Official Language Minority Communities, Machine Translation, and Translator Education: Reflections on the Status Quo and Considerations for the Future

Owing largely to budgetary pressures, official language minority communities in Canada have a great number of unmet translation needs. The use of machine translation presents the possibility of a cost-effective solution, but only if members of this community are willing to accept this form of translation. This paper reports on an experiment whereby members of one official language minority community in Canada—the Fransaskois—were surveyed to determine their level of acceptance of machine translation. Results show that while many Fransaskois are quite favourable to the possibility of using post-edited machine translation, those who are also language professionals are extremely opposed to the use of any form of machine translation. This finding prompts a reflection on whether the way in which translators are trained in the use of technology could be an underlying factor in their reaction to machine translation use, which in turn leads to a proposal for a new approach to integrating technology more fully into translator training programs.En raison principalement de pressions budgétaires, un grand nombre des besoins de traduction des communautés de langue officielle en situation minoritaire au Canada reste à combler. L’utilisation de la traduction automatique pourrait représenter une solution rentable, mais seulement si les membres de cette communauté acceptent cette forme de traduction. Le présent article fait état d’une expérience au cours de laquelle des membres d’une des communautés de langue officielle en situation minoritaire – en l’occurrence les Fransaskois – ont répondu à un sondage visant à mesurer leur opinion de la traduction automatique. Les résultats montrent que, bien que beaucoup de Fransaskois soient réceptifs à l’utilisation de traductions automatiques révisées, les professionnels de la langue s’opposent fermement à l’utilisation de traductions automatiques, sous quelque forme que ce soit. Ce constat porte à se demander si la formation des traducteurs à l’utilisation des outils informatiques pourrait être un facteur sous-jacent à cette réaction à l’utilisation de la traduction automatique, ce qui, en revanche, nous porte à proposer une nouvelle approche visant à mieux intégrer la technologie aux programmes de formation de traducteurs

Corpus resources for translators: academic luxury or professional necessity

Since the late 1990s, corpora have become established as popular and useful translation resources within translator training institutes; however, the uptake of corpora in the world of professional translators appears to have been considerably slower. This article explores the different uses of corpora (including translation memories) in these two sectors and attempts to account for these differences. To determine how corpora are used in academics, a literature survey of papers produced by translator trainers is conducted. With regard to the use of corpora in a professional setting, this study focuses on professionals working in Canada. To find out the extent to which Canadian professional translators make use of corpora, two methods are used. Firstly, a literature survey of publications produced by Canadian translators’ associations is carried out, and secondly, a database of job advertisements is analyzed to determine how many Canadian employers are seeking candidates who are familiar with corpus-based resources. The resulting data are compared and discussed with a view to uncovering and understanding why corpus use differs in academic and professional circles.Desde o final dos anos 90, os corpora se firmaram como uma ferramenta de tradução conhecida e útil nos centros de treinamento de tradutores. No entanto, parece que sua difusão no universo do tradutor profissional tem sido bem mais lenta. O presente artigo explora os diferentes usos de corpora (inclusive as memórias de tradução) nesses dois setores e pretende apontar suas diferenças. Para determinar como os corpora são usados no meio acadêmico, foi realizado um levantamento bibliográfico de artigos produzidos por tradutores aprendizes. Com relação ao uso de corpora no meio profissional, este estudo concentra-se nos tradutores profissionais do Canadá. Para verificar até que ponto eles fazem uso de corpora, foram empregados dois procedimentos. Primeiramente, foi feito um levantamento dos artigos publicados por associações canadenses de tradutores e, numa segunda etapa, avaliou-se um banco de dados de ofertas de emprego para levantar quantos empregadores procuram candidatos familiarizados com o uso de corpora como ferramenta de trabalho. Os dados resultantes são comparados e discutidos com vistas a revelar e compreender por que o uso de corpora é diferente nos meios acadêmico e profissional

Multidimensional Classification of Concepts for Terminological Purposes

Terminology is the science concerned with the linguistic representation ofconcepts; it entails collecting, describing, processing, and presenting terms (Le. lexical items belonging to specialized subject fields) in one or more languages. Applied work in terminology is carried out in two modes: 1) punctual term research, concerned with a single concept-term unit; and 2) thematic term research, concerned with mapping out the conceptual structure of a specific subject field or subfield (as exhaustively as possible), and describing all the concept-term units that fall within it. For the purpose of this paper, we will focus on thematic term research as it has wider implications for classification and multidimensionality

Machine translation and author keywords: A viable search strategy for scholars with limited English proficiency?

