Category Archives: Guides

Esperanto- the answer to language barriers?

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flag of esperantoThere are 6,909 known living languages in the world according to Ethnologue. As you might imagine, this makes communicating with foreigners pretty hard. In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, there was an animal called a Babel fish. Insert one into your ear, and BAM! you could understand any language in the universe. Unfortunately, current technology is nowhere near this good, even with Google Translate adding voice translations in the Android app.

A more realistic solution might to be to create a universal language. If everyone would learn this language, then the world would be more connected. Enter Esperanto, a constructed language created by Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof back in 1887. It’s the most successful constructed language created to date, boasting millions of speakers worldwide. The Esperanto Wikipedia has more than 143,00 articles. Esperanto has many strong points:

  • There’s actually a culture. There are many books and magazines written in Esperanto, and countless websites and blogs. This means that there’s a vibrant community to immerse yourself into, a key component of learning a language. This also highlights the fact that this language isn’t dying or abandoned.
  • It’s easy to learn. Studies by the Institute of Cybernetic Pedagogy at Paderborn have shown that French students who studied 150 hours of Esperanto reached the same level of proficiency as those who studied 2000 hours of German. Another surprising fact is that Esperanto only has 16 grammatical rules. English has many, many times that.
  • It’s for a good cause. Esperanto is a neutral language, not affiliated with any country. As such, when you converse with someone in Esperanto there is no feeling of “You have to learn MY language.”

Having said that, I don’t think Esperanto is the solution to our language barrier issues. I’ll counter each of the points I made above:

  • It’s not useful enough. Estimates put the number of speakers between 10,000 and 2 million. Look at the list of most spoken languages:
    most spoken languages in the world
    Learning one of these languages will allow you to communicate with many more people. And any of these languages also has a unique culture and interesting content.
  • It’s not really easy to learn. Esperanto is based on European languages. This means that if you are a native speaker of Korean, for example, you are unlikely to find Esperanto easy to pick up. Also, another point should be made- don’t choose a language to learn just because it’s simple. You should choose one because you enjoy it or because it is useful.
  • I’m not going to deny that Esperanto is for a good cause. However, you should balance this with a pragmatic look at if a just cause is one of your top priorities. There is nothing immoral about learning Spanish or Russian, or any other language.

Most people only have enough energy and time to learn one second language. Therefore, you should choose carefully. If you think Esperanto is a cool and beneficial language to learn, go ahead. There are many in the Esperanto community who will welcome you with open arms.

Translating Musicals

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If you think translating text is hard, imagine the extra work that comes with translating poems, songs, and musicals! You not only have to present the original text accurately, but now you have to keep the rhythm and rhyme scheme! I can’t imagine how one would even go about doing this, but luckily, Baptiste Deval explains step by step on Quora. The original can be found here: http://www.quora.com/When-a-musical-is-translated-how-do-they-manage-to-make-it-still-rhyme

Bringing a musical to a new country and a new language imply to do more than a translation: it is a work of adaptation, where rhyme is not the only challenge. You want to be able to translate cultural references that might not speak to your local audience, you want to respect the rhythm that was created by the original lyricist and composer, and of course, you want to respect the meaning of the original song!
However, you don’t need to stick to the exact same metaphors or vocabulary as the original lyrics: what you want is to convey an idea, a feeling etc… and most of the time, you need to get away from the original sentence in order to translate it correctly.

