Comments on: New York Times on Social Translation http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2009/05/17/new-york-times-on-social-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: Virtual Handouts: Just added! Reflective writing examples | PSI Tutor:Mentor http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2009/05/17/new-york-times-on-social-translation/comment-page-1/#comment-1573948 Virtual Handouts: Just added! Reflective writing examples | PSI Tutor:Mentor Tue, 26 May 2009 02:14:06 +0000 http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=2935#comment-1573948 [...] New York Times on Social Translation (ethanzuckerman.com) [...] [...] New York Times on Social Translation (ethanzuckerman.com) [...]

]]> By: Michael Netzley, CommunicateAsia, corporate communication, Asia, Web 2.0, digital media http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2009/05/17/new-york-times-on-social-translation/comment-page-1/#comment-1569395 Michael Netzley, CommunicateAsia, corporate communication, Asia, Web 2.0, digital media Sat, 23 May 2009 06:03:13 +0000 http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=2935#comment-1569395 [...] Zuckerman discusses the Polyglot Internet and how human effort paired with technology has impacted social translation of the web.  While [...] [...] Zuckerman discusses the Polyglot Internet and how human effort paired with technology has impacted social translation of the web.  While [...]

]]> By: Don http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2009/05/17/new-york-times-on-social-translation/comment-page-1/#comment-1564865 Don Tue, 19 May 2009 23:15:32 +0000 http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=2935#comment-1564865 A couple of comments. First, mention could also be made of FUNREDES's "Tradauto" system for MT of messages among various languages. The Africa-CS-WSIS and Maaya lists use it for English French. In the PanAfrican Localisation project I tried it for those two languages and Portuguese - as working languages of people translating software and content into African languages. The experience with the latter was encouraging (though I'm admittedly an optimist on MT) but revealed a need for pre- or post-editing to assure quality translations of technical posts. FUNREDES is interested in improving on this system. At the same time, might Google's translation utility for Gmail be adapted for Googlegroups? The point is facilitating email lists' dynamic communications across working languages. The second point is brought (back) to mind by recent news of a high school senior in the US who presented a project at ISEF on improving statistics-based MT. I've long thought that we should be finding ways of improving educational offerings in the interface of languages and computers for (high school/lycée & university) students in Africa and other multilingual regions. It's great that an American student can do something like this, but what about young people in poorer countries who grow up polyglots, exposed to several languages, and then go on to study computer science? They would seem to have the potential to do a lot in cutting edge human language technologies, given some inspiration and training. But this is on no one's agenda for aid or education there. So, beyond tools and meeting immediate needs in terms of translation of web content, blogs, and email traffic, can we focus a bit on how to empower even a small percentage of talented African students to help develop the next generation of MT? Along the way they may find new and exciting ways of using ICT to address longstanding issues related to the linguistic heritage and potential of the continent. How can educational aid to Africa incorporate such forward-looking perspectives for ICT? How can experts on translation such as will attend the upcoming workshop lend their talents to so enriching what is offered to African students? A couple of comments. First, mention could also be made of FUNREDES’s “Tradauto” system for MT of messages among various languages. The Africa-CS-WSIS and Maaya lists use it for English French. In the PanAfrican Localisation project I tried it for those two languages and Portuguese – as working languages of people translating software and content into African languages. The experience with the latter was encouraging (though I’m admittedly an optimist on MT) but revealed a need for pre- or post-editing to assure quality translations of technical posts.

FUNREDES is interested in improving on this system. At the same time, might Google’s translation utility for Gmail be adapted for Googlegroups? The point is facilitating email lists’ dynamic communications across working languages.

The second point is brought (back) to mind by recent news of a high school senior in the US who presented a project at ISEF on improving statistics-based MT. I’ve long thought that we should be finding ways of improving educational offerings in the interface of languages and computers for (high school/lycée & university) students in Africa and other multilingual regions. It’s great that an American student can do something like this, but what about young people in poorer countries who grow up polyglots, exposed to several languages, and then go on to study computer science? They would seem to have the potential to do a lot in cutting edge human language technologies, given some inspiration and training. But this is on no one’s agenda for aid or education there.

So, beyond tools and meeting immediate needs in terms of translation of web content, blogs, and email traffic, can we focus a bit on how to empower even a small percentage of talented African students to help develop the next generation of MT? Along the way they may find new and exciting ways of using ICT to address longstanding issues related to the linguistic heritage and potential of the continent.

How can educational aid to Africa incorporate such forward-looking perspectives for ICT? How can experts on translation such as will attend the upcoming workshop lend their talents to so enriching what is offered to African students?

]]> By: Green Design » Blog Archive » New York Times on Social Translation http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2009/05/17/new-york-times-on-social-translation/comment-page-1/#comment-1564456 Green Design » Blog Archive » New York Times on Social Translation Tue, 19 May 2009 20:24:34 +0000 http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=2935#comment-1564456 [...] This piece originally appeared on Ethan Zuckerman's blog, My Heart's In Accra. [...] [...] This piece originally appeared on Ethan Zuckerman’s blog, My Heart’s In Accra. [...]

]]> By: Michael Smolens http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2009/05/17/new-york-times-on-social-translation/comment-page-1/#comment-1562281 Michael Smolens Mon, 18 May 2009 00:02:56 +0000 http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=2935#comment-1562281 Ethan Yes, what is happening in this space with the launch of TED Open Translation will be interesting to watch. Ed Zad of dotSUB will be in Amsterdam. We are beginning to have people with thousands of hours of video in Hindi, Chinese, etc. come to use and want to have it subtitled - there are giant treasure troves of content around the world that have never seen the light of day that hopefully will be soon available for all to view in their native languages. Looking forward to continuing to work with Global Voices and Rising Voices. Michael Smolens Ethan

Yes, what is happening in this space with the launch of TED Open Translation will be interesting to watch. Ed Zad of dotSUB will be in Amsterdam. We are beginning to have people with thousands of hours of video in Hindi, Chinese, etc. come to use and want to have it subtitled – there are giant treasure troves of content around the world that have never seen the light of day that hopefully will be soon available for all to view in their native languages.

Looking forward to continuing to work with Global Voices and Rising Voices.

Michael Smolens

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