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Charles Tiayon
May 27, 2023 12:25 AM
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Jean Delisle, professeur émérite et auteur du manuel «La traduction raisonnée» Le 22 mai 2023 26 mai 2023 Le couperet est tombé : l’Université d’Ottawa vient d’annoncer la « suspension » (lire : l’abandon) de ses programmes de traduction. L’université est située à deux pas du plus gros donneur d’ouvrage, l’administration fédérale, où la traduction se fait vers le français dans une proportion de 90 %. L’Université, qui se dit « fermement engagée à l’épanouissement de la francophonie », forme des traducteurs depuis 1936. Son École de traduction et d’interprétation proposait des formations aux trois cycles d’études et un programme destiné aux futurs interprètes de conférence. Elle avait tous les atouts en main pour faire des études en traduction et en interprétation un domaine d’excellence. La traduction est une profession qui fait vivre 17 750 traducteurs, terminologues et interprètes, dont la moitié au Québec, selon les données du dernier recensement de Statistique Canada. Étrangement, les universités du Québec qui ont fait la promotion de leurs programmes de traduction ont vu bondir les demandes d’admission.
"Translation and Community (Routledge Introductions to Translation and Interpreting)
Mustapha Taibi
Current price:$216.00
Publish Date: December 13th, 2024
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 9781032435305
Pages: 206
Hardcover (12/13/2024)
Usually Ships in 1 to 5 Days
DESCRIPTION
Community, or public service, translation contributes to a more equitable and sustainable community by empowering minority groups such as migrants and refugees and is a growing area for both teaching and research within translation studies.
Written by a leading authority with over 20 years of teaching experience and in consultation with a range of academics running major courses across the globe, this is the first accessible and interactive introductory textbook to this growing area. It provides step-by-step guidance to students undertaking an undergraduate or postgraduate course covering community translation, public service translation, translation as social action or translation as a social service in multilingual and multicultural societies. The book covers key issues in this area of translation practice, including its distinctive features, challenges and requirements, role and ethical issues, common text types, translation strategies, translation revision and quality assurance and relationships with end users.
Including examples of a range of different text types, suggested activities and readings at the end of each chapter and additional resources and activities on the Routledge Translation Studies portal, this is the essential introduction for all students of community and public service translation.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mustapha Taibi is a professor in interpreting and translation at Western Sydney University, the leader of the International Community Translation Research Group and editor of Translation & Interpreting. His books include Community Translation, New Insights into Arabic Translation and Interpreting, Translating for the Community, Multicultural Health Translation, Interpreting and Communication and Translating Cultures..."
https://morganhillbookstore.com/book/9781032435305
#metaglossia_mundus
This Melbourne Writers Festival event aims to remind us that literary translation is an art, and to protect it from becoming the next victim of AI.
"Consider Homer’s Odyssey, Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, even the Bible – most English speakers will only ever know these texts in translation. For us to read it, someone with keen knowledge of the original language has taken apart, studied and interpreted every word, re-creating the author’s vision for an entirely new audience.
It’s a behemoth task, and one that is still undertaken on countless texts by translators who invariably operate behind the scenes, receiving little public recognition. Today, some are being replaced by artificial intelligence.
From left: Mariana Enriquez, Gabriel Garcia Ochoa and Lilit Žekulin Thwaites will examine the art of translation at the Melbourne Writers’ Festival this year.CREDIT:WAYNE TAYLOR
Translation Slam, an event at this year’s Melbourne Writers Festival, aims to correct this by exposing the crucial art of translation.
Two translators will go head to head, each translating the same vignette by Argentinian horror author Mariana Enriquez into Australian English. They will examine the differences between their work, which will be projected side by side onto a large screen, alongside host and fellow translator Dr Gabriel Garcia Ochoa.
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Melbourne Writers Festival
What did women ever do for Melbourne? Walk with me while I explain...
“Translation provides an innumerable number of possibilities to interpret a text,” Ochoa says. “Two translations are so seldom the same. For this event, I highlighted only about three instances where the translators wrote the same sentence.”
This is because translating literature isn’t like solving an equation. Rather, it’s an art form. Translators aren’t simply converting a text linguistically from one language to another, Ochoa says, but from one culture to another.
“The meaning isn’t only tied to the words, but to the cultural weight that those words carry,” he says. “For example, I grew up in Mexico, where Spanish was my first language. There, the way class structures work is often unspoken. In a text, that would be clear to someone who was brought up in that cultural context, but very unclear if you’re not from that culture.”
Every translator will therefore leave some kind of imprint on the text they’re interpreting, says Translation Slam participant Alice Whitmore. “Translators aren’t ghosts or magicians. We leave traces. Even if you were to translate a text as literally as possible, you would be altering the text in a distinct and measurable way,” she says.
“I don’t pretend that scientific objectivity is possible, nor do I think it’s desirable. Literature is human, so translation must be, too.”
This isn’t to imply that a translator can change a text however they please. They must make it comprehensible for a new audience while remaining faithful to the author’s vision. Therein lies the greatest challenge, says president of The Australian Association for Literary Translation and Translation Slam participant Lilit Žekulin Thwaites.
This may involve describing the situation that lies behind an idiom, a turn of phrase, a pun or a joke, by adding an explanatory phrase or word, or by re-organising the sentence or the paragraph. The word “haunting” doesn’t exist in Spanish, so translators need to spell out the emotions.
“No matter what, it has to make sense to the target language reader while remaining true to the original author’s intent,” Thwaites says.
Thwaites has been fortunate to work alongside the authors of most of the pieces she has translated, including Antonio Iturbe and Luisa Etxenike. They usually trust her to interpret their work faithfully, and often don’t see the translation until the final draft.
Similarly, Enriquez rarely sees the translations of her work until they’re complete. Throughout her career, during which she has been translated into over 20 languages, she has never read a poor translation, though some are more surprising than others.
“For example, Spanish from Argentina can sound very commanding. To us, it sounds gentle, but not to others,” she says. “So, when I read a text in French, it sounds too ornamented sometimes. It’s not that the translation is bad; it just doesn’t sound like me.”
It requires some “letting go”, she says. “But that letting go is to be read. I don’t think about the manipulation of the text, but about the possibility of having more readers. It’s an opening of new worlds.”
Yet Thwaites says some translators are still not named on book covers. Worse, computer-generated translation is becoming a cost-saving measure.
“AI translation is being ‘improved’ daily by being fed our translations and creative work without permission or acknowledgment. It’s enabling unscrupulous publishers to find new ways of paying translators even less than is currently the practice,” she says.
Ochoa echoes this, saying the human art of translation must be preserved.
“The global world we live in is impossible without translation. It’s easy to forget that when you speak a dominant language like English. But to operate across cultures and countries, we need people who can translate.”
Found in Translation: Translation Slam took place at the State Library Victoria on May 11 as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival. The Age is a festival partner"
ByNell Geraets
May 10, 2025 — 5.00am
https://www.theage.com.au/culture/books/google-translate-no-thanks-these-writers-prove-their-human-worth-20250506-p5lx1c.html
Aesthetic preferences vary widely among individuals and across cultures. These culture-specific aesthetic preferences are reflected in the environment, artistic behaviour, and consumer choices. People have the ability to infer the aesthetic preferences of others within their own culture through their Theory of Aesthetic Preferences, which is a subcategory of the Theory of Mind. An important question is whether people can also infer aesthetic preferences across different cultures. This study aimed to investigate aesthetic preference and aesthetic inference, as well as the underlying mental processes of beauty judgements such as affective and cognitive responses, by comparing ratings on beauty, affective, and cognitive dimensions from participants in China (n = 84) and Germany (n = 82). The results suggest that aesthetic preferences are more dependent on the stimuli than on the culture. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that beauty judgements, as well as intra- and inter-cultural beauty inferences, are generally associated with positive emotions, while the relationship between beauty judgement and cognitive stimulation seems to be culture-specific. Overall, our findings provide evidence for a universal human beauty response mechanism that is linked to positive emotions and support the idea of a universal Theory of Aesthetic Preferences. This theory enables people to infer the aesthetic preferences of others both within and across different cultures.
"...The Translation Intern (English to French) works in a flexible hybrid environment. You will be responsible for the timely translation of TMX Group entities’ documentation, primarily the daily corporate action bulletins published by the Canadian Depository for Securities.
You possess a high degree of intellectual curiosity and interest in Canadian capital markets. You have a strong desire to learn, you are able to manage priorities and can establish excellent relationships with your colleagues.
Key Responsibilities:
Participate in the shared team task of translating the daily corporate action bulletins published by the Canadian Depository for Securities.
Expand the internal terminological database.
Align documents in the translation memory tool, Phrase.
Support the Linguistic Services manager and team members, as required, in specific tasks and special projects.
Participate in the Business Continuity Plan, as required.
Establish and maintain professional and constructive relationships with colleagues and clients and contribute to the promotion of language professions across the company.
Must Haves:
Undergraduate student in Translation (English to French)
Perfect command of written French and thorough knowledge of the English language.
Strong written and oral communication skills, in French and English.
Ability to work under pressure.
Attention to detail.
High degree of efficiency, autonomy and responsibility.
Strong interpersonal skills and a standout colleague working to achieve common goals.
Professionalism, integrity and strict confidentiality.
Ability to work in a structured hybrid environment with minimal guidance.
