Poll: What is your take on neural machine translation?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Feb 13, 2019

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "What is your take on neural machine translation?".

View the poll results »



bavan abdul raheman
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 10:45
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
I will not use it in any way Feb 13, 2019

I don’t use machine translation in any way whatever adjectives are added to the term… I fell in love with translation many moons ago and I'm hoping that by keeping my brain active, I will keep Alzheimer's at bay!

Jennifer Forbes
neilmac
Jelena Gaveika
ipv
Xanthippe
Thayenga
Yaotl Altan
 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 11:45
Spanish to English
+ ...
Other Feb 13, 2019

As Google is apparently using NMT technology now, and I use Google, I suppose I'm already using it. However, I am usually suspicious of the people or businesses pushing this kind of thing as a panacea, as they're usually simply aiming to make a killing.

Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Elaine Ruby
Melanie Meyer
Jean Shearer
Katia Perry
 
Gibril Koroma
Gibril Koroma  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 06:45
French to English
+ ...
Other Feb 13, 2019

I am always ready to learn about and accept new technology.

Katia Perry
Kaisa I
Nadia Silva Castro
Klára Kalamár
 
Ricki Farn
Ricki Farn
Germany
Local time: 11:45
English to German
I will not use it professionally Feb 13, 2019

... but to get an idea of what other people are saying on Social Media, it's sometimes better than nothing.

Muriel Vasconcellos
Mario Freitas
 
Michael Harris
Michael Harris  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 11:45
Member (2006)
German to English
Do not know what it is Feb 13, 2019

and judging by the results of the poll, most others as well.

I do not have the time to look this up and cannot be bothered either.

Why can´t anonymous give us an explanation?


 
Frank Zou
Frank Zou  Identity Verified
China
Local time: 18:45
Member (2016)
Chinese to English
+ ...
Useful Feb 13, 2019

From what I read, NMT is much more useful than the previous machine translation as it operates through big data. I'm myself a strong supporter of Human Translation, but it was until recently that I found out MT was very helpful in some cases. I think we should keep an open mind and get to know such technology before we are phased out without knowing it.

Eckhard Boehle
Klára Kalamár
 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 03:45
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Other Feb 14, 2019

From what I've seen, it's a royal mess. Certainly not for use in serious translation because phrases that "sound good" may be quite different from the original meaning. It takes more time to be editing the output while constantly checking the input than it would take to translate from scratch.

Several of the new MT systems seem to be OK in the languages I know for "information-only" purposes. Neural MT "sounds" more like natural text, but I'm already seeing the kinds of trouble it c
... See more
From what I've seen, it's a royal mess. Certainly not for use in serious translation because phrases that "sound good" may be quite different from the original meaning. It takes more time to be editing the output while constantly checking the input than it would take to translate from scratch.

Several of the new MT systems seem to be OK in the languages I know for "information-only" purposes. Neural MT "sounds" more like natural text, but I'm already seeing the kinds of trouble it can lead to.

P.S. I've been working with MT output since 1980 and I haven't seen a big improvement in the language combination that I am most exposed to (Spanish into English). The more big data that's squished into the system I'm most familiar with, the more unusable it's getting to be.

[Edited at 2019-02-14 06:54 GMT]
Collapse


Mario Freitas
Ricki Farn
 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 07:45
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Neural is your brain not a machine Feb 14, 2019

Muriel Vasconcellos wrote:

...Certainly not for use in serious translation
...Several of the new MT systems seem to be OK in the languages I know for "information-only" purposes.


Ricki Farn wrote:

...I will not use it professionally.


Just like MT, neural T is not intended for professional translators to use at work. There is a trend that way, of course, because it makes it easier, but it does not make it better whatsoever, quite the opposite.

[Edited at 2019-02-14 15:27 GMT]


 


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:

Moderator(s) of this forum
Jared Tabor[Call to this topic]

You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

Poll: What is your take on neural machine translation?






Trados Studio 2022 Freelance
The leading translation software used by over 270,000 translators.

Designed with your feedback in mind, Trados Studio 2022 delivers an unrivalled, powerful desktop and cloud solution, empowering you to work in the most efficient and cost-effective way.

More info »
Protemos translation business management system
Create your account in minutes, and start working! 3-month trial for agencies, and free for freelancers!

The system lets you keep client/vendor database, with contacts and rates, manage projects and assign jobs to vendors, issue invoices, track payments, store and manage project files, generate business reports on turnover profit per client/manager etc.

More info »