Australian Navy Pokes Fun at Machine Translation to Recruit Linguists

澳海军调侃机翻,招募语言学家

2020-08-03 16:20 slator

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The Royal Australian Navy is searching for 40 Cryptologic Linguists to hire over the coming year. To generate recruitment buzz, the Navy launched a digital campaign that highlighted the need for human translators, according to a July 28, 2020 announcement by the Australian Defense Department. Earlier in July, the Defense Department uploaded a YouTube video that poked fun at Google Translate by running iconic Beyoncé song lyrics through the app followed by a call to action. Recruitment videos were also created for the Department’s social media accounts (e.g., Facebook, Instagram) and reportedly used familiar song lyrics and movie quotes, translating them into multiple languages. According to the Navy recruitment page, Cryptologic Linguists intercept, analyze, and translate foreign languages to support the country’s defense operations. They are not normally asked to work as interpreters. Recruits for the role will begin as Cryptologic Operators stationed with major fleet units, fleet headquarters, or other strategic environments. Upon mastering fundamental skills, they can step into a specialist role as Linguist. As soon as they complete training, Cryptologic Linguists will receive a yearly compensation of, at least, AUD 85,154 (USD 61,000) plus a “generous superannuation.” Training includes learning a language other than English, IT processes including typing and software manipulation, analytical techniques and methodical problem-solving, communications theory including radio-wave propagation, as well as terminology and pattern analysis theory. “The Navy wants people with good listening skills and high emotional intelligence who want to put their problem solving and analytical talents to good use,” Commander Lucinda Casey, Director Navy Recruiting and Entries, said about the role. The same announcement also quoted one Petty Officer Hudson as saying, “The best part of being a Navy Cryptologic Linguist is the variety of experiences and opportunities that come with knowing a foreign language. We receive world-class training and our highly specialised skills and intelligence can be applied to many situations, whether at sea, or ashore.” As elsewhere, Covid-19 continues to impact Australia’s linguists, demanding “new ways of thinking about how we do business and how we continue to operate effectively in this new reality,” according to Voula Messimeri, Chairperson of NAATI, the country’s certifying authority for translators and interpreters — which makes the Navy’s announcement of 40 open posts for linguists welcome news. A recently published NAATI survey, which drew responses from 3,268 linguists, showed that about 60% worked as freelancers. As expected, 86% of respondents spoke a language other than English as their first language. The top five first languages were Chinese (26.5%), English (13.8%), Arabic (7.5%), Vietnamese (5.4%), and Persian/Farsi (5.2%).
皇家澳大利亚海军正在寻找40名密码语言学家,以便在来年聘用。根据澳大利亚国防部2020年7月28号发布的公告,海军为引起征兵热潮发起了一项数字运动,强调人工翻译的重要性。 今年7月初,美国国防部上传了一段YouTube视频,视频内容是用谷歌翻译应用程序翻译碧昂斯(Beyoncé)的经典歌曲歌词以此取笑该机翻引擎,并呼吁大家重视人工翻译。此外,美国国防部还为部门的社交媒体账户(如Facebook,Instagram)制作了招聘视频。据报道,该视频使用了人们熟悉的歌曲歌词和电影引语,并将其翻译成多种语言。 据海军招募网站页面描述,密码语言学家负责截取、分析和翻译外语,为国家的防御行动贡献力量。 他们通常不参与口译工作。 招募的新成员将从驻扎在主要舰队单位、舰队总部或其他战略环境中的密码操作员开始。一旦掌握了基本技能,他们就可以成为语言学家。完成培训后,密码语言学家每年的最低工资是85154澳元(61,000美元),外加一笔“丰厚的退休金”。 培训内容包括学习一种语言(除英语以外)、信息技术流程(包括打字和软件操作在内)、技术分析和解决问题的方法、通信理论(包括无线电波传播在内)以及术语和模式分析理论。 海军征兵和入职主管司令官露辛达·凯西(Lucinda Casey)在谈到密码语言学家一角色时说道:“海军需要具有良好的倾听能力和高情商的人,并且这些人想充分利用解决和分析问题的才能。” 同一份声明还引用了一位士官哈德逊(Hudson)的话:“成为一名海军密码语言学家,最大的收获就是能获得一门外语所带来的各种经验和机会。 我们接受世界一流的训练,我们高度专业化的技能和智慧可以应用于多种情况,不管是在海上还是在岸上。“ 澳大利亚笔口译员认证机构NAATI主席乌拉·弥赛米(Voula Messimeri)表示,与其他地方一样,新冠肺炎持续影响着澳大利亚语言学家的职业生涯,这需要“对我们如何经商以及如何在新的现实中继续有效运作提出新的思考方式”。这一说法使得海军宣布为语言学家开放40个职位的消息大受欢迎。 NAATI近期发布了一项调查,共有3268名语言学家参与。调查显示,约60%的语言学家是自由职业者。正如预料的那样,86%的受访者以非英语语言作为第一语言。 排在前五的语言分别是汉语(26.5%)、英语(13.8%)、阿拉伯语(7.5%)、越南语(5.4%)、波斯语(5.2%)。

以上中文文本为机器翻译,存在不同程度偏差和错误,请理解并参考英文原文阅读。

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