Metaglossia: The Translation World

• Du 7 Juin 2024 au 8 Juin 2024Publié le 17 Avril 2024 par Faculté des lettres - Université de Lausanne

Le Centre de Traduction Littéraire a 35 ans !

Et la fête se déroulera les 7 et 8 juin 2024: de 14h30 le vendredi à 22h le samedi, retrouvez nos nombreux·ses invité·es. Avec Dominique Nédellec, lauréat du Programme Gilbert Musy 2024, Yla von Dach, Marion Graf, Dorothea Trottenberg, Gaëlle Cogan, Carlotta Bernardoni-Jaquinta, Marina Skalova, Maud Mabillard, Francesco Biamonte, Josée Kamoun, Muriel Pic, Thierry Raboud, Vincent David, Lucie Tardin, Benjamin Pécoud, Anthony Prezman, Alexandre Grandjean, Sandra Amodio, Isabelle Vonlanthen, Véronique Walzer, Fanny Mossière... et vous!

C'est La Grange qui accueillera les festivités, sur le campus de l'Université de Lausanne. Deux jours riches de rencontres, d’échanges, de jeux en traduction et en musique, sans oublier un prix de consécration et la découverte de nouveaux talents.

Découvrir tout le programme…

Inscription souhaitée, via le formulaire d'inscription…

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Le Prix lémanique de la traduction, créé en 1985, est un prix d’excellence dans le domaine de la traduction littéraire. Doté de deux fois CHF 10’000.- et d’un séjour au Collège de traducteurs Looren près de Zürich, il récompense tous les trois ans deux personnes, dont l’une traduit du français vers l’allemand et l’autre de l’allemand vers le français. Cette année, le quatorzième Prix lémanique de la traduction est décerné à parts égales à Lis Künzli (vers l’allemand) et Françoise Toraille (vers le français), deux traductrices contribuant depuis de nombreuses années à stimuler les échanges littéraires et intellectuels entre ces deux langues. La qualité de leurs traductions a déjà été honorée en d’autres lieux.

Cette année, la remise du Prix lémanique se déroulera à l’occasion des 35 ans du Centre de traduction littéraire les 7 et 8 juin 2024 à la Grange. Rendez-vous donc le vendredi 7 juin à partir de 19h dans l’espace culturel de la Grange à l’Université de Lausanne, inscriptions sur la page dédiée du Centre de traduction littéraire. La cérémonie se composera notamment d’une lecture scénique bilingue par Véronique Walzer traversant l’œuvre des lauréates, et des allocutions en l’honneur des lauréates seront prononcées par Marion Graf et Isabelle Vonlanthen. Une production du labOpera du Conservatoire de Lausanne accompagnera en musique les festivités. Un apéritif attendra naturellement les invités et le public à l’issue de la soirée.

Lis Künzli, née près de Willisau, a étudié la germanistique, la littérature comparée et la philosophie à Zürich, Aix-en-Provence et Berlin après avoir obtenu son diplôme d’enseignante. Depuis, elle traduit entre autres Amin Maalouf, Atiq Rahimi, Camille Laurens, Pierre Baillard, Pascale Hugues, Marivaux, S. Corinna Bille. Elle est également active dans la formation de la relève en traduction littéraire. Aujourd’hui, elle vit à Toulouse. En 2009, elle a reçu le prix de traduction Eugen Helmlé.
Le jury germanophone (Angela Sanmann-Graf, Isabelle Vonlanthen et Andreas Jandl) salue son sens fin de la nuance, le plaisir que ses textes prennent au jeu de langue et au jeu de mots, et le caractère de son œuvre toujours souligné par un grand soin et un souci du détail. Ils relèvent en outre l’engagement constant de la lauréate dans la traduction et le transfert de la littérature francophone contemporaine.

Après des études de littérature (germanique et française) et parallèlement à sa carrière académique d’enseignante-chercheuse à l’Université Paris XII, Françoise Toraille s’est tournée dès 1989 vers la traduction littéraire, qui correspondait à la fois à son amour des langues et à sa pratique de l’analyse textuelle et stylistique. Parmi les auteurs qu’elle a traduits figurent Saša Stanišić, Melinda Nadj Abonji, Terézia Mora et Galsan Tschinag.
Dans sa motivation, le jury francophone (Marie Fleury-Wullschleger, Marion Graf et Stéphane Pesnel) fait l’éloge de la lauréate en ces termes : « Nous saluons dans l’œuvre de Françoise Toraille la cohérence de ses choix ainsi que ses qualités de précision, d’inventivité et d’humour. »

• Url de référence :
  https://unil.ch/ctl/35ans
• Adresse :
  La Grange, Campus de Dorigny, Université de Lausanne - 
  voir sur une carte 

#metaglossia_mundus: https://www.fabula.org/actualites/120269/le-centre-de-traduction-litteraire-fete-ses-35-ans-lausanne.html

 

"Les traducteurs littéraires menacés par l’intelligence artificielle

Les logiciels de traduction commencent à bouleverser ce maillon de l’édition essentiel mais fragile.

Peggy Rolland, présidente de l’Association des traducteurs littéraires de France, craint les effets délétères de l’intelligence artificielle.

Ouest-France Florence PITARD.Publié le 14/04/2024 à 07h25

 

« C’est du sabotage, c’est un poison. » Présidente de l’Association pour la promotion de la traduction littéraire Atlas, Margot Nguyen Béraud n’a pas de mots assez durs pour décrire les effets de l’utilisation de l’Intelligence artificielle. Le traducteur littéraire, c’est celui qui met toute sa sensibilité à comprendre l’intention de l’auteur afin de ne pas dénaturer son œuvre.  « C’est un métier d’art et de création, alors les traducteurs ont mis du temps à comprendre qu’ils allaient être touchés. »

 

Seulement l’ennemi avance, sous les traits de logiciels de traduction dont le plus connu, nommé DeepL est déjà largement utilisé dans le domaine de la traduction de notices techniques. Or, en cas d’intervention d’un logiciel, le risque est de se voir proposer un contrat, non de traduction, mais de post-édition. « Le texte généré donne l’illusion d’une traduction, mais il est truffé d’erreurs et d’inexactitudes. Il faut passer derrière. Cela prend autant, voire plus de temps que de partir de la version originale, qu’il est en plus préférable de consulter ! C’est désagréable et laborieux. »

Une « pratique clandestine »

Les traducteurs littéraires, qui seraient au nombre de 3 000, craignent que les éditeurs en profitent pour donner des délais plus courts, payer moins et changer le mode de rémunération. Car les contrats de traduction prévoient une rémunération au feuillet, plus des droits d’auteur. En post-édition, le risque est de privilégier des contrats d’autoentrepreneurs, moins favorables.

De telles pratiques ont probablement déjà cours, mais il est difficile de les chiffrer, car ni ceux qui fournissent le travail, ni ceux qui sont contraints de l’accepter ne s’en vantent. L’Association des traducteurs littéraires de France a mené une enquête auprès de ses adhérents. « Elle a révélé qu’il s’agissait d’une pratique largement clandestine », déplore Peggy Rolland, présidente de l’ATLF. Vraisemblablement, elle s’est déjà démocratisée pour les livres pratiques.

 

En octobre 2023, les organisations ont lancé un collectif de traducteurs, En chair et en os, qui a lancé une pétition signée par 6 000 personnes. Celle-ci demande que les éditeurs refusent le recours à l’IA dans la traduction et qu’ils soient en tout cas obligés de le signaler aux consommateurs. « Au final, prévient Peggy Rolland, si les traducteurs utilisent un logiciel, ils seront influencés par la machine. Il y a un risque d’uniformisation de la langue. »

#metaglossia_mundus: https://www.ouest-france.fr/culture/livres/les-traducteurs-litteraires-menaces-par-lintelligence-artificielle-06c51bba-f81b-11ee-b61a-805a85d39d9d

 

 

"In our increasingly AI–driven world, innovation is in short supply. We need a human-centric innovation culture: one that embraces neurodiversity

By Wayne Deakin 17/04/2024

The world is hungry for innovation. People want it to make their lives better. Businesses want it to stay relevant. Yet despite all the technical advances that characterise our increasingly AI-driven world, innovation is in short supply.

Innovation is a top three priority for over 80% of executives, one recent study found. Yet fewer than 10% believe they do it well. Why? The answer is culture. Or, to be more specific, the prevalence of what’s lacking in today’s top innovation cultures: herd thinking.

To understand the causes of this problem and how best to solve it, let’s begin with what innovation is. Innovation is novelty – a new idea, method, or device. And as such, it is something only achievable when we are free to think differently..."

#metaglossia_mundus

"Amidst seemingly never-ending essays, midterms and internship applications, many students in college dream of never having to write a single original word again. Yet, Wordshop, the College of William and Mary’s fast-growing creative writing club, provides students with a unique opportunity to write not for the sake of reaching that 1,500 word mark by the 11:59 deadline, but rather for creativity, enjoyment and self-expression.

In its weekly meetings, Wordshop brings students together to develop their creative writing skills and share their pieces with others in an open, non-judgemental and stress-free artistic space. They explore a variety of different genres including fiction, nonfiction, prose and poetry, and seek to welcome students at the College with all levels of writing experience. The club also hosts a myriad of guest speakers and social and workshop-based events to build a tight-knit community of student writers. 

At its core, Wordshop aims to keep the art of creative writing alive and thriving within the student body, framing the skill as an enjoyable and revered one rather than one that is mandated by academic commitments.

“Stories and writing are not only about creative expression, they also come to shape our social reality and historical narratives,” co-president of Wordshop Yannie Chang ’25 said. “What is canon and what is not, what narratives and perspectives are preserved and which are not; all these things matter. Wordshop aims to embody the spirit that writing is a valuable and privileged tool to share and preserve ideas and stories.”

Wordshop co-presidents Chang and Malvika Shrimali ’24 emphasized that Wordshop requires no prior writing experience and that anyone with an interest in creative writing can join club meetings. 

“We also always encourage newcomers and don’t want people to be intimidated by the notion of never having been to a meeting before,” Chang said. “Even if you’ve never been and you find yourself wanting to write or simply hear some beautiful stories, you will always be welcome.”

At each Wordshop meeting, members are given around twenty minutes of writing time on a themed prompt, which was voted on at the previous meeting, and they are subsequently offered a chance to share their work with the group. Past prompts have ranged from “misunderstood monsters” to “love poems.” Additionally, a “follow your heart” option is always provided for those who wish to write whatever they would like.

Given that writing is often situated in a stressful academic context in college, Wordshop aims to operate in an entirely different low-stakes sphere of creativity and artistic freedom.

“Wordshop has always been intended to be a low-stress environment for writers. Many clubs require high degrees of commitment, and even within the creative writing space, workshops elsewhere are often formalized in ways that scare away aspiring writers,” member Charlie May ’24 wrote in an email to The Flat Hat. “At its core, Wordshop is a place that focuses on writing as a way to decompress, which is something I think a lot of us could use.”

Wordshop aims to reframe writing in a positive light for students, providing an escape from the drudgery of certain academic writing requirements. 

“Writing isn’t a chore or an obligation here; it is a means to destress,” Treasurer Iman Hersi ‘27 wrote in an email to The Flat Hat.

Club members also pinpointed how Wordshop helps maintain constant writing practice amidst the many different aspects of a busy college life. 

“We’re so focused on classes or other clubs and responsibilities that it can be hard to focus on writing for fun or to further your own personal projects, and Wordshop has helped me sit down and write every week to keep my skills sharp,” Outreach Chair Phebe Gentlesk ‘27 wrote in an email to The Flat Hat.

In addition to honing their creative writing skills, other members highlighted that writing in a shared, communal setting was more appealing to them than working individually.

