TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
My majors were in Foreign Languages and English. From a professional's standpoint I can tell you that there is a world of difference between a translator and an interpreter. A translator (whether machine or human)takes verbiage in one language and outputs it in another language -nothing more. An interpreter not only translates the words, but the context, nuance, and meaning of the verbiage. Take the German word "schadenfreude" as an example. Translated it means "joy at harm" or "harm's joy", but we all know that its true meaning is much, much deeper. The same holds true for the German word "gemuetlichkeit" Both words are singular nouns, but we have no single-word translation for them. They must be interpreted, not translated.
So it is true of translation software. If you enter the following English phrase into Babel Fish, "Go away and let me be," it is translated into Spanish as "Salga y déjeme ser." That phrase means nothing in Spanish and is poorly translated into "leave and leave (as in left behind or leave with) me to be." The key is this, do you want your foreign customers to be able to know what you mean and intend or guess at what you mean and intend.
David B. Dubin
Senior Curriculum Developer
Sage Software
727-579-1111 x 3356
david -dot- dubin -at- sage -dot- com
Your business in mind.
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+david -dot- dubin=sage -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+david -dot- dubin=sage -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Evans, Diane L (Rosetta)
Sent: Friday, January 12, 2007 4:16 PM
To: bryan johnson; TECHWR-L
Subject: RE: Translations
>Okay, aside from all of the obvious problems with this scenario, how can I go about educating him on the short comings of >machine translation? Has anyone been down this road before?
Here's a quick and cheap example of the problems: Take a paragraph of your manual (or a page, or a chapter) and run it through an on-line translator like http://babelfish.altavista.com/.
Here is an example:
English: Microsoft® Office Outlook® 2003 is the personal information manager and communication program that gives you a unified place to manage e-mail, calendars, contacts, and other personal and team information. Key enhancements in Outlook 2003-such as Cached Exchange Mode, automatic grouping of messages, junk e-mail handling, and new reading views-improve the way you organize and manage information, and improve performance and server connectivity.
Spanish: La oficina Outlook® 2003 de Microsoft es el programa personal del encargado y de la comunicación de la información que le da un lugar unificado para manejar el E-mail, los calendarios, los contactos, y la otra información personal y del equipo. Los realces dominantes en la perspectiva 2003-such como modo depositado del intercambio, agrupar automático de mensajes, el E-mail de la chatarra que dirige, y la nueva lectura vista-mejoran la manera que usted organiza y manejan la información, y mejoran conectividad del funcionamiento y del servidor.
And back again:
The office Outlook® 2003 of Microsoft is the personal program of the one in charge and the communication of the information that a unified place gives him to handle the email, the calendars, the contacts, and the other personal information and of the equipment. The dominant enhancements in the perspective 2003-such like deposited way of the interchange, to group automatic of messages, the email of the scrap iron that directs, and the new reading Vista-improves the way that you organize and handle the information, and improves connectivity of the operation and the servant.
No translator works as well as a human being with native familiarity of both languages.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notice: This e-mail message, together with any attachments, contains information of Merck & Co., Inc. (One Merck Drive, Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, USA 08889), and/or its affiliates (which may be known outside the United States as Merck Frosst, Merck Sharp & Dohme or MSD and in Japan, as Banyu - direct contact information for affiliates is available at http://www.merck.com/contact/contacts.html) that may be confidential, proprietary copyrighted and/or legally privileged. It is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity named on this message. If you are not the intended recipient, and have received this message in error, please notify us immediately by reply e-mail and then delete it from your system.
WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content delivery. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or printed documentation. Features include single source authoring, team authoring, Web-based technology, and PDF output. http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as david -dot- dubin -at- sage -dot- com -dot-
WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content
delivery. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
printed documentation. Features include single source authoring, team authoring,
Web-based technology, and PDF output. http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- infoinfocus -dot- com -dot-