Typically, when translating a new song, I start with a rough translation of the lyrics. I look for the idioms and words that I don’t know, and quickly write a bad first version of the text (in French, in my case) to help me keep track of the general meaning of the song.
Then, I proceed sentence by sentence, letting words come to me. Sometimes, you will be surprise to see how good a basic translation works for one particular sentence, or that the sounds are true to the original rhyme.
Then, I explore the lexical fields, look for synonyms, and write all of my ideas: it’s not because I found a great translation to one sentence that I should stop here and not look for alternatives. I usually build a section around one or two sentences that I really like, but sometimes it simply cannot work and I would find a compromise.
Wordplays, metaphors and idioms can be the hardest to translate, as you might not have an interesting equivalent in your local language.
However, following this process, I usually find myself having almost 50% of the translation. And that’s where the hard work start.
At this point, finding solutions to the challenges I’m confronted with takes more efforts: I will come to the point where I sum up each stanza to its general idea and the way the author(s) have constructed the sentence. From this point, I will start finding all new words to give the same impression to the audience. You need to try (and miss) a lot until the point when you sorted out everything and you have full song!
You’re not quite done yet though: rehearsals and discussions with the director and the actors will lead you to adjust some of the lyrics before you have your dream translation!

As you can imagine, this is a lot of work, and success is not guaranteed (it really depends on the quality of the job that the translator did).

The Best Language to Learn

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Learning a new language is one of the hardest yet most satisfying challenges one can take. Technology, globalization and transportation have revolutionized the way cultures interact and have impacted many aspects of our lives. In an effort to join the global community, to enrich cultural experience, and to stay marketable in an increasingly competitive economy, many people would like learn a new language. Before committing to the massive investment in time and money to do so, it is important to know which language will provide the most benefit to new speakers over the next few decades.

How to tell which language is the best?

Academic Popularity

Quantifying the value of learning a new language is a complex task, but a good place to begin is with the most popular new languages being learned today. Traditionally, Romance languages have dominated college enrollment and to a certain extent this is still true today. Languages such as Italian, French and German are popular. Enrollment in Spanish classes is rising and accounts for roughly half of American students. Not surprisingly, as the geopolitical landscape has changed, so have the demands on language departments; the number of students learning Chinese has grown by over fifty percent in the last decade and Arabic classes have more than doubled in response to a growing demand for speakers.

Number of Speakers

In addition to academic popularity, it is interesting to look at the number of speakers worldwide when choosing to study a foreign language. German and French have been academically popular for years but only boast around 100 million speakers each. In the west, the Japanese and Russian languages are not often studied but are actually more common with around 125 and 250 million speakers respectively. The widespread use of these languages pales in comparison with Spanish, Hindi-Urdu and Arabic languages that each come in at around 500 million native and non native speakers. The most widely spoken language in the world though, with the possible exception of English, is Mandarin. This fact is not surprising when one considers that China is by far the world’s most populous country. Many estimates place the Chinese language at over one billion speakers worldwide even after accounting for several different Chinese languages and dialects.

How hard is it to learn?

Another factor that affects decisions to learn a language is the ease of acquisition. Some languages are easier to learn than others, but this variable is not as easy to quantify as one might think. It turns out that the difficulty of learning a particular language is related to which language the learner speaks first. The more closely related the native tongue is to a new language, the easier the process tends to be. Romance languages are closely related and share many words and have very similar sounds. A native Spanish speaker would have an easier time learning French than they would Japanese. For native English speakers, languages like Spanish, French and German are considered easier to learn than less closely related languages like Russian or Arabic. Even more distant cousins, such as Mandarin and Japanese, are considered quite difficult. One reason that learning distantly related languages is so challenging is that often, the new language requires learners to incorporate brand new phonemes, or sounds, into their speech. Children are flexible with languages, but as adults this skill does not usually come easily.

Conclusion

Futurists are constantly trying to predict trends about fashion, technology, economics and even language use. Which language stands the best chance of being most useful 20 years from now? Linguists will tell you that trying to predict trends in language even a few years away is frighteningly complicated; just like the weather, there are so many variable that small, unpredictable changes can have huge consequences later. The most useful language then for most people will be the one they will use. This depends on where they live, what they want to do professionally and where they might like to go. Spanish speakers in the United States are on the rise and job opportunities for bilingual speakers are also on the rise although an economic study by Albert Saiz shows only a 1.7% wage increase for bilingual Spanish speakers. (See here: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/SmallBiz/story?id=4349200&page=1) When considering economic benefit, the Saiz study gives easy answers: German, Italian, Russian and Chinese yield closer to a 4% wage increase. Considering the languages in highest demand from employers and colleges right now (Chinese and Arabic), Chinese appears to come out on top of the equation for savvy linguistic investors over the next few decades.