“People come and go over the months and years, but the club has always retained a uniquely chill vibe that makes sharing work more comfortable,” May wrote in an email to The Flat Hat. “It’s a very relaxing feeling that beats typing away alone in a dark, drab dorm room a million times over.”

Social Chair Angelina Joa ’25 shared a similar sentiment, underlining that Wordshop is unique compared to other clubs at the College in its ability to successfully build an environment that is extremely welcoming and non-intimidating for all members, new and old. 

“Wordshop is the first club where I feel comfortable and content. It’s the first club where I feel like I don’t have to force myself to be there out of necessity,” wrote Joa in an email to The Flat Hat. “Rather, I’m there because I really want to be there. Wordshop for me is a place of comfort.”

Considering the overwhelmingly positive experience relayed by Wordshop members, the club has sought to expand and strengthen its student writing community through a multitude of new initiatives in the last year and a half. The club has created a social media presence on both Instagram and Discord, increased social events, fostered collaborations with other groups at the College and invited various guest speakers. The organization has also recently expanded its executive board team and started fundraising events in the hopes of growing its presence on campus.

“I would love more people to get involved,” Shrimali said. “Writing does not have to be stressful and I want to encourage people to explore the arts.”

For anyone who has ever considered doing some writing just for the fun of it, Wordshop offers an easygoing environment to do that during its weekly meetings on Mondays at 7 p.m. in Chancellors 133."

#metaglossia_mundus

"The faculties of Science and Arts introduce a new theatre and performance course tailored to Science students

By Sarah FullertonFaculty of Science

   

While it is often believed that art and science fall on opposite sides of the left- and right-brain divide, history shows that some of the brightest minds are versatile in both. Leonardo da Vinci, celebrated for his artistry, was also a scientist and inventor. Today, figures like Brian May, the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen with a PhD in astrophysics, and actresses Natalie Portman (Black Swan) and Lisa Kudrow (Friends), who are contributing authors in scientific research, exemplify the intersectionality between art and science.

Alumni from the University of Waterloo, such as Azeezat Adeyoyin Oyawoye (BSc ’21), illustrates this multidimensional talent. Oyawoye, known as  Àbíkẹ́ The Artist  on Instagram, has established herself as a visual artist and a project manager at Huge, a creative consulting agency with various clients including McDonald's, Google, Pantone and Lego.

In a technology-driven world, it is no surprise that employers seek individuals with technical expertise and creative thinking skills. As the demand for STEM graduates continues to grow, there is a notable movement to incorporate arts into the mix to encourage diversity of thought by attracting students with different backgrounds to gravitate toward STEM learning. 

Waterloo has always been known for approaching challenges differently. Our faculty, students and alumni effectively unlock barriers by working together to develop creative solutions across disciplines. Building on this strength, the Faculty of Science at Waterloo strives for students to graduate with the skills to think creatively and approach work with passion, purpose and an innovative mindset. To address these needs, the faculty has introduced the Science Meets Art (SMArt) initiative to help students reach their full potential and empower them to explore interests including painting, graphic design, music and acting with other science students also looking to flex their creative muscles.  

“Science Meets Art is a new initiative that will promote out-of-the box thinking,” says Chris Houser, dean of the Faculty of Science. “Now more than ever, we need scientists who can effectively present and defend science through a range of mediums. The program aims to enrich the science curriculum by creating an engaging learning environment that will provide graduates with a well-rounded education.”

The SMArt initiative includes a new elective course called  Staging Science: Embodying Knowledge Expression in the Sciences that starts in spring 2024. A collaboration with Communication Arts, the course is taught by Dr. Sarah Klein and designed specifically for Science students. 

“In this course, students will delve into plays, performance studies, and the history, philosophy and sociology of science,” Klein says. “By approaching science as an art, students will develop a set of collaborative, representational and embodied skills that are part of many aspects of scientific work, from designing research and interpreting data to conveying complex phenomena.” 

Students will come away with a toolkit of performance skills that they will be able to call upon whether they are presenting research in class, defending a PhD, or sharing scientific findings with non-experts. Students who complete the course will have a whole new set of skills and experience to pull from throughout the rest of their degree and upon graduation. Read the full course description online and register for the upcoming spring 2024 term."

#metaglossia_mundus approves: No science without art, no art without science! (Read on: https://uwaterloo.ca/news/uniting-science-and-art-through-steam-education)

"Research suggests the human brain is wired to distinguish the rhyme and rhythm of verse from ordinary prose, and to react to literary contemplation.

By: Patrick J. Kiger  |  Updated: Apr 16, 2024

Poetry activates parts of the human brain distinct from those affected by other types of literature. SQUAREDPIXELS/GETTY IMAGES

Key Takeaways

• Ordinary speech and prose affect the human brain but not in the same way as poetry, which activates specific areas of the brain that recognize its rhymes and rhythms and contemplate its imagery and layered meanings.
• The brain's reaction to poetry indicates a deep, intuitive connection to verse, suggesting that appreciation of poetry is within our neurological structure.
• Reading or listening to poetry not only stimulates emotional and aesthetic responses but also enhances cognitive functions like flexible thinking and the capacity to understand complex, multiple meanings, which can be beneficial in everyday decision-making.

Whether it's Alfred Lord Tennyson's "Ulysses" or Maya Angelou's "Caged Bird," there's something about reading or hearing a great poem that stimulates our minds, moving us to ponder the world from a new angle. And from a neuroscientific point of view, that's no accident.

In recent years, researchers have used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and other sophisticated tools to study how the human brain reacts to poetry. They've discovered, among other things, that the brain seems to be wired to recognize the rhymes and rhythms that poets use, and differentiate them from ordinary speech or prose. They've also found that contemplating poetic imagery and the multiple layers of meanings in poems activates specific areas of the brain — some of the same areas, in fact, that help us to interpret our everyday reality.

 

 

One reason poetry has such a potent effect upon us is that our brains seem to be wired to recognize it. In one newly published study in the journal Frontiers of Psychology, researchers at the UK's Bangor University read an assortment of sentences to a group of Welsh-speaking subjects. Some of the sentences conformed to the intricate poetic construction rules of Cynghanedd, a traditional form of Welsh poetry, while others didn't follow those rules. Though the subjects didn't know anything about Cynghanedd, they nevertheless categorized as "good" the sentences that followed the rules as compared to other sentences. The researchers also hooked up the subjects to EEG devices, and observed a distinctive burst of electrical activity in the subjects' brains that occurred in the fraction of a second after hearing the last word of a poetic line.

"I believe that our results argue for a profoundly intuitive origin of poetry," says Bangor psychology professor Guillaume Thierry, via email. "Poetry appears to be 'built in,' it is like a profound intuition, every human being is an unconscious poet."

Poetry also seems to affect specific areas of the brain, depending upon the degree of emotion and the complexity of the language and ideas. In a study published in 2013 in Journal of Consciousness Studies, researchers at the UK's University of Exeter had participants lay inside an fMRI scanner while they read various texts on a screen. The selections ranged from deliberately dull prose — such as a section from a heating equipment installation manual — and passages from novels to samples from various poems, a few of which the subjects had identified as their favorites. The subjects had to rate the texts on qualities such as how much emotion they aroused, and how "literary," or difficult to contemplate, they were.

The researchers found that the higher the degree of emotiveness that subjects assigned to a sample, the more activation that the scans showed in areas on the right side of the brain — many of the same ones identified in a 2001 study as being activated by music that moved listeners to feel chills or shivers down their spines. The examples rated as more "literary," in contrast, lit up areas mostly on the left side of the brain, including the basal ganglia, which are involved both in regulating movement and processing challenging sentences. The subjects' favorite poems weakly activated a network in the brain associated with reading, but strongly activated the inferior parietal lobes, an area associated with recognition.

 

"Favorite poems appeared to be 'remembered' as much as or rather than 'read," Adam Zeman, an Exeter professor of cognitive and behavioral neurology, explains in an email.

Yet another recent experiment, detailed in a 2015 article in the neuroscience journal Cortex, University of Liverpool researchers used an fMRI to scan the brains of subjects while they read various passages of poetry and prose, in an effort to find what parts of the brain were involved in "literary awareness" — the capacity to think about and find meaning in a complex text. In half of the examples, the final line was an unexpected twist that Philip Davis, a professor and director of the school's Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, refers to as an "a-ha moment." (One example: William Wordsworth's 1799 poem "She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways," about a recluse who died in seclusion, in which the narrator drops a hint that he may have been her unrequited lover.) The subjects rated the passages on how poetic they seemed and whether or not the last lines led them to reappraise the meaning — a measure of literary awareness.

"We believe that this is the first fMRI that examines the unfolding effects of moving from line to line, and the consequences in terms of what we call literary awareness as compared to more automatic and literal-minded processing of meaning," says Davis in an email. "The poetic work triggered different parts of the brain related to non-automatic processing of meaning, leading to increased lively activation of mind and a simultaneous sense of psychological reward."

But the research also suggests that reading or listening to poetry is useful for something besides just rousing our emotions and elevating our souls. The same mental skills that we exercise in struggling to understand T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock " — i.e., flexible thinking and the ability to ponder multiple meanings — also help us to navigate unpredictable events and make choices in our everyday lives.

"The calling into activation of literary awareness may have a significant effect in challenging our default mind-set," Davis says. He thinks that if more people read poetry and got accustomed to pondering meaning, "it would make a difference to their capacity to think with more alertness to excite surprise and change.""

#metaglossia_mundus

"Highlights

• •

  Both parents from the United Kingdom and France view creativity as a desirable phenomenon linked to originality and problem solving.

• •

  The parents distinguished between two types of creative activities: craft activities like drawing, in which children can develop their competence and ability; and imaginative activities like pretend play, in which children can express themselves.

• •

  The parents reported that members of the dyad needs to be motivated in the creative activity in order to fully be immersed in it and make meaningful moments that can contribute to their bonding.

• •

  The parents used creative activities as a diversion strategy to help their children to regulate their emotions, or promote positive affect and vitality.

• •

  Creative activities appear to be valuable both as a process – for the effects they can yield on children's development – as well as for the products they yield, and they can contribute to hone the child's development of their creative self-concept and personality.

Abstract

Although creativity research increasingly documents how parents support their children's creativity at home, previous work has been mostly quantitative in nature, while qualitative studies almost exclusively report data from mothers. Thus, we conducted online qualitative interviews of 14 parents (9 mothers and 5 fathers) of children aged between 4 and 6 years, who were living in France or in the United Kingdom during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through a cross-cultural reflexive thematic analysis, we explored questions around what views of early childhood creativity parents shared; whether (and if so why) they are motivated to engage in dyadic home creative activities with their children; and their perceptions of the benefits of these activities, both on themselves, and on their children. The parents shared views and definitions of creativity in line with creativity research. Moreover, they explained how they used creative activities to teach their children social rules, self-expression, independence, and skills development. They also appreciated creative activities as a strategy to help their children vent and calm down or, in contrast, to foster in them a sense of joy and vitality. Parents also reported the extent to which creative activities contribute to parent—child relationship quality. We discuss these findings through the lens of Self-Determination Theory.

Keywords

Creativity support

Creative activities

Early childhood

Self-determination

Home"

Authors

Nicolas B. Verger a, Julie Roberts b, Jane Guiller a, Kareena McAloney-Kocaman a

#metaglossia_mundus

"Intelligent automation can revolutionize business operations but it’s important to recognize its boundaries

 

Michael Hill 04/16/2024  Intelligent automation (IA) combines artificial intelligence (AI), robotic process automation (RPA) and business process management (BPM) to help businesses streamline operations. Organizations report an average 20 percent improvement in operational efficiency following IA implementation. Advantages include workforce augmentation, improved productivity, enhanced accuracy, consistent processes, better customer experiences and compliance with regulations.

