TRANSLATION-INTERPRETING WORLDS

What is Literary Translation?

2023-06-08T19:51:00.001+01:00

Literary Translation is a type of translation (Specialization field at University) and a type of translating (Process) of a specific type of texts which are called literary texts. They are described as literary, because they are characterized by specific features that make them different from other types of texts which are called general or technical texts. These features reflect aesthetic, artistic and cultural nuances. The list of literary texts includes prose and poetry texts such as novels, novellas, short stories, plays, poems, etc. Most of them are based on fiction, even when they are inspired by the real world. The process of translating could start with 'a wish' to share 'something' with the readers; therefore, the selection of literary works that are worth translating depends on the value assigned to it in a given context.

People enjoy literary texts in their written and audio formats. The choice depends on the purpose of the readers and listeners who may have different profiles and different aims.

Literary works, in their original formats and in their adaptations, could be enjoyed for entertainment goals, but they could also be exploited for academic and professional purposes.

As Literature is a form of creative writing that reflects the specific features of literary texts, Literary Translation is also a complex and subjective form of creative writing. Basically, Literary Translation consists in taking the literary text from the Source Language (SL) and giving it a second life in the Target Language (TL). However, there are many criteria for success in Literary Translation.

Language mastery. That is to say, being a wordsmith in both the SL and the TL. Literary translators must be highly skilled in both the SL and the TL. Literary translators do not translate just the meanings of words literally, but they consider a lot of aspects such as style, tone and voice which give the target literary text its flavor and melody.
Idiomaticity: Wordplay is a real challenge as It is sometimes part and parcel of the literary work.
Cultural sensitivity. Translating culture-bound items could be an outstanding challenge. Contextualizing the target items in a different culture requires research and skills.

The quality of the target literary text is measured by Its:

Faithfulness and creativity. Being faithful to the ST without neglecting the necessity of being creative. Comparative studies analyze both the ST and TT to determine whether all the aspects and features have been considered in the translating process. Literary translators claim that Artificial Intelligence will never replace them in this regard.
Impact. Ultimately, only the impact of the target text on the target readers. It is difficult to be measured, because statistics on readership are not available in some countries.

Let us know whether you are interested in this topic by leaving a comment or a question in the comments' section below.

Check the label Literary Translation out later for updates.

What is Translation?

2021-08-08T22:12:00.003+01:00

Translation could be defined via metaphors. The most known is "Translation is like a bridge". According to Google Dictionary, a bridge is:

"a. a structure carrying a road, path, railroad, or canal across a river, ravine, road, railroad, or other obstacle.
b. something that is intended to reconcile or form a connection between two things."

Therefore, in this case, the two things that are connected are languages and cultures.

Research has revealed that translation could be defined as a process and as a product through 36 metaphors (Words without Borders, 2021). The aim of this blogpost is to discuss the worth of these metaphors and their success in describing the task.

What do you think of these metaphors?
What is the closest metaphor to the reality of the task?
What is the metaphor that takes into account all the aspects of translation?

History of Translation and Interpreting

2021-02-04T10:16:00.007+01:00

The History of Translation and Interpreting dates back to the first use of language. Every act of communication is an act of translation.

Indeed, the history of translation can be approached from different perspectives. One way of looking at it is through considering its development as a human activity in each region of the world and comparing it to the other regions. Thus, each civilization will have its own history. This kind of research can be narrowed down by studying the history of translation in every country of the world to see its contribution in the development of the overall translation movement which is bridging the gap between the different cultures and peoples.

Therefore, we may have to explore the history of translation by looking at its development in:

The Western World
The Eastern World
The Arab World

Another approach would be the examination of the history of each type of translation alone. Consequently, we would end up with the following outline:

Traditional types of translation
Modern types of translation

Here are playlists of videos which provide the picture of how translation and interpreting evolved throughout the different long and distant eras :

History of Translation

History of Interpreting

Check the label Translation History out later for updates.

Your comments and feedback are most welcomed and greatly appreciated.

Audio-Description Process

2021-01-29T23:23:00.007+01:00

The process of producing effective Audio-Description includes many steps starting from the selection of audio and studio gear to the processing, mixing and mastering of voices and sounds.

A lot of considerations must be taken into account in the production process. In-depth insights could be learnt about the definition of Audio-Description and the process of script writing, if you take a look at the following Playlists:

What is Audio-Description?

What is Audio-Description?

What is Script Writing?

What is Script Writing?

What is Creative Writing?

As regards the Audio aspect of Audio-Description, there are many considerations:

Audio and Studio Gear

Audio and Studio Gear

Recording Vocals

Recording Vocals' Techniques

Vocals' Exercises

Audio Software

Audacity Tutorials (Free)

Pro Tools Tutorials

Ableton Live Tutorials

Sony Vagas Tutorials

StudioOne Revoice Pro Tutorials

WincapsQ4

Sound Processing, Mixing and Mastering

Sound Processing, Mixing and Mastering

Check the label Audio-Description out later for updates.

Your comments and feedback are most welcomed and greatly appreciated.

Best Machine Translation Engines

2020-12-15T18:54:00.034+01:00

Machine Translation (MT), i.e. automated translation, is a "process when a computer software translates text from one language to another without human involvement [in the output]” (MemoQ.com, 2020). The human being is certainly involved in providing input, i.e. content to be translated, to the machine tanslation engine.

