The Past, Present and Future of Machine Translation with Alex Zekakis of XTM

机器翻译的过去,现在和未来与XTM的Alex Zekakis

2020-09-03 04:20 RWS Moravia Insights

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With many organizations expanding their reach and going global, the role of translation is becoming increasingly important. Businesses need effective multilingual communication with their partners, employees and customers across cultural borders if they are to succeed in international markets. However, the human-dependent profession of translation is facing a major shift as technological advancements bring about more efficient and reliable machine translation processes. Globally Speaking Radio guest and Global Solutions Architect Manager at XTM International Alex Zekakis has spent the last 11 years with his feet firmly planted in the localization industry. Alex uses his technical, communications and project management experience to create solutions for clients seeking to localize their content. The rise of machine translation Machine translation is hardly a new phenomenon; the first public demonstration took place in 1954. Although this rudimentary system was limited to translating a mere 250 words, it was the spark that ignited countless decades of research into fully automated communication. Fast-forward to today and machine translation is unavoidable. Even the once-unreliable Google Translate has advanced from providing awkward literal translations to offering accurate materials that help users worldwide. "What’s unique about the translation industry is that it essentially follows other trends. We are heavily influenced by the evolution of other industries. And we follow those trends quite quickly," Alex explains. For example, when organizations migrated to cloud computing, so did translation. "Whenever you introduce technology, you introduce a machine," Alex explains. "Even more so when it comes to machine translation." Many translation companies and global enterprises now make use of automated translation, and there are several reasons why. The benefits of machine translation The translation needs of organizations continue to rise exponentially, and that volume of data is simply too high for human translators to keep up with. The most crucial advantage of machine translation is the sheer efficiency with which it produces results. "If a human can translate 2,000 words a day and you can accomplish 100,000 words a day with a machine translation engine, you would need an equivalent of 50 translators," Alex remarks. "That's something you wouldn't be able to effectively find or even pay for." It's the significant productivity improvement of automated translation that continues to attract organizations. It allows you to translate into many languages in real time, thus reducing both costs and time to market. Also, professional translators typically specialize in a certain area, whereas machine translation offers universality. However, machine translation should be viewed as a long-term investment. While the immediate costs may be substantial, the return will be immense. Over time, the machine can be trained to improve its results and increase consistency across texts. The fears of human translators With the continued advances in automation, it is natural to question the repercussions for human translators and whether a ‘machine’ will ever truly produce perfect results. Although machine translation has made major strides, it is still far from producing human-quality translations. Alex expresses his view on the matter, stating: "The debate about machine versus human, in my opinion, is void. I don’t see humans being replaced by machines. I see machines contributing." Alex was faced with this very question during his time as a Technical Communications and Localization Lecturer at the University of Strasbourg. His students naturally questioned the employ-ability of their skill set. Alex explained that industries can never fully automate; it's simply impossible. "Fortunately, professions