Computer proficiency and ability to learn new skills quickly.
Nice To Haves:
Strong interest in financial and securities sectors translation.
Knowledge of computer-assisted translation tools (Phrase, Studio GroupShare, LogiTerm, or other).
Notes:
4 months internship : September 2, 2025 - December 31, 2025
In order to be considered for the position, you are required to submit your Knockri Assessement..."
https://tmx.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/TMX_Careers/job/Student-Intern---Translation--English-to-French----Fall-Term_R-5093
#metaglossia_mundus
"..El reciente éxito de El Eternauta en Netflix no sólo trajo reconocimiento a la historieta argentina, sino que puso en primer plano una labor tan invisible como esencial: la traducción. La decisión de subtitular “Malvinas Islands” en lugar del término británico desató reflexiones, orgullo y debates en torno al poder simbólico del lenguaje en los productos culturales.
Leila Chesini Diaz
Traductora literaria y técnico-científica de inglés
Lo que sucede con la traducción de El Eternauta es furor en las redes sociales y convirtió la epifanía en realidad: el traductor invisible hoy es más visible que nunca.
Aunque no nos vean, los traductores siempre estamos ahí: desde un libro escolar hasta un prospecto de medicamento, pasando por tu serie o videojuego favorito. Pero poco se conoce el trabajo integral que hay detrás.
Hace poco más de una semana se estrenó la primera temporada de El Eternauta en Netflix, una de las plataformas de streaming más populares. Esta serie nacional es una adaptación de la historieta de ciencia ficción argentina homónima escrita por Héctor Oesterheld e ilustrada por Francisco Solano López a mediados de la década de los cincuenta. La producción audiovisual arrasó a nivel mundial y obtuvo gran aclamación del público. La historia detrás de este cómic cuenta con una carga simbólica importante y, por ende, también su traducción.
Daiana Estefanía Díaz fue la traductora encargada de subtitular la serie al inglés y logró que este trabajo se convierta en tema de conversación. Ella compartió en LinkedIn una decisión de traducción clave. Ante la disyuntiva de traducir “Islas Malvinas” no dudó un segundo en elegir “Malvinas Islands” en lugar de “Falkland Islands” (Islas Falkland), como las llaman los británicos. La traductora expresó en sus redes: “Era la única opción viable, no tuve la menor duda. No sólo porque jamás se me ocurriría usar en ese contexto y en una producción argentina un nombre que no sea Malvinas, sino además porque sé que ningún argentino, sea real o ficcional, las llamaría de otro modo”.
Es importante destacar que las decisiones de los traductores no son libradas al azar. Desde el primer momento que el profesional recibe un proyecto pone en marcha una investigación exhaustiva sobre el contexto histórico y sociocultural, analiza el público objetivo, considera el registro de la lengua, entre otras tantas aristas.
Daiana vio necesario que este elemento cultural sea trasladado a la traducción de otros idiomas y, por ese motivo, se contactó con los traductores y revisores de casi treinta idiomas para sugerir que “en los subtítulos de todos los idiomas se usara el nombre Malvinas, independientemente de si en esos países llaman así a nuestras islas o no”. En esa elección encontramos lucha, reconocimiento, resistencia a la opresión y un homenaje tanto a los combatientes caídos como a los sobrevivientes de la Guerra de Malvinas.
Además, Daiana se tomó el tiempo de explicarles a los demás profesionales “cómo se juega al truco y por qué hay que mostrar los tantos del envido antes de poner las cartas de nuevo en el mazo, señalar las similitudes y las diferencias entre la historia original y la serie, o aclarar qué significaba ‘número bajo’ cuando había servicio militar obligatorio”, entre otras referencias culturales clave para un mayor entendimiento del público internacional.
Desde la traducción, es necesario poder transmitir todos los matices y cuestiones locales que están relacionados con nuestra historia y cultura, estilo de vida y valores. Los traductores investigamos, revisamos, estamos en cada detalle, respetamos la identidad de los autores y de los personajes y transmitimos el mensaje con un gran compromiso profesional.
Este reconocimiento, impulsado por la repercusión del caso de El Eternauta, abrió una ventana para reflexionar sobre la labor esencial del traductor humano en un contexto donde la Inteligencia Artificial comienza a ganar terreno. Y aunque este sea un tema para ahondar mucho más profundo, la comunidad traductoril siente orgullo y celebra cada logro, cada mención en la tapa de un libro o en los créditos de un videojuego, serie o película.
Leila Chesini Díaz
https://www.eldiaonline.com/cuando-una-traduccion-revindica-la-historia-interpreta-la-cultura-y-defiende-la-identidad
#metaglossia_mundus
Date & Time May 19, 2025 12:45 pm - 2:00 pm BST Free and Open to the Public Address St Anne's College (Seminar Room 10) Woodstock Road Oxford OX2 6HS, GB Learn More Translation Multiples Available in 4 editions View Book Discussion Group: On Multiplicity: The Book Launch of Translation Multiples
"Discussion Group: On Multiplicity: The Book Launch of Translation Multiples
Does translating more than once matter? What happens when translators, poets, and artists expose the act of translation by placing parallel translation variants next to one another in a standalone work of art, presenting each as a legitimate version of the original? During this session, Kasia Szymanska will introduce the new genre of writing she discussed in her newly published book Translation Multiples (PUP 2025). In reading a few “translation multiples” together, we will try to see how an original text can diverge into variants, how such multiplicity can be displayed and embraced, and how this practice can redefine our approach to reading translations.
Dr Kasia Szymanska is a lecturer in Translation Studies at the Centre of Translation & Intercultural Studies at the University of Manchester and the author of Translation Multiples: From Global Culture to Post-Communist Democracy (Princeton UP, 2025). Her research lies in the intersection between literary translation, multilingual writing and politics. She's currently working on two co-edited volumes: The Bloomsbury Handbook to Modernism and Translation (with Rebecca Beasley) and The Tender Translator: Olga Tokarczuk Across Languages (with Joanna T. Huss). Kasia was part of the OCCT organising team from 2014-2022."
https://press.princeton.edu/events/kasia-szymanska-at-oxford-comparative-criticism-and-translation
#metaglossia_mundus
Crespi, V.; Coche, A. (comps)Glossary of aquaculture/Glossaire d¡¯aquaculture/Glosario de acuicultura.Rome, FAO. 2008. 401p. (Multilingual version including Arabic and Chinese)
"This document contains the FAO multilingual and multidisciplinary Glossary of Aquaculture in English, French, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic. The glossary has been compiled in English using existing textbooks and glossaries, in particular those already prepared within the various Services of the Organization, namely the Fisheries and Aquaculture Department and the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Department. Therefore it has been validated by international experts and translated into f our FAO official languages. The glossary contains over 2 500 terms and definitions. The Glossary of Aquaculture is available in hard copy, CD-ROM and online at the FAO Web site."
https://openknowledge.fao.org/items/9479f3b2-70d1-49ad-99b7-c4d0985eab41
#metaglossia_mundus
"How AI could help safeguard Indigenous languages
Published: May 11, 2025 2.11pm SAST
Anna Luisa Daigneault, Université de Montréal
https://theconversation.com/how-ai-could-help-safeguard-indigenous-languages-255359
If there are few speakers left of a language, how does a community revive it? In our current era, 3,000 languages are at risk of extinction due to the pressures of colonization, globalization, forced cultural assimilation, environmental devastation and other factors.
According to Canada’s Commission for Indigenous Languages, “research shows that no Indigenous language in Canada is safe and that all are in varying stages of endangerment.”
Our society is also being shaped by the rapid rise of artificial intelligence. Can AI be used for the benefit of Indigenous language survival in Canada and elsewhere?
According to the World Economic Forum, most AI chatbots are trained on 100 of the world’s 7,000 languages. English is the main driver of most large language models.
This scenario leaves the bulk of the world’s languages in the dust. In the coming years, will AI contribute to language revitalization, or language oppression?
A language in a box
In a 2023 TEDx talk, Northern Cheyenne computer engineer Michael Running Wolf shared his design of a cedar box that looks both ancient and contemporary. He described the dragonfly-adorned device as a “cedar-enclosed, offline Edge AI that contains the inner workings of a minimal voice-based language curricula — in other words, a language in a box.”
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He proposed that conversational AI technology, much like Amazon Alexa or Google Home, could help language learners improve their fluency.
Running Wolf is the technical director of the First Languages AI Reality initiative at the Québec Institute for Artificial Intelligence. The program propels Indigenous scholars and technologists towards creating innovative solutions regarding language loss.
A TEDx Talk by Michael Running Wolf on how AI can assist Indigenous langauge learning.
Voice-controlled tools trained via machine learning could serve as AI assistants for speakers who wish to hear unfamiliar sounds pronounced accurately, and practice their own pronunciation. This technology could establish a new means for facilitating oral transmission, which is crucial when there are few fluent speakers left.
At the heart of Running Wolf’s project is Indigenous data sovereignty, which ensures that Indigenous people retain control over their data.
A place in the digital world
Around the world in the Philippines, AI scholar and politician Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo is on a quest to support the Indigenous languages of her home country. She created NightOwlGPT, a new AI-powered translation app.
In an email to me, Lamentillo wrote:
“In the Philippines alone, we are working on nine languages, many of which are endangered. Our goal is to ensure that these languages — not just the dominant ones — have a place in the digital world.”
