16:47 +0000 http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2007/07/10/lost-and-found-in-translation/#comment-427663 There were two themes at last years AMTA (machine translation geekfest)--the long stagnant world of MT is going to rapidly improve with the advent of: lots more data from the web and lots more compute power. Those of us who are relatively optimistic about possibilities of MT and human hybrid approaches see wonderful things for global information sharing in the near future. Inshallah! There were two themes at last years AMTA (machine translation geekfest)–the long stagnant world of MT is going to rapidly improve with the advent of: lots more data from the web and lots more compute power. Those of us who are relatively optimistic about possibilities of MT and human hybrid approaches see wonderful things for global information sharing in the near future. Inshallah!

]]> By: Ethan http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2007/07/10/lost-and-found-in-translation/comment-page-1/#comment-419241 Ethan Wed, 11 Jul 2007 12:09:01 +0000 http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2007/07/10/lost-and-found-in-translation/#comment-419241 In fairness, Hans, I was not trying to write ads from scratch. I was trying to take a phrase that was 30 characters long and trying to create a similar phrase 25 characters long. I understand Spanish well enough to hold basic conversations, and can make sense of written French and Portuguese. So I figured with digital help, removing five characters might be possible. Not so... In fairness, Hans, I was not trying to write ads from scratch. I was trying to take a phrase that was 30 characters long and trying to create a similar phrase 25 characters long. I understand Spanish well enough to hold basic conversations, and can make sense of written French and Portuguese. So I figured with digital help, removing five characters might be possible. Not so…

]]> By: hans http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2007/07/10/lost-and-found-in-translation/comment-page-1/#comment-418779 hans Wed, 11 Jul 2007 09:32:49 +0000 http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2007/07/10/lost-and-found-in-translation/#comment-418779 ethan, why would you think you could write ads in a language you don't speak fluently? please don't take offense, but i'm surprised that the founder of global voices would have such an 'american' (in the non-positive sense of the word) attitude about such things. ethan, why would you think you could write ads in a language you don’t speak fluently? please don’t take offense, but i’m surprised that the founder of global voices would have such an ‘american’ (in the non-positive sense of the word) attitude about such things.

]]> By: Solana http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2007/07/10/lost-and-found-in-translation/comment-page-1/#comment-418771 Solana Wed, 11 Jul 2007 09:23:29 +0000 http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2007/07/10/lost-and-found-in-translation/#comment-418771 Thanks for the plugin! Thanks for the plugin!

]]> By: quixote http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2007/07/10/lost-and-found-in-translation/comment-page-1/#comment-417625 quixote Wed, 11 Jul 2007 01:41:53 +0000 http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2007/07/10/lost-and-found-in-translation/#comment-417625 (Interesting post. Just a small tip re translations from someone who's been a polyglot since forever. Use the machine to translate your phrase to, say, French. *Then plug the French phrase into the same mechanical translator* and see what comes out at the English end. It gives you at least a rough check on whether you have total drivel. ;) ) (Interesting post. Just a small tip re translations from someone who’s been a polyglot since forever. Use the machine to translate your phrase to, say, French. *Then plug the French phrase into the same mechanical translator* and see what comes out at the English end. It gives you at least a rough check on whether you have total drivel. ;) )

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