COMPUTERS play an increasingly important role in translation, but most of the translation programs are inadequate for anything except the roughest of translations. Still, as a professional translator, I find myself relying more and more on on-line program and less on my trusty collection of dictionaries.
Computer translation cannot handle most nuances of language. Nor are computers able to evaluate the cultural significance of the language used. And, computers still do not do a good job on context. Human translators excel in these areas provided they know the culture as well as the language.
On the other hand, I use a newly released program called “Fluency.” This program gives me a line-by-line computer translation of the document that I can modify as I see fit. The most important feature of Fluency is that it has “translation memory” (TM). So when I translate something it remember how I did it and when the same phrase comes up again suggests the same translation. That saves a tremendous amount of time because it means the translator doesn’t have to search back through old documents trying to find out how a phrase or idiom was translated previously.
Just for fun, I took part of the opening paragraph of a Brazilian novel I translated back in the 1960s and ran the Portuguese through a computer-assisted-translation (CAT) program. Here’s the result:
We had held hands, stuck without anything in the street. Totoca was teaching me about life. And I was very happy because my older brother was giving me a hand and teaching things. But teaching the things outside the home. Because I learned at home and find yourself doing it alone, doing wrong was wrong and always ended up taking a spanking.
Here’s another version from another online translation machine:
People vine of given hands, without haste you are welcome for the street. Totóca came teaching the life to me. E I estave very contents because my older brother was giving the hand and teaching the things to me. But teaching the things it are of house. Because in house I learned discovering sòzinho and making sòzinho, he made wrong and making wrong he always finished taking pats.
Here’s the way I translated the passage all those years ago:
We came down the street hand in hand without hurrying. Totóca was teaching me about life. And I was happy because my older brother was holding my hand and teaching me things. But teaching me things away from home. Because at home I learned by discovering things by myself and doing things by myself. I would make mistakes and by making mistakes I would always wind up getting spanked.
(from My Sweet-Orange Tree by José Mauro de Vasconcellos, Knopf, New York, 1970)
Here’s the original Portuguese version (O meu pé de laranja lima, Edições Melhoramentos, São Paulo, 1968):
A gente vinha de mãos dadas, sem pressa de nada pela rua. Totóca vinha me ensinando a vida. E eu estave muito contente porque meu irmão mais velho estava me dando a mão e ensinando as coisas. Mas ensinando as coisas fora de casa. Porque em casa eu aprendia descobrindo sòzinho e fazendo sòzinho, fazia errado e fazendo errado acabava sempre tomando umas palmadas.
The CAT program works a little better on some business translations than on the literary example above. Here’s a paragraph from a Brazilian company’s environmental report that I translated (the company’s name is deleted to preserve confidentiality).
The computer-translated version:
AMBIENT MANAGEMENT
To improve the ambient performance and to contribute for the sustentabilidade of the business, the Committee of Environment of the [company name] keeps a continuous process of analysis of new scenes, trends, technologies, that considers, still, the concerns of the interested people and the lines of direction of the System of Ambient Management of the Company. In 2007, the structure of the Committee was evaluated by its members, and resulted in the alteration of its composition and the revision of the subjects to be treat. The list of the subjects to be boarded is available in the COMPACT DISC that this publication folloies, and in the version on-line of the report.
My translation
ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
To improve environmental performance and contribute to the sustainability of the business, the [company name] Environmental Committee maintains an on-going analysis of new scenarios, trends, and technologies, taking into account the concerns of the interested parties and Company Environmental Management System directives. In 2007, an evaluation of the committee structure by its members resulted in the alteration of its composition and a review of the topics to be considered. The list of themes to be targeted is available on the CD that accompanies this publication and in the on-line version of the report.
The original Portuguese:
GESTÃO AMBIENTAL
Para melhorar o desempenho ambiental e contribuir para a sustentabilidade do negócio, o Comitê de Meio Ambiente da [nome da companhia] mantém um contínuo processo de análise de novos cenários, tendências, tecnologias, que considera, ainda, as preocupações das partes interessadas e as diretrizes do Sistema de Gestão Ambiental da Empresa. Em 2007, a estrutura do Comitê foi avaliada por seus membros, e resultou na alteração de sua composição e na revisão dos assuntos a serem tratados. A lista dos temas a serem abordados está disponível no CD que acompanha esta publicação, e na versão on-line do relatório.
More expensive programs already do a much better job at translating, and many companies are using them for an initial translation draft, hiring professional human translators to edit them to make them more readable in the target language. And the day may come when human translators aren’t needed at all. But we aren’t there yet.