Humanity’s most salient tool: technology. It has turn our world smaller & more connected, especially since the invasion of the World web. But despise our progress in technology, the vast amount of different languages stills imposes a barrier in communication. Nataly Kelly, & Jost Zezsche in their book “Found in Translation”, states that “Language is the key that unlocks the door to basic human rights” (Kelly, Zezsche, P. 17).  The essence of their argument is that being social creature by nature, if an individual don’t know how to communicate with others or if rights and information needed is not in their familiar language, then human rights can’t be claimed. This is one of the reasons to why there is a strong need for a perfect translation machine. In modern times we have sophisticated applications that can translate, google translator being the most popular, but David Bellos in his book “is that a fish in your ear” explains that “human translators…produce characteristically fluent and meaningful output, and you really can’t tell if they are wrong unless you also understand the source—in which case you don’t need the translation at all.”(Bellos, P.256). Basically, because a professional interpreter masters the languages they interpret, they can translate accurately, as opposite to a translating machine like google translator, as they depend from a large data base of translated material, to try to translate the desire material.

For instance, from the exercises given to us by our professor, neither of the article translated 100 % correctly. I will be share my analysis of the first article, “Portland won’t remove graffiti depicting LePage in Ku Klux Klan robe” by peter McGuire. For starters, the headline, it didn’t translate the word “graffiti”, instead left it in English, when in Spanish it’s spelled as“grafiti”. Furthermore, the headline also translated “wont remove” as “no eliminara”. That is incorrect, because “no eliminara” translate as won’t eliminate. Although the meaning is almost the same, it isn’t really an accurate translation & almost seems as nothing more than pure coincidence. Additionally, the word “picture” was translated into “imagen”, when the word “imagen” really means image. It is a synonym, but it isn’t the exact word translation. In the context, there are other minor translation issues, but the biggest issue of them all is the translation of “It’s part of a larger piece covering the entire 100-foot-long wall”. It was translated as “Es parte de un pedazo más grande que cubre toda la pared de 100 pies de largo”. This is a phrase use in museums and in art gallery, directly translating it would then change the meaning of the phrase. In my opinion, the correct translation to this phrase is “Es parte de una obra más grande cubriendo la pared entera que es 100 pies de largo”. This analysis goes to prove that bellos is correct about human translators, in contrast to translating machines. A person knows how to interpret familiar languages, and is able to catch on to minor mistakes that makes a world of difference. Although, google translator’s mistake where minor in this case, that is not always the case. When translating context it needs to be precise, if not, then the consequences can be excruciating.

Google translator es una buena herramienta que tiene sus ventajas y desventajas tambien. Hoy quiero analizar algunas de las caracteristicas que hacen a google de esta manera. Primero, Google translator es capaz de traducir oraciones largas y tambien parrafos en un instante. Aunque pueda hacer esto, las traducciones no son muy precisas. Pueden ayudar porque te dan una idea de lo que el texto esta hablando, pero, google translator no tiene un buen conocimiento de la gramatica y de la estructura de las oraciones. Desafortunadamente esto puede hacer la traduccion muy confusa de entender. Tambien tiene el poder de cambiar el significado del texto porque cambia las palabras del orden corecto. Por ejemplo, yo escribi en la maquina “Next to the governor are the words racist, homophobe and moron.” Google tradujo esto a ” Al lado de la imagen son las palabras racista,etc.”  El significado aunque mal escrito tiene sentido porque usando nuestro conocimeinto podemos entenderle lo que quiere decir. De cualquier manera la gramatica de la traduccion esta incorecta. Por eso google translator es una buena herramienta si necesitamos traducir algo simple como textos brevios o incluso solo palabra por palabra. Esta herramienta si puede servir como un suplemento, pero no nos podemos confiar completamente de ella. Para hacer traducciones mejores y con gramatica correcta, se necesitan a los humanos.

Orlando Herrera
SPA 4003
Professor Esther Allen
7 de septiembre de 2016

Ejercicio # 2 de traducción mecánica

Portland Press Herald (Maine) 6 de septiembre, el año 2016
Portland no eliminará el grafiti que representa LePage en Ku Klux Klan bata
Por Peter McGuire

Grafiti pintado en una pared pública en Portland representa el gobernador Paul LePage en una capucha blanca y una túnica roja con una insignia de Ku Klux Klan. Al lado de la imagen son las palabras “racista”, “homophobe” y “Morón.” La última palabra “gobernador”, tiene una línea roja pintada a través de él.

Es parte de un pedazo más grande que cubre toda la pared de 100 pies de largo, con las palabras “descarga” en LePage 6 pies de altura letras mayúsculas rojas y blancas.

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La Jornada (México, D. F.), 6 de septiembre de 2016
Rosas, Lágrimas y cantos en el ultimo adios al ‘Divo’
Alondra Flores

Ciudad de México. Cayo La Noche y el velorio Continuo Hasta el otro dia. La fila de dolientes rodeaba el recinto cultural, y La Hilera atravesaba la Alameda a la espera de ingresar al Vestíbulo Convertido en el oratorio fúnebre.

