Poll: We have smart phones and smart homes. Will we have smart translations?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Dec 31, 2018

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "We have smart phones and smart homes. Will we have smart translations?".

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Ricki Farn
Ricki Farn
Germany
Local time: 16:22
English to German
Other Dec 31, 2018

I don't have a smart phone. The easiest way of converting a mobile phone into an immobile phone is by giving it to me. I also don't have a smart home, and I try to have old home appliances that can be repaired if need be, while the newfangled stuff needs to be thrown out as soon as an electronic component is broken.

I have no idea whether we will have smart translations. Not as long as I am producing them :D

Slide well into the new year, everyone! (Mistranslation from
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I don't have a smart phone. The easiest way of converting a mobile phone into an immobile phone is by giving it to me. I also don't have a smart home, and I try to have old home appliances that can be repaired if need be, while the newfangled stuff needs to be thrown out as soon as an electronic component is broken.

I have no idea whether we will have smart translations. Not as long as I am producing them :D

Slide well into the new year, everyone! (Mistranslation from German intended)
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Angie Garbarino
Angus Stewart
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Paul van Zijll
Barbara Carrara
neilmac
Christine Andersen
 
DZiW (X)
DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
Human-machine interface in the Internet of Things (IoT) and other stuff Dec 31, 2018

No, because adding an operation system to a phone doesn't make it even a full-fledged PC, nor remote checking home wireless speakers or thermostats makes it any 'smarter'. So far, it's but a marketing. And if they invent a human substitute software, it would also cover or eliminate the marketing for people.

Why, even rather overhyped computer-aided translation didn't really improve the process, just streamlining it a little--at the expense of peculiar [often serious]
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No, because adding an operation system to a phone doesn't make it even a full-fledged PC, nor remote checking home wireless speakers or thermostats makes it any 'smarter'. So far, it's but a marketing. And if they invent a human substitute software, it would also cover or eliminate the marketing for people.

Why, even rather overhyped computer-aided translation didn't really improve the process, just streamlining it a little--at the expense of peculiar [often serious] drawbacks and deteriorated (semi-)human translation.

I think it's not a good trend to rely on external factors badly, making one far too vulnerable and even incomplete
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neilmac
Jennifer Forbes
Ricki Farn
Muriel Vasconcellos
John Fossey
Gareth Callagy
 
Sundar Gopalakrishnan
Sundar Gopalakrishnan
India
Local time: 20:52
English to Tamil
+ ...
Other Dec 31, 2018

I don't use a smart phone. I don't have a smart home. I couldn't understand the question. What do you mean by "smart translations"?

 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 15:22
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Other Dec 31, 2018

I get by very well without a smartphone, I have a dumbphone: it allows me to make and receive calls, send and receive text messages and take photos, which is exactly what I need. I'm almost always at my desk during the day and if I happen to go out my clients know that it won’t take long and usually they wait until I get back. Anyway, I don’t accept short-turnaround jobs.

My apartment has a very smart home security system that used to go off, accidentally, in the middle of the
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I get by very well without a smartphone, I have a dumbphone: it allows me to make and receive calls, send and receive text messages and take photos, which is exactly what I need. I'm almost always at my desk during the day and if I happen to go out my clients know that it won’t take long and usually they wait until I get back. Anyway, I don’t accept short-turnaround jobs.

My apartment has a very smart home security system that used to go off, accidentally, in the middle of the night annoying me and my neighbours. So, I only set it up when I’m going away for more than one day…

Smart translations? I’m one of those dinosaurs who don’t use CAT tools…
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Muriel Vasconcellos
Philip Lees
 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 16:22
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
I hate smart phones... Dec 31, 2018

No. There are plenty of over-smart translations already. We need to convince people that the world is much too complicated for algorithms and smart gadgets.

Don't let them rule your life, and don't let them tell you what you want to say!

From the spell-checker onwards, smart devices are OK if you keep them in their place, but otherwise they are a pain.

Happy analogue New Year in the real world, everyone!


Muriel Vasconcellos
Angus Stewart
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Ricki Farn
Philip Lees
 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 08:22
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Probably not Dec 31, 2018

I assume this means translations without human intervention. MT will produce a rough draft or an approximation of "information only," but it's not a translation until it has been reviewed by a human being.

Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Jennifer Forbes
Adam Warren
Gareth Callagy
 
Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 16:22
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
Probably not Dec 31, 2018

Regardless of what they are about to or possibly will invent in the future, everything "smart" requires people to use it, even worse, rely on it and trust it. I have neither a smart phone nor do I intend to ever have a "smart" home. Certain online services are already spying as if that was going out of style. Anything "smart" opens a new door for these spies. And every device is an invitation to hackers. So be smart and don't get anything "smart".

Perhaps one day in the future peopl
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Regardless of what they are about to or possibly will invent in the future, everything "smart" requires people to use it, even worse, rely on it and trust it. I have neither a smart phone nor do I intend to ever have a "smart" home. Certain online services are already spying as if that was going out of style. Anything "smart" opens a new door for these spies. And every device is an invitation to hackers. So be smart and don't get anything "smart".

Perhaps one day in the future people will be happy with "smart" translations that no human being has checked. Then it just might happen that confusion will reign. After all, wars were started due to incorrect translations/interpretations.

[Edited at 2018-12-31 15:49 GMT]
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Davide Leone
Ricki Farn
Philip Lees
 
Adam Warren
Adam Warren  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 16:22
Member (2005)
French to English
I qualify my vote Dec 31, 2018

Smart: only for simple material. In my experience, MT has a long way to go before meeting anything like the standards expected of today's human translators. However, it would be unwise to turn one's back on progress. If possible, could we wrest some of the decision-making out of the hands of the MT industrialists?

Happy New Year.


 
Mohamed Saadeldin
Mohamed Saadeldin  Identity Verified
Egypt
Local time: 17:22
English to Arabic
No Dec 31, 2018

Machine Translation still needs to be post edited by a human translator, Artificial Intelligence can't fully replace a human being, but it's trying hard.

[Edited at 2018-12-31 16:11 GMT]


 
Barbara Cochran, MFA
Barbara Cochran, MFA  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 11:22
Spanish to English
+ ...
Not For Literary Translations Dec 31, 2018

I don't see how it would ever work for literary translations, since they are so highly nuanced, and standard phrasing doesn't usually apply, like it often does when it comes to legal translations, for example.

Thayenga
 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 12:22
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
We already have it, but "Smart" does not mean "smart" Jan 1, 2019

Smart translations are already around, and for free. Its use is increasing exponentially, and it's a great thing, as it allow communication worldwide in languages we don't speak or understand.
But smart translations do not and will not affect decent professional translations. The purposes are very different.


 


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Poll: We have smart phones and smart homes. Will we have smart translations?






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