NightOwlGPT creator Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo. (Arwin Doloricon)
We have seen that in the hands of the powerful, AI software can lead to oppressive forms of control, such as excessive AI-powered surveillance by Amazon and the U.S. government’s unethical data mining tactics.
When it comes to the survival or extinction of languages, it is important to question the power behind AI tools. Who controls them, and who benefits from them?
When I asked about the democratization of AI, Lamentillo noted the need for inclusivity:
“AI’s rapid advancement could parallel historical patterns of colonization. If AI is truly a black swan event — a disruptive moment in history — then what happens when 99 per cent of languages are left behind? This is more than just a linguistic issue; it’s a serious matter of accessibility, representation and digital equity.
If we don’t change who is leading AI development, we risk creating a new form of colonization — one where only a small fraction of the world has the tools to thrive.”
Diversity of voices
Linguistics professor Emmanuel Ngué Um. (Emmanuel Ngué Um)
At a recent workshop series on endangered languages, Emmanuel Ngué Um, a professor of linguistics at the University of Yaoundé I in Cameroon, spoke on behalf of a research team of African linguists.
They are currently using Mozilla’s Common Voice platform to create open-source datasets containing thousands of words and audio recordings in 31 African languages.
The platform aims to make speech recognition and voice-based AI more inclusive by crowd-sourcing a massively multilingual speech corpus. But this process is not without significant challenges in Africa.
Ngué Um noted that building datasets for languages with many dialects is not straightforward. There may not be a standardized spelling or pronunciation that should be used by AI as the accepted norms for the language.
Because of postcolonial changes, many African languages do not have one unified or agreed-upon writing system. This issue can slow the creation of teaching tools, but many local efforts backed by UNESCO are underway to change this.
So, how do automatic speech recognition tools deal with dialectical diversity? And how do text-to-speech models handle competing writing systems?
As Ngué Um wrote in an email to me:
“AI has been instrumental in delivering services that applied linguists have promised but are slow to deliver. This is not due to a lack of will or means on the part of linguists, but rather, because of the linguistic reality in Africa.
Despite the impact of colonization and the imposition of a monolithic ideal on language reality, Africa reflects the plurality, fluidity and resourcefulness that drive human communication…If AI is informed by these intricacies at all phases of its implementation, it will adequately address the diversity of voices…in Africa.”
It is clear that AI engineers and computational linguists need to integrate thoughtful approaches that take into account unique circumstances of languages.
In the not-too-distant future, using AI tools to learn and communicate in under-resourced languages may become the norm. However, that shift depends on financial backing, accurate training data for machine learning, and community desire to embrace AI. Ultimately, data sovereignty and equitable access must be at the core of AI tools."
https://theconversation.com/how-ai-could-help-safeguard-indigenous-languages-255359
#metaglossia_mundus
" Dr. Ahmed Zayed Inaugurates the Seminar "Culture, Translation, and Rapprochement between Peoples"
Dr. Ahmed Zayed Inaugurates the Seminar "Culture, Translation, and Rapprochement between Peoples"
Posted on 11 May 2025
Dr. Ahmed Zayed, Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, has inaugurated a seminar entitled "Culture, Translation, and Rapprochement between Peoples", in cooperation with the Supreme Council of Culture’s Translation Committee.
The event witnessed the participation of Dr. Hussein Mahmoud, Dean of the Faculty of Languages and Translation at Badr University; Dr. Ashraf Farrag, General Supervisor of the BA Embassies of Knowledge; Dr. Anwar Moghith, Professor of Philosophy at the Faculty of Arts, Helwan University; Dr. Rasha Kamal, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Languages and Translation at Badr University; Dr. Sayed Rashad, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of African Postgraduate Studies, Alexandria University; Dr. Samy Mandour, French Professor at the Faculty of Languages and Translation, Al-Azhar University; Dr. Assem Al-Ammary, Professor at the German Department and Member of the Translation Committee; Dr. Mohamed El-Gebaly, Professor of Russian Literature at the Faculty of Al-Alsun, Ain Shams University; Dr. Nihad Mansour, Professor at the Faculty of Languages and Translation, Badr University; and Dr. Hesham Darwish, Head of the Greek Language Department at the Faculty of Arts, Cairo University.
The seminar was moderated by Dr. Moustafa Riad, English Professor at the Faculty of Arts, Ain Shams University."
https://lnkd.in/e8gnw_ng
https://www.bibalex.org/en/news/details?documentid=45539&
#metaglossia_mundus
"Interpretation experts on Saturday urged future interpreters to contemplate how to better utilize artificial intelligence technologies to deliver interpretations that are not only more comprehensible, but can also retain a human touch in cross-cultural communication.
They made the call during the grand finale of the 10th Cross-Strait Interpreting Contest held at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU).
Thirty students from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, and Taiwan advanced to this year’s grand finale, with three rounds to test contestants’ skills in subject interpreting, conference interpreting, and dialogue interpreting.
Only those who had passed the previous assessment round can advance to the next round.
The subject of the conference and dialogue interpreting focused on the digital society. The dialogue session was designed on real-life scenarios involving slangs, verses and trendy expressions to elevate the complexity.
After three rounds of fierce competition, the biggest prize went to Hung Chien-hui, a student from Taiwan Normal University.
Addressing the finale’s opening ceremony, Chen Jing, dean of the College of Foreign Languages and Cultures at Xiamen University, said the biggest value of the contest, initiated in 2009, is providing a platform that brings together students passionate about learning interpretation, and helping them to become professionals and leaders in the field.
She noted that the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence technologies, coupled with the shift in societal needs, has altered the landscape of the vocational and educational ecosystems of interpretation.
ALSO READ: HK privacy watchdog releases generative AI use guidelines
This transformation has brought challenges and opportunities to the teaching and learning of interpretation, and pushed stakeholders to think about how to better utilize and manage AI technologies, Chen said.
Siok Wai-ting, head of PolyU’s Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, believed that this year’s event marks another milestone of advancing interpreting education and fostering collaboration across the mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
She noted that as boundaries between various regions become increasingly fluid through growing trade, technology and tourism exchanges, the role of interpreters has never been more crucial.
Interpreters are more than language translators – they’re also cultural ambassadors who help shape meaningful connections among peoples and regions, Siok said...
Founded in 2009, the contest has drawn top-tier students from the mainland, the two SARs and Taiwan majoring in translation.
This year’s contest was co-hosted by PolyU, Xiamen University, and The Network On Assessment And Evaluation In Interpreting...
By Atlas Shao in Hong Kong
May 11, 2025atlasshao@chinadailyhk.com"
https://www.chinadailyasia.com/hk/article/611417
#metaglossia_mundus
"AI threat to jobs is growing
In today’s fast-changing world of technology, robotics and artificial intelligence are making a significant impact across industries. AI systems that compete with human labor are becoming a real threat to many professions. Below, we explore the fields most threatened by AI.
Accountants — 94% risk of replacement
Modern accounting software can process financial operations, verify bank accounts, and complete tax documents. This greatly reduces the need for human accounting assistants.
Translators — 71% risk of automation
AI-based translation tools can interpret context and translate in real time across multiple languages. Except for cases requiring creativity and deep nuance, demand for traditional translation services is decreasing.
Customer service operators — 80% at risk
Chatbots and virtual assistants are providing fast and accurate responses to routine questions. In tasks like billing, orders, and data updates, they are becoming more efficient than human agents.
Drivers — autonomous transport is advancing
Companies like Tesla and Waymo are rapidly implementing self-driving vehicles. This poses a serious threat to long-distance truck drivers and taxi drivers.
Security guards — moderate risk level
Technologies like facial recognition and motion analysis can detect threats and alert authorities automatically. Still, full security without human involvement is not yet achievable.
Pharmacists — 50% chance of automation
AI can manage prescriptions, stock levels, and medication recommendations. However, human supervision remains important in many cases.
Receptionists — 92% risk of replacement
AI systems handle registration, appointment scheduling, and information delivery more efficiently, reducing the need for human front desk staff.
Financial analysts — about 70% at risk
AI is capable of analyzing massive data sets and offering investment insights. This pushes the analyst profession into a new, more AI-integrated era.
Cashiers — 89% at risk due to self-checkouts
Self-service kiosks, mobile payments, and Just Walk Out technology enable shopping without human interaction, lowering the demand for cashiers.
Zamin.uz commentary:
Automation is a force shaping the future. But human traits like intuition, creativity, and empathy remain unmatched by AI. The question remains: how do we preserve human value and roles in this process?"
https://zamin.uz/en/technology/150082-ai-threat-to-jobs-is-growing.html
#metaglossia_mundus
Language shows expression, not intelligence. English fluency isn’t intellect. Embrace native languages for true equality and confidence
#metaglossia_mundus
The Collins Elhuyar English Basque Dictionary.
"The Collins Elhuyar English Basque Dictionary.
Collins Elhuyar presents a new vocabulary for “Basques to learn English without a bridge language”: The Collins Elhuyar English Basque Dictionary. It will be published on paper, but it is indicated that the possibility of putting it on the web and updating it is being considered.
SARA ARRUABARRENA AZKARATE @s8ara 2016ko irailaren 23a
Izaskun Odriozola Lasarte-Usurbil BHIko ingeleseko irakaslea, Elixabete Etxeberria hiztegiaren lantaldeko arduraduna eta Leire Cancio Elhuyarreko zuzendaria liburuaren aurkezpenean, Lasarte-Orian.