 

Finding a Professional Translator

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We’ve already talked about choosing between machine translation, wiki translation, and professional translation. If you decided you need professional translation, this guide is for you! Professional translation should be used for high quality jobs, for example, you need a report translated from English to Spanish. Or maybe you have an eBook written in German but you need to have a Japanese version for your new clientele. The task of translation can almost be described as an art. It is certainly about conveying the language, syntax, and symbolism of one language effectively in another. It is also about providing effective communication. A bad translation can impact your business or project significantly.

This means that the task of finding a professional translator is a serious one, and something you should engage in wisely. In this short guide, I want to share a few sound strategies for choosing a professional translator, whether it is an individual freelancer or a full translation agency. Look at the points mentioned as steps in your quest to find the perfect translator to complete your project.

What Makes A Good Translator?

Let’s define what makes a good translator. Most of the time, when you want to find a good translator you must look at their experience and related accreditation. While it is true that you can post your translation project on common freelance sites where anyone can bid, you may not get professionals knocking on your door. In that case, you might as well post it on WikiTranslation for free. A professional is more likely to produce a quality or “good” translation without any mistakes.

Part of evaluating a freelance translator or a team is to secure samples of their work. You should do this before you sign any agreements. Focus on getting samples translated into the native language you are targeting. It makes the most sense to hire a translator who is a native speaker or someone who has proven their facility with the target language.

You should find out as much as you can about the translator’s experience and track record. This can be a drawn out process if you want to review the profiles of multiple providers in order to get a sense of their ranking among other professional workers. At this point, you will also be evaluating their rates, turnaround times for projects, as well as additional skills like proofreading and editing.

Your decision about the type of translator may take time. Most pro translators strive to be competitive in all of these areas. You need to recognize that a quality translator may charge more for their services. Translators may charge by the project, the page, or even by the hour, depending on the overall parameters of the project.

You should do thorough research online and elsewhere to find a translator that meets good standards of quality text conversion. As was already mentioned, the task is the same whether you choose an agency specializing in translation services or you contact a freelancer directly. Take the time to evaluate providers carefully.

Evaluating The Work

This may not come up until after you’ve worked with a translator and the content has been completed. Still, if you want to ensure that your translated document meets quality standards, you may want to get a second opinion. Again, bringing in another native speaker such as another translator will help you evaluate the work itself. They will be familiar with the source language and will be prepared to pick out weaknesses or obscured passages in the text. Proofreading will cost less than a full translation, and you have another guarantee that the translation is what you wanted.

Why take this extra step? Look at this way: even if you hired a native speaker to begin with, you cannot guarantee they will do a stellar job. It’s about covering all of the bases.

The Value Of A Pro

A professional translator can be a valuable asset for your business. Of course, when a mistranslation can lead to dire consequences, professional translation is the best choice. Translation is about communication. You need to have effective communication in order to share your message with your target audience. Moreover, translation services allow you to broaden your reach and influence a broader audience.

 

Become an Expert

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If you are fluent in at least 2 languages, you may apply to become an Expert! Just send us proof that you are bilingual, such as a paragraph written in two languages. The other option is to become an active member at WikiTranslation, and we will assign you the title. What benefits are there to being an expert? Well, let’s look at all the user types and permissions.

Anonymous

  • Can request a translation
  • Can translate
  • Can comment

Registered User

  • Can also vote on translations and comments
  • Can earn points and titles
  • IP address remains hidden

Expert

  • Can edit any source text, comment, or translation request
  • Can hide any post

Basically, as an expert, you can be more involved and help improve the quality of all translations.

The Do It Yourself Guide to Translation

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you

Sometimes you have to translate it yourself!

Even though there are numerous professional translators, sometimes you can’t afford one. And even though there are volunteer translators, sometimes nobody is willing to help. Then you have to resort to trying to translate your document yourself. This guide will show you how to get the best results. We will assume that you are a native English speaker, and you are trying to translate the following paragraph into French (even though you have little experience.)

On the night of the day on which this cruel deed was done, I was aroused from sleep by the cry of fire. The curtains of my bed were in flames. The whole house was blazing. It was with great difficulty that my wife, a servant, and myself, made our escape from the conflagration.The destruction was complete. My entire worldly wealth was swallowed up, and I resigned myself thenceforward to despair.

Step 1: Check to see if it has already been translated.

Hey you never know, maybe someone else already took the time to translate it. A quick Google search reveals it has been:

Dans la nuit qui suivit le jour où fut commise cette action cruelle, je fus tiré de mon sommeil par le cri: Au feu! Les rideaux de mon lit étaient en flammes. Toute la maison flambait. Ce ne fut pas sans une grande difficulté que nous échappâmes à l’incendie,—ma femme, un domestique, et moi. La destruction fut complète. Toute ma fortune fut engloutie, et je m’abandonnai dès lors au désespoir.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20790/20790-h/20790-h.htm#LE_CHAT_NOIR

But let’s pretend you couldn’t find it on Google. You can search a translation database at mymemory.translated.net. Nothing useful was found. Alright, time to resort to machine translation…

Step 2: Prepare the document for machine translation.

  • Check to see that the original document has no spelling or grammatical errors. Tests have shown that using “i” instead of “I” can affect results!
  • Replace all slang and non-literal terms with common words.
  • Split up long sentences into several short sentences.

On the night this cruel deed was done, I was awakened by the sound of fire. The curtains of my bed were in flames. The whole house was blazing. It was with great difficulty that my wife, a servant, and I escaped from the fire. The destruction was complete. My entire wealth was destroyed, and I became depressed.

Step 3: Plug it into a translator.

I used Google Translate. Unfortunately, there is no way you can check the accuracy without knowing the language yourself. But you can rest assured that the quality will be better than directly translating the original document.

Dans la nuit cet acte cruel a été fait, j’ai été réveillé par le bruit du feu. Les rideaux de mon lit étaient en flammes. Toute la maison était en feu. C’est avec grande difficulté que ma femme, un serviteur, et je me suis échappé de l’incendie. La destruction a été complète. Ma richesse entier a été détruit, et je suis devenue dépressive.

How to Get a Good Wiki Translation

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Are you new to the concept of wiki translation? I have written this mini guide to show how to maximize your chances of getting a good translation. The most important thing to understand is that users on WikiTranslation are volunteers. While professionals have an obligation to perform a service, volunteers have no such obligation. Therefore, you should make it as easy as possible for wiki translators.  Use the following guidelines to help you:

1) Place your request in the right category. If you want a translation from German to Spanish, select the category Deutsch-Español. If nobody can figure out what the target language is, your text will remain untranslated.

2) Have an accurate and descriptive title. Using “Translate” as your title doesn’t make it stand out. “HELP!!! PLEASE TRANSLATE!!!!” isn’t good either.

3) Try to keep your text short. Try to keep it under 500 characters. Not many people are willing to work on your request for hours. If you have a long text, break it up into several sections and request each one separately.

4) Provide as much information as possible. If necessary, explain the context in which the source text is in. This helps clear up confusion.

5) Make the source text as good as possible. Proofread your source text before you submit it. Try to use accents and characters required by the original language.

For a good example, see http://wikitranslation.org/?qa=13/einstein-on-relativity

Einstein on Relativity

Which machine translator is the best? Part II

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Google Translate vs. Bing Translator

Google, Bing

Bing Translator vs. Google Translate

In last week’s post, I concluded that Yahoo Babelfish was clearly inferior to Google Translate and Bing Translator. This week is the tiebreaker! I’ve subjected the two remaining online translators to different tests, ranging from easy to hard.

Test 1: German Proverb

Source: Besser ein Spatz in der Hand, als eine Taube auf dem Dach.

Translation: A sparrow in the hand is better than a pigeon on the roof.

Google Translate: Better a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Interestingly, Google Translate did not go for the literal translation, but instead went for the English equivalent, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”

Bing Translate: Better a Spatz in der hand as a dove on the roof.

I think Google Translate wins this one.

Test 2: Victor Hugo, Villemain (1845)

Source: Vous avez des ennemis? Mais c’est l’histoire de tout homme qui a fait une action grande ou crée une idée neuve. C’est la nuée qui bruit autour de tout ce qui brille. Il faut que la renommé ait des ennemis comme il faut que la lumière ait des moucherons. Ne vous en inquiétez pas, dédaignez! Ayez la sérénité dans votre esprit comme vous avez la limpidité dans votre vie.

Translation: You have enemies? Why, it is the story of every man who has done a great deed or created a new idea. It is the cloud which thunders around everything that shines. Fame must have enemies, as light must have gnats. Do no bother yourself about it; disdain. Keep your mind serene as you keep your life clear.

Google Translate: You have enemies? But is the story of every man who has made a great action or creates a new idea. It’s the noise around cloud all that glitters. It must have renamed the enemies as you ought to have the light of gnats. Do not worry, scorn! Be calm in your mind as you clarity in your life.

Bing Translate: You have enemies? But it is the story of a man who has done a great action or creates a new idea. This is the cloud that noise around everything that glitters. Must be that the renamed have enemies as it must be that light midges.Do you to worry not, dédaignez! Have the serenity in your mind as you have clarity in your life.

Google Translate is better. Bing has a bad habit of not translating a few words.

Test 3: Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Source:

????????????????????????????

?????????????????????????????????????

Translation:

  1. Sun Tzu said: The art of war is of vital importance to the State.
  2. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.
  3. The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one’s deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field.
  4. These are:
    1. The Moral Law;
    2. Heaven;
    3. Earth;
    4. The Commander;
    5. Method and discipline.

Google Translate: Sun Tzu said: soldiers who affairs of state of life and death, the survival of the Road,must be aware also.
It follows that the order to five things, to take account of the school, and claim their feelings: one said channel, second is days, the third is, the Si Yue will, Wu Yue law.

Bing Translate: Sun Zi said: soldiers of the nation events, land of the dead, survival of the road, must be noted. Five things to take account of the school, emotionally cable by: Yue road, said the second day, the three ends, the four ends, five said method.

Both translations are equally bad. I heard somewhere that machine translations are best for these languages: English, Spanish, German, and French. This probably results from the similarity in these languages and the large amount of source texts available.

Conclusion

Google Translate leads in the field of machine translation! Bing Translator sometimes refuses to translate certain words, which is quite annoying (see test 1). As usual, short sentences work better. One last note: The Art of War is not modern Chinese, just as Shakespeare isn’t modern English. If I had replaced it with more modern text, the results might have been better.

Which machine translator is the best?

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United Nations Flag
Google Translate vs. Yahoo Babelfish vs. Bing Translator

Machine translation has been around since 1954—the Georgetown-IBM experiment. They automatically translated 60 sentences from Russian to English. The first machine translator had 250 words in its vocabulary and 6 grammar rules. The experiment was declared a huge success, and the authors claimed that machine translation would be solved in 5 years. Here we are more than 50 years later. Machine translators have millions of words in their vocabulary and thousands of grammar rules, and can translate anything from Afrikaans to Yiddish. Despite this, machine translators are still rarely accurate with their translations. If the best machine translator is mediocre, you can’t afford to use lesser ones! I’ve tested three machine translators: Google Translate, Yahoo Babelfish, and Bing Translator.

I’ve used the Mandarin Chinese version of Article 21 of the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” as the source text. Here is the source text:

  1. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ??
  2. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ??
  3. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?; ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?, ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?, ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ??

And here is the English translation:

1.      Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

2.      Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.

3.      The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Google Translate (translate.google.com)

Google Translate uses statistical machine translation. Google Translate has analyzed millions of bilingual text in order to “learn” the language. It looks for patterns in the language, which helps it decide on the best translation for you through an intelligent guessing system.

Google Translation:

1. Everyone has, directly or through freely chosen representatives in government of his country’s rights.
2. Everyone has equal opportunity to participate in their public rights.
3. the people’s will is the basis of the authority of government; this will be in periodic and genuine elections be expressed in the election shall be by universal and equal suffrage and by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Yahoo Babelfish (babelfish.yahoo.com)

Yahoo Babelfish is powered by SYSTRAN technology. It uses hybrid machine translation, which is a combination of rule-based and statistical translation methods.

Babelfish Translation:

1.       Everybody has direct or participation through free choice representative governs our country the right.

2.       Everybody has the equal opportunity to participate in our country official business the right.

3.       People’s will is the government authority foundation; This will should displays by regular and the true election, but elects should rest on the universal peace and so on voting right, and carries on by the secret ballot or the suitable free vote procedure.

Bing Translator (microsofttranslator.com)

Microsoft has its own statistical machine translation technology. Bing Translator is the newest out the three machine translators being tested.

Bing Translation:

1.       every person has, directly or through freely chosen representatives involved in the governance of their own rights.

2.       everyone shall have the right to equal opportunity to participate in national public service.

3.       the will of the people is the basis of the authority of the Government; This will be in periodic and genuine elections, the election shall be by universal and equal voting rights, and by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Conclusion

Yahoo Babelfish is clearly the worst one. Sentences in Chinese are structured differently than sentences in English, but Babelfish did not recognize that. Bing Translator and Google Translate had some grammatical mistakes and confusing phrases, but at least you can tell what the main idea is. If you use short sentences, then the result will be better. Perhaps in Part 2 I will perform more tests with Google Translate and Bing Translator.

Edit:Part 2 has been released!

Machine Translation, Wiki Translation, or Professional Translation?

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A translation is no translation, he said, unless it will give you the music of a poem along with the words of it.
-John Millington Synge

People will always have the need to translate documents, whether it is an IM or a novel. Sometimes, you need a quick translation to reply to your friend’s message. Other times, you want to reach a global audience by translating your novel. We will discuss 3 different ways of getting a translation: machine translation, wiki translation, and professional translation. When should one use each method?

Machine Translation

Machine translation is an automatic translation process using computers. Machine translators usually use a statistical approach. For example, Google Translate uses billions of bilingual documents to “learn” a language. Despite this, machine translations are still inaccurate. Use if:

  • You don’t have the resources for a professional translation. Machine translation can be found online for free.
  • You need the translation in 5 minutes or less.
  • You only want to translate one word.
  • Your translation request is very common. If your translation request is very common, it is likely to be in the memory of the machine translator already. Phrases such as Hello, Good morning, I love you, and My name is Joe can be translated with very good accuracy.

Don’t use if:

  • The translation needs to be accurate. Don’t use a machine translation for a website or book. Foreign visitors will be daunted by the syntax errors and incomprehensible writing.
  • You want the writing to sound natural. Machine translators are terrible at translating songs and poems for this reason.

WikiTranslation

Wiki translation is what WikiTranslation.org provides. You crowd source your translation; you release the document to the community and volunteer users will translate it. Use if:

  • You don’t have the resources for a professional translation. This service is free!
  • A dictionary or a machine translator will not provide good results.
  • Your document is only a few paragraphs. Long passages are not likely to be translated.

Don’t use if:

  • You can’t wait a few days for the translation.
  • You don’t want the public to see your document.

Professional Translation

Professional translation is paying someone who is highly fluent in both the source and target language to translate the document.

Use if:

  • You need the translation to be 100% accurate and reliable.
  • You are willing to pay at least $.07 per word.
  • You need a long document translated. Only professionals are willing to do this with high accuracy.

Don’t use if:

  • You don’t have the resources for a professional translation.
  • You need an instant translation.
  • The accuracy is not very important and you are happy with getting the main idea.