Building on a terminology resource – the Irish experience

www.focal.ie is the national database of Irish language terminology. In this paper, we examine: (i) the impact achieved by this resource in the five year period since work commenced; (ii) the possibilities which have arisen from one project over a short time span, to develop sub-projects and related initiatives; and (iii) the advantages and opportunities arising from the creation of one high-quality electronic language resource. The Irish case shows that the development of high-quality resources for a lesser-used language can have interesting and unexpected knock-on effects. We present eight stages and aspects of term planning: preparation/planning; research; standardisation; dissemination; implantation; evaluation; modernisation/maintenance; and training. Fiontar, in its work,has moved from its initial involvement in the dissemination of terminology, to take an active part in other aspects of term planning for Irish: research, standardisation, evaluation, modernisation and training. This has been achieved through editorial and technological development, in partnership with key stakeholders and always from a socioterminological point of view – that is, with an emphasis on terminology as an aspect of language planning and from the point of view of users in particular. Particular projects described include Focal as a term management system and as a user resource; tools for translators; user links to a corpus; the development of a new sports dictionary; and research into subject field headings. Two related projects are the LEX legal terms project for term extraction and standardisation, and the development of terminology for the European Union

Translation and human-computer interaction

This paper seeks to characterise translation as a form of human-computer interaction. The evolution of translator-computer interaction is explored and the challenges and benefits are enunciated. The concept of cognitive ergonomics is drawn on to argue for a more caring and inclusive approach towards the translator by developers of translation technology. A case is also made for wider acceptance by the translation community of the benefits of the technology at their disposal and for more humanistic research on the impact of technology on the translator, the translation profession and the translation process

Improving the translation environment for professional translators

When using computer-aided translation systems in a typical, professional translation workflow, there are several stages at which there is room for improvement. The SCATE (Smart Computer-Aided Translation Environment) project investigated several of these aspects, both from a human-computer interaction point of view, as well as from a purely technological side. This paper describes the SCATE research with respect to improved fuzzy matching, parallel treebanks, the integration of translation memories with machine translation, quality estimation, terminology extraction from comparable texts, the use of speech recognition in the translation process, and human computer interaction and interface design for the professional translation environment. For each of these topics, we describe the experiments we performed and the conclusions drawn, providing an overview of the highlights of the entire SCATE project

Corpus planning for Irish – dictionaries and terminology

A description of the evolution and current situation of corpus planning for Irish, which includes dictionaries, terminology and corpora

Future (and not-so-future) trends in the teaching of translation technology

This paper proposes an approach to teaching translation technology that focuses less on exposing students to ever more types of CAT tools than on two sets of meta-competences-revision skills and documentary research skills-and on the technologies that allow students to optimize these skills.Este artículo propone una aproximación a la enseñanza de las tecnologías de la traducción que no se centra en la presentación a los estudiantes de más herramientas TAO, sino en el trabajo en torno a dos conjuntos de meta-competencias -las destrezas de revisión y las destrezas de búsqueda documental- y las tecnologías que permiten a los estudiantes optimizar estas destrezas.Aquest article proposa una aproximació a l'ensenyament de les tecnologies de la traducció que no està centrada en la presentació als estudiants de més eines TAO, sinó en el treball al voltant de dos conjunts de metacompetències -les destreses de revisió i les destreses de cerca documental- i les tecnologies que permeten als estudiants optimitzar aquestes destreses

Translation technologies. Scope, tools and resources

Translation technologies constitute an important new field of interdisciplinary study lying midway between computer science and translation. Its development in the professional world will largely depend on its academic progress and the effective introduction of translation technologies in the translators training curriculum. In this paper different approaches to the subject are examined so as to provide us with a basis on which to conduct an internal analysis of the field of Translation technologies and to structure its content. Following criteria based on professional practice and on the idiosyncrasy of the computer tools and resources that play a part in translation activity, we present our definition of Translation technologies and the field classified in five block

Pursuing a Career in Translation for Indonesian Speakers

Since becoming a translator needs certain skills and qualifications, this article providesdetailed information on the process from starting and developing a career in translation.Based on accessible references and a limited interview with a professional translator, somerecommendations are in place. A perspective translator has to go through the followingprocedures; (1) acquisition and development of language competence, (2) translationcompetence development, (3) translation market, and (4) career development. Being asuccessful translator, one should have known how to start, including how to tell people theirexistence and knowing their skills and abilities in translation; how they manage their personaland financial management, how they deal with customers, and what to do if things go wrong. Keywords: translation career, Indonesian speaker, translation managemen

A quest for the right word enhancing reflexivity and technology in terminology training

INTED2010, the 4th International Technology, Education and Development Conference was held in Valencia (Spain), on March 8, 9 and 10, 2010.When it comes to translators training, the acquisition of indexing and terminological competences (both at retrieval and management stage) has a major role in the performance of future translators. A good terminological database, as a result of an accurate research, along with computer assisted translation tools (CAT tools) can improve translation’s speed and quality and also reduce revision costs, bringing in benefits for all the players in the translation industry: language service providers and clients. That process (analysis, selection, retrieval and storage of terminology) takes place mostly in the pretranslation stage, but underlies the whole translation work and can be a determining factor to the quality of the final product and to its homogeneity, especially when carried out in a collaborative environment. The development of terminological databases is an essential step in the training of translators and the efficient search for the right word a necessary skill in today's globalised translation market. Moreover being the quest for the right word almost entirely run over the Internet, data diversity can greatly increase the noise. This search poses several questions, mainly (1) how and where to retrieve information and (2) how to manage it efficiently, especially to students who are neither experts in terminology nor in translation. To ease some of these problems, students were assigned a project in terminology (a database) and, in order to accomplish it, both a Webquest and an ePortfolio were proposed as guidance tools. Along the process, students were expected to build up their thematic and communicative competence and, in parallel, widen their skills in computer-assisted translation tools as well as standard officeautomation software. This paper aims at discussing how these two tools helped students guide their research, structure the problem solving activities, develop critical thinking and terminological competencies