“¡Que maravilloso!”, Se Oyó desde las bocinas La Voz de Juan Gabriel, inconfundible. En La Pantalla gigante se proyectaba video Un biográfico del músico al Que se despedía ESA noche en el Palacio de Bellas Artes. Hasta el interior se escuchaba La música del mariachi En un canto del adiós.

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Traducción del español al inglés usando google

La Jornada (Mexico City), September 6, 2016
Roses, tears and songs in the last goodbye to the ‘Divo’
Alondra Flores

Mexico City. Cayo night and wake Continuous Until the other day. The line of mourners surrounded the cultural center, and the line crossing the Alameda waiting to enter the Lobby Become the funeral oratory.

“How wonderful!” He rang out from speakers Voice of Juan Gabriel, unmistakable. On the giant screen projected video A biography of musician gave off that evening at the Palace of Fine Arts. Even inside the mariachi music he was heard in a song of goodbye.

As learned in the “Inside Google Translate” video, Google Translate and other machine translators work very similarly to search engines, the more popular the result the more likely you are to receiving the result. When someone forgets how to say a simple phrase or wants to check the spelling of a word, that person can simply use a search engine to confirm or deny if their suspicion was correct or not. With Google Translate and other translating websites, one should treat it the same way. If in a moment of distress you forget how to say “What is your name?” in another language, go for it. But in moments where it is critical for something to make complete sense, it is best to do it by hand.

When I initially passed the articles through Google translate, the results seemed to be pretty accurate. As I looked closer to the translations, I noticed small mistakes that could easily confuse the reader.  With the article Portland won’t remove graffiti depicting LePage in Ku Klux Klan robe – the translation seemed pretty solid. In the second paragraph the original article cites that the words “Dump LePage” are located on the piece while Google Translate, rather than translating the words in quotes, it separates them into ‘“descarga’ en LePage” which makes no sense. Perhaps, the machine believed LePage to be a place but the addition of the “en” is confusing. To prevent confusion, the translation should have been along the lines of “desgarga LePage” or “Boten LePage.” If a person were behind this translation, they would recognize that the “en” as a translation of “in” talked about the size of the piece not LePage, but would still be the wrong word to choose. The last phrase, “in 6-foot-high red and white block letters,” was translated into “6 pies de altura letras mayúsculas rojas y blancas” which, is missing a word to connect it and the original do not mention the words to be uppercase but rather “block letters.”

In La Jornada’s article, while the machine translation was not off, if it were translated for an English audience, rather than simply referring to Juan Gabriel as the “Divo” I would have gone the extra step to add his name. While in Mexico everyone knows who the Divo is without naming it, American audiences might know, the majority will likely not. The second sentence of the first paragraph’s machine translation had “…and the Alameda crossed the line waiting to enter the lobby become funeral oratory,” it was not the Alameda that crossed the line, but rather it was the people that crossed the Alameda. In another instance of confusion, the second paragraph began with “How wonderful!” He was heard from the speakers the voice of Juan Gabriel, unmistakable.,” while the structure of that sentence worked in Spanish, it was confusing in English. For example, in Spanish the “se oyó” meant that the voice was heard, but in English with “he was heard” would perplex any reader, who was the “he” they were talking about? The final phrase in the machine translation was also missing a verb. Google Translate used “Even inside mariachi music heard in a song of goodbye,” which isn’t even a sentence. Using context clues, one can figure out that what was being heard was mariachi music, but as a professor of mine said, “Either the writer or the reader struggles, it should be the writer.” You want to make sure that the reader knows exactly what is meant and that you don’t cause moments of stress.

With languages that get constantly translated, Google Translate can be useful to translate between English and Spanish, but with other languages like Serbian and Croatian as Kelly and Zetzshe state, it can be less useful. Just as Wikipedia should be used as a starting off point when researching, Google Translate should be just the beginning. When translating a work and someone is unsure of what it means, Google Translate is useful to see the common translations along with searching for the word’s definition but it shouldn’t be the only source used. Translations aren’t only about finding a word or phrase that matches up perfectly because that can be hard to find, but it is about considering the content and culture along with the words and norms of the receiving audience. It is also important to note that it is not the machine that is translating the works, but rather it is using what people have translated before and that is what is used as a result.

La Jornada (Mexico City), September 6, 2016

Roses, tears, and songs during the “Divo” Juan Gabriel’s final farewell

By Alondra Flores

Mexico City. Night fell and the funeral continued into the next day. The line of mourners went from the cultural center all the way around the Alameda, a nearby park, as they waited to enter the lobby that was converted into a funeral chapel.

“How wonderful!” Juan Gabriel’s unmistakable voice boomed from the speakers. A biographical video of the musician was projected on the big screen as funeral-goers said their final goodbyes that night in the national theater, Palacio de Bellas Artes. Even inside of the theater the mariachi’s farewell songs could be heard playing from outside.