Author keywords are valuable for indexing articles and for information retrieval (IR). Most scientific literature is published in English. Can machine translation (MT) help researchers with limited English proficiency to search for information? We used two MT systems (Google Translate, DeepL Translator) to translate into English 71 Spanish keywords and 43 French keywords from articles in the domain of Library and Information Science. We then used the English translations to search the Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts (LISTA) database. Half of the translated keywords returned relevant results. Of the half that did not, 34% were well translated but did not align with LISTA descriptors. Translation-related problems stemming from orthographic variation, synonymy, differing syntactic preferences, and semantic field coverage interfered with IR in just 16% of cases. Some of the MT errors are relatively “predictable” and if knowledge organization systems could be augmented to deal with them, then MT may prove even more useful for searching

Defining appropriateness in coach-athlete sexual relationships: The voice of coaches

The sporting culture, with omnipotent coaches, fierce competition for recognition and funding, and ‘win at all cost’ ethos, creates an environment conducive to sexual exploitation of athletes. Recent increased public awareness and the development of child protection policies in sport have led to the questioning of previously accepted coach-athlete relationships. This study is an exploratory investigation into male swimming coaches’ perceptions of appropriateness of coach-athlete sexual relationships. Sexual relationships with athletes under the age of 16 were unanimously considered totally inappropriate. With regard to sexual relationships with athletes above the age of consent for heterosexual sex, opinions ranged from “totally inappropriate” to “it’s a question of civil liberties.” These results are discussed in relation to how coaches have adapted their own behaviours in the face of public scrutiny but are still reluctant to restrict the rights of their fellow coaches

Convalescent plasma in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised controlled, open-label, platform trial

SummaryBackground Azithromycin has been proposed as a treatment for COVID-19 on the basis of its immunomodulatoryactions. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of azithromycin in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19.Methods In this randomised, controlled, open-label, adaptive platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19Therapy [RECOVERY]), several possible treatments were compared with usual care in patients admitted to hospitalwith COVID-19 in the UK. The trial is underway at 176 hospitals in the UK. Eligible and consenting patients wererandomly allocated to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus azithromycin 500 mg once perday by mouth or intravenously for 10 days or until discharge (or allocation to one of the other RECOVERY treatmentgroups). Patients were assigned via web-based simple (unstratified) randomisation with allocation concealment andwere twice as likely to be randomly assigned to usual care than to any of the active treatment groups. Participants andlocal study staff were not masked to the allocated treatment, but all others involved in the trial were masked to theoutcome data during the trial. The primary outcome was 28-day all-cause mortality, assessed in the intention-to-treatpopulation. The trial is registered with ISRCTN, 50189673, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04381936.Findings Between April 7 and Nov 27, 2020, of 16 442 patients enrolled in the RECOVERY trial, 9433 (57%) wereeligible and 7763 were included in the assessment of azithromycin. The mean age of these study participants was65·3 years (SD 15·7) and approximately a third were women (2944 [38%] of 7763). 2582 patients were randomlyallocated to receive azithromycin and 5181 patients were randomly allocated to usual care alone. Overall,561 (22%) patients allocated to azithromycin and 1162 (22%) patients allocated to usual care died within 28 days(rate ratio 0·97, 95% CI 0·87–1·07; p=0·50). No significant difference was seen in duration of hospital stay (median10 days [IQR 5 to >28] vs 11 days [5 to >28]) or the proportion of patients discharged from hospital alive within 28 days(rate ratio 1·04, 95% CI 0·98–1·10; p=0·19). Among those not on invasive mechanical ventilation at baseline, nosignificant difference was seen in the proportion meeting the composite endpoint of invasive mechanical ventilationor death (risk ratio 0·95, 95% CI 0·87–1·03; p=0·24).Interpretation In patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, azithromycin did not improve survival or otherprespecified clinical outcomes. Azithromycin use in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 should be restrictedto patients in whom there is a clear antimicrobial indication

Productivity vs Quality? A pilot study on the impact of translation memory systems

Translators working in the localisation industry are faced with the task of producing high-quality translations in a very short turnaround time. One way in which they are trying to balance these goals is by using translation technology to help. One of the most popular translation technology tools available is the translation memory (TM). TMs are often promoted as tools that can help translators to improve their productivity, but less is known about the impact that the use of such tools can have on the quality of the translation. This article investigates the impact of TMs on both speed and quality by presenting the results of a pilot study in which three groups of student translators were asked to translate the same text. Translators in Group A did not use a TM, and while their translations were of relatively high quality, they took longer to produce. Translators in Group B used an "unadulterated" TM, and they were able to translate more quickly, but there were some minor concerns with the quality of their work. Translators in Group C used a TM that had been deliberately "seeded" with a number of translation errors, and while they were able to work quickly, the quality of their translations was lower than that of the other two groups. The results of this small experiment seem to indicate that, when faced with the pressure to translate quickly, translators using TMs may not be critical enough of the proposals offered by the system. This in turn indicates a definite need for proper training in the appropriate use of translation technology

Repérage et analyse de l’information sur la santé dans Internet : le cas des CLOSM dans la province de l’Alberta

La présente étude examine, dans le contexte des langues officielles, quelques-uns des besoins insatisfaits des communautés de langue officielle en situation minoritaire (CLOSM) au Canada sur le plan de la santé. Nous présentons les résultats d’une analyse de l’information sur la santé offerte dans Internet aux francophones de l’Alberta. Nous avons procédé à une évaluation comparative de l’information sur la santé destinée à la population albertaine en français et en anglais dans Internet. En présentant les résultats, cette analyse compare le nombre de textes en français et en anglais et se penche sur la qualité de la langue des textes en français.This study examines, in the official languages context, some of the unmet health needs of official language minority communities (OLMCs) in Canada. We present the results of an analysis of health information offered to Alberta Francophones via the Internet. We carried out a comparative evaluation of the health information available to Albertans in French and English on the Internet. Our analysis of the results compares the number of documents in French and English and focuses on the quality of the language in the French documents