Pages in topic: [1 2] > | World's largest translation memory Thread poster: Russell Jones
| Russell Jones United Kingdom Local time: 23:25 Italian to English
I thought readers of this forum might be interested in an e-mail I have just received from a client agency, which I post without comment, though I have deleted the identifying information. Dear Russell You may already be aware that we are developing the world's largest translation memory. Like a search engine, it crawls the web to align parallel web pages. Translators are helping us to rate the quality of contributions. We are pleased to announce that... See more I thought readers of this forum might be interested in an e-mail I have just received from a client agency, which I post without comment, though I have deleted the identifying information. Dear Russell You may already be aware that we are developing the world's largest translation memory. Like a search engine, it crawls the web to align parallel web pages. Translators are helping us to rate the quality of contributions. We are pleased to announce that we plan to allow some of our translators to download translation memories, for FREE, starting from 1st Oct 2009. We are now working on adding more subject specific TMs and Terminology. With the current growth trend we will double the content available before the end of 2009. A huge thanks to all of you that have contributed to reaching the incredible amount of 156 million segments, and those of you who continue to evaluate the quality. ▲ Collapse | | | Jeff Whittaker United States Local time: 18:25 Spanish to English + ... World's Largest Translation Memory | Aug 3, 2009 |
![](http://pakflower.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/21.jpg)
They are wasting their time. Even if I had a "translation memory" of every single word and document on the internet, it would not help me at all with my current translation project. Words can be combined in infinite ways and you cannot save them all on your computer. Besides, someone will eventually come up with new "time or money-saving" translation tools or gadgets to replace the CAT-tool fad. Who is to say that all the TMs that are created today will even be compatible with tomorrow's data storage and word processing technology? (Does anyone remember punch cards and saving computer files on cassette tapes or typing translations in Word Perfect?).
[Edited at 2009-08-03 22:26 GMT] | | | Claudio Porcellana (X) Italy crawls the web to align parallel web pages ... | Aug 3, 2009 |
mmm.... considering that the web is increasingly full of machine translated pages, I'm afraid that these guys will be very busy to fix all incoherencies, blunders and so on ;-D I think to be quite skilled in aligning documents and in my experience it's very difficult do a good job without a lot of manual work, even with the best aligning tools Claudio | | | Russell Jones United Kingdom Local time: 23:25 Italian to English TOPIC STARTER
Absolutely Jeff Worth noting though that this company has made a huge success of its automated procedures to date and Henry has picked them out as trend-setters in the industry. | |
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Ivan Nekic Croatia Local time: 00:25 German to Croatian + ... quantity or quality... | Aug 3, 2009 |
is an old dilemma. Personally, I prefer a smaller but more reliable TM![](https://cfcdn.proz.com/images/bb/smiles/icon_wink.gif) Said that, this can be an interesting project, if they give enough effort in quality control and make it usable. Still, I'm not afraid of loosing my job... | | | Rachel Fell United Kingdom Local time: 23:25 French to English + ...
Think I got the same one, don't think I've ever done any work for them. Also mentions Twitter... | | | Sounds like they might be infringing copyright | Aug 4, 2009 |
...we are developing the world's largest translation memory. Like a search engine, it crawls the web to align parallel web pages. I'm not a lawyer, but that sounds a lot like massive copyright infringement. You cannot just go on the web and use whatever you find for your own purposes. | |
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Copyright infringement | Aug 4, 2009 |
Riccardo Schiaffino wrote: ...we are developing the world's largest translation memory. Like a search engine, it crawls the web to align parallel web pages. I'm not a lawyer, but that sounds a lot like massive copyright infringement. You cannot just go on the web and use whatever you find for your own purposes. I completely agree. They will be in trouble when the owners find out about what they are doing. And it will serve them right for assuming that everything in the Web is public for any purpose, which is not. | | | Stuart Dowell Poland Local time: 00:25 Member (2007) Polish to English + ...
I got the same email. It sounds like an interesting project. Of course there are issues with quality and potentially with copyright (although I'm pretty sure they've already considered that aspect) but I'll be interested to see where they go with it. Stuart | | | achisholm United Kingdom Local time: 23:25 Italian to English + ... I also received the same email | Aug 4, 2009 |
I have worked for the agency, but not so much recently. I agree with the previous comments about quality. I just completed a job for another client in which a TM was provided. This TM was used to calculate the cost for the job. Since one of the documents had a high level of similarity with the TUs in the TM, this document consequently cost less. However, the quality of the translations in the TM was really rather poor and so the amount of work required to do the job was ... See more I have worked for the agency, but not so much recently. I agree with the previous comments about quality. I just completed a job for another client in which a TM was provided. This TM was used to calculate the cost for the job. Since one of the documents had a high level of similarity with the TUs in the TM, this document consequently cost less. However, the quality of the translations in the TM was really rather poor and so the amount of work required to do the job was greater than expected. To be really useful, a TM has to be populated with quality TUs, otherwise the translator spends most of the translation time correcting the entries in the TM. Aside from the other legal issues mentioned by other posters, I think TM quality will be a major issue with in this case. ▲ Collapse | | | Laurent KRAULAND (X) France Local time: 00:25 French to German + ...
I also received this e-mail and, with respect to the posts before mine, can only say that this not adds up with my work philosophy. I know mass production from other industries well enough not to encourage it in translation. Laurent K. | |
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Samuel Murray Netherlands Local time: 00:25 Member (2006) English to Afrikaans + ... Not a waste of time... | Aug 4, 2009 |
Jeff Whittaker wrote: They are wasting their time. Even if I had a "translation memory" of every single word and document on the internet, it would not help me at all with my current translation project. You are forgetting the value of biligual concordance searching. And the TM isn't "on your computer" -- it is on the web, on someone else's computer. Besides, someone will eventually come up with new "time or money-saving" translation tools or gadgets to replace the CAT-tool fad. Who is to say that all the TMs that are created today will even be compatible with tomorrow's data storage and word processing technology? True, but while the fad lasts, we might as well be part of it. Those who have used floppy disks have advanced further than those who refused to use it for fear that they might become obsolete eventually. | | | A 15-year fad?? | Aug 4, 2009 |
Jeff Whittaker wrote: Besides, someone will eventually come up with new "time or money-saving" translation tools or gadgets to replace the CAT-tool fad. Who is to say that all the TMs that are created today will even be compatible with tomorrow's data storage and word processing technology? (Does anyone remember punch cards and saving computer files on cassette tapes or typing translations in Word Perfect?). Hm... I have know CAT tools for 15 years now, and only in recent years they are becoming really widespread among all kinds of translators. Are you sure a 15 years matches the idea that CAT tools are a fad?![](https://cfcdn.proz.com/images/bb/smiles/icon_smile.gif) Of course they will evolve the same way the computer itself has evolved a lot and will evolve, but CAT tools are here to stay for a long time, in my opinion.
[Edited at 2009-08-04 12:04 GMT] | | | Have I missed something? | Aug 4, 2009 |
What languages and language pairs does this TM contain? I have not seen any mention of which languages it covers, and (un)fortunately I did not receive this e-mail. Or is my question irrelevant? Perhaps the key question here is: who cares about the language? If you throw in enough computing power, you can solve every problem in the world. (/sarcasm off)
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