Potential and limits of working with machine translation

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1 Potential and limits of working with machine translation
Anthony Pym “

2 The potential… In September 2009, Obama’s “Strategy for American Innovation” included: "automatic, highly accurate and real-time translation between the major languages of the world - greatly lowering the barriers to international commerce and collaboration."

3 The potential…

4 The limits…

5 Is NMT really better? Wird es in Zukunft selbstverständlich sein, Gespräche zu führen, die vom Mobiltelefon simultanübersetzt werden? Wo liegen die Potenziale und Grenzen solcher Tools? Und inwieweit wird dadurch die sprachkulturelle Verständigung in der Schweiz erleichtert oder erschwert? Anlässlich seines 50-jährigen Bestehens lädt das Forum Helveticum Sie ein, die mehrsprachige Zukunft einer digitalen Schweiz zu erforschen. .

6 Is transfer Systran really so bad?
Wird es in Zukunft selbstverständlich sein, Gespräche zu führen, die vom Mobiltelefon simultanübersetzt werden? Wo liegen die Potenziale und Grenzen solcher Tools? Und inwieweit wird dadurch die sprachkulturelle Verständigung in der Schweiz erleichtert oder erschwert? Anlässlich seines 50-jährigen Bestehens lädt das Forum Helveticum Sie ein, die mehrsprachige Zukunft einer digitalen Schweiz zu erforschen. It is of course in the future, to talk to that be translated simultaneously from your mobile phone? What are the potentials and limitations of such tools? And to what extent will facilitate the language cultural communication in the Switzerland or difficult? On the occasion of its 50th anniversary, the Forum Helveticum invites you to explore the multilingual future of digital Switzerland.

7 Is neural really so much better?
Wird es in Zukunft selbstverständlich sein, Gespräche zu führen, die vom Mobiltelefon simultanübersetzt werden? Wo liegen die Potenziale und Grenzen solcher Tools? Und inwieweit wird dadurch die sprachkulturelle Verständigung in der Schweiz erleichtert oder erschwert? Anlässlich seines 50-jährigen Bestehens lädt das Forum Helveticum Sie ein, die mehrsprachige Zukunft einer digitalen Schweiz zu erforschen. It is of course in the future, to talk to that be translated simultaneously from your mobile phone? What are the potentials and limitations of such tools? And to what extent will facilitate the language cultural communication in the Switzerland or difficult? On the occasion of its 50th anniversary, the Forum Helveticum invites you to explore the multilingual future of digital Switzerland. Will it be natural in the future to have conversations that are simultaneously translated by the mobile phone? What are the potentials and limitations of such tools? And to what extent is this facilitating or hindering language cultural understanding in Switzerland? On the occasion of its 50th anniversary, Forum Helveticum invites you to explore the multilingual future of digital Switzerland.

8 What do we want MT to do?

9 What’s new? Statistical MT (from 1993): large databases common benefits from pooling language resources The Human Language Project Neural MT (from 2016): small, clean databases, suitable for deep learning A market for language resources

10 Right and wrong questions
1. “I can translate better than any machine.” But the machine is not translating. And the question is whether the machine can help you translate better (postediting vs. human from scratch)

11 Right and wrong questions
2. “Users can’t tell the difference.” (Microsoft 2018) But users don’t know where the mistake lies. And the MT system cannot judge user risks.

12 Right and wrong questions
3. “If you give people translations, they won’t learn English.” (Eric Pickles 2013) Stopping the use of translation and interpretation services into foreign languages will provide further incentive for all migrant communities to learn English. It will promote cohesion and better community relations. And it will help councils make sensible savings

13 Right and wrong questions
3. “If you give people translations, they won’t learn English.” (Eric Pickles 2013)

14 Right and wrong questions
4. “Singularity will change everything.” (Kurzweil 2005)

15 A few answers Will we be able to replace all human translators with machine translation (MT)? Answer: No, because even the processing power is equal to that of the human brain (“singularity”), the databases cannot be kept clean. Answer: No, because high-risk situations need trust. Policy implications: - Teach the limits of MT - Train translators in non-MT communication skills - Develop electronic resources for smaller languages.

16 A few answers Should machine translation be used when providing public services? Answer: No, not in high-risk situations or when there is no post-editing. Answer: Yes, when it is user-initiated and combined with other mediation solutions. Policy implications: Place risk-based limits on the use of MT Accept that users may turn to MT in order to complement other solutions (language learning, intercomprehension, human mediation). Accept that MT increases the number of translations, and that this is good for multilingualism.

17 A few answers What are the best ways of working with MT? Answer: MT enhances the efficiency and terminological accuracy of human translation when combined with pre-editing and/or post-editing (including crowd-sourced). Answer: The more the target languages, the more pre-editing should be used Policy implications: Ensure that these skills are taught in the training of translators and technical writers. Integrate MT into normal text-production workflows.

18 A few answers Can MT be fun?

19 It’s all here, folks