However. while the benefits of IA are compelling and the excitement surrounding its potential is understandable, there are limits to what it can realistically offer organizations. “IA has revolutionized how we approach business operations, offering unprecedented efficiency and capabilities. However, it’s vital to recognize the boundaries of what it can achieve,” Racheal Williams, CEO and founder of My AI Courses, tells PEX Network.

Cutting through the hype, here are six things IA can’t do for your business and why.

 

Don't miss any news, updates or insider tips from PEX Network by getting them delivered to your inbox. Sign up to our newsletter and join our community of experts. 

Learn More

 

1. Use emotional intelligence or make ethical decisions

IA improves business efficiency but it doesn’t have emotional intelligence, creative thinking or the ability to make ethical decisions, which are crucial for roles such as sales, client relationship management and product management, says Bill Moseman, head of client relationship management at Inbotiqa. “It struggles with understanding context in human communication and doesn’t adapt well to unpredictable changes with the speed of a focused human being.”

IA operates within the ethical frameworks and guidelines it is programmed with, but it cannot make moral judgments or take accountability for decisions, adds Williams. “The ethical implications of business decisions, especially those impacting stakeholders and society, still require human oversight.”

READ: 7 trends shaping intelligent automation in 2024

2. Fix customer service or build relationships

IA is not a customer service silver bullet – it might help you get to an answer/response quicker, but it doesn’t deliver attitude, culture or a friendly voice, says Peter Evans operational excellence consultant and trainer and PEX Network Advisory Board member. “You need great people and constancy of purpose to deliver that.”

One of the key areas where IA falls short is building and nurturing customer relationships on a personal level, concurs Laia Quintana, head of marketing and sales at TeamUp. “While IA can automate many tasks, it lacks the human touch that is often necessary to truly connect with customers.” For example, it can’t understand the nuances of human emotions, empathize with specific customer situations or adapt its communication style to match the customer’s tone. “This is particularly important in the fitness industry, where personal connection and understanding individual needs are crucial for customer retention and satisfaction,” Quintana says.

The cornerstone of any business is its relationships with customers, partners and employees. While IA can facilitate interactions, the depth, warmth and trust that comes from genuine human relationships are irreplaceable and essential for long-term business success, adds Williams.

3. Prioritize physical and mental health

The implementation of IA also cannot sense operator/worker overload and mental health issues, says Chris, marketing coordinator at MATTRESSTEK. “These things should (and need to) be accounted for by managers and individuals in the business.” Whilst many things within a business can be automated, no business can really be fully automated and any system – ERP or production/processing – will need to be supervised for health and safety and capacity perspectives. “If robots could really rule the world, I’m pretty sure they would have by now.”

REGISTER: All Access: Intelligent Automation 2024

4. Cure failure demand

If you think that IA will cure your failure demand (demand caused by a failure to do something or do something right for the customer) be warned – it won’t. “As with RPA and other technologies, there is a real danger we will simply make errors faster,” says Evans. “When RPA became vogue, I heard many people at conferences boasting about how many bots they had created. I fear the same with IA.” Take the time to think through “real root cause” before starting to develop, he adds. “If you don’t know that, how can you possibly know you are really improving?”

5. Be creative and strategic

While IA can generate innovative patterns and solutions within specified parameters, it lacks the capability to think abstractly and strategize outside the box. “The visionary aspect of business strategy, including innovation and long-term planning, remains a distinctly human forte,” says Williams. IA tools are designed to learn from data and improve over time, but their adaptability is limited to their programming and the data they have been trained on. “In highly volatile or unprecedented scenarios, human intervention is critical to navigate complexities and innovate solutions.”

READ: 6 free intelligent automation training courses for business leaders

6. Impart wisdom (or insight)

IA will undoubtedly give you wider and deeper access to data, but it will only take you part of the way from data to wisdom (or insight). “It may take you from data to information and maybe even knowledge, but it will need great and insightful people to do the last part,” says Evans. “I have seen so many businesses and people stop at ‘information’ and believe that is enough. It isn’t.”

As with all new tools, there is a belief that they will answer all the questions you could possibly have. “I doubt that very much; in fact, what I think will happen is it will drive new and better questions,” Evans adds. That needs ‘real’ intelligence to release the full power of the new technologies – something businesses have not been great at in the past."

#metaglossia_mundus: https://www.processexcellencenetwork.com/rpa/articles/things-intelligent-automation-cant-do

 

"As the popularity of French wanes, RobotsMali is using AI to create books in Bambara.

By Rachel Chason

April 13, 2024 at 2:00 a.m. EDT

SAFO, Mali — Most of the students had never seen their native language in its written form until recently. Now, they were eagerly sounding out the words appearing on the ThinkPad laptops before them, sometimes stumbling as they read a story written entirely in Mali’s most popular language, Bambara.

The twist? The story on their screens had been generated, translated and illustrated using artificial intelligence.

 

As Mali’s relationship with French — the language of its former colonial ruler, France — has grown more fraught, an effort to use AI to create children’s books in Bambara and other local languages is gaining momentum. With political tensions high between the two countries, Mali’s military government last year replaced French as the country’s “official” language, instead elevating Bambara and 12 other native languages, though French will still be used in government settings and public schools.

 

 

That change has meant there is more political will behind efforts like that of RobotsMali, a start-up that has used artificial intelligence to create more than 140 books in Bambara since last year, said Séni Tognine, who works in Mali’s Education Ministry and has been helping RobotsMali create its books. Now, he said, both the government and the people “are engaged in wanting to learn and valorize local languages.”

RobotsMali uses AI to produce stories that reflect the lives and culture of regular Malians. Instead of simply translating a French classic like “Le Petit Prince” into Bambara, RobotsMali’s team puts a prompt into ChatGPT such as: “Tell me mischievous things kids do.”

 

The team, whose work was first reported by Rest of World, eliminates examples that would not be relevant to most kids in Mali, then uses Google Translate — which added Bambara in 2022 and employs AI to improve its translations — to do a first round of translation. Experts like Tognine then correct any mistakes. Another staff member uses a variety of AI image creators to illustrate the stories, ensuring that the characters are relatable to Malian kids, and then turns to ChatGPT to create reading comprehension tests.

Sitting in the classroom in Safo, a dozen students who had dropped out of public school or never attended one were following along as their instructor led them in reading a story about the things children should not do, including wasting food, picking on their siblings and talking back to adults. At various points, the instructor called on individual students to read aloud, which they did eagerly, sometimes gently correcting each other.

 

 

Soko Coulibaly, a quiet 10-year-old who had never been to school and now sat in the front row, using her finger to follow along, said that she’d felt “a little scared” when she’d first seen Bambara in its written form, thinking to herself: “How am I going to do this?”

But after a few lessons, she’d found it easy to decipher the words she was so used to speaking at home and had started bringing books back to her mother, who is among the 70 percent of Malians who have never learned to read or write.

 

A challenge for African languages

The vast majority of Africa’s roughly 1,000 languages are not represented on websites, which big generative AI platforms like ChatGPT crawl to help train themselves.

If you ask ChatGPT the most basic questions in Ethiopia’s two most popular languages, Amharic and Tigrinya, for example, it produces a nonsensical jumble of Amharic, Tigrinya and sometimes even other languages, Asmelash Teka Hadgu said. But Hadgu, who created a start-up focused on using machine learning to translate between English and Ethiopian languages, said that specific projects like that of RobotsMali also speak to the potential of artificial intelligence.

“If it is done right,” he said, “the potential in terms of democratizing access to education is enormous.”

 

 

Nate Allen, an associate professor at the Washington-based Africa Center for Strategic Studies, said that although the United States and China are “undoubtedly at the frontier” of artificial intelligence technology, efforts such as those in Mali show that “we are living in an era of AI accessibility.”

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As the RobotsMali team worked in their office in a wing of co-founder Michael Leventhal’s house in Bamako on a recent day, one employee of the Education Ministry was correcting Bambara translations done by Google Translate, while another was querying Playground, a free online image creator, for photos of “an African woman pounding millet.” Leventhal was studying a picture of a father and a daughter that had been created by AI, wondering if the image had made the African man too stereotypically muscular, as he said often happens.

Tognine, who started collaborating with RobotsMali after doing an AI training conducted by the group, said the program has made the ministry’s work more efficient. “There are many things to correct, but it takes seconds to translate what would before take weeks or months,” he said, adding that just that week, he’d already created two books.

A previous effort by Mali’s government to introduce Bambara into public schools largely failed because of a lack of funding, teacher training and parental interest for children to learn a language in school other than French, Tognine said.

 

But he said that in recent years, there has been a growing embrace of the importance of learning to read and write the national languages, which have traditionally been primarily spoken, partly because of the government’s rejection of France and focus on national sovereignty.

“It enriches our cultural and linguistic history,” Bakari Sahogo, another member of the Education Ministry who has been working with RobotsMali, said about the importance of writing in Bambara and other local languages. “And [it] permits us to safeguard and develop our culture.”

 

Building a stronger written tradition

Leventhal, who worked as a tech entrepreneur in Silicon Valley before moving to Mali a decade ago to teach computer science, said the ultimate goal is to use artificial intelligence to help Mali develop a stronger written tradition of Bambara than currently exists. That could happen, he said, as artificial intelligence systems get access to more language data.

But for now, the focus is on efforts like those in Safo, where none of the children in the program knew how to read before RobotsMali launched its nine-week program here in January. By April, when the program ended after funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ran out, 10 of the 11 children were able to read at at least a basic level, Leventhal said.

As instructor Nouhoum Coulibaly handed out copies of a new book on a recent day, the children were focused, despite temperatures that passed 110 degrees.

 

Fourteen-year-old Bourama Diallo had always been nervous at the French-only public school. Now he said he found himself loving learning.

Coulibaly, the quiet 10-year-old who’d started bringing back books to her mother, said her favorite one was about animals, or “bagan” in Bambara. She said she hoped the program would resume. Leventhal said the group has returned a few times since the program ended to bring the children new books, and he plans for it to resume once new funding comes through.

Coulibaly said she had never seen a computer before the program started and had been fascinated when staff explained how the stories were created.

“You can create many things with computers,” she said with a smile. “They know things about the world.”"

#metaglossia_mundus

Reflexive Translation Studies

Translation as Critical Reflection

Silvia Kadiu

ISBN: 9781787352568

Publication: April 08, 2019

Series: Literature and Translation

In the past decades, translation studies have increasingly focused on the ethical dimension of translational activity, with an emphasis on reflexivity to assert the role of the researcher in highlighting issues of visibility, creativity and ethics. In Reflexive Translation Studies, Silvia Kadiu investigates the viability of theories that seek to empower translation by making visible its transformative dimension; for example, by championing the visibility of the translating subject, the translator’s right to creativity, the supremacy of human translation or an autonomous study of translation.

Inspired by Derrida’s deconstructive thinking, Kadiu presents practical ways of challenging theories that argue reflexivity is the only way of developing an ethical translation. She questions the capacity of reflexivity to counteract the power relations at play in translation (between minor and dominant languages, for example) and problematises affirmative claims about (self-)knowledge by using translation itself as a process of critical reflection.

In exploring the interaction between form and content, Reflexive Translation Studies promotes the need for an experimental, multi-sensory and intuitive practice, which invites students, scholars and practitioners alike to engage with theory productively and creatively through translation.