The director of Elhuyar, Leire Cancio Orueta, explains that the process of completing the vocabulary has been a work of three years. The Elhuyarrena is the best-selling Basque-Spanish dictionary and Cancio says he would also like the new dictionary to be “well received”.
The head of Elhuyar explains that the students of model D have been referenced. The first English-Basque dictionary was published in 2007 by Elhuyar, but the one recently presented is twice its size: it has “more and more elaborate” entries and has “an appendix with the grammar of the two languages in the middle of the book”.
With nearly 90,000 meanings and 21,400 examples, the dictionary is now available both in bookstores and at collins.elhuyar.eus."
https://www.argia.eus/en/albistea/euskara-ingelesa-hiztegia-aurkeztu-du-elhuyarrek-collins-argitaletxearekin-batera/inprimatu
#metaglossia_mundus
Thanks to the latest AI trends, the future of translation seemed to foretell only doom and gloom. I was determined not to let that stop me The Journey of a Schuman trainee: translating for the European Parliament in the age of AI
"Translating for the European Parliament in the age of AI: the journey of a Schuman trainee
Thanks to the latest AI trends, the future of translation seemed to foretell only doom and gloom. I was determined not to let that stop me
by Monika Pawlak 11-05-2025 07:30Reading Time: 6 mins
A A
The Hemicycle at the European Parliament. Photo by Marius on Unsplash
I realised quite late that translation is what I really wanted to do. And this realisation occurred at the advent of ChatGPT and other heavily praised AI chatbots. Could my timing have been any worse?
I had discerned that in-house translators were slowly becoming extinct and that freelance translation was becoming more and more competitive. Being a good translator was not enough anymore, it seemed. I had to become one of the best. So I started researching options on how I could do that.
That’s when I came across the Schuman Traineeships, which provide vocational training and education in the Secretariat of the European Parliament. Aspiring translators and linguists can apply to three of the numerous traineeships in Parliament’s Directorate-General for Translation. I applied for a traineeship four times. I finally got it on my fourth try.
Progressing Parliament’s multilingual vision
When I started my traineeship, in Luxembourg, I noticed right away how invested the Parliament’s employees were in maintaining Parliament’s multilingual mission. The website makes clear: “The European Parliament differs from the other EU institutions in its obligation to ensure the highest possible degree of multilingualism.” It is fundamental to Parliament that every official EU language holds the exact same importance as all the others.
A commitment to exceptional translation is one of the pillars that supports multilingualism. Fortunately, Parliament, with this multilingualism in mind, has deemed that translation should be more human-based with translators being “assisted” by AI-based machine translation rather than becoming dependent on the technology. As the website says, machine translation is “provided to translators as an additional and optional resource for translation”.
English translation, with the assistance of AI
I was in the English Translation Unit where I translated various non-legal documents relating to Parliament, such as questions written by Members of Parliament (MEPs) and petitions written by concerned citizens and residents. There, I used digital tools for translation, such as SDL Trado Studio, which is a computer-assisted translation tool. And, of course, AI-based machine translation was always present.
I never felt obligated to use it but I did on occasion, for instance when I was stuck on a term and all other resources weren’t helping; or when I wanted to see alternative ways of translating what I had put down; or sometimes when I had really tight deadlines.
This is what translating in harmony with AI looks like. Using it judiciously rather than being an overworked slave to the technology, or worse, feeling bored to tears. And there is a risk of this.
In postediting, for example, which is editing and proofreading translations produced by an artificial neural network, the work can feel quite dull at times. Using AI to make the first version of a translation takes away the exciting aspects. Drafting and checking for accuracy (through research and looking up terms in the dictionary) are my favourite parts of translation, not editing and proofreading the dry and convoluted wording of a machine.
The Clear Language and Editing Unit
Later in the Traineeship, I worked in the Clear Language and Editing Unit and this was where I really learned how seriously Parliament takes its aforementioned multilingual mission.
Here, I got to try out a variety of linguistic tasks. I edited scripts for the news and for podcasts played on EuroParl Radio, such as the podcast for International Women’s Day. This web radio is completely multilingual, playing all news and podcasts in all the 24 official languages of the EU. One writer creates the material for the piece and then colleagues would be assigned to either translate it into their native tongue or to revise it.
I also got the chance to subtitle videos made by Parliament that targeted the public, with stories such as A Polish citizen’s memories of Poland joining the EU. A similar process would occur as for the radio scripts. Either a translator (for each of the official languages) or an editor would be assigned and then there would be a reviser for each language as well.
The SDL Trados software and AI-based machine translation would be present for many of the translation tasks involved, but I felt that these had less importance here since creativity was vital to many of the publications in this unit. And machines have not quite grasped the art of creative writing (yet).
Closing thoughts on my EU traineeship
The Schuman Traineeship was a fantastic opportunity and experience for me and I encourage every translator with ambitions to apply. It is open to EU citizens over the age of 18. It is still possible for UK citizens to be selected, though (unfortunately, and for the reasons we all know) EU citizens are highly preferred.
During my time with Parliament’s Directorate-General for Translation I was able to move along my career trajectory and become more competitive in both the translation market and the job market. But that was not my only motivation. Just being part of these institutions was an awe-inspiring experience and I definitely got to contribute to the EU’s multilingualism mission at a very dire but also riveting time in its history.
I came away with a revived faith in the future of translation. If Parliament at least continues its commitment to multilingualism and its appreciation of the value of human translators, then perhaps translation can be saved from the brink of being annihilated by AI trends.
So, apply and delve into translating in this new and exciting world of AI-assisted translation at an international legislative institution! Trust me. You will not be disappointed."
https://sussexbylines.co.uk/world/europe/translating-for-the-european-parliament/
#metaglossia_mundus
“President Donald Trump’s special envoy broke with long-standing protocol by not employing his own interpreter during three high-level meetings with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, opting instead to rely on translators from the Kremlin,” NBC News reports.
"Trump’s Envoy Used Kremlin’s Interpreter
“President Donald Trump’s special envoy broke with long-standing protocol by not employing his own interpreter during three high-level meetings with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, opting instead to rely on translators from the Kremlin,” NBC News reports.
“Steve Witkoff, a former real estate mogul and cryptocurrency trader, does not speak Russian. By using Kremlin interpreters, he ran the risk that some of the nuance in Putin’s messages was missed and he would not have been able to independently verify what was being said to him.”"
By Taegan Goddard
May 11, 2025 at 7:25 am EDT
https://politicalwire.com/2025/05/11/trumps-envoy-used-kremlins-interpreter/
#metaglossia_mundus: Your thoughts?
When one missionary first set foot in the region of Indonesia where he would be translating Scripture, he was closer to death than he knew.
"Decades of Bible translation work culminate in celebration
By Abigail HoflandMay 12, 2025
Papua (MNN) — When Scripture translator Ed Maxey first set foot in Papua, Indonesia, he was closer to death than he knew. Mission Aviation Fellowship’s Linda Ringenberg tells the story.
“He was so exhausted from the hike that he laid down in the mud. He didn’t know that at that time the Ngalik warriors were hiding and surrounding him because they didn’t know who these people were, and they were going to kill him. The fact that he lay down was a sign of weakness, so they decided they were going to spare his life.”
That was over sixty years ago. Since then, the Ngalik people have benefited from Ed and his wife Shirley’s efforts to translate the New Testament into their language, a work that was completed in 1992. The Maxeys’ son Buzz and his wife, Myrna, became the second generation of translators, heeding God’s call to translate the Old Testament for the Ngalik people.
As of this year, the Ngaliks have a complete Bible in their heart language. It’s a milestone celebrated jointly by the Ngalik people, Bible translators, and MAF support pilots. Ringenberg says MAF has been helping transport Ngalik Scripture portions for years.
Pilots at Ngalik Bible Dedication Celebration. Courtesy of MAF.
“We’d been involved in helping transport even the manuscripts that were handwritten in the past and flown out of the village to be typed up.”
She says translating Scripture into people’s heart language is amazingly significant.
“They get it when it’s in their own language.”
But getting to that point is a long, involved process.
“Missionaries come and take the time to learn their language, which usually is oral and not written,” Ringenberg says. “So it takes many years for the missionaries to learn that language.”
If a people group is illiterate, the work also involves teaching them to read and write.
“The people are just so overjoyed once they are able to read God’s Word in their own language. Sometimes even the reading of their language is a newer thing to them,” she says.
Completion of the Ngalik Bible was celebrated at a dedication ceremony in Papua on February 7. Ringenberg’s husband, a head MAF pilot in Papua, took five plane loads of guests to the interior location where they had the celebration. Festivities included gifts, a greeting line, cultural garb, a worship ceremony, and a pig feast. Central to all was the cherishing of translated Scripture and its distribution to community members..."
https://www.mnnonline.org/news/decades-of-bible-translation-work-culminate-in-celebration/
#metaglossia_mundus
In a world where insights are moving faster than ever, the ability to keep up by delivering fast and contextually accurate translations at a competitive price is becoming a critical necessity. As a COO at Axiom Translate, I have witnessed firsthand how integrating advanced AI technologies pushes the traditional translation model to its limits.
