Translating "Half native speaker"
Thread poster: junior.K
junior.K
junior.K
Cote D'ivoire
Local time: 13:04
English to French
+ ...
Oct 16, 2014

Hi Everyone,
Has somebody here on the forum translated any book or document written by a “half-native speaker"? I mean by “half native speaker” people who have as official language English, French or German but have got their own national languages or mother tongues. (Indians or Africans)
I would like to know which tools or translation software you use for this kind of translations. Is your software accurate enough?
I have been working for an Indian Company for 2 years a
... See more
Hi Everyone,
Has somebody here on the forum translated any book or document written by a “half-native speaker"? I mean by “half native speaker” people who have as official language English, French or German but have got their own national languages or mother tongues. (Indians or Africans)
I would like to know which tools or translation software you use for this kind of translations. Is your software accurate enough?
I have been working for an Indian Company for 2 years and have translated many documents written by them but it seems the structures of sentences are sometimes not correct and my translation software can’t give an accurate translation of it. For doing my job efficiently I have to refer to them to get what them mean.
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Łukasz Gos-Furmankiewicz
Łukasz Gos-Furmankiewicz  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 14:04
English to Polish
+ ...
... Oct 17, 2014

Translation is the work of humans, not software.

 
Miguel Carmona
Miguel Carmona  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 06:04
English to Spanish
Translation software Oct 17, 2014

junior.K wrote:

Hi Everyone,
Has somebody here on the forum translated any book or document written by a “half-native speaker"? I mean by “half native speaker” people who have as official language English, French or German but have got their own national languages or mother tongues. (Indians or Africans)
I would like to know which tools or translation software you use for this kind of translations. Is your software accurate enough?
I have been working for an Indian Company for 2 years and have translated many documents written by them but it seems the structures of sentences are sometimes not correct and my translation software can’t give an accurate translation of it. For doing my job efficiently I have to refer to them to get what them mean.


What translation software do you refer to?

It would be most useful if you mentioned the name of the software, and it is perfectly correct to do so.


 
Henry Hinds
Henry Hinds  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 07:04
English to Spanish
+ ...
In memoriam
RIGHT Oct 17, 2014

Lukasz has it right. Translation is the work of humans, not software.

And there is no such thing as a “half-native speaker". The people you refer to are non-native speakers. That makes translation much more difficult.


 
Andrea Halbritter
Andrea Halbritter  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 14:04
French to German
+ ...
The work of humans Oct 18, 2014

I agree with what Lukasz and Henry said.

 
Miguel Carmona
Miguel Carmona  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 06:04
English to Spanish
Knock, knock. Anybody home? Oct 18, 2014

Unfortunately the OP seems to have disappeared.

To me, a starting point for a response was asking the OP what software he/she was referring to specifically, either MT or MT-fed CAT.

I too absolutely agree with the responses above, but it would have been interesting to know how the OP concluded his/her translation software is good enough to produce good translations, and how come the translations generated by the software are considered correct by his/her employer/clien
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Unfortunately the OP seems to have disappeared.

To me, a starting point for a response was asking the OP what software he/she was referring to specifically, either MT or MT-fed CAT.

I too absolutely agree with the responses above, but it would have been interesting to know how the OP concluded his/her translation software is good enough to produce good translations, and how come the translations generated by the software are considered correct by his/her employer/client.

Hopefully he/she has been editing the software-generated translations, because if they have been using the raw MT output, well, basic client and translator education would be in order here, folks.
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Danik 2014
Danik 2014
Brazil
German to Portuguese
+ ...
Half native speaker Oct 18, 2014

I think what you mean with "half native speaker" is that dominant, usually European, languages like English, German, French and Portuguese change very much when they get acclimated in other countries than their original ones. I think India is a good example. The changes may affect not only the vocabulary and the pronunciation but sometimes the structure of the language itself. That certainly makes translation more difficult. Unfortunately I don´t know of any software in this line, but I`m follo... See more
I think what you mean with "half native speaker" is that dominant, usually European, languages like English, German, French and Portuguese change very much when they get acclimated in other countries than their original ones. I think India is a good example. The changes may affect not only the vocabulary and the pronunciation but sometimes the structure of the language itself. That certainly makes translation more difficult. Unfortunately I don´t know of any software in this line, but I`m following this thread to see if there is any.
One way of dealing with this particularity is to establish a dialogue with peers from different countries that have the same official language but have their national peculiarities. The constant interchange of intercultural experience can be very rewarding as I learned in the Portuguese (PT and BR) forum.
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LilianNekipelov
LilianNekipelov  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 09:04
Russian to English
+ ...
Hi, most tools are useless, and even dangerous, when used for literary translation. Oct 18, 2014

you have to somehow retain the style and cultural references. I have not translated anything like that, because I do not translate from English, but I have read many great books that had references or even words from other cultures--this is their beauty. You have to be, somehow, be able to keep it.