Praise for Reflexive Translation Studies

‘This compelling book presents a method that is flexible and learner-centered for educators as well as accessible and translator-centered for scholars and practitioners.’
Translation Review

#metaglossia_mundus

"Translate your entire screen in a couple of taps

SUMMARY

•  Circle to Search with instant translation is now widely rolling out, making it easier to translate large blocks of onscreen text.
•  The feature is activated by tapping the Translate button next to the search bar, which auto-detects the language and translates it to the user's default system language.
•  Additionally, Circle to Search can also conduct a quick Google Search using a portion of the translated text.

 

Google first introduced Circle to Search in January, with the AI-based feature letting users look up whatever's on their screen. But it was initially limited to the Galaxy S24 lineup and the Pixel 8 series but has since expanded to more devices, including the older Pixel 6 lineup, while devices like the Pixel Fold and Pixel Tablet are on course to get it. Alongside news of Circle to Search's expanded availability, we also learned that Google would finally make it easier to translate large chunks of onscreen text. This functionality is now widely available across a couple of our devices, indicating that the wider rollout is officially underway.

 

Unlock the power of Circle to Search — shop smarter, learn new things, eat better, and navigate the world with ease

 

With this change, Circle to Search gets a new Translate button next to the search bar, as Google first detailed last month. Tapping this button auto-detects the language and translates it to the default system language. You can also switch or change languages, just as you would on Google Translate.

Given how Circle to Search works, it's not possible to scroll down the page after initiating the search/translation. However, selecting or circling the translated text lets you conduct a Google Search for the words, which could be handy in many situations.

Instant translation in Circle to Search isn't widely available yet

 

For now, we're seeing instant translation in Circle to Search on our Galaxy S24 Ultra, Galaxy S23+, and Pixel 8 Pro units. We've found that the feature is live in the Google app v15.14.34.29 on a device featuring the March 2024 Google Play System Update. However, the rollout could be geographically restricted since it doesn't appear to be live in some regions just yet. For instance, although my Pixel 6a supports Circle to Search, I'm not seeing the Translate button at the moment.

Let's not forget that it was previously possible to translate text via Circle to Search, though it required users to manually draw or circle over a piece of text and then tap the onscreen Translate button. This new inclusion basically removes some of those steps, allowing users to translate longer texts more quickly. If you own a device that supports Circle to Search, check if the instant translation feature is live by long pressing the home button (in 3-button navigation mode) or the navigation bar.

Thanks: Moshe"

#metaglossia_mundus

"15 April 2024

Nancy Kula has been Professor of African Linguistics since 1 February. Now is a good time to hear more about her field of expertise and academic interests.

‘One of my areas of expertise is in the cognitive representation of sound systems,’ Kula explains. ‘I specialise in the sounds of approximately 600 Bantu languages spoken in Sub-Saharan Africa. I’m particularly interested in how these languages relate to each other and their underlying structures. By comparing the Bantu language structure to that of English or Dutch, we can expand our existing knowledge of variation across languages.’

Tone and sound

Bantu languages distinguish themselves from other language families through their use of tone. ‘This is similar to stress in Dutch,’ Kula explains. ‘However, while Dutch typically has only one stress per word, each syllable in Bantu languages that use tone carries its own emphasis, its own tone. In this respect, Bantu languages are similar to Chinese, where altering the tone on the same syllable can completely change the meaning of a word.’

A challenging aspect is the notation of these tonal differences: ‘Many African languages don’t explicitly mark tone in their written texts, as these texts are primarily intended for native speakers. However, in linguistics, we annotate tone because it is a crucial area of study. I also train my students to recognise and mark the various tones in the languages they study. The more you engage with a language, the better you become at identifying these nuances. This skill applies to learning any language: you have to immerse yourself in it.’

Emphasis on practical skills

Kula encourages her students to collect primary data, so that they can really engage with the language in the communities where they are spoken. ‘I learned the most about languages during my research in different parts of Africa, where I investigated the use of distinct sounds and structures that characterise these Bantu languages. Working with communities provides an opportunity to interact with people who speak the language and also better understand the context and culture of language use. It’s a chance not only to hone your linguistic skills but also to learn how to engage with individuals from diverse communities. Languages are very diverse and I aim to prepare my students for that diversity also in their future careers.’"

#metaglossia_mundus

"A 17-year-old developer from the Donetsk region has developed a program to dub YouTube videos from different languages into Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar.

by Kyiv Post | April 13, 2024, 8:32 am | Comments (2)

The silhouette of Ukrainian entrepreneur Dmytro Voloshyn, the co-founder and chief technical officer of the Preply language learning platform, is reflected in a glass as he examines a blackboard at his empty office in Kyiv on April 2, 2020. Preply network now has 10,000 tutors in 190 countries and "tens of thousands of students", the founder tells AFP at the headquarters of his company situated in a historic building in central Kyiv. (Photo by Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP)

Taras Ivanov, a 17-year-old developer from the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, has developed a tool that could translate YouTube videos from most languages into Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar.

According to Ivanov’s Telegram post, the “Free Translator Service” tool is free and operates on a donation basis. Users simply have to paste the video link into the Telegram bot he created, and the program will generate an audio track in Ukrainian or Crimean Tartar.

To choose Crimean Tartar as the desired output, users can insert the “/settings” command into the bot and choose between a male and female narrator voice.

Ivanov told Ukrainian news outlet Mezha that his idea came about when he had to translate a video urgently and couldn’t find the appropriate services, and he created the tool within one day and later shared it publicly on Aug. 2, 2023.He also told Mezha that Crimean Tatar was later added to his program since most current translators do not support the language.

“I would like to note that currently Crimean Tatar (the language of the indigenous population of the Ukrainian Crimea – the Crimean Tatars) is not available to most of the well-known translators. More languages ​​will be added in the future,” Ivanov told Mezha.

However, he also noted that as a non-Crimean-Tatar speaker, he could not determine the quality of the translation.

In one of his recent updates, Ivanov said he has relocated to a safer location further from the front and called on people to keep supporting Ukraine.

Today’s hero’s in Ukraine are those who learn to adapt to the atrocities inflicted on the them by Russia’s brutal attack. Valeriy Kucherenko is one of many.

“I, as a resident of the Selydove community in Donetsk region, recently evacuated to a safer place. Russians are killing civilians. On Feb. 14, they shelled the town of Selydove. The apartments of my class teacher and my classmate were destroyed. The maternity ward was destroyed. People died.

“Russia is shelling Ukrainian cities every day. This is genocide. Genocide of the Ukrainian people. I want to call on everyone who has the opportunity to help our military and people who are in difficult life circumstances. Only together we can do something,” said Ivanov in a February update.IT development has been Ukraine’s largest service export, contributing $8 billion to the country’s economy in 2023 despite the ongoing war, though it did suffer notable setbacks last year compared to 2022.

As Ukraine’s tech industry has long thrived on overseas projects, the war has had a noticeable impact on the local job market due to the lack of confidence from international clients. However, IT development continues to be one of the most profitable professions – reaching $2,630 of average salary a month by some estimates – that continued to lure numerous Ukrainians to the field.

A recent Kyiv Post report covered the IT industry in wartime Ukraine in detail."

#metaglossia_mundus

APRIL 15, 2024 BY LIDIA PERSKA

"Renowned Philosopher Encourages Embracing AI Without Fear of Overcoming Human Creativity

British philosopher Barry Smith, during an enlightening talk on AI and human creativity, conveyed the message that human ingenuity is here to stay, unthreatened by the advancements in artificial intelligence. Hosted by the Fondazione CRT and Istituto Bruno Leoni, the event titled “AI, Politics and Complex Systems – The Unwavering Role of Human Creativity” unfolded at the OGR in Turin, where Smith shared his insights.

Smith, who is also a professor at the University of Buffalo and co-author of “Why Machines Will Never Rule the World,” discussed the misplaced belief held by some optimistic transhumanists and cost-cutting corporations that AI could eventually render human creativity obsolete. He confidently stated that this scenario is unlikely.

The philosopher addressed public awe surrounding AI models such as ChatGPT, stating that they fall short in complex interactions and that there are signs investment companies are pulling back amidst AI’s overhyped promise. He explained that the continuing need for new, reliable data sources, which are becoming scarce, limits the potential of language model technologies.

When asked about AI’s benefits, Smith celebrated its possible contributions to fields like pharmaceutical research and disease modeling, offering advancements through the simplification of complex systems. But alongside potential gains, he cautioned against the misuse of AI in military contexts, akin to the use of armored tanks and machine guns by humans, and highlighted ongoing international negotiations to regulate its wartime use.

As for the influence of AI on upcoming elections or its impact on philosophy teaching, Smith remained a voice of moderation. He debunked fear-mongering election campaigns and highlighted the evolving educational landscape, mentioning that his students at Buffalo are finding rewarding career opportunities at the intersection of philosophy and information technology.

Smith’s discourse concluded with an appreciation for science fiction that realistically portrays technological implications, praising Liu Cixin’s “The Three-Body Problem” for effectively raising questions relevant to human complexity and the unpredictability of advanced systems.

Current Market Trends:
The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) across various industries is a significant market trend, with sectors such as healthcare, finance, and automotive leading the integration of AI technologies like machine learning and natural language processing. AI-powered automation and data analytics are being employed to enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and drive innovation.

Forecasts:
The AI market is expected to grow substantially in the coming years. According to industry forecasts, global AI revenue is projected to increase at an impressive compound annual growth rate (CAGR), with predictions indicating a market value that could reach hundreds of billions of dollars by the mid-2020s.

Key Challenges:
Challenges associated with AI include ethical considerations, biases in algorithmic decision-making, and the displacement of jobs due to automation. There is also the ongoing issue of ensuring that AI systems are transparent, secure, and that they respect privacy.

 

Controversies:
AI has sparked controversies around issues such as the “black box” nature of some algorithms, which makes understanding AI decisions difficult, and the potential development and use of autonomous weapons. Moreover, the extent to which AI should be trusted with critical decisions remains a contentious topic.

Advantages:
Advantages of embracing AI include enhanced productivity, innovation in research and development, the capability to handle large volumes of data, and assistance in complex problem-solving scenarios.

Disadvantages:
Disadvantages may involve the threat of AI to certain job sectors, the potential for deepening socio-economic divides, and challenges related to the management and governance of AI technologies, including ethical use and accountability.

 

For anyone interested in learning more about these topics, following the main domains of leading organizations involved in AI policy, research, and development would be beneficial:
– AiGlobal
– Partnership on AI
– DeepLearning.AI
– Future of Life Institute

Please note that links are provided for informational purposes and should be verified for their current validity and relevance to the topic."

#metaglossia_mundus

"Translating Africa, Book Chapter by Paul F. Bandia | 4 | African Perspectives on Literary Translation

ABSTRACT

At the basis of African literary translation is the question of language choice for the literary expression of a continent known for multilingualism and linguistic rivalry between indigenous languages and the languages of colonisation. Woven into these tendencies is the subtext of orality, which is inherent to the continent’s literary creativity. The interface between orality and writing characterises translation in indigenous and colonial language literature alike. Literary productions that showcase the aesthetics of oral language cultures are akin to translated literature, as the representation of orality in writing can be construed as a form of translation. Furthermore, literature crafted in an alien colonial language often emulates writing-as-translation strategies required to overcome power asymmetries underlying the relationship between dominant imperial language cultures and their dominated colonized counterparts. Postcolonial multilingual societies contend with the ramifications of linguistic hierarchy and the ensuing inequality in power relations within the postcolony and the global community. African literary translation is better understood within the discourse of African literature in terms of its production, dissemination and consumption within the global literary space. The interface between translation and African literature can be viewed as operating at two distinct levels: that is, the pre-writing and post-writing translation moments."

#metaglossia_mundus

By: Vincent Cabreza - Reporter / @Inquirer_Baguio

Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:52 AM April 14, 2024

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — Imagine adaptive algorithms translating courtroom exchanges from English to major Filipino dialects in real time for the benefit of litigants, or podcasts that explain the scope and impact of landmark decisions to average citizens.