"The new language of research: AI-enhanced & human-refined translation solutions
In a world where insights are moving faster than ever, the ability to keep up by delivering fast and contextually accurate translations at a competitive price is becoming a critical necessity. As a COO at Axiom Translate, I have witnessed firsthand how integrating advanced AI technologies pushes the traditional translation model to its limits.
Always aiming to move at the pace of the industry — and stay one step ahead, we have decided to actively embrace and fully leverage the inevitable integration of AI into the most human of processes: language.
With six ISO certifications ( 9001, 13485, 17100, 27001, 18587, 42001 ) underpinning our operations and proud memberships with MRS and ESOMAR, we have developed an AI-driven technology for the market research that combines the speed of artificial intelligence with the critical expertise of human linguists.
Beyond Speed: Why AI is a Game-Changer for Research Translation
For years, speed and quality were considered mutually exclusive in translation. Rushing translations meant sacrificing nuance, and taking time meant missing deadlines.
Yet today, the speed at which market research insights are needed has grown dramatically, and global studies now span more regions, languages, and diverse respondent groups than ever before. Meanwhile, the reality remains: human translation output per day is relatively fixed.
Bringing AI into the language industry is a must if we're going to keep up with the increasing demand for insights that come in hours, not even days.
However, our in-house research has shown that 99% of the LLMs are not trained on properly classified market research data, further segmented by industry and language. The result is generalized content that may sound fluent but lacks the emotional nuance crucial for authentic sentiment analysis.
Without deep specialization and human oversight, even the most intelligent engines risk jeopardizing data integrity and the raw respondent voice — a loss that can negatively impact critical strategic decisions.
Human-in-the-Loop: Augmented Intelligence at Axiom Translate
At Axiom Translate, we believe a new language is emerging in the research world: one defined by AI-enhanced, human-refined translation solutions built specifically for the complexities of modern market research.
We didn’t just adopt AI – we developed our own hybrid AI/MT engine trained explicitly on five years of proprietary market research datasets, covering over 50 million words. Our solution, accessible via API, is designed exclusively for the needs of insights professionals — a first in the industry.
By combining the best of cutting-edge technology with the deep expertise of human linguists, we make sure translations don’t just sound right — they feel right. Cultural relevance, emotional nuance, and technical accuracy are essential in market research, and they can’t be left to machines alone.
Our human-in-the-loop approach helps us deliver translations that are faster, more reliable, and, most importantly, true to the voice of real people — without ever compromising on authenticity.
7 Key Advantages of Axiom Translate’s Proprietary Solution
1. Custom-built for the Market Research Industry
Draws on a proprietary database of over 50 million words of market research projects across 50 languages built over the years, ensuring translations are specifically adapted to survey language, respondent sentiment, and research-specific terminology.
2. Hybrid AI/MT Technology
Combines dynamic AI learning with traditional machine translation for greater contextual accuracy.
3. Superior Data Security
Operates fully within a secured, private environment (ISO 27001-certified, GDPR-compliant, aligned with MRS/ESOMAR standards) — with no reliance on public servers or third-party platforms.
4. Adaptive Engine Selection
It uses an innovative algorithm that applies the most appropriate AI engine for each task — whether it’s translation, transcription, or coding — to make sure every project gets the most accurate results for the purpose they serve.
5. High ‘First-Pass’ Accuracy
Achieves over 92% first-pass accuracy and significantly reduces the turnaround times without compromising translation quality or data integrity.
6. ‘Human-in-the-Loop’ Quality Assurance
Experienced linguists review the AI-assisted market research output and ensure cultural nuance, tone, and insight fidelity are preserved.
7. Seamless API Integration
Offers direct and secured API integration, providing complete control over the data lifecycle and enabling faster, more efficient project workflows.
Looking Ahead: The Future is Already Here
AI will continue to redefine expectations in market research translation — faster delivery, deeper security, more innovative processing—but not every provider will be ready to meet those expectations.
At Axiom Translate, we aren't just responding to change. We are defining it.
With our proprietary AI/MT engine, secure API integrations, adaptive engine selection technology, and the highest industry certification levels, we offer market research firms a truly future-proof translation service. Quality, security, and innovation are non-negotiable.
The choice is simple: if you want to move fast, stay ahead and keep your data safe.
Curious to hear your thoughts!
Feel free to drop me a message at silvia.zenginova@axiomtranslate.com — I’d love to connect. Your next project deserves nothing less than the best.
By Silvia Zenginova, Chief Operating Officer, Axiom Translate Ltd."
15 May 2025
https://www.research-live.com/article/featuress/the-new-language-of-research-aienhanced--humanrefined-translation-solutions-/id/5138953
#metaglossia_mundus
"In Translation: The Digital Growth of Bengali-Language At-Tamkeen Media
By Cara Rau
16th May 2025
Introduction
On 15 February 2025, the Bengali-language Islamic State-supportive At-Tamkeen Media Foundation created a room on Element. At-Tamkeen Media is an unofficial media outlet that spreads Islamic State propaganda online, targeting the Bengali-speaking community. According to its website, Element is a messaging platform that emphasises secure communications through features such as end-to-end encryption and decentralisation. The use of highly secure platforms such as Element by extremist actors poses a challenge for content moderation and the online-offline safety nexus. This Insight will discuss At-Tamkeen’s recent expansion onto new social media platforms and explore possible avenues for countering its growing online presence. At-Tamkeen should not be confused with At-Tamkin, an Indonesian IS-supportive media outlet.
At-Tamkeen and its online presence have existed for several years. The group has posts on Facebook dating back to as early as 2022. However, beginning in February and March 2025, the group began to expand onto new social media platforms where it did not previously have a presence.
Figure 1: Examples of At-Tamkeen activity on Facebook.
The At-Tamkeen chat room has been active on the Islamic State’s Rocket.Chat server since 1 March 2025, and the group is also active on SimpleX. At the time of writing, the group’s GemSpace and Telegram accounts are suspended. According to Rocket.Chat’s Github repository, it is a free and open-source, fully customisable communications platform for organisations with high standards of data protection. Users can host Rocket.Chat on their own servers, meaning they can run and maintain the service using a private web server instead of relying on a third-party outside of the administrator’s control. This is one of the features that makes the platform highly secure. According to its App Store page and website, GemSpace is a messaging app where chats are encrypted, calls are protected, and communication spaces are private or public, as desired. SimpleX is described on its website as a messenger focused on providing complete privacy to users. Further details on SimpleX will be explored below...
At-Tamkeen’s Content
Since its inception, At-Tamkeen has almost exclusively posted Bengali-language translations of content from IS’s official Nashir and Amaq news agencies. The group shares the latest imagery from Nashir and Amaq, along with translated Bengali claims of responsibility for attacks. The group also releases weekly Bengali translations of the editorials and infographics of the Islamic State’s weekly magazine, al-Naba.
However, it is notable that on 22 and 24 March 2025, respectively, At-Tamkeen shared two posters that appear novel and of the group’s own creation. The posters did not say anything particularly noteworthy; one called for worship during the last ten days of Ramadan, while the other showed a dua (an act of supplication) for Laylat al-Qadr. The posters were captioned with the words Maktabatul Himmah (Library of Resolution/Strength/Ability), and further, were not translations of official IS content. Both posters had been branded with the Maktabatul Himmah branding – a circle containing the words Maktabatul Himmah in Arabic. A user on Facebook used a hashtag including this phrase when spreading translated official IS content.
Figure 3: A User on Facebook spreads At-Tamkeen content uses the Maktabatul Himmah hashtag.
This could be evidence that At-Tamkeen’s content is gaining some support with online Bangladeshi users and beyond. It should also be noted that Maktabatul Himmah was the name of a now-defunct official IS news outlet that distributed IS materials online and offline in Iraq and Syria during the height of the Caliphate in 2014 and 2015. Content was disseminated through pamphlets, books, posters and more. The Bengali-language posters At-Tamkeen shared had the same branding as the previous Maktabatul Himmah. The relationship between the old Maktabatul Himmah and At-Tamkeen’s current content is unclear. However, since some Bengali-language posts now carry the Maktabatul Himmah label and feature original content, this may signal the start of an unofficial IS-supportive Bengali media wing.
Figure 4: Bengali-language posters shared by At-Tamkeen with the Maktabatul Himmah branding (left and centre); An official IS book with the Maktabatul Himmah branding (right)
GemSpace and Telegram Countermeasures to At-Tamkeen
On 17 March 2025, At-Tamkeen posted in Bengali on Rocket.Chat. The post informed followers that it had created a room on Element, which they view as a more stable long-term space compared to their channel on GemSpace. The post gave step-by-step instructions for how users who want to access Element can create an anonymously generated email to enable them to join the platform and view the group’s content securely. Creating a false email is not very complicated, but it still requires some technical know-how. This underscores those behind At-Tamkeen are adaptive and forward-thinking in the technical realm. This is consistent with the high-quality Bengali-language media the group produces, which also necessitates some level of technical skill. The statement about the channel on GemSpace not being a long-term option for the group could be a result of proactive measures by the GemSpace team to curb IS propaganda, though it is unclear if this is the case. The fact that At-Tamkeen alluded to switching to Element as a result of repeated takedowns on GemSpace also shows that continuous takedown campaigns are sometimes an effective tactic to rid platforms of IS propaganda and presence. In this case, the At-Tamkeen producers moved from GemSpace to Element due to repeated takedowns of their GemSpace accounts. This is reminiscent of when numerous official IS channels on GemSpace were removed after the group started using this platform in the wake of mass takedowns of their channels on Telegram in November 2024.¹ In fact, many IS-supportive rooms on IS’s Rocket.Chat server stopped sharing links to official IS channels on GemSpace at the time of writing, very likely due to the continuous takedowns by the platform. At-Tamkeen’s presence on Telegram also seems to be limited by consistent takedowns of the group’s channels. At the time of writing, At-Tamkeen’s Telegram accounts that it shared on Element have been removed by Telegram, and it seems that Telegram and GemSpace are not viable long-term options for the group due to the effective counter-extremism measures displayed, in this instance, by the platforms.