Machine Translation has many advantages. The MT engine can handle large amounts of texts (8500 words per day) and a lot of languages, if compared with the human translator abilities (2500 words per day). Thus, it is efficient, because it is time-saving. It is also cost-effective, because it is useful in reducing costs. In addition, it improves quality through the memorization of recurrent translated sentences and terms.

Machine Translation must not be confused with CAT Tools. Indeed, MT can be integrated into CAT Tools.

Below is a screenshot of Google Translate:

Screenshot 1: Google Translation on the Web

There are probably more than 52 MT engines. In addition to Google, the most known engines on the market which provide free Machine Translation are:

Microsoft/Bing translate
Glosbe
Reverso
DeepL
Modern MT
Systran
Amazon
Baidu
gt4t
apertium
smart Mate
Matecat
Tarjama

Some AI-assisted tools are increasingly used as MT engines, namely Gemini Pro, ChatGPT, Claude and PaLM.

A more detailed list could be found here: RESOURCES

What is the best MT engine according to you?

Check the label Machine Translation out later for updates.

Your comments and feedback are most welcomed and greatly appreciated.

Subtitling & Post-Editing Projects

2020-04-11T18:22:00.016+01:00

Follow the external links below to watch on youtube the videos subtitled and post-edited by my students as part of their courses' assignments in the Master's programme at the UB2. These projects are short and deal with different themes each time.

SUBTITLING (From English into Arabic)

Subtitling Projects (M2 Translation 2022/2023 - UB2) (Watch Now!)

Subtitling Projects (M1 Translation 2022-2023 / UB2) (Watch Now!)

Subtitling Projects (M1 Translation 2022/2023 - UB2) (Watch Now!)

Subtitling Projects (M2 Translation 2021/2022 - UB2)

Subtitling Projects (M2 Translation 2020/2021 - UB2)

Subtitling Projects (M1 Translation 2020/2021 - UB2)

Subtitling Projects (M2 Translation 2019/2020 - UB2)

Subtitling Projects (M1 Translation 2019/2020 - UB2)

Subtitling Projects (M2 Translation 2018/2019 - UB2)

Subtitling Projects (M1 Translation 2018/2019 - UB2)

Subtitling Projects (M2 Translation 2017/2018 - UB2)

Subtitling Projects (M1 Translation 2017/2018 - UB2)

Subtitling Projects (M1 Translation 2016/2017 - UB2)

These video playlists will be updated. Check them out later

Your comments and feedback are most welcomed and greatly appreciated.

What is Terminology Management?

2020-04-09T22:03:00.002+01:00

Undoubtedly, terminology management is impotant for both LSPs and clients. It plays a key role in the translation process streamline. Glossary creation is considered to be the first step in the processes of translation in order to ensure the highest quality of products. Therefore, some clients provide their own glossaries along with projects' files. The same thing could be said about localization. Clearly, the use of glossaries is beneficial, because they increase consistency and make translators' life easier.

Therefore, translators, localizers and interpreters must be able to manage terminology online and offline to keep their workflow running smoothly. The current CAT Tools provide some features to manage terminology. For instance, SDL Trados Studio allows the creation of termbases through its editor and the standalone SDL MultiTerm. However, these software might not be practical for interpreters who need quick consultation or search for specific terms. Indeed, many terminology-focused platforms have been developed to facilitate the interpreters' work, speed up the process of production according to the various interpreting settings, and increase performance quality.

Here are some of the most used platforms. They could be used for personal use or for collaboration. These collaborative platforms work like a spreadsheet but provide database features.

Google Sheets (It supports Arabic)
Airtable (Free and Pro version)
Interpreters' help (It supports Arabic)
InterpretBank
Interplex
Flashterm
Glossary Assistant (It supports Arabic)
Look-Up (It cost $99/Free for 3-month trial/free for students)
Terminus (It costs CHF 148)
Intragloss
GT4T

Should you need more details via audiovisual content, here is also a playlist of video tutorials which describe Terminology Managment processes. Access the Playlist here: Terminology Management

You may want to check the labels CAT, Terminology, Localization for further information.

What is Machine Translation?

2020-04-07T01:44:00.000+01:00

Machine Translation simply means automated translation. This term is used versus the term Human Translation, i.e. translation which is produced by human translators.

Here is a playlist of videos which introduces you to the topic of Machine Translation.

Access the Playlist here: Machine Translation

Click on this external link to download an application that provides free MT: https://gt4t.net/en/

What is Documentary Research?

2020-02-20T15:33:00.001+01:00

This post highlights one of the main skills required in the industry of translation and interpreting. Indeed, Documentary Research is now a crucial component of any educational or training curriculum in translation and interpreting.

Both professional and would-be translators and interpeters need to attain high-level Documentary Research skills in order to ascertain their final products are accurate, efficient and consistent. They will have to dig out all the available databases and resources by using advanced techniques of research.

Here is a list of videos which deals with the topic of Documentary Research, its benefits and its techniques. This list will of course be updated, you could save it by adding it to your favourite links in order to access it later easily: Documentary Research

Free CAT Tools Tutorials

2020-02-17T22:49:00.005+01:00

In addition to the mastery of languages, the practice of translation requires the mastery of at least one CAT Tool. In order to get started, there are a lot of free tutorials which would help you master the basics of CAT Tools. Follow the links below to benefit for free from our selection of tutorials of the main tools in the Translation Industry:

STAR Transit Tutorials

Selections of introductory videos to this topic are curated here:

CAT Tools [English]

CAT Tools [Arabic]

Check the label CAT Tools out for updates on relative topics.