These are just samples of the technological and educational innovations that may soon be embraced by the Supreme Court.

 

The high court is reviewing the advantages of artificial intelligence (AI) in making the judicial process more efficient, fair and accessible especially to the disadvantaged, the Inquirer learned during Thursday’s launch of the FAIR Justice program here, where the Supreme Court has been holding its summer sessions.

 

The Supreme Court is looking to tap AI and various apps already in use in many parts of the world to translate court interactions for the sake of undereducated litigants during trials, according to a ranking court official privy to the plans but who asked not be named for lack of authority to speak on the matter.

 

An AI app could also be used to translate major decisions into various dialects, which the public may access through the Supreme Court’s online portal, the official said.‘Top-to-bottom reforms’

Also under study is the production of podcasts that properly synthesize and expound on landmark jurisprudence, its underlying issues and arguments, and ultimately its impact on society.

Harnessing technology to improve the efficiency of the Philippine judiciary was indeed the pervading topic during the April 11 launch of the Australian-funded FAIR Justice program.

 

It is one of the key features of the tribunal’s Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations (SPJI), which was set into motion in 2022 and have steps lined up till 2027, according to Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo.

 

 

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — Imagine adaptive algorithms translating courtroom exchanges from English to major Filipino dialects in real time for the benefit of litigants, or podcasts that explain the scope and impact of landmark decisions to average citizens.

These are just samples of the technological and educational innovations that may soon be embraced by the Supreme Court.

 

‘Top-to-bottom reforms’

Read more: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1929606/sc-mulls-ai-translators-podcasts-about-cases#ixzz8XRaNhN84
Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook

The SPJI, Gesmundo said, serves as the “blueprint for top-to-bottom, system-wide operational and institutional reforms aimed at bringing about an efficient and effective judiciary that delivers justice in real time—justice that is not just fair, but responsive, fast and fully accessible to all.”

“The product of exhaustive study, collaboration, deliberation, and discernment, the SPJI offers a comprehensive set of reforms [that were] formulated around four guiding principles: timely and fair justice, transparent and accountable justice, equal and inclusive justice, and technologically adaptive management,” the chief justice said.

Aid to stenographers

According to the SPJI manual, the Supreme Court is of the view that AI and its use for language and “problem solving and reasoning” require a thorough study, especially if it is to be applied to court operations.

Such a review will cover the possible risks posed by AI, even as other countries have been employing “AI-enabled research tools and AI-enabled voice-to-text transcription applications to support the work of court stenographers,” the manual noted.

The technology could make up for the shortage of court stenographers, it added.

Another proposal under the SPJI calls for setup of an e-library that can be programmed to track the history of a specific case, as well as its relationship with other cases, helping litigants who want a better grasp of their unfolding legal battles.

Guided by the SPJI, FAIR Justice is a five-year, P350-million program enabling vulnerable sectors to benefit from the judicial system, with a stress on gender equality and inclusivity, said Dr. Moya Collett, the acting Australian ambassador to the Philippines.

Read more: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1929606/sc-mulls-ai-translators-podcasts-about-cases#ixzz8XRZukWFj
Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook

"...While the logistics of handling round the clock translation and interpretation services can be difficult enough, there’s also the question of the mental and emotional toll it can take.

Bacon said that the FBI takes mental health seriously and everyone involved with the crisis response, including victim specialists and linguists, are offered employee assistance that “runs the gamut from time off to spiritual help to literature-based help to pure counseling.”

Both Espino and Loera described the current moment as being in go mode, focused on helping the families and pushing through the intensity of their work.

Espino, who has been with the Esperanza Center for a little over a year, said the work has been difficult for her, even in comparison to other “heart wrenching” cases she’s handled in the past.

“I absorb the emotions of other people so just, when someone cries, I cry,” Espino said. “I try and stay strong as much as possible when I’m interacting with the families. Obviously, a few tears have come out here and there, but that doesn’t take away from the job that we have to do and we have to be strong. We have to get the work done and we have to be there for them.”"

#metaglossia_mundus

"By Our Correspondent

April 14, 2024 Islamabad : Former Federal Secretary and a well-known man of letters, Muhammad Saleem Sethi has come up with a genuinely-crafted literary landmark, the Urdu translation and illustration of the famous Persian poet Fariduddin Attar’s long poem ‘Musibat Nama.’

The book gives a deep insight into the Sufis’ school of ‘Ishq’ which is commonly known as ‘Mysticism.’ It takes the readers to the less-trodden paths of human sufferings and man’s resilience in the face of ordeals. An undertone of curiosity always keeps the flame of spiritualism burning, says a press release.

In the interior parts of old Peshawar city, the Persian ‘kalam’ of Sheikh Saadi and Attar of Nishapur was read out and the family members used to sit silently and listen to the resonating Persian verses of great Iranian poets. It was that rich literary background that made Saleem Sethi undertake the gigantic task of translating Attar.

Persian was a household language and carrying forward the rich literary legacy of his father Muhammad Yousans Sethi Wafa who was a well-known poet and considered an authority on Maulana Rumi, Saleem Sethi took up the works of Rumi and Attar for translation into Urdu. Before ‘Musibata Nama’ he translated Attar’s ‘Mantiq-ut-Tair’ or ‘The Conference of the Birds’ and it earned him a worldwide reputation as an accomplished translator of Persian poets.

Sethi owes the recent translation to his parents Muhammad Younas Sethi Wafa and Farida Sethi, his wife Nargis Sethi and daughters Gulmeenay and Palwasha for completing the seemingly impossible task. Their prayers, support and assistance have been quite instrumental in completing the work. He doesn’t forget to mention Pakistan’s celebrated story writer Pride of Performance recipient Mazharul Islam who helped him in publishing the 408-page book by the renowned publication house Sang-e-Meel.

According to literary critics and readers it is a matter of great satisfaction that the Urdu translation of ‘Musibat Nama’ is now available at the bookstalls of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The poetic translation is equally appealing and revealing as the original book is, they said adding the simple diction and flow of thought keeps readers engrossed from the first page to the last.

Fariduddin Attar was an Iranian poet, born around 1140 in Nishapur. His real name was Abu Hamid bin Abu Bakr Ibrahim. His father was a chemist. After growing up Attar adopted the same profession. He also excelled in physiology. However, his life took a complete turn when one day a saintly figure chanced to appear before his clinic. He called Attar. On Attar’s persistent ignoring, the saint said to him, “You are occupied with your business. How will you have time to die?” This angered the young Abu Hamid and he shot back, “I will die just like you.” Hearing this, the saint calmly lay down, made his begging bowl his pillow, took his blanket over him and peacefully passed away. The incident had a lasting impact on 37-year old Attar and he quit his business then and there. He gave away all the worldly wealth in charity and left in search of truth, wisdom and peace. He started writing under the pen name of Fariduddin Attar. His representative works include: ‘The Conference of the Birds,’ ‘The Book of Divine,’ and ‘Memorial of the Saints.’

In the Mongol attack not only Iran’s libraries and bookstores were set on fire, scholars and poets were also killed and Attar was one of those who were murdered by the Mongols in 1221."

#metaglossia_mundus

"Flora Walter's WhatsApp group has around 500 members and has supported Mildura's Malay community in translating vital information for years, including during the Victorian floods of 2022. But it's not yet officially supported by government.

ABC Mildura-Swan Hill

 / By Emile Pavlich

Posted Yesterday at 12:41am, updated Yesterday at 1:13am

 

In short: Community leaders are translating essential communications as volunteers for growing migrant populations.

• More than a quarter of a million Victorians speak English "not well" or "not at all", according to the 2021 census.
• What's next? Academics believe more translation and interpreting training is the way forward for greater recognition of the important role community leaders play in communications.

As Flora Walter taps away on her phone writing in her mother language, Malay, she keeps her sentences short and sharp. 

Her goal is to effectively communicate critical information for the growing diaspora community in north-west Victoria's Mildura. 

During the pandemic she established a WhatsApp group which now has around 500 members, and has supported the community in translating information to Malay ever since, including during the Victorian floods of 2022.

"I reckon if there is no WhatsApp group it [would be] very difficult for them," she said. 

"That's pretty much how we communicate.

"It's part of my passion to help people in any sort of emergency, or help them with food relief, or [to] connect with them."

Mrs Walter manages the local neighbourhood house as a full-time job, but also volunteers part-time as a community leader, often translates local government or emergency service information, and provides outreach support.

"They [members of her Malay community] just message me and then we meet somewhere and then that's how we help them out," she said.

According to the Victorian government, one in 10 Malaysians in Australia say they speak English "not well" or "not at all".

Mrs Walter's role on the Sunraysia Mallee Ethnic Communities Council (SMECC) relies on the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) to reach out to the non-English speaking communities in the region.

In some cases, SMECC also pays its bilingual workers to do formal interpreting.

However, running a WhatsApp group is not a formal program that has secured any funding.

Lack of support for interpreting widespread

Mrs Walter lets her community know about fire danger warnings or where to get vaccinations.

She believes there should be streams of government funding available to SMECC, and therefore herself, for unofficial initiatives such as running a social media community and in-language outreach support.

"We're not talking about big funding," she said.

"But at least to cover our costs [for outreach programs]." 

More than a quarter of a million Victorians speak English "not well" or "not at all", according to the 2021 census.

Monash University research affiliate Dr Margherita Angelucci coordinated a project in Shepparton last year called Interpreting Mentoring and Professional Advancement Regional Opportunities (IMPARO), which looked at how multicultural communities rely on unofficial channels for information.

Dr Angelucci said one of the takeaways from the project was that there was a lack of professional translators and interpreters in the Shepparton region, and that in many cases non-professionals needed to step in.

"What we suggest is not for government to invest in these volunteering practices that we are seeing on the ground," she said.

"On the contrary, we would argue that it's important to support further training opportunities that will take people who are now filling the gaps, acting as translators and interpreters in an informal way, to study these professions and then get certified."

 

The National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI) is responsible for accrediting language practitioners and was a partner in Dr Angelucci's project.

She said there was a lot of up-front costs before translators could become accredited as professionals through NAATI.

"Especially for people who might be new arrivals in the country," Dr Angelucci said.

"This can be a little bit classist, at times."

Last year, the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing published a better practice guide for multicultural communication.

It identified the need to work with communities and not expect people to work for free.

"Co-creating with communities is the better practice way of communicating with multicultural communities," the guide said.

"The Multicultural Victoria Act says that every Victorian is entitled to opportunities and to take part in and contribute to the social, cultural, economic and political life of the state."

Communications from trusted community members

Regional migration and resettlement have long been the focus of successive government dating back to the 1990s. 

Mrs Walter said many within her community felt most comfortable hearing information, like emergency alerts or where to get vaccinations, from her as she is a trusted member of the community.

"We are happy to help our community," she said.  

"This [WhatsApp] group is very successful."

Flora Walter is passionate about supporting her community, many of whom are seasonal workers or newly-arrived migrants.

NAATI national operations manager Michael Nemarich said their organisation was working with universities to help more aspiring rural and regional interpreter candidates to be able to access quality and affordable training.

"NAATI has since 2021 been offering all testing for professional certification an online option to assist those in regional and rural areas to access testing without travelling to city centres," he said.

Tests can be subsidised for eligible participants in the program by as much as half of the costs of delivery and marking.

But Mr Nemarich said the fees can still be high for some people wanting to do the course.

"Particularly [individuals] from low socio-economic backgrounds," he said.

"So we work with state governments and language service providers to support their interpreter scholarship programs and training programs where we can."

The Minister for Regional Development and Minister for Multicultural Affairs has been contacted for comment."