SimpleX
In a notable development, At-Tamkeen set up a SimpleX account on 31 January 2025, where it shares the same content as on all its other channels. At the time of writing, the account had 153 members, but it is unclear how many are real followers of the content and how many are researchers. SimpleX is a highly secure platform; according to its website, “unlike other messaging platforms, SimpleX has no identifiers assigned to the users. It does not rely on phone numbers, domain-based addresses (like email or XMPP), usernames, public keys or even random numbers to identify its users.” The website says that even SimpleX itself doesn’t know how many people use the SimpleX servers. The highly anonymous nature of this platform poses a unique challenge for countering the spread of terrorist propaganda. It highlights that counter-terrorist propaganda campaigns need to adapt to keep up with new technologies as they come to life.
Figure 5: Screenshots of the At-Tamkeen channel on SimpleX.
Amplification on Facebook
While the group has expanded to encrypted, anonymity-focused platforms like SimpleX and Element, At-Tamkeen’s content is also widely disseminated on public Facebook pages.
While some pages share only Bengali-translated official IS materials – mirroring posts on Element, Rocket.Chat, and SimpleX – others include additional extremist-supportive material in Bengali. This other content, not from At-Tamkeen, often has a violent tone and calls for Jihad and the establishment of the IS Caliphate. Some posts call for the killing of Jewish people.
Figure 6: A Facebook page that shares At-Tamkeen content also shared this video of a militant calling for jihad.
Figure 7: A Facebook page that shares At-Tamkeen content has the intro “Oh Prophet incite the believers to kill”
Figure 8: A Facebook page that shares At-Tamkeen content also shared this post calling for the killing of all the Jewish people. The post also boasts about the future return of IS to its previous strength, presumably referring to the height of the caliphate in Syria and Iraq in 2014.
Conclusion
At-Tamkeen has been amplifying its online presence this year. The group is creating new accounts on various platforms and is highly active, spreading Bengali translations of official IS content and creating original materials. Notably, the group is pivoting away from platforms like Telegram and GemSpace, where terrorist content appears to be taken down frequently enough that it has become a hindrance to their cause. At-Tamkeen has moved towards platforms like SimpleX, where effective moderation appears to be extremely challenging due to the highly encrypted interface.
The group is likely expanding its online presence in order to amplify its recruitment efforts in Bengali-speaking online communities. Additionally, the presence of extremist and violent content on Facebook pages that share the At-Tamkeen content is concerning and likely indicates that At-Tamkeen is reaching its target audience. A possible countermeasure to this content proliferating on Facebook is as simple as consistently removing the users who share it. This appears to have proven effective on GemSpace and Telegram and could have the same effect on Facebook. Overall, At-Tamkeen appears resolute in their online propaganda campaign and the situation calls for a steadfast approach by the authorities and social media companies alike to prevent IS recruitment from within the Bengali-speaking community.
Endnote
The group had previously used GemSpace in May 2023, when the platform was known as Gem4Me, but all IS accounts were suspended by the platform within a month.
Cara Rau is an intelligence analyst with experience in monitoring online Jihadist communications. She is particularly interested in terrorism and political violence affecting the developing world and is passionate about the intersection of technology and terrorism. She is also experienced in OSINT investigations focused on human rights abuses and conflict in Africa. Cara holds a Master of Terrorism and Security Studies and speaks Afrikaans, French, Russian and some Levantine Arabic."
https://gnet-research.org/2025/05/16/in-translation-the-digital-growth-of-bengali-language-at-tamkeen-media/
#metaglossia_mundus
"Unlocking educational opportunities in sign languages in Europe
ECML hosts DeafSign workshop in Graz
From 15-16 May 2025 the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) hosted a two-day workshop as part of its ongoing project “Unlocking educational opportunities in sign languages in Europe” (DeafSign). The event brought together international experts, policy makers and professionals from 25 countries across Europe, all committed to fostering access to education for vulnerable deaf learners – including deaf signers with refugee and immigration backgrounds, deaf children and their families, and heritage signers.
Building on a Europe-wide survey with over 160 responses from contributors in the education and deaf communities, participants reviewed key findings and collaborated to develop guidelines, recommendations, and practical resources for early childhood and adult education sectors. Among the recommendations discussed in the workshop was the call for deaf-led organisations and deaf experts – especially those with diverse backgrounds such as refugee or immigrant experiences – to be meaningfully involved from the very beginning in developing sign language learning opportunities and assessments for deaf learners.
The DeafSign project (2024–2027) is part of the ECML’s current programme, “Language education at the heart of democracy”, which focuses on inclusion, quality education, and active democratic participation through language learning. It aligns with recent developments such as the International Sign Language version of the CEFR Companion Volume – a milestone that strengthens the visibility and recognition of sign languages across Europe.
The workshop took place at the ECML in Graz, Austria, and facilitated collaboration across sectors and countries. Participants worked on drafting key resources – including a set of recommendations for policy makers, and outlines for future outputs aimed at supporting quality sign language education.
While DeafSign represents a new step forward, it builds on earlier initiatives in this field and reflects the ECML’s continued commitment to supporting sign language learning as part of its broader mission to promote quality language education across Europe.
Learn more by visiting the DeafSign project website or the ECML’s thematic area on sign languages."
Author: Stefanie Plut/16 May 2025
https://www.ecml.at/en/News/ArtMID/2176/ArticleID/2967/Unlocking-educational-opportunities-in-sign-languages-in-Europe
#metaglossia_mundus
""Dinguerie, mon gâté, hallucination : découvrez les nouveaux mots du Petit Robert pour son édition 2026
Après le Petit Larousse, le dictionnaire le Petit Robert a dévoilé ses 150 nouveaux mots pour son édition 2026. Entre intelligence artificielle et mots plébiscités par les plus jeunes, tour d’horizon pour vous mettre à jour sur les nouvelles expressions.
« Oui ma gâtée, RS4 gris nardo »… Combien sommes-nous à avoir fredonné les premiers mots du tube des rappeurs marseillais Bande organisée ? Nombreux, il faut croire puisque le mot « gâté » (qu’on utilise ainsi : « mon gâté » ou « ma gâtée », un terme d’affection équivalent à « mon chéri ») fait son entrée dans le dictionnaire, en l’occurrence l’édition 2026 du Petit Robert. Quelques jours plus tôt, c’est le Petit Larousse qui avait dévoilé ses nouveaux mots.
Pour « mon gâté », le Petit Robert précise que si le terme a connu une expansion après « le succès phénoménal » de la chanson, il est « employé à Marseille depuis plusieurs décennies » et existe même « en créole réunionnais, où il est employé uniquement au masculin, même pour désigner une femme ».
Un verbe et un adverbe de la région de Marseille accompagnent cette arrivée : « tanquer » (se planter, exemple du Petit Robert : La voiture s’est tanquée dans le fossé) et « tarpin » (beaucoup de, très, exemples : c’est tarpin bien, il y a tarpin de monde).
Certains faits d’actualité ou débats de société font entrer de nouveaux mots ou expressions dans les usages, et donc dans les dictionnaires. Le Petit Robert fait donc entrer les mots « chemsex », « cagnotter », « soumission chimique », « débunker »…
Le développement spectaculaire des technologies de l’intelligence artificielle ces dernières années charrie avec lui un nouveau champ lexical. Qu’on connaît essentiellement par les anglicismes comme les deepfakes, ces trucages audio et/ou vidéo plus ou moins réalistes qui permettent de faire dire n’importe quoi à n’importe qui. Vous pourrez désormais parler d’« hypertrucage ». « Prompter » (comprendre : adresser un prompt à une intelligence artificielle, soit le fait de lui donner des instructions) entre aussi dans le Petit Robert. Vous vous souviendrez donc que « prompter », ce n’est pas lire sur un prompteur.
Connaissez-vous le « surcyclage », qui vient de l’anglais upcycling ? Il s’agit d’une forme de recyclage qui consiste à produire, après ledit recyclage, un produit d’une plus grande valeur. « En général, les produits recyclés sont considérés comme étant de valeur inférieure au produit initial », précise le Petit Robert.
Quand l’intelligence artificielle hallucine
Il arrive que des mots disparaissent des usages et fassent leur retour… avec un autre sens. C’est le cas de « dinguerie ». « Attesté pour la première fois dans les années 20, il désigne alors le caractère d’une personne, d’un comportement dingue, ou bien une action de dingue. En somme, c’est un synonyme de folie, avec une connotation plutôt péjorative », nous explique Le Robert. Version années 2010-2020 : « dinguerie » signifie une chose incroyable (en bien ou en mal).