What would that make James Joyce-- 1/100 of a native speaker?

[Edited at 2014-10-18 18:42 GMT]


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:04
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Meaning Oct 19, 2014

I think the OP means (for example) a Nigerian whose "official" language is English and speaks it correctly (in its Nigerian version) but whose "real" language may be Yoruba or one of the other 491 (four hundred and ninety one) languages that are spoken in Nigeria, plus the English version of Pidgin.

There are numerous other similar examples in most African countries, South America, and elsewhere, where the "official" language is a localised version of the language of the former colo
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I think the OP means (for example) a Nigerian whose "official" language is English and speaks it correctly (in its Nigerian version) but whose "real" language may be Yoruba or one of the other 491 (four hundred and ninety one) languages that are spoken in Nigeria, plus the English version of Pidgin.

There are numerous other similar examples in most African countries, South America, and elsewhere, where the "official" language is a localised version of the language of the former colonial power (French, English, Portuguese, Spanish etc.) but where most people use other languages most of the time.

I can't imagine that a CAT tool could handle the nuances of meaning when a person may freely use a mix of many different languages all at the same time.

[Edited at 2014-10-19 18:17 GMT]
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junior.K
junior.K
Cote D'ivoire
Local time: 13:04
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Making my point Clear (The OP) Oct 19, 2014

Thanks Tom You got my point and I happy with all of your replies to my Post.

I am coming from Ivory Coaste (West Africa) We have a very different way of speaking french, to build our sentences which, this is far different from the one we received from France during colonisation. "We use French words from speaking our own Languages" said my teacher. i.e we use the words but in a structure proper to our mother tongues. I doubt most of the translation softwares here can make thingeasyf
... See more
Thanks Tom You got my point and I happy with all of your replies to my Post.

I am coming from Ivory Coaste (West Africa) We have a very different way of speaking french, to build our sentences which, this is far different from the one we received from France during colonisation. "We use French words from speaking our own Languages" said my teacher. i.e we use the words but in a structure proper to our mother tongues. I doubt most of the translation softwares here can make thingeasyfor us. Its a cultural issue as somebody posted earlier.
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Maxi Schwarz
Maxi Schwarz  Identity Verified
Local time: 08:04
German to English
+ ...
But Oct 19, 2014

I doubt most of the translation software here can make things easy for us...

Translation is not done by software - it is done by people. If your local form of French has its own particular form, then the person translating it into whatever language, should have excellent mastery of the the target language, as well as being thoroughly familiar with your form of French. Then that translator will translate the meaning of the French words (in your country's style) into the other language.


 
mrachidi
mrachidi  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 09:04
Arabic to English
+ ...
Translating "Half Native Speaker Oct 20, 2014

"Half native speaker" obviously refers to someone whose official language is the language of the colonizer be it English, Spanish, French etc..., but his native or local language(s) or dialect(s) is a different one. That is particularly the case of African and Asian countries.
I do not personally believe in any software producing effective translation. It is certain that translation is an art, just like poetry and so on... As such, only human mind can provide an accurate translation.
... See more
"Half native speaker" obviously refers to someone whose official language is the language of the colonizer be it English, Spanish, French etc..., but his native or local language(s) or dialect(s) is a different one. That is particularly the case of African and Asian countries.
I do not personally believe in any software producing effective translation. It is certain that translation is an art, just like poetry and so on... As such, only human mind can provide an accurate translation.
Thanks,
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Erik Freitag
Erik Freitag  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 14:04
Member (2006)
Dutch to German
+ ...
Translation software? Oct 20, 2014

Mohamed, please explain what exactly you mean by translation software. Are you referring to CAT tools (Computer Assisted Translation), or to MT (Machine Translation)?

Tom in London wrote:

I can't imagine that a CAT tool could handle the nuances of meaning when a person may freely use a mix of many different languages all at the same time.


Completely wrong. A CAT tool doesn't really care about this. A CAT tool doesn't need to "handle the nuances of meaning". Translating with a CAT tool is exactly as efficient (or inefficient) in the situation the OP describes as it is for other languages.

Mohamed Rachidi wrote:

I do not personally believe in any software producing effective translation.


Exactly. MT is not going to help you (as it tries to "produce translation", and will inevitably fail), But CAT tools (who don't try to "produce translation" to begin with) might be useful, of course.

[Bearbeitet am 2014-10-20 06:04 GMT]


 


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Translating "Half native speaker"







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