#metaglossia_mundus

"Railway authorities swiftly rectified the error, covering the Malayalam term with yellow paint after the image gained traction online.

Updated on Apr 14, 2024, 08:43 IST

The Indian Railways sparked online buzz when a snapshot of the Hatia-Ernakulam Express board, translating "Hatia" as "Kolapathakam" (murderer) in Malayalam, went viral. Hatia, a location in Ranchi, hosts the weekly route between the two cities.

 

Social media users couldn't resist commenting on the mishap. "Shhhh, nobody tell them," quipped one, while another blamed Google Translate for the gaffe.

Railway authorities swiftly rectified the error, covering the Malayalam term with yellow paint after the image gained traction online.

An India Today report revealed the translation mistake stemmed from confusion with the Hindi word "Hatya," meaning "murder," according to a Railways official.

Acknowledging the error, the Senior Divisional Commercial Manager of the Ranchi Division assured corrective action, ensuring the nameplate was promptly rectified upon notification."

#metaglossia_mundus

"Interbeing

The exhibition "Interbeing" shows works by Verena Freyschmidt, Maike Häusling and Sarah Schoderer, which were created between 2013 and 2019 as part of their artist residencies in Kuala Lumpur, as well as current works that relate to their time in Malaysia.

 

The very different visual languages of the three artists are united by the implementation of various traditional techniques from the Southeast Asian region, which are present in the diverse cultures of the country.

During their three-month residencies in Kuala Lumpur as part of a residency programme organised by the Goethe-Institut Malaysia in cooperation with the AIR programme of the City of Frankfurt am Main, the local association Lostgens' Contemporary Art Space offered the artists a home, a place to work and exhibit and, above all, a place for diverse encounters. Founded in 2004, Lostgens' is an artists' collective that acts as a public platform for artistic and cultural dialogue, pursuing a strongly political and socio-critical approach. The artists' encounters in the international metropolis led to a reflection on the very different framework conditions of artistic work and practices as well as the socio-culturally characterised modes of perception, regardless of the time difference. They focussed on the question of the significance of collective and communal action in relation to artistic practices and their possible effects on the global social challenges of our time.

 

Opening hours:

Tuesday to Friday from 2 to 6 pm

 

Gallery Weekend:

Friday from 12 to 9 pm, Saturday from 11 am to 7 pm and Sunday from 12 to 5 pm

 

Artists/Collaborators: Verena Freyschmidt, Maike Häusling, Sarah Schoderer

Runtime: Fri, 26/04/2024 to Thu, 25/07/2024

Takes place here:

• Deutscher Künstlerbund"

#metaglossia_mundus

"Even though the Bible is “the most-translated book in the world,” there are some rare languages into which it hasn’t been translated. Two researchers from the University of Southern California are looking to change that, according to Religion News Service.

The researchers, Joel Mathew and Ulf Hermjakob, don’t plan on poring over the text for hundreds of hours — they are planning on using artificial intelligence instead.

Their tool is called Greek Room. The plan is to use it to translate the Bible into rare languages. Mathew told Religion News Service that he’s seen how difficult manual translation can be and components of it, like spell-checking, are time consuming. “In the context of translation into rare languages, only local church members are qualified and they don’t have the technology to back their work.”

The full Bible is only fully translated into 724 out of the 7,388 total languages in the world, according to Wycliffe Global Alliance. Around 20% of the world’s population doesn’t have access to a full Bible in their first language.

“This first version of the Greek Room focuses on quality control so translators can prioritize other tasks that require more judgment, like finding a way to translate a concept that doesn’t exist in a given language,” Religion News Service reported. This means local churches and communities can be involved in the translation process.

How does Biblical translation work?

The Bible isn’t translated into many different languages. There are around 900 English printed translations, but it’s difficult to determine the total number of English translations in existence, per American Bible Society News.

The Old Testament and the New Testament were originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, with several different manuscripts in circulation. Some of the English translations include the King James Version, the New Revised Standard Version, the New International Version and more.

Translation of the Bible is a difficult and disputed process. For one, there isn’t such a thing as an original manuscript. According to Blue Letter Bible, all of the originals were lost for varying reasons, such as the perishable materials they were written on, destruction of manuscripts after copying them and more.

There are, however, several different manuscripts, both extant (meaning a full version) and fragmentary, used in the process of translation. These manuscripts will have small discrepancies and variations. Translators make decisions based on the text, the context and other factors when deciding which version of a manuscript to use.

Translators have other considerations when approaching the text, such as reliability and readability, according to The Bible Project. Like many other literary works, Biblical authors sometimes used poetic language, idioms and other ways of writing that would make sense to people who knew the author’s language and lived in the author’s culture. But those idioms don’t necessarily translate to a modern English speaker.

So, when translating, translators will have to play a balancing act of rendering the ancient text into something modern readers can understand and that captures the original text. Different translators have different ideas about the best way to go about doing so."

#metaglossia_mundus

"Learn more about Doctorate in Human Development, Education and Interculturality program with Universidad de Guadalajara (UDG) including the program fees, scholarships, scores and further course information

 

Program overview

Main Subject

Education and Training

Degree

PhD

Study Level

PHD

Study Mode

On Campus

We understand Human Development beyond health aspects, access to education and standard of living (access to services). We assume that Human Development promotes the use of capabilities and potential for personal, group, community and social improvement, motivated by the tendency to growth that is manifested in all living beings. For this use, the appropriate environment is needed for growth. In this sense, for Human Development to be achieved, it is necessary to investigate and intervene in situations of violence against people and groups, unemployment, risk behaviors and health protection., educational and cultural, environmental processes, poverty, marginalization, among other problems.
In the current context, the educational system is considered a fundamental priority for the construction of more inclusive and fair societies, and education in this postgraduate degree is conceived as a “humanizing action” for Human Development. In the search for this new process of Human Development, the promotion of intercultural dialogue is essential, since it contributes to political, social, cultural and economic integration, as well as the cohesion of culturally diverse societies.
Faced with the social, cultural, environmental, economic, political and educational problems and changes, both national and global, Universities have the social responsibility of training human resources with a high ethical, human, methodological and investigative sense. However, reality can no longer (nor should it) be addressed disciplinaryly, since the responses are no longer relevant, appropriate or necessary, hence the need for a transdisciplinary approach.
Given the above, this postgraduate program seeks through art, education, socio-environmental and psychosocial processes, from a transdisciplinary and intercultural perspective, to contribute to Human Development in different areas of people: group, family, community, social, business, etc. Therefore, graduates of programs in the areas of health sciences, social sciences, humanities, and others are welcome at the discretion of the academic board.
 
"Applicants who are accepted to the postgraduate program are not guaranteed access to a maintenance scholarship; the assignment will be subject to availability and the criteria established by CONAHCYT in the respective calls."Read less

Admission requirements

• IMPORTANT DATES

 

Program Duration

3 Years

Starting Month(s)

Aug

Tuition fee and scholarships

• SCHOLARSHIPS

 

One of the important factors when considering a master's degree is the cost of study. Luckily, there are many options available to help students fund their master's programme. Download your copy of the Scholarship Guide to find out which scholarships from around the world could be available to you, and how to apply for them..."

#metaglossia_mundus

"Written by I-Lin Liu. This article provides a critical analysis of the Oscar-nominated short documentary Island in Between, asking who the film is for and what lies beyond the representations.

 

12 April 2024 

Like many cinephiles in Taiwan, I was surprised to learn that the 96th Academy Awards nominated not one but two documentary shorts—Island in Between and Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó, directed by filmmakers of Taiwanese descent. Like many of my Taiwanese cinephile friends, I was slightly underwhelmed after watching S. Leo Chiang’s beautifully crafted Island in Between. Part of the reason was perhaps I was too familiar with most, if not all, the intricacies regarding Taiwanese identity and Kinmen island’s Cold War past that Chiang is unpacking with the utmost care in his film. Acknowledging that one should not criticise a movie for what it is not, I started pondering the possibility that this film might not be for me. 

Then, whom is this documentary for? In an interview, the director, Chiang, addresses this question head-on. Talking with a Taiwanese film critic for Initum Media, Chiang rejects the criticism that his film comes from a “United States perspective.” What Chiang wants to accomplish in Island in Between is to explain the unique histories and lived experiences of Kinmen (and Taiwan) to people who might not be familiar with the region and its complicated histories and politics. With his experiences living and working in the US for decades, Chiang thinks that compared to other Taiwanese filmmakers, he can be the perfect intermediary between the ones who know and the novices waiting to be initiated. (And, of course, how the intermediary mediates or filters information will shape how narratives are constructed and what knowledge is transmitted. More on that later.) 

Speaking from his heart in that interview, Chiang also taps into a long liberal tradition of documentary. The desire and belief that films, especially nonfiction films, can become a medium for intercultural communication can be traced to the 1930s when different nations attempted to foster an international platform for nonfiction films that could serve educational purposes (see ​​Zoë Druick’s “The International Educational Cinematograph Institute, reactionary modernism, and the formation of film studies” and “Reaching the Multimillions”: Liberal Internationalism and the Establishment of Documentary Film”. This is indeed a noble dream. What other medium can reach an audience of “multimillions” in a short period? And wouldn’t it be great if we could exchange truths about cultures and peoples with one another? Wouldn’t more true information be the antidote to racism, colonialism, and all forms of injustice? Ideology cannot work without a firm infrastructure. And the infrastructure for this version of liberal documentary ideology is indeed unstable. The main initiator of this movement was the International Educational Cinematograph, an international organisation set in Rome with deep involvement of officials from Mussolini’s fascist regime. When cultural elites across the globe were dreaming the dream of using documentary films to facilitate cross-cultural communication, the world was also gradually engulfed in the flame ignited by racism, imperialism, and colonialism. 

Nonfiction films are not only good for intercultural communication but also useful for interest groups to do their political and economic bidding. Nation-states and corporations use documentary and newsreel techniques to disseminate messages that are beneficial for them. Perhaps unsurprisingly, propaganda films were a staple of the early years of the Oscars’ Best Documentary Short Film category, created in 1941, when the United States declared war against the Japanese Empire. In the first decade of the category, most, if not all, awarded films were propaganda films about the ongoing war and its aftermath. For instance, Churchill’s Island, a film about Britain’s defence against Nazi Germany’s air raids, produced by the National Film Board of Canada, won the first Academy Award for documentary shorts. During the heyday of the Cold War, the United States’s overseas propaganda arm—the United States Information Agency (USIA)— had commissioned many talented filmmakers to produce films for them. Many of these films entered and won the Best Documentary Short Film Oscars (see notes), even though USIA films were not allowed to be distributed domestically for their political nature. 

Government-sponsored or produced films dwindled from the Best Documentary Short Film category decades after its establishment. In the 21st century, films depicting stories about social justice movements, films portraying underprivileged people in a humanist light, and films that express humanist values have become the norm. Island in Between, a film that attempts to “share insights in this volatile geopolitical situation through a very human perspective,” fits well in this new tradition. 

Indeed, Island in Between consciously distances itself from the forms of government-produced propaganda and newsreels, the kind of filmmaking that employs an omniscient voice-over or narration that directs viewers’ attention. The film features sequences from newsreel footage and propaganda films from Taiwan and the United States. (I cannot locate films and newsreels from Taiwan that the director used, but the film from the US might be The Army in Taiwan, produced by the Army Pictorial Center. The film was part of The Big Picture (1951-1971) TV series produced by the United States Army. The information can be found in Jeffrey Crean’s work. According to the Army Pictorial Center catalog, The Army in Taiwan might have aired in the US in 1966).  

