Comments on: Hi, I’m a Twitter Translator! http://www.lucafiligheddu.com/2009/10/hi-im-a-twitter-translator.html Social Media, VoIP and a lot of Tech News Thu, 11 Mar 2010 07:49:46 -0800 hourly 1 By: jderidder http://www.lucafiligheddu.com/2009/10/hi-im-a-twitter-translator.html/comment-page-1#comment-8966 jderidder Sat, 17 Oct 2009 05:26:36 +0000 http://www.lucafiligheddu.com/?p=4229#comment-8966 I do like the "casa" example: translating "home" to "home" is not a real translation: it is the addition of a word to the whole Italian vocabulary. Each language in its own culture has different rules/methods for adopting new words and publishing them to dictionaries. English adopts new words according to their usage (and I guess a google search for the number of occurrences of a word would prevail), Japanese uses the Katakana alphabet to accept foreign words, and after proven worthiness, these words get their own Kangi and move to the main alphabet, French and Spanish have an "Academy" made of experienced writers that decide if a word is worthy of entering the dictionary in line with the said Academy rules, etc. This, of course, has an impact on the number of words a language features and on the relationship between different words. English has more than 600,000 words, while French has just a bit more than 100,000 words. The structure of the language and its intuitive understanding are affected by this: in English, if you have a hurting tooth, you go to the dentist. In French, the tooth is called "dent" so it makes it more logical linguistically that you would go to a "dentiste". Funny enough, this came about with the French Revolution and the want to democratize the language: it made sense then that if all related words were build on the same linguistic roots because it would allow the less educated people to decipher unknown words. I do like the “casa” example: translating “home” to “home” is not a real translation: it is the addition of a word to the whole Italian vocabulary. Each language in its own culture has different rules/methods for adopting new words and publishing them to dictionaries. English adopts new words according to their usage (and I guess a google search for the number of occurrences of a word would prevail), Japanese uses the Katakana alphabet to accept foreign words, and after proven worthiness, these words get their own Kangi and move to the main alphabet, French and Spanish have an “Academy” made of experienced writers that decide if a word is worthy of entering the dictionary in line with the said Academy rules, etc. This, of course, has an impact on the number of words a language features and on the relationship between different words. English has more than 600,000 words, while French has just a bit more than 100,000 words. The structure of the language and its intuitive understanding are affected by this: in English, if you have a hurting tooth, you go to the dentist. In French, the tooth is called “dent” so it makes it more logical linguistically that you would go to a “dentiste”. Funny enough, this came about with the French Revolution and the want to democratize the language: it made sense then that if all related words were build on the same linguistic roots because it would allow the less educated people to decipher unknown words.

]]> By: luca filigheddu http://www.lucafiligheddu.com/2009/10/hi-im-a-twitter-translator.html/comment-page-1#comment-8962 luca filigheddu Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:24:34 +0000 http://www.lucafiligheddu.com/?p=4229#comment-8962 <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"><br><html><br><head><br> <meta content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"><br></head><br><body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"><br><font face="Lucida Grande">Approve</font><br><br><br> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN”>
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]]> By: luca filigheddu http://www.lucafiligheddu.com/2009/10/hi-im-a-twitter-translator.html/comment-page-1#comment-8963 luca filigheddu Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:24:34 +0000 http://www.lucafiligheddu.com/?p=4229#comment-8963 <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"><br><html><br><head><br> <meta content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"><br></head><br><body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"><br><font face="Lucida Grande">Approve</font><br><br><br> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN”>
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]]> By: Julienne http://www.lucafiligheddu.com/2009/10/hi-im-a-twitter-translator.html/comment-page-1#comment-8961 Julienne Fri, 16 Oct 2009 04:27:24 +0000 http://www.lucafiligheddu.com/?p=4229#comment-8961 Well, this just shows that your company forgot to check the fields of expertise of the hired translators. I have been working as a professional translator for about 9 years, but I would never dare to translate e.g. legal texts, because I am no expert when it comes to jurisdiction. When it comes to fish keeping though, or virtual worlds and communities and social networking, or market surveys, I am more than experienced. So if your company hired me for a legal text, the result would be unusable as you say - but if it hired me for the translation of the manual of a proteine skimmer, chances are high the result is pretty good. This means, for a good result you do not only need a professional translator, but also one who is familiar with the field the text comes from, [quot] not a multitude of options [quot] ;-) Well, this just shows that your company forgot to check the fields of expertise of the hired translators. I have been working as a professional translator for about 9 years, but I would never dare to translate e.g. legal texts, because I am no expert when it comes to jurisdiction. When it comes to fish keeping though, or virtual worlds and communities and social networking, or market surveys, I am more than experienced. So if your company hired me for a legal text, the result would be unusable as you say – but if it hired me for the translation of the manual of a proteine skimmer, chances are high the result is pretty good. This means, for a good result you do not only need a professional translator, but also one who is familiar with the field the text comes from, [quot] not a multitude of options [quot] ;-)

]]> By: luca filigheddu http://www.lucafiligheddu.com/2009/10/hi-im-a-twitter-translator.html/comment-page-1#comment-8960 luca filigheddu Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:26:09 +0000 http://www.lucafiligheddu.com/?p=4229#comment-8960 Sorry but I disagree with you. I can't remember how many times my company hired pro translators to make translations of internet services / tech documents in various languages and most of the time the result was almost unusable.<br><br>In this case, Twitter made the best possible choice: 25 fluent english speaking italian passionate Twitter users. There is also a forum where we are discussing the best terms to translate some phrases or words. Twitter made a very good move, imho. <br><br>Sent from my BlackBerry® Sorry but I disagree with you. I can't remember how many times my company hired pro translators to make translations of internet services / tech documents in various languages and most of the time the result was almost unusable.

In this case, Twitter made the best possible choice: 25 fluent english speaking italian passionate Twitter users. There is also a forum where we are discussing the best terms to translate some phrases or words. Twitter made a very good move, imho.

Sent from my BlackBerry®

]]> By: Michael http://www.lucafiligheddu.com/2009/10/hi-im-a-twitter-translator.html/comment-page-1#comment-8959 Michael Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:06:47 +0000 http://www.lucafiligheddu.com/?p=4229#comment-8959 Your "casa" example shows very little insight into the professional translation process. If in the context of the Web the Italian term for "Home" remains "Home," then that is the REAL translation. Any other translation would be erroneous. It is not a question of vote by majority or like vs. dislike. In almost all languages many source terms have a number of possible translations, each of which is correct or false depending on the context, not on popular vote. To have a correct and idiomatic outcome you need a professional translator, not a multitude of opinions. Your “casa” example shows very little insight into the professional translation process. If in the context of the Web the Italian term for “Home” remains “Home,” then that is the REAL translation. Any other translation would be erroneous. It is not a question of vote by majority or like vs. dislike. In almost all languages many source terms have a number of possible translations, each of which is correct or false depending on the context, not on popular vote. To have a correct and idiomatic outcome you need a professional translator, not a multitude of opinions.

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