Six reasons why machines can never replace human translators One Humans read between and behind the lines. (What is the author’s intent?) “What did you think of our report?” “It’s OK, I guess.” Depending on the human source and target cultures, this reply can be construed to have very different meanings. […]
Sometimes in my talks for translators I give the audience a simple test with a surprising result. I ask for a show of hands to see who knows what a word such as “isomer” means. Usually fewer than 5% raise their hands. I say this is surprising because nearly all of you reading […]
As many who translate scientific texts know, this is one of the very few professions where the world of arts and letters is condemned to cooperate with and understand the world of science and engineering. Let’s face it, the average fine arts undergraduate doesn’t usually hang out with the chemical engineers on campus at […]
Los traductores que trabajan con textos científicos ya saben que esta es una de las pocas profesiones donde el mundo de las artes y de las letras está condenado a entenderse con el mundo de la ciencia y de la ingeniería. Seamos sinceros: los estudiantes de bellas artes no suelen irse de copas con […]
If you ask most foreign translators what they least like about working in another country, they will often name the bureaucracy involved. When I first came to Spain I quickly learned to take a newspaper with me when visiting any government building to while away the hours. Nowadays I take my laptop and set up […]