However, they are used as a foil against which the director Chiang launches his humanist intervention. Chiang pushes back against propaganda footage by deploying individual and personal voices, especially his own. Before the propaganda film sequences, we see the director filming his parents in front of the Beishan Broadcasting Station (we hear his mother say, “videotaping is much more interesting!”)—the once wartime construction now becomes a background in a home movie. During the newsreel sequence produced by the KMT state, we hear the director musing about how he used to sing a patriotic anti-communist song, which accompanies the newsreel images of soldiers performing goose steps and other more quotidian images of Taiwan during the martial law period. Pseudo-objective newsreel images now become an illustration of childhood memories.  

The film is interested in situations that cannot be easily confined to any given categories— whether it is political ideologies or national identities. The juxtaposition of a portrait of Mao and a photograph featuring President Tsai on the wall of a knife shop is one thing that comes to mind. The film is populated with people who are not “native” Kimanese and people who have multiple identities. We hear Taiwanese conscripts reflecting upon their military careers when stationed in Kinmen, Chinese spouses worrying about the COVID lockdown in China, tourists visiting the frontline island, and director Chiang thinking out loud with his three passports. These vignettes add a humane dimension that is missing in the bellicose propaganda sequence we see earlier in the film. But curiously, besides a paraphrase by the director, we don’t hear what Kinmen people think or feel about the war, national identity, or their lives on the island. Crucial voices are missing if the film intends to be a bridge between cultures. 

When writing about the observational documentary, a mode of filmmaking that emphasises recording what’s in front of the camera with minimal intrusion on the part of the filmmakers, the eminent film scholar Bill Nichols notes that observational films show their audiences “the actual texture of history in the making,” through the rough quality of sound ad image. It is precisely because of “muddy sound, blurred or racked focus, the grainy, poorly lit figures of social actors” that an observational film signals to its audiences that what they are witnessing is the recent past or even an ongoing reality. Island in Between and its well-crafted image and sound are not operating in this observational mode. This is not to say that Island in Between is false or that only films with low-quality look and feel are about reality. But this is to highlight one limitation of Chiang’s strategy. When turning profilmic landscapes into beautiful images, Island in Between also elides the history and politics that shaped or created that landscape. The case in point is the Beishan Broadcasting Station that bookends the film. At the end of the film, Chiang shows us again the massive wall consisting of 48 sets of speakers, and the director takes a picture of his mother and father at the beginning of the film. The difference is that now it is nighttime, and lights with changing colours emanate from the structure. Accompanied by Brahms’s waltz, the psychological warfare structure now becomes an installation of strange beauty. Through this image, the film thus captures the contradiction of the beauty and horror of Kinmen Island.  

But this stunning image also overlooks the simple fact that this light show accompanied the Broadcasting Station, is another artwork, The Shape of the Wind Sound Wall, by artists—Hu Chin-Hsiang and Tsai Bing-Hua. The Shape of the Wind Sound Wall attempts to remediate Kinmen’s wartime experience and its natural landscape. This work was part of the 2021 Golden Gate Ocean Art Season-Golden Ningjing, curated by the artist Yu-Chuan Tseng. The Ocean Art Season was Kinmen’s government’s project to promote local tourism after the COVID-19 pandemic. Mentioning all this is not to say Chiang must reveal this background, but to point out that many particular voices and specific contradictions on the ground are pasted over by centering his voice and his memory. Instead of looking at things from a bird’s-eye view, Chiang and other like-minded filmmakers might build a more inclusive bridge by immersing themselves in the contradictions of local everyday life. 

 

Author’s notes: 
*I would like to thank Wu Chee-Hann for giving me the opportunity to write about this film, Wang Shih-An and Fan Ssu-Chieh for their impressions of the film, Hsieh I-Yi for sharing essays, and Chen Ping-Hao for engaging in discussions on the subject. Naturally, any mistakes in this essay are solely my responsibility. 

*Best Documentary Short Oscars winners produced or distributed by USIA include Nine from Little Rock (1964) and Czechoslovakia in 1968 (1969). Other nominated USIA films include Cowboys (1966) and An Impression of John Steinbeck: Writer (1969). For the list of awarded and nominated films for the category, see here. For a thorough discussion of USIA and basic information about these films, see Nicholas John Cull’s The Cold War and the United States Information Agency: American Propaganda and Public Diplomacy, 1945-1989. 

*There are already many great documentaries about Kinmen. For those who are interested in this topic, films by Dong Zheng-liang (董振良), Hung Chun-hsiu (洪淳修), and Huang Ting-fu (黃庭輔) are a good start. I want to thank film critic Chen Ping-hao for pointing out these filmmakers to me.​ 

 

I-Lin Liu is a PhD Candidate at the Media School, Indiana University, Bloomington. His research focuses on the reception and repurposing of art cinema discourses and films in postwar Taiwan. Related to this project, he has written about USIA and its curation of experimental films. The essay can be found in The  Journal of e-Media Studies. 

 

This article was published as part of a special issue on ‘Kinmen-An Island in Between‘."

#metaglossia_mundus

"Hear about an Arizona community college's surprisingly international soccer roster, then get introduced to an afro-Brazilian martial art.

Sports can be a way for people of different cultures to unite. Arizona Western College's men's soccer team boasts a roster that is mostly players who travel continents to play the world's game in Yuma. We hear from the team's coach, Kenny Dale. Then AZPM reporter Danyelle Khmara tells us about how capoeira found its way from Brazil to Tucson and its place in her life.

 

Episode Transcript:

[Music]

TP: I'm Tony Perkins. And this is More Than a Game, the podcast that takes you beyond the boxscore, and tells the Arizona sports stories you've never heard.

On this episode, why a junior college in the desert brings in soccer players from around the world, and practicing an afro Brazilian martial art.

If you look over the roster of Arizona Western College's men's soccer team, you may be surprised by the hometowns of many of its players.

A roster most would expect to be dominated by cities in Arizona or California is much less bound by geography, with players hailing from Osaka, Japan; Paris, France; Bolgatanga, Ghana and many others. The community college in Yuma sports a notably international roster, with only eight of its 32 players hailing from within the United States. More Than a Game producer Zac Ziegler spoke with AWC head coach Kenny Dale, about how the team became known as a landing spot for international players, and what it's like to bring players from across the globe together to play the world's game in southwestern Arizona.

Zac Ziegler: I just looked over your current roster in about three quarters of the players are from outside the US. So yes, soccer is the world's game, but that struck me is unusual for the US junior college level. What is the typical international presence in collegiate soccer in the US?

Kenny Dale: Well, at the community college level, there are a lot of schools with a lot of internationals. And I think there are a number of factors that would explain that. One is cost. Community colleges typically have a much lower cost than university so that's attractive to international students. Arizona Western College has no SAT or ACT requirements, and no TOEFL requirements. So I think that's attractive to people who come from foreign countries where English is not their first language. So those two factors are important. But even at the national tournament, most of the teams we see have the same composition to their rosters. So it's been a very interesting journey over the last 19 seasons, I guess. Our roster has been sometimes more international, sometimes more domestic. We used to have a lot of California players. We've had a lot of players from Yuma over the years. But we have a blended roster today.

 

Well, I think America is the greatest country in the world. And if you've traveled overseas, as many people have. When I've traveled overseas, I meet people. And within the first five minutes, they talked about how their dream is to come to America either as tourists or students or for work opportunities, or just to learn the language or just to see it. So America is legendary across the globe for people to come here and just experience the culture. So we have a number of young men that have always wanted to come to the United States. And they work their way through the F-1 visa process. And Arizona Western provides a platform for that, as well as many of the other community colleges across the nation.

ZZ: Yeah, that's that's kind of surprising to me. I mean, you know, when I think about college sports, like I get college basketball, college baseball, having quite a few international players, mainly because like the NBA and the MLB are both in the US. Those are the top flight pro leagues. But that's not so much the case with soccer, you know, the MLS is a good but not top flight league. And guys who came out of US college programs aren't exactly common sites in La Liga or the English Premier League. Why do you think you have players coming from overseas to play college soccer in the US?

KD: Well, that's a great question. And that's true. The good news for the young players of today compared to my day is that they have YouTube. And we also began recruiting international players between about 2005 and 2009. And we've created kind of chain recruiting, where everyone has a younger brother or a younger teammate from their home country that comes through a few years after them. So that's part of how we've built our recruiting network through former players. And I think the other way is the YouTube has made it so easier when I first got into college coaching. I was the University of Arizona women's soccer club coach in 1988. And when we first got into college coaching, young players had to send a VHS tape of themself playing soccer of their highlights and their vital information and why they wanted to play at your institution. So YouTube has changed the game for young players in terms of recruiting. They can make a highlight tape now on a cell phone, and they can upload that to a YouTube channel and send that out to 500 coaches if they want.

ZZ: So we've talked a little bit about this, but you know, don't spill any trade secrets for me. But what's your recruiting pitch when you're getting in touch with with these young men and trying to get them to come over and play some soccer in Yuma?

KD: That's a great question. We tell them that, have you been to the United States? If they say 'no,' and they say what's Yuma, like we say it's just like Los Angeles exactly the same. And then when they get here, we say, 'see palm trees, we have palm trees, Los Angeles says palm trees, we have streets and cars and bus stops.' And so we, we kind of joke with them about that. But we present ourselves to them as a stepping stone to a larger university at a larger city, in a different part of the country. And there's a feature going on these days that I find interesting, where there are foreign students, especially with the NCAA rules about the transfer portal, there are foreign students who come in and say, I only want to play here one year, and then I want to see a different part of America. So one young man that played for us a number of years ago from Spain had come from Montana down to Arizona, and then he and he told the coaches that he was talking to I want to come in for one year, and then I want to try a different university or a different area to get a different experience, which I found fascinating. So it's really changed for the international athlete and the American athlete that they can have different experiences at different institutions. And more importantly, when you're in a different part of the country, there's a different regional culture, there's regional cuisine, so they can get a blend of all those experiences. The other advantage for an international student coming to a community college is that they don't have to make a final choice. And the cost is low enough that they can come to our place for one semester, one year or two years, and then transfer on to a different location.

ZZ: Yeah, it sounds like it's almost kind of a chance to study abroad and know where your soccer games are going to be and how you're going to get to meet some people.

KD: That's true. It's like dipping your toe in the pool. You know, you don't just want to dive in the deep end sometimes. And a lot of these young people from around the world have never been away from home and they've never been to the United States or they've traveled regionally in their in Europe, or in South America. They've traveled a little bit internationally, but not something as far away as the United States. And as our success has grown, we we hear from more and more and more athletes every day. So in a given day, I'll have emails from maybe 50 players every day. And then I have two full time assistants, Fabian Munoz, Admir Balicevac , they'll get 50 also, and my other assistant, Bello, works in the dorms. He's from Ghana. So he'll hear from a lot of young people from Africa.

ZZ: So you just mentioned you've you've got coaches on your staff who are international, your, your team, I mean, I was looking at you've got players from Asia, from Africa, from Eastern and Western Europe, North and South America. That's a lot of different languages, a lot of non English speaking places. What's communication like for when you're in practice on the field or when everyone's you know, hanging out in their free time?

KD: That's a really good question. The thing that helps us the most with that is the sophomores. We have a lot of Japanese students. So when we have some sophomores that are Japanese, they're a year ahead of the new players. So they really provide a lot of assistance in terms of translation. We have a very good international students program that goes way beyond athletics. So we have a full time international student recruiting coordinator, Jolie Olingende is her name and she was a student athlete at Arizona Western, I don't know 12 or 13 years ago. And she really is vital in terms of the assistance with the F-1 visa process. A lot of universities don't have a full time person in that position. So when international students reach out, colleges and universities reach back to them at different levels of interest, and assistance really, that's what it comes down to. And our place is pretty small, the National Junior College Athletic Association has a much easier eligibility process than the NCAA does. So that's one of the things that attracts international students to the community college level.

