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TeletranslationContext : An Infrastructural Shift

Paradigm of Teletranslation

Internet andcomputer-mediatedcommunication with

digital media

Information Society

Today’sTransitional

Society

Paradigm of Translation

Physical transportationand face-to-face

communication withprint media

Industrial Society

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Conventional Translation

after-thought

wordprocessing

asynchronous

text for paper-based circulation

no engineering input

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Teletranslation

Engineering inputs

Translation foregrounded in design of the content

Computer and network-assisted translation with a range of tools

Processing of text in electronic form

Asynchronous and synchronous text

Adaptation of non-textual elements

4

Sender

message in

target language

TMC & CMC

Translation-mediated communication (TMC)

TRANSLATORmessage in

source language

message

Computer-mediated communication (CMC)

COMPUTER

Sender

message

Receiver

Receiver

5

HYPERREALITY

Changing nature of translation content

Leve

ls of

dim

ensio

ns

HYPERTEXT

TEXTlinear text

non-linear texte.g. web site

multimodale.g. video game

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Changing nature of translation content

HYPERTEXT

TEXTlinear text

non-linear texte.g. web site

• Retention of format (e.g. HTML/XML)• High-volume perishable text• Frequent micro changes

• Adaptation of icons, images, layout….

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Applications of Translation Technology

Speed - Online MT for information jisting

- TM for repetitive & frequently updated text

Price

- CL checker for SL text control (HOCL & MOCL)

Quality

- Corpus tools for domain-specific knowledge

- TMS/TM for consistent use of terminology

- TM to pay once for the same sentence - Global online tendering of translation jobs - Internet-based free amateur translation

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The Internet and Human Translation

The Internet as a research tool for HT

• Text in various domains

• Mailing list as translator knowledge-base

• Vast number of terminology sources

• Image search for cultural knowledge gap

• Speech search (Web radio to check pronunciation)

• Access to the author of the source text

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The Internet and Human Translation

The Internet as a business interface for HT

• Access to potential customers via Web

- Own Web site

- Translators’ mailinglist

- Translator portals

- e-Agencies

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The Internet and Human Translation

• Access to potential customers via Translator’s mailinglist

e-goups on Yahoo http://www.groups.yahoo.com/

The Internet as a business interface for HT

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The Internet and Human Translation

• Access to potential customers via Translation portals

Trados http://www.translationzone.com/

Logos http://www.logos.it/lang/transl_it.html

The Internet as a business interface for HT

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The Internet and Human Translation

• e-Agencies

Aquarius http://www.aquarius.net/

ProZ.com http://www.ProZ.com

TransMart http://www.trans-mart.net

The Internet as a business interface for HT

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The Internet and Human Translation

Shared knowledge and skills

• Networked Translation Memory

• Wiki-based collaborative translation

Wiki: a web application to allow any user to edit the content; collaborative software used to create such a website (Wikipedia)

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Teletranslation

•　 Integration with engineering process

- workflow

• Adaptation of non-textual elements and international design - explicit intercultural knowledge

• Synchronous production - dealing with unstable source content

• Digital literacy - understanding the nature of the content (medium)

• Impact of collaboration

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Teletranslation Issues: Implication of Internationalisation

TRANSLATOR

Sender

message in

source language

message in

target language Receiver

Translatability editor

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Teletranslation Issues: Implication of Internationalisation

How to quantify ‘translatability’ of both textual and non-textual elements

What skills will be needed for a ‘translatability’ editor?

How to design the optimum internationalisation

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Teletranslation Issues: Experiments with “chat” modes

How does a new platform affect the whole process of language mediation?

Is it doable by human translators/interpreters?

If not doable, what is the problem?

What elements will make the process easier?

What new skills or knowledge will be needed?

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Teletranslation Issues: “Transterpreting” experiments 1

J

Keyboard entry in Romanized Japanese

Romanized Japanese displayed on all participants' screens, including transterpreter

J

J

SENDERin Japan

TRANSTERPRETERin New Zealand

RECIPIENTin USA

J

E English translation displayed on screen

Transterpreter reads Japanese and types English

J

J E

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Teletranslation Issues: “Transterpreting” results

The process of language mediation was affected by the nature of the platform in use

It is possible to transterpret for Japanese/ English but not Chinese/English

Transterpreter/participants ratio affects in a chat environment in the performance of transterpreting

Multi-channel communication makes it easier

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Teletranslation Issues: “Transterpreting” experiments 2

MS ComicChat: Interactive chat environment

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Teletranslation Issues: “Transterpreting” experiments 2

MS ComicChat: Interactive chat environment

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Teletranslation Issues: “Transterpreting” experiments 3

ActiveWorlds: Interactive chat environment with avatars

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Teletranslation Issues: Experiment results

Nonverbal communication may need to be translated/interpreted explicitly

Language mediator may begin to use nonverbal cues more often and explicitly

Translating and interpreting may become merged by way of multi-tasking

Language mediator may start to take on the role of communication manager