Blog
Machine Translation Report
What is the optimal MT Engine for you? Find out in the latest MT Report by Memsource.
“I think technology will replace translators in near future. Open minded translators who keep up with the newest trends in machine translation will become more-or-less post-editors,” says Soykan Ataman, a senior translation student at Trakya University in Turkey.
Soykan works for gaming companies as a freelancer. Aside from game localization, he is passionate about translation technology and subtitling. He is an active member of the Trakya University Translation Students Community and his main goal is to produce game localizations that have the same feeling as the original language.
Do you think technology will replace translators or it will help them become more effective in their work?
It’s kind of a love-hate relationship. Most of the old-school translators in my country hate translation technology and machine translation because they are afraid of becoming unemployed. But I think it’s an opportunity to be seized. With the help of advanced technology such as the cloud or Artificial Intelligence learning, translators are getting better results day by day. I think we should focus on how to use these translation tools effectively.
Is language-oriented artificial intelligence or machine translation particularly interesting for you?
We have conferences annually during one of which I presented about machine translation so I had to study a lot about it and artificial intelligence as well. I also like the fact that more and more translation engines are using Neural Machine Translation.
Do you think it is important to keep up to date with current industry trends?
Yes, because I think technology will replace translators in the near future. Machine translation will become an ordinary task for us and open minded translators who keep up with the newest trends in machine translation will become more-or-less post-editors. Until then, technology will help us be more effective.
Is studying translation enough or should one also study something else to be a good translator?
Students should try to find their expertise and it’s okay to try different fields before choosing what you like. However, I don’t think that you have to graduate from another field to become an expert translator.
Do universities in Turkey prepare students well for their future careers?
Students must keep track of the latest translation technologies themselves. My university only offers two classes related to our professional careers in the whole 4-year period. Almost our entire curriculum is based on translation theories.
I understand how challenging it is to modernize the whole curriculum and to fill the gap in CAT tool training. That’s why we took the initiative to create our Translation Studies Students’ Club and we organize workshops, seminars, career days and even an annual conference. During the workshops, we learn how to use CAT tools such as Memsource or Subtitle Explorer. Also, students who have work placements share practical tips with others. Similar clubs are quite popular in Turkey.
How do you run a CAT tool course in your university student club?
Together with a friend, I provide an introductory course to Memsource. We explain how to create termbases and translation memories and we also teach how to translate in Memsource. Many students who don’t join a university club like ours can struggle when they enter the industry. Finding an internship or an adequately paid job can be difficult since employers don’t want to waste time or resources to train you in CAT tools.
I know that you work as a freelance translator for Riot Games. Do you have to be a gamer to localize video games?
Yes, it’s a must. You have to be a gamer to deliver high-quality game localizations. And it is a skill which gets rusty day by day if you don’t play enough, so it is necessary not to lose touch with the industry.
What are some of the challenges with video game localization?
I think that the character limitation is the main challenge when localizing video games. You have to fit your translation into a designated area, which is often quite difficult. On top of that, a lot of games have many specific items that need to be translated and well enough so that the players don’t feel like it’s a translation.
What tools do you use for translating subtitles?
I like Amara, which is used for translating TED talks. It is very easy to use and it would be great if some translation companies adopted it as well.
What language pairs do you work with?
English and Turkish.
Is there some unique challenge when translating from Turkish to English or vice versa?
Turkish has no grammatical gender, so you have to understand the gender from the context. Also, the word order in Turkish is different from English because the verb goes last. Besides, Turkish is agglutinative language, which means that we add different endings to express tenses, genders etcetera. For example, