WHY I WILL NEVER BELIEVE CLAIMS THAT MACHINE TRANSLATION TOOLS WILL ONE DAY FULLY REPLACE HUMAN TRANSLATORS
I know I’ve hinted this before, but to me it’s worth considering that taking the human element out of translation work may be the thing which causes a translation to… just not be good enough. Why? Here’s what I state as my examples of the argument in point: I suppose that there is prescriptive and descriptive terminology, and maybe sometimes it does exist more to increase the significance of its subject matter than anything else. And I also suppose that, deep down, no-one likes to feel that they “live for nothing”. (You know, to say the least, not all truths are tested.)
Is there such a thing as being “emotionally committed” to accuracy in translation work as well as “intellectually committed” in every sense of the expression? One thing is for sure: machine translators don’t think like this!
Do you know what a “screamer” is? It’s a short video (or equivalent) which plays (or whatever) on a screen for a bit, and eventually, an ugly and / or scary face suddenly appears, filling the entire screen and accompanied by a loud scream, which is to meant scare the viewer; it’s a prank. Of all the screamers you can get on the Internet, I realise that the Scary Maze game ( http://www.fugly.com/flash/709/Scary_Maze_Game.htm… )is particularly well-known – probably because it’s the first one of its kind, but that’s another story. The ghastly face which accompanies the eventual sudden scream is unmistakable. I’ll be talking about that face here.
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve come across “screamer reaction” videos, a surprisingly high number of which are of the Scary Maze game in particular. And they include a few of pre-pubescent children who are not only frightened by it, but who are reduced to tears by it while others insistently hold it as amusing (indeed, sometimes you hear laughter in the background in the case of these particular clips). I wonder: had I first played the Scary Maze game at that age, that might have been me. God forbid, I think the Scary Maze game is a good laugh too – but how would you help a poor child reduced to tears by it to get over it and maybe even see the funny side of it? Do you find it “fun” to speculate? If you do that’s great – read on!
For the love of God, it’s not as if it’s anything to really be afraid of, just an image that suddenly and unexpectedly appears on a screen for a few seconds, and a scream sound that plays when it comes on. Also… it’s an ugly face but it’s not an angry or frightened face – if it were an angry or frightened face, that could upset a child a whole lot more, wouldn’t you say? And it’s not hard to imagine a scenario where the first time a child sees that face is not in the Scary Maze game but anywhere where they are encouraged to view it as a “great big scary monster” and just laugh along with it like it’s something in a trick or treating session or something like that. And there’s a German advert which does the screamer thing which loads of people on Youtube know about (for an energy drink; the one with the white car driving through hills in the background).
But looks what’s happened – I’ve started talking about that face for what it is (a key element in the Scary Maze game work)… and for what it isn’t. Why? I first happened to come across it on the Internet on my computer in the comfort of my home, when I was in my comfort zone, so you might be wondering: why is it that it’s a topic that I, at 31, seem to have become absorbed by as much as anyone could be absorbed by any major topic in the big real world – political issues, what technology is doing to us as a species, how to eat properly and healthily, whatever? And I certainly haven’t failed to realise that cultural awareness and all that matters when it comes to getting translation right. Why am I, at my age, so willing to invest so much attention and emotion in something as trivial as something which simply doesn’t mean or represent anything other than the fact that this is an image of a ghastly face, which is, provably so, a good choice for a “screamer face”? Because that’s all it is in “intellectually committed” terms, terms of fundamental reasoning. But when I started talking about the face not being an angry or frightened one, and everything else in the paragraph that begins “For the love of God” – where do you think that came from?
Well, I find that good translation practice is also like that in a certain way and to a certain extent (for this comment, as a professional one related to my career as a professional translator, is ultimately supposed to be about translation, the practice of it and linguistic matters) – “trying to accept words and written statements for what they aren’t” as well as what they are (even though I know very well that translators are expected not to be biased in the choice of words they provide in their translations of stuff). When you’ve been translating for as long as I have – and especially for the reasons I do it – it’s only a matter of time before you start to reject all-too-typical approaches, knowing that they have their limitations.
Maybe me outlining my latest list of translation anecdotes, such as I have outlined in previous comments, will help you to understand what that point is all about.
In one French-to-English translation project, I saw “les idées reçues” in the original – fortunately, I was astute enough to realise that it meant something other than the literal translation of “received ideas” in English… “misconceptions”.
There was a French-to-English technical translation project I did recently which included these words in the original (as bullet points): “Signaler la présence du tramway (KB) // Signaler la présence par moyens acoustiques (KBB) // Indiquer la présence par moyens optiques (KBC) // Indiquer la présence par des éclairages extérieurs (KBD)”. I wrote “Presence of the tramway” in my translation of the same, but not without thinking: “where it is in terms of transportation / destination location or whereabouts people are in it?” Part of it included “Visual indication of the tramway’s location”, rather than “Visual indication of the tramway’s whereabouts”; with the former, when you consider the various ways it could be interpreted, that could sort of be right in either case.
I’ve been doing a fair bit of translation of these event marketing articles from French to English, and all of the rest of these anecdotes in this comment are taken from those. In one of these I read “Au gré du parcours émaillé de peintures, maquettes de navires, de pièces archéologiques ou d’objets d’art” in the original. I came to realise that the “ou d’objets d’art” bit here in reality meant “and art objects” rather than “or art objects”. In the original versions of other ones I read:
“La Colère du Dragon” – originally translated as “The Anger of the Dragon” before I changed it to “The Fury of the Dragon”, because I agreed that that sounded more “natural”.
“Produits malins et loisirs” – “Malignant products”? Was the true intended meaning of this like “Guilty pleasures products”?
“L’occasion de découvrir les nouvelles tendances du moment” – translated as simply “discover the latest trends”.
I saw the words “Près de 300 stands” in reference to the discussion of one exhibition. I remember thinking: “Is this event taking place now or in the future?” I didn’t know – so I thought of and put “Expect to see nearly 300 stands”, agreeing that that phrase would work whichever it was in reality.
“Dans leur dernier spectacle” – the last spectacle that “they” once had or their latest spectacle which is to take place soon? I put “In their most recent spectacle”, agreeing that that phrase would work whichever it was in reality.
“A noter que Jacques Bon et Moomin ouvriront les hostilités de cette soirée placée sous le signe du romantisme” – translated more literally, this means “Note that Jacques Bon and Moomin will engage in hostilities under the banner of romance this evening.” Really? I don’t think so. I think it meant “they will be competing this evening”. And that’s why I put “Note also that Jacques Bon and Moomin will be competing under the banner of romance this evening” in the translation.
It has all had me considering that freedom can play a role in being confident in translation. I dare say that I feel what I “should feel” (for the purpose of essentially being a member of society); but what I allow myself to feel – which I have had the temerity to outline here – should probably be viewed as a sign of how in touch I am with how free I am (I had to say it). That said, maybe if I always want to feel confident about finding the right solution in translation, I should never forget that freedom – or at least something within myself – just may be an important ingredient. Maybe I’ve already said it: “I suppose that, deep down, no-one likes to feel that they ‘live for nothing’ ”.
And that’s why I will never believe claims that machine translation tools will one day fully replace human translators.
PS: the game Mindtrap is a known example of those kinds of questions that challenge the way you think – is “not falling for that sort of thing” a matter of being “emotionally committed” (at least some of the time)?