Un autre mot commun connaît, lui aussi, un enrichissement de son sens : « hallucination ». C’est l’intelligence artificielle qui en est la cause. Une IA qui hallucine ? C’est « une erreur de calcul, un bug. Une réponse fausse avec une apparence de vérité », indique le dictionnaire.
Enfin, on pourrait s’étonner de voir entrer la même année des mots comme « muay-thaï », une boxe thaïlandaise connue depuis des décennies en Occident, et « VAR », l’assistance vidéo à l’arbitrage qui se démocratise depuis moins de dix ans dans le football professionnel.
Dans un billet de blog, la directrice de la rédaction du Robert Géraldine Moinard explique que le choix des mots se fait selon trois critères : la fréquence de l’usage du mot, sa diffusion (le retrouver dans la presse, la littérature, les réseaux sociaux…) et sa pérennité (« Avant leur sélection, les mots font l’objet d’une observation attentive par les lexicographes, souvent durant plusieurs années, afin de s’assurer de leur pérennité, ou bien de leur importance pour comprendre l’époque actuelle »).
Quant au mot « VAR », le Robert clôt le débat sur son genre (s’il existait encore) : il faut dire « la VAR ». Depuis Molière, on pensait que c’était clair."
Par Jérémy Hébras
Publié: 16 Mai 2025
https://www.courrier-picard.fr/id631139/article/2025-05-16/dinguerie-mon-gate-hallucination-decouvrez-les-nouveaux-mots-du-petit-robert
#metaglossia_mundus
"When you want to find something online, what do you do? Most people open Google. But did you know that Google is more than just a search engine?
Google started in 1998. Two students from Stanford University, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, created it in a garage. Their goal was to make it easier to find information on the internet. Today, Google is one of the biggest technology companies in the world.
Google does more than help people search the internet. It offers many tools and services. Gmail is Google’s email service. Google Maps helps people find directions and explore places. Google Translate helps people understand different languages. Google Docs lets people write and share documents online. Many students and teachers use these tools every day.
Google also created Android, the operating system used by most smartphones. It even builds self-driving cars and smart home devices. Google’s parent company is called Alphabet, which owns many other technology companies too.
Google’s headquarters is in California. People call it the “Googleplex.” It has fun offices with slides, bikes, and free food. The company wants its workers to be creative and happy.
Google’s mission is to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” That’s a big goal — but every time you search for something and find what you need, Google is doing its job."
By Richard Fan
3 hours ago
https://medium.com/comprehensions-a-to-z/google-more-than-just-a-search-engine-696b862d6630
#metaglossia_mundus
"Three recent incidents are reminders that generative AI tools remain troublesome and unreliable. IT buyer beware.
Enterprise IT leaders are becoming uncomfortably aware that generative AI (genAI) technology is still a work in progress and buying into it is like spending several billion dollars to participate in an alpha test— not even a beta test, but an early alpha, where coders can barely keep up with bug reports.
For people who remember the first three seasons of Saturday Night Live, genAI is the ultimate Not-Ready-for-Primetime algorithm.
One of the latest pieces of evidence for this comes from OpenAI, which had to sheepishly pull back a recent version of ChatGPT (GPT-4o) when it — among other things — delivered wildly inaccurate translations.
Lost in translation
Why? In the words of a CTO who discovered the issue, “ChatGPT didn’t actually translate the document. It guessed what I wanted to hear, blending it with past conversations to make it feel legitimate. It didn’t just predict words. It predicted my expectations. That’s absolutely terrifying, as I truly believed it.”
OpenAI said ChatGPT was just being too nice.
“We have rolled back last week’s GPT‑4o update in ChatGPT so people are now using an earlier version with more balanced behavior. The update we removed was overly flattering or agreeable — often described as sycophantic,” OpenAI explained, adding that in that “GPT‑4o update, we made adjustments aimed at improving the model’s default personality to make it feel more intuitive and effective across a variety of tasks. We focused too much on short-term feedback and did not fully account for how users’ interactions with ChatGPT evolve over time. As a result, GPT‑4o skewed towards responses that were overly supportive but disingenuous.
“…Each of these desirable qualities, like attempting to be useful or supportive, can have unintended side effects. And with 500 million people using ChatGPT each week, across every culture and context, a single default can’t capture every preference.”
OpenAI was being deliberately obtuse. The problem was not that the app was being too polite and well-mannered. This wasn’t an issue of it emulating Miss Manners.
I am not being nice if you ask me to translate a document and I tell you what I think you want to hear. This is akin to Excel taking your financial figures and making the net income much larger because it thinks that will make you happy.
In the same way that IT decision-makers expect Excel to calculate numbers accurately regardless of how it may impact our mood, they expect that the translation of a Chinese document doesn’t make stuff up."
by Evan Schuman
May 16, 2025
https://www.computerworld.com/article/3985809/chatgpt-gave-wildly-inaccurate-translations-to-try-and-make-users-happy.html
#metaglossia_mundus
Alum Claudia Siegenthaler says there’s no doubt that AI is shifting the role of humans in translation and localization management, but she’s seeing a lot of upside as a project manager at a localization company.
"...Many people in the language service industry are anxious about how artificial intelligence (AI) will impact our field, but personally, I’m more excited than scared.
I’m quite lucky to work with AI on a regular basis in my role as a project manager at Intento, Inc., based in San Francisco. We are focusing on configuring AI agents to meet the range of requirements our customers have for translating various types of content across different touchpoints for their customers and employees. I see that AI has a big role to play for companies, translators, and end users. While it will change the way we all work, I’m excited about the potential.
AI Could Help Linguists Spend More Time on What Matters Most
Linguists are asked to do a lot of things when they need to produce a translation, including fixing errors in terminology, tone of voice, and gender forms, and making sure that the translation conforms to the style guide, while also being asked to bring that all-important cultural nuance and context to make the translation authentic for the reader or end user. However, the reality is that linguists don’t get unlimited time to produce a translation and therefore often have to focus primarily on fixing the errors that exist, at the expense of focusing on cultural nuance and context. That’s a loss as that is what makes translation, as a job, rewarding.
We’ve found that our customers want to use AI agents to automate those error-fixing tasks so they can let their linguists focus on making the translations perfect.
Building Technical Expertise Is Key
A lot of my knowledge from the Translation Technology and Website Translation classes that I took at the Middlebury Institute have come into play in understanding the more technical aspects. As our language engineers explain the technical solutions we can provide to clients, it’s important as a project manager to take what they say and help simplify it into less technical, easier-to-digest terms. Being exposed to what goes into training engines with various corpora... has helped give me the tools to explain how large language models (LLMs) can be effective for tasks like linguistic quality assurance (LQA) when training an engine to see how well the engine performs after customization.
Overall, as AI is doing a lot of the work, it also means translators can produce more content, more quickly, with the same human touch, and the end users are getting a better experience as a result!...
The biggest takeaways for me were how LLMs can handle more specialized content. Machine translation (MT) can be quite literal, and we see LLMs more often being used on creative copy. As I get to manage more projects where an LLM engine wins over a neural machine translation (NMT) engine, I also get to see how LLM-based glossaries are applied in translation workflows, something I didn’t know was possible before this webinar!"
https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/news/localization-project-manager-im-more-excited-scared-about-ai
#metaglossia_mundus
Jason M. Baxter: Dante loves the art of word play: rhetorical tropes and schemes from classical rhetoric that we find repellent, he adores.
"The Trials of Translating Dante
By Jason M. Baxter
SATURDAY, MAY 17, 2025
Flannery O’Connor once said this about writing novels: “Writing a novel is a terrible experience, during which the hair often falls out and the teeth decay. I’m always irritated by people who imply that writing fiction is an escape from reality. It is a plunge into reality and it’s very shocking to the system.” I don’t know of a better description of what it’s felt like as I translated Dante’s Purgatorio, which was just released by Angelico Press.
Every morning, during the final six-month stage of this project, I followed the same routine: wake up, get coffee, and build up some psychic reserves of energy for the massively depleting experience. Then I went upstairs, spread out my Italian text and commentaries, and attempt – over and over again – to render in English Dante’s dense web of music and meaning. And, for this reason, for six months (maybe longer: ask my wife), I’ve been a zombie, looking with eyes that don’t see, listening with ears that don’t hear.
Why is translating Dante so psychically depleting? Everyone knows that his poem is an inspiring journey from a “dark wood” that soars up to the Beatific Vision and God Himself. But his language is always working in multiple dimensions. On the most basic and obvious level, Dante is a musician, who wrote in hendecallyables (eleven-syllable long lines) captured well, by iambic verse that’s not too stuffy. Dante also uses rhymes, of course, which Dorothy Sayers went all out to capture. In addition to the rhymes, however, Dante used all kind of dense word play, which he can do, in part, because he’s working with an inflected language: he can leave the root stable – like an Aristotelian substance – while varying the accidents of his inflections.
But then, he also loves to use, on occasion, a maddeningly difficult syntax, a gnarled, thorny wood of grammar often made even more complicated because of the learned circumlocutions he employs. In all fairness, he warned us about such maddeningly difficult syntax and entangled cosmological grammar:
Reader, I know you see that I am raising
my subject, and thus you will not marvel”
if now I use more art (più arte) to reinforce my poem.
