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Alice in Machine Translation Land: literary translations by a machine

27 February, 2018

Longread: Alice in Machine Translation Land

In the sometimes heavily emotional discussion about machine translation, professional translators end up by agreeing that machine translation eventually will take on tasks. They believe that translation engines will take over a tiny amount of work that is now being done by people. But these translators immediately add that there will always be fields and specialisms that cannot be replaced by machines. One of those is literary translations.
But… is that really the case? If robots are even taking over real human tasks like caring, why shouldn’t they replace specific translation tasks as well? In this article I discuss the results of literary translations using a machine.

by Pieter Beens

Three tips to improve your productivity as a translator

12 February, 2018

Translation practice

Three tips to improve your productivity as a translator

When working at home as a translator everything revolves around self-discipline and making sure you are productive enough to finish jobs with tight deadlines, sometimes combatting stress, boring jobs and negative feedback. While working as a freelancer, often working from home, certainly has its upsides there are also some lurking dangers. One of the most prominent dangers is that of losing time doing jobs and handling tasks that you otherwise would have done outside office hours, like paying your personal bills or vacuuming the bedroom. Here are three tips that can help you improve your productivity as a translator.

by Pieter Beens

29 January, 2018

Translation practice

Dozens of languages at your fingertips

New technologies offer a solution for people who do not have ready access to linguistic databases. Last year, three start-ups introduced products that translates spoken sentences directly. Consumers and business travelers can thus communicate with other citizens of the world without having to speak a different language. There is great interest in the products, but there are also pitfalls.

by Pieter Beens

15 January, 2018

Translation practice

Why a Dutch translation pays off

The Netherlands is only a small country on the world map, having an area of about 41,500 square kilometres and among the lowest on the list of countries compared by size. But while the Netherlands makes up only 0.008 per cent of the world’s area, Dutch is spoken by almost 400 times that percentage, making it one of the forty most spoken languages of the world. With millions of people speaking Dutch all over the world, Dutch is for sure a language with potential for companies looking for business opportunities.

by Pieter Beens

Trends in the translation industry in 2017

29 December, 2017

Translation practice

Five trends that defined the translation industry in 2017

The year is almost over, time to reflect on what happened in the translation industry in 2017. While the general trend of decreasing rates and technological improvements has continued to evolve over the last two years, the industry saw some remarkable developments as well. In this last blog post of 2017 I list five trends that can be seen as defining what the translation industry underwent over the year.

by Pieter Beens

Overview of translation conferences in 2018

15 December, 2017

Translation practice

Translation Conferences 2018

Translation Conferences are great opportunities to learn, to network and to have fun. They also offer a chance to visit other countries and to meet colleagues and other industry professionals. Translation conferences are therefore very rewarding.
After the highly successful overviews of translation conferences in 2016 and 2017 I herewith present the translation conferences 2018 overview, ordered by month.
Just check the different tiles and hover over them with your mouse for more information. Click at the ‘Visit website’ button on the backside of a tile to learn more about a particular translation conference in 2018.

by Pieter Beens

4 December, 2017

Translation practice

Why bulk discounts won’t work in the translation industry

Bulk discounts are a powerful way for companies to sell more of their products – often while still maintaining a fair margin. The concept is used in a variety of industries, from bikes to clothing, and from plants to light bulbs. Every now and then clients also pop up in the translation industry demanding that their vendors – translators in particular – apply a volume discount to their translations. However, if there is one concept that is not beneficial and shouldn’t be used in the translation industry, it is that of volume discounts. And here is why.

by Pieter Beens

20 November, 2017

Translation practice

A robot as bestseller author

Can a robot write a book? Many readers will answer this question with a heartfelt ‘No’. Still, scientists from the Meertens Instituut and the University of Antwerp have developed a robot that can write a story. Considering the technology, the book-writing robot is even smarter than its translating brother. A gift book that was presented in The Netherlands as part of the ‘Nederland Leest’ campaign (meant to motivate old and young to read) contains a story that was largely conceived by the robot.

by Pieter Beens

6 November, 2017

Translation practice

Two other ways to use machine translation

The stances around machine translation are often quite unsubtle: translators are against the technology because it is seen as a threat or they are embracing it as the next great wonder. While it is often thought that translators are using machine translation for projects as a whole or that they are not using it, there is also a middle ground. In this article I share two other ways to benefit from machine translation – even without embracing it in full.

by Pieter Beens

24 October, 2017

Translation practice

Memsource review: the silent power of Memsource

Of all the CAT tools that are used by translators, Trados and MemoQ are among the most popular. In nearly all surveys and polls on CAT tools used Memsource is ranking at the bottom, along with other tools like Swordfish and Wordbee. Nevertheless, Memsource is a very useful tool when it comes to translating general documents. In this Memsource review I highlight the pros and cons of Memsource for freelance translators.

by Pieter Beens

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