| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Poll: Do you feel threatened by machine translation? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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Al Zaid
United States
English to Spanish
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| The threat is not MT itself... | May 4, 2015 |
...but the way it is regarded by people outside the translation industry.
I've even heard some translation college "professors" (people who don't actually translate for a living) heighten the so-called advantages of MT.
I'm not saying it's totally useless; on the contrary, it may serve in some contexts, but NEVER without human intervention. Sometimes the results are so pitiful that it's better to start the whole thing from scratch.
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MT might have its shortcomings but it is only going to get better and it already seems to be driving down translation prices.
Even though I am the Michelangelo of translators, I'm not at all sure MT plus a decent editor couldn't already produce similar levels of quality more quickly and cheaply.
| | | | Henry Hinds 
United States
Local time: 00:02
English to Spanish
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In memoriam
Especially since I deal with a lot of paper documents either on actual paper or in .pdf format. Plus the direct clients I have fully realize the unique value of my product.
I do think that MT will probably continue to stimulate business for human translators. Of course they will have to be good, because their product must be superior to MT and some are not up to snuff.
| | | | Mario Chavez (X)
Local time: 02:02
English to Spanish
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| Michelangelo? | May 4, 2015 |
Chris S wrote:
MT might have its shortcomings but it is only going to get better and it already seems to be driving down translation prices.
Even though I am the Michelangelo of translators, I'm not at all sure MT plus a decent editor couldn't already produce similar levels of quality more quickly and cheaply.
Hahahah. Don't flatter yourself.
Where do you get that MT is going to get better? Facts, please, not hearsay.
Translation prices are being driven down not by MT but by global economic forces. If MT were the main driver of the downward pressure on translation rates, how come only large corporations and organizations can afford it?
Facts, m'am, just the facts.
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| Good comment, Mario! | May 5, 2015 |
Mario Chavez wrote:
Translation prices are being driven down not by MT but by global economic forces. If MT were the main driver of the downward pressure on translation rates, how come only large corporations and organizations can afford it?
Facts, m'am, just the facts.
Right on. If anything, CAT tools play a larger role in reducing rates than MT. But it's really outside economic forces, and people willing to work for peanuts, that drive them down.
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Following on my earlier summary of the quality of MT, I'd like to also say that I think MT has found its niche. For the most part, it is being used in places where translators would not want to work anyway, as in producing widget manuals for simultaneous multiple-market launches. Or scanning massive technical reports. All statistics indicate that the market for regular translation is growing.
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Mario Chavez wrote:
Where do you get that MT is going to get better? Facts, please, not hearsay.
Translation prices are being driven down not by MT but by global economic forces.
Of course it's going to get better. That's not hearsay, it's logic. Good luck finding some "facts" proving that it won't - or that anything at all will or will not happen in the future.
I'd love to know how global economic forces can pull down prices for translation in my languages. The number of competent translators hasn't grown, so it must be the machines.
| | | | Yaotl Altan
Mexico
Local time: 00:02
Member (2006)
English to Spanish
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Chris S wrote: Mario Chavez wrote:
Where do you get that MT is going to get better? Facts, please, not hearsay.
Translation prices are being driven down not by MT but by global economic forces. Of course it's going to get better. That's not hearsay, it's logic. Good luck finding some "facts" proving that it won't - or that anything at all will or will not happen in the future. I'd love to know how global economic forces can pull down prices for translation in my languages. The number of competent translators hasn't grown, so it must be the machines.
No MT in our profession would imply the need of more human translations.
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