(Purg. 9:70 72)
And what does this look like? Dante loves word play and word art. Those rhetorical tropes and schemes from classical rhetoric that we find repellent, he adores. For instance, at one point, when Dante is being interrogated by Beatrice, “when, by her eyes, my eyes were struck” (33:18), the figure Dante quite deliberately uses is anadiplosis (a rhetorical “doubling back”). A modern translation, to make this line feel more natural for us, kills the rhetorical scheme by translating it: “when her piercing eyes met mine.”
Elsewhere, Dante uses chiasmus, an X-like pattern that sets one word on one side of the scale and then balances it out by putting a variant of it on the other side. For instance, at one point, Virgil has intuited that the pilgrim had within him more questions, and then generously proceeds to encourage him to speak forth those hidden doubts. Dante puts it this way: he “by speaking made me bold to speak.” (Purg. 18:7–9). That chiasmus becomes this in one recent translation: “that true father. . ./ spoke and gave me courage to speak out.”
But what is extraordinary is that Dante has the inverse tendency as well. After passing through the “refining fire” that cleanses the distorted love of the lustful, for instance, Dante, Virgil, and Statius have to pause to wait out the night, resting on the steps of a steep stairwell that goes right up the mountain:
And just like goats in tranquil rumination,
who had been rowdy, capricious among
the hills before they’d found repast,
but now in shade are quiet while the sun is hot,
now guarded by the shepherd, who leans upon
his staff and stands to watch their rest;
or like the watchman who sleeps outdoors
and spends the night beside a somnolent herd
and watches lest a beast should scatter them;
just so were we, all three together. And I
was like the goat: and they, the shepherds.
Flanked by walls of lofty rock on either side.
There, little of the outside world could be seen,
except a tiny patch where I could see the stars,
much brighter and larger than is their usual habit.
While ruminating on them and marveling at them,
I was overcome by sleep, the sleep that often
knows the news before it even happens. (27:76–95)
This passage is extraordinary. Not only does it introduce a beautiful, prophetic dream, but uses concrete, bodily metaphor to describe what is, for us, merely an intellectual act. Dante “ruminates” (ruminando) on the beauty of the stars, feeds on them, tastes them, and draws their nourishment into his being by means of “marveling” at them, just as sheep and goats crop, chew, swallow, and digest grass. In other words, Dante here feeds on “the fire of love,” tastes it, chews it, ruminates on it, to absorb the nutritive power of beauty into his being.
This use of concrete, embodied metaphors for intellectual acts is something I have labored to bring out in this translation. Too often, even well-loved, best-selling translations of the Comedy, made by eminent scholars, have inadvertently killed these metaphors and thereby turned Dante’s poetry into something disembodied: too much in the head and too little rooted in the nerves and heartbeat.
One admired translation renders the passage I cited above by replacing the unusual and arresting metaphor of “ruminating” by means of “marveling” with this: “Amidst such sights and thoughts / I was seized by sleep.” At another point, the pilgrim tells his master that the answers he has received are so good that they create within him more questions: “Your words. . .have helped me to dis-cover love, / but this has made me pregnant with more doubts!” (Purg. 18.40-42). An eminent translator has rendered that line: “But that has left me even more perplexed.”
What was in the body – the “womb” of Dante’s mind was “pregnant” with doubts – turns into an intellectual phenomenon, all in the head (“perplexed”). On another occasion, when Dante is speaking with Marco Lombardo, who is disgusted by the world’s greed, the old cavalier experiences a visceral, bodily reaction upon merely hearing Dante’s question:
Deep sighs emerged, squeezed out by sorrow,
into an “Ohh!” then said: “Brother, the world
is blind. It’s clear you’ve come from it.”
(Purg. 16:64–66)
This somatic utterance is rendered by one modern translator: “He heaved a heavy sigh, with grief wrung to a groan.” Dante’s onomatopoeic, bodily grunt of pained exclamation turns into an objective description.
In another place, Dante says that what we could call our “curiosity” is sometimes not content until in confronts the truth eye to eye:
This put into my will a burning eagerness
to contemplate the one who spoke to me,
a will that cannot rest until it’s face-to-face.
(Purg. 17:49–51)
A respected translator puts it this way: “a will that cannot rest short of its goal.”
When Dante answers Guido del Duca obliquely, about where he’s from, the puzzled soul replies:
“If I have sunk my teeth (accarno) into your meaning
with my intellect,” the one I heard at first
replied to me, “you’re talking of the Arno.”
(Purg. 14:22–24)
The shocking word – accarno – was simply too perfect in Italian: it makes the whole argument in two words, by means of rhyming with the feral, brutal, savage “Arno.” An admired translator renders it this way: “If my wit has truly grasped your meaning.”
And finally, Dante says that, when they arrived within the unfamiliar landscape of purgatory, they “looked about confused, like someone tasting something new” (2:53-54), which a professional translator has put this way: “as though encountering new things.”
I could list at least two dozen more: Dante doesn’t “get answers,” he harvests truth or plucks good fruit from words. Meanwhile, because a particularly beautiful song makes him “g[i]ve birth” inside his heart to a mixture of joy and sorrow (23:12: as opposed to “[bring] … delight”); his conscience “bites” and he struggles to “disentangle” himself from the net of error.
As one Italian scholar matter-of-factly puts it: “Dante’s usual practice is to use a concrete verb in order to express moral or psychological conditions.” The point here is not to put down other translators, who are as scholars, in many ways, my betters (I didn’t cite the examples above: don’t look them up!); rather, my point is that I want to help my readers feel how rooted Dante’s poetry is in the humble experience of the body.
In sum, Dante wants a lofty, classical syntax (see 22:127–29), but he also wants a poetry that is embedded in the small, the lowly, the humble. For this reason, his poetry is like some Bach fugue, in which the chords in the right hand are ascending while those in the left hand are descending. Or maybe even better, what you would get if you mixed the Roman epic poet Statius and the Franciscan poet Jacopone da Todi.
In any case, this is the glory of Dante. It’s also why translators find it so hard, and also why I lost so much hair and so many teeth.
Jason M. Baxter
Jason M. Baxter is a college professor..."
https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2025/05/17/the-trials-of-translating-dante/
#metaglossia_mundus
"Paul Reitter was chosen to receive the 2025 Helen & Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize by a three-person jury for his translation of Karl Marx's Capital: Critique of Political Economy, Volume 1, published by Princeton University Press in 2024. The honor will be presented to him at an award ceremony at the Goethe-Institut New York on June 17, 2025.
© Emory Klann
JURY STATEMENT
Friedrich Engels, who published a handwringing essay called “How Not to Translate Marx” in 1885, pronounced Karl Marx’s prose “almost untranslatable.” Small wonder, then, that there have been so few translations of Capital into English, despite its status as one of the most consequential books in history. We are fortunate that Paul Reitter has now achieved the near-impossible task of translating Capital, volume one, into what The Nation has lauded as “crisp and contemporary” English. Our jury has marveled at Reitter’s ability to retain the accuracy of the lengthy original, seemingly forbidding text, while rendering it an inviting and even humorous read. Together with editor Paul North, Reitter has brought us an extraordinary edition that also features a sweeping scholarly apparatus drawing on generations of scholarship and helping to make this new translation the definitive one for our era. We congratulate Paul Reitter on his outstanding achievement, and we are delighted to present this year’s Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator’s Prize to him to honor this impressive work. We are also pleased to learn that Paul Reitter has just been awarded a Guggenheim fellowship to translate volume two of Capital.
THE JURY
Shelley Frisch, Princeton, NJ (Chair)
Elisabeth Lauffer, Hannacroix, NY
Philip Boehm, Houston, TX
ABOUT PAUL REITTER
Paul Reitter received his PhD in German studies from the University of California, Berkeley. For more than twenty years, he has taught in the German department at Ohio State University, where he served as the director of the humanities institute from 2012 to 2018. He writes mainly about German-Jewish culture, the history of the humanities, and translation, and in his own translation projects he has focused on retranslating and reframing texts that deliver philosophical critique and social criticism in enduringly exciting ways. His work has been supported by fellowships from the American Academy in Berlin and the Guggenheim Foundation."
https://www.goethe.de/ins/us/en/kul/bks/hkw/w25.html
#metaglossia_mundus
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"Jean Delisle, professeur émérite et auteur du manuel «La traduction raisonnée»
Le 22 mai 2023
26 mai 2023 Le couperet est tombé : l’Université d’Ottawa vient d’annoncer la « suspension » (lire : l’abandon) de ses programmes de traduction. L’université est située à deux pas du plus gros donneur d’ouvrage, l’administration fédérale, où la traduction se fait vers le français dans une proportion de 90 %.
L’Université, qui se dit « fermement engagée à l’épanouissement de la francophonie », forme des traducteurs depuis 1936. Son École de traduction et d’interprétation proposait des formations aux trois cycles d’études et un programme destiné aux futurs interprètes de conférence. Elle avait tous les atouts en main pour faire des études en traduction et en interprétation un domaine d’excellence.
La traduction est une profession qui fait vivre 17 750 traducteurs, terminologues et interprètes, dont la moitié au Québec, selon les données du dernier recensement de Statistique Canada.
Étrangement, les universités du Québec qui ont fait la promotion de leurs programmes de traduction ont vu bondir les demandes d’admission."
#metaglossia mundus