adapt. If you translated in a certain way, you would need to learn to translate in a different way. You would still contribute. Humans will always be a part of the process." Automated factories will still need foremen, driver-less transport will still need human support teams and machine translation programs will still need human linguists. Language is complex and ambiguous and there is always an exception to the rule. Add cultural nuances to the equation and you have a really challenging artificial intelligence task. As such, translators are finding new roles as post-editors. With their invaluable input, machine-generated translation will continue to improve and become an even more viable and cost-effective option for businesses. Alex describes that it’s not a question of choosing between either machine translation or human translation, but rather, a unification of the two will ultimately produce higher-quality results. Believing that you have to choose is grossly misguided. "There's an opportunity for strong collaboration between humans and machines," Alex stresses. The future: collaboration between man and machine To effectively translate content for a global audience, there needs to be an integration between human contribution and machine translation. Companies need to understand that there are two sides of the same coin: with one offering context and empathy and the other delivering unmatched efficiency and volume. "The first step is for people to be prepared for an industry that is ever-changing and to learn to be flexible. Processes are not defined in stone in this industry. It’s a relatively new industry and we still don’t know what the full potential is. Our best hope is to be adaptable." The impressive history and progression of machine translation strongly suggests that we will see significant innovative advancements in the coming decades. Whatever the future holds, automation can only develop as far as supporting human translator capabilities, not challenging or replacing them, and global businesses will stand to benefit from improved translation and localization workflows.   Check out the full episode and subscribe to the podcast to be informed of future episodes.
随着许多组织扩大其触角并走向全球,翻译的作用变得日益重要。企业要想在国际市场上取得成功,就需要跨越文化边界与合作伙伴,员工和客户进行有效的多语言沟通。 然而,随着技术的进步,机器翻译过程变得更加高效可靠,依赖于人类的翻译行业正面临着一场重大的变革。 在全球范围内,Alex Zekakis是XTM International的电台嘉宾和全球解决方案架构师经理,他在过去的11年中坚定地立足于本地化行业。Alex利用他的技术,通信和项目管理经验为寻求本地化内容的客户创建解决方案。 机器翻译的兴起 机器翻译不是一个新现象;第一次公众示威发生在1954年。尽管这套最基本的系统仅能翻译250个单词,但它却点燃了数十年来对全自动化交流的研究。 快进到今天,机器翻译不可避免。甚至一度不可靠的谷歌翻译也从提供笨拙的直译,发展到提供帮助全球用户的准确材料。 Alex解释说:“翻译行业的独特之处在于,它基本上是跟随其他行业的发展趋势。我们深受其他行业发展的影响。我们很快就跟随了这些趋势。”例如,当组织迁移到云计算时,翻译也是如此。 “每当你介绍技术时,你就介绍了一台机器,”亚历克斯解释道。“在机器翻译方面更是如此。” 许多翻译公司和全球性企业现在使用自动化翻译,原因有几个。 机器翻译的好处 组织的翻译需求继续呈指数级增长,而这种数据量对于人类翻译人员来说实在是太高了。机器翻译最重要的优势是它产生结果的效率。 亚历克斯说:“如果人类一天能翻译2000个单词,而你一天能用机器翻译引擎翻译10万个单词,你就需要相当于50个翻译员。”“这是你无法有效地找到,甚至无法支付的东西,” 自动翻译的显著生产力提高继续吸引着组织。它允许您实时翻译成多种语言,从而降低成本和上市时间。此外,专业翻译人员通常专门从事某一领域的工作,而机器翻译则提供了普遍性。 然而,机器翻译应该被视为一项长期投资。虽然直接成本可能很高,但回报将是巨大的。随着时间的推移,机器可以被训练以改进其结果并增加跨文本的一致性。 人类译者的恐惧 随着自动化技术的不断进步,人们很自然地会质疑翻译对人类的影响,以及“机器”是否真的能产生完美的结果。虽然机器翻译已经取得了很大的进步,但离产生人类质量的翻译还很远。 亚历克斯对此发表了自己的看法,他说:“在我看来,关于机器与人类的争论是无效的。我不认为人类会被机器取代。我认为机器在做出贡献。” Alex在斯特拉斯堡大学担任技术交流和本地化讲师期间就面临着这个问题。他的学生很自然地质疑他们的技能组合的就业能力。亚历克斯解释说,工业永远不可能完全自动化;根本不可能。 “幸运的是,职业是适应的。如果你以某种方式翻译,你就需要学习以另一种方式翻译。你仍然会做出贡献。人类将永远是这个过程的一部分。” 自动化工厂仍将需要工头,无司机运输仍将需要人类支持团队,机器翻译程序仍将需要人类语言学家。语言是复杂而模糊的,总有例外。在等式中加入文化上的细微差别,你就有了一个真正具有挑战性的人工智能任务。 因此,翻译人员正在寻找作为后期编辑的新角色。有了他们宝贵的投入,机器生成的翻译将继续改进,并成为企业更加可行和更具成本效益的选择。 Alex表示,这不是机器翻译或人工翻译之间的选择问题,而是两者的统一最终将产生更高质量的结果。认为你必须做出选择是严重的误入歧途。 Alex强调说:“人类和机器之间有一个强有力的协作的机会。” 未来:人机协作 为了有效地为全球观众翻译内容,需要在人工贡献和机器翻译之间进行整合。公司需要明白,同一枚硬币有两面:一面提供环境和同理心,另一面提供无与伦比的效率和数量。 “第一步是让人们为一个不断变化的行业做好准备,并学会灵活应变。在这个行业中,流程并不是一成不变的。这是一个相对较新的行业,我们仍然不知道它的全部潜力是什么。我们最大的希望是能够适应变化。” 机器翻译令人印象深刻的历史和进展有力地表明,我们将看到重大的创新进展在未来几十年。无论未来如何,自动化只能发展到支持人类翻译能力的程度,而不是挑战或取代它们,全球企业将从改进的翻译和本地化工作流中获益。 查看完整集,并订阅播客,以了解未来的剧集。

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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