 

 

 

ZZ: So sports, especially soccer, there's so much, you know, slang and jargon. And it changes from country to country. I mean, heck, the sport's name changes from country to country, do you catch a certain a certain language's prevalence being the one that everyone kind of seems to gravitate towards the terms from?

KD: Well, one of the things we do in the beginning and preseason, we do a video presentation where we stand on the field. And we list vocabulary terms. And even around the United States, there are different terms for the same process or same position on the field, or same situation tactically. So when I, I grew up in Tucson here, I attended the University of Arizona, and then I went and played soccer in Georgia. And they had different terminology even than we had here in Arizona. So the language was the same, but the terminology was totally different. So we do some soccer specific vocabulary videos with our international players. So they know if they're on the field and they hear the coach yell, far post or mark up or sideline, everything, center circle, we go over all the terms. And we asked them if they have any questions, because even young players from the United States have been raised in different coaching systems. So even across the United States, the terminology is not the same. Now international players face the double challenge of not only new terminology and a new climate, but also a new language. So the sophomores are very helpful with that. And we have a lot of pauses in our training sessions. And I have a tendency to say, 'Are there any questions?' And then a long pause, because they have to be encouraged to ask the question either on their own or through a translator, who is usually someone else on the team. And we take it very slow, especially at the beginning to make sure there's understanding. Because if there's not understanding, then there's going to be a lot of frustration.

ZZ: So, these are people coming from from overseas, I'm guessing there times can be a little culture shock getting used to life in the US, how do you or even, I can imagine probably the other players too, help them get over that and get acclimated to life here?

KD: We have an Office of Accessibility Services, that's very effective at helping students adjust. If we have a lot of first generation students that even if they're American, they're first generation. We do a lot of presentations from that office to our team. We have bystander training, we have Title IX training we have a lot of cultural information comes from not only our International Student Admissions coordinator, Jolie, who I mentioned before, but also our accessibility office, and we have them come in and talk to our players about what is appropriate and acceptable in American culture that may not be appropriate and acceptable in their culture. One of the challenges we have found. Two challenges, I'll speak about two challenges we have found, some young men come from a culture where the respect for women is very different in their country than it is in our country. So we have had, over the years a number of athletic trainers who were female, and we had some young men saying, 'she can't be the medical expert, because I don't trust her.' And, you know, we've had to explain to them while she's had the same training, and the same qualifications and the same credentials as the gentleman, the other trainer sitting over there who happens to be working with a different sports. So if you don't respect that, then we can't have you playing for our team. And so gradually, they have to learn that part of American culture. The other feature that we've seen that is really fascinating. When we travel, we know our bus driver's name, we say please, and thank you to food servers, to athletic trainers, from other schools, to landscape crews. And in some cultures around the world, people who work in the service industry are not really acknowledged in some cultures. So one of the things we tell our young players is people who are working on our behalf whether it's an athletic trainer, an academic advisor, somebody providing a service at a hotel or restaurant, those people need to be respected because they are working for our benefit.

ZZ: You mentioned earlier, you absolutely love this country. What's the thing that is the most fun thing to get to introduce these players to who are just coming to an all new culture?

KD: the greatest thing for me, by far is when the local boys get an opportunity to have a cultural exchange with someone from Brazil, or Japan, or Serbia, and they make lifelong friendships. When we started bringing in international players, the local community was not thrilled at all. Yuma is a comparatively small town with five high schools. And there was a perception that, hey, everybody on your team should be from Yuma. And all of your scholarship money should go to people from Yuma. And sometimes we do bring in a lot of very good Yuma players. But a young man sees the horizon. So not every young man who's 18 in Yuma wants to stay in his hometown, especially because Yuma is a comparatively small town. So my favorite part of the entire experience is hearing from players who've graduated three or four or five years before traveling to anywhere around the globe, France, England, Brazil, Japan, to visit their former teammates, and gain a cultural understanding. And the international players get to come in. The first thing the international players do, if they don't know it, already, they learn Spanish from all of our, many of our local Hispanic players start teaching them Spanish. And so I think they're very excited about that. There's nothing, nothing more entertaining than hearing a young French player learning to speak Spanish, so they really enjoy each other. And it's a great opportunity for exchanges both ways. And they have been able to visit places all over the world. And that's, that's been very, very exciting for me to watch. Because as a coach, I just kind of can stand back and watch the interactions and watch them trying to teach each other their languages or their customs and they trade clothing. So I'll see a local Hispanic player come up to practice in a in a French t shirt. So I know they're making interactions. And it's slow at the beginning. It's difficult at the beginning, not just because of cultural and linguistic differences, but cultural differences, even differences in soccer. And, and, but over time, the relationships and the friendships that they build are really the biggest payoff and the successful transfer rate that we achieve is very, very exciting for me.

ZZ: All right, Kenny, thanks for taking the time to chat with me and talk a little soccer.

KD: Thank you very much Zac.

TP: That was Kenny Dale, head coach of Arizona Western College's men's soccer team. A quick point of disclosure Kenny's sister, Deb, works for AZPM.

Arizona Public Media's Danyelle Khmara fell in love with the Brazilian martial art capoeira here in Tucson, both for the exercise, but also for the community it brought her into, and a new bond with her teenage son. She brings us that story.

Anne Pollack: Capoeira is all about a struggle and finding the strength and the flexibility to find solutions. And so that applies to every aspect of life.

Danyelle Khmara: That's Anne Pollack, or as I call her, Mestra Luar. My teenage son and I have been training at her academy, Capoeira Mandinga Tucson, for two and a half years now. Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art and music is a big part of it. It has its own songs and instruments. The lead instrument in the roda is the berimbau, a single stringed bow attached to a gourd and played with a stick, a stone to create different tones and a shaker.

AP: Is everyone ready for a nice roda? You guys all look a little asleep. Yeah, so welcome. And let's just I would love it if everyone not only got in the roda and played but it's great having new people on instruments

Roda means circle. And so the roda is where you bring the game of capoeira and capoeira is a fight, and it's a dance. And it's also a game, you know, like a sport, right? And these days, a lot of people need to think of it that way as it's definitely a martial art. People ask me, Is it a martial art or dance? I say you need to think of this as a martial art, you know, because otherwise you'll get kicked, right? I moved in to San Francisco in 1986. And I happen to move into an apartment where one of the first women in the United States did capoeira. And then my friend who had also moved into this apartment, started doing capoeira. So the two of them were like, You got to start you'll love this.

DK: She was in her 20s and started training with the third Capoeira mestre in the US U.S. Mestre Marcelo who gamers may know as Eddie Gordo from Tekken,

[videogame audio] A Brazilian superstar fighting capoeira Eddie Gordo

DK: Marcelo was filmed for the moves of the capoeirista characters in the game.

Anne did fall in love with capoeira. And not long after, she went on her first capoeira trip to Brazil.

AP: This was the first international, you know, integration of capoeira. And there had been, you know, trips led before for some Americans, in fact, the woman whose apartment I moved into had gone to Brazil. But, you know, very few Americans had traveled and doing Capoeira before, Anne moved to Tucson in the mid 90s, with 10 years experience under her belt, and she started teaching at the University of Arizona rec center.

And so, capoeira was starting to grow in its popularity. But if you talk to people in the general Tucson community, they'd be like, capo-what? you know, and so it was not very well known. And then Only the Strong came out,

[movie trailer] Taking the kids everyone has given up on. Man you don't know nothing about anybody, and giving them something to believe in. You, I want you turn that music up. I said, Turn it up, like that. Capoeir everything starts out with the judo it's pretty funny, doesn't it? It's the basis for moves like this. And this

AP: That really was the first movie to open American eyes to what capoeira was, and even today, you'll find people like, Oh, do you know the movie Only the Strong? And it's like, Yes, I know, the movie Only the Strong and I know Mestre Amen, who is the star or the not the the actor star, but the actual capoeirista. People come to Capoeira for different reasons. Some people come to it for the music, some come because they want a good workout. But I think what keeps people in Capoeira is the whole culture of it. And so that's learning a culture different from your own, in this case, an afro Brazilian culture, a unique Capoeira culture. But especially in the last, you know, 25 years, it's become bringing the world together.

DK: Capoeira was created hundreds of years ago by enslaved people who were kidnapped from Africa and brought to Brazil to work on sugarcane farms. So if you've ever seen capoeira, and you're not sure if it's a dance, that's because they created it to hide the fact that they were training to fight.

Tiago Ribeiro de Souza: My name is Tiago Ribeiro de Souza. They came up with Capoeira because it looks like a dance. It looks like you're dancing. And the idea is, you're trying to fool the people looking at what's happening, right? There's a lot there's a lot of trickery in Capoeira and the idea is you're first and foremost, you're fooling whatever is whoever is looking at it, because there's the music and the singing, the singing has the history of capoeira. So it's so it's one way that they learn how to bring back the culture, right?

DK: Tiago started Capoeira as a kid growing up in the state of Goiás in Brazil.

TD: Yeah, when I was a kid, it was very common for people should do two things. One, the soccer and the other one is capoeira.

DK: At some point during college, he stopped training and life went on. About seven years ago, he moved to Tucson with his wife and their young son.

TD: And we were here for maybe five years, four years, and a friend of my kids from school, came to capoeira. In one day, we're talking to their parents and they say, oh, yeah, my kids are doing capoeira, it's a Brazilian art, martial art. And I was like, what there's a capoiera group in Tucson, we have to go.

DK: Living in the US. Tiago wanted his son to have that contact with the Brazilian culture.

TD: Capoeira is such an important part of the Brazilian culture. There's so much of the Brazilian culture in capoeira, the the malandragem, the you know, the trickery of capoeira, it's very ingrained in in Brazil, in everyone, not only people that take up capoeira. So we have this this thing about, you know, the trickery and the playfulness, the music, it's very ingrained in our capoeira in Brazilian culture, and I hope he retains that and keeps it for his life.

Well, the rodas with other people from other groups and going to other rodas are like the funnest part of capoeira.

DK: My son, Rio turned 18 last summer. We don't do all that much together these days. He's kind of like my roommate now. Except one whoever mind to feed the cats and go to bed at a decent hour. So for me, as fun as it is being in the roda, my favorite part of capoeira is being with him. Do you think you'll keep doing it like into adulthood?

RK: I don't know what I'll do.

DK: Do you like doing it with with Hadrian with your friend?

RK: I think we have good games, I think we have interesting contrast for our styles of play. He plays fast, and he knows a lot of is able to connect his moves and keep going fast. And I do a lot of ground moves.

DK: And when do you think about when you go in the roda with me?

RK: I think that we're both like, kind of improving like at similar rates. And I think it's fun to like, see how you're gonna react to move I do and like the other way, and how like I'm gonna react to your moves.

DK: I think it's really fun that we do it together. It's like makes me really happy.

RK: Yeah.

AP: And so the roda is what brings it all together and, and gives you, the community and gives you the understanding of how the techniques can be applied when you're actually using them against another person or with another person, because in addition to being a fight against someone, it's also a conversation. And so that's your chance to have that dialogue.

TP: That was AZPM reporter Danyelle Khmara. And that's it for this episode of More Than a Game. Join us next time as we dive into the world of collegiate clubs sports.

This show is produced and mixed by Zac Ziegler.

Our news director is Christopher Conover.

Our logo was designed by AC Swedburgh.

Thanks to our marketing team for their help in launching this podcast. This show is part of the AZPM podcast family. You can find all of our podcasts, news and video productions at azpm.org. Thanks for listening. I'm Tony Perkins. See you next time.

AZPM podcasts are made possible in part by donations from listeners like you learn more at support.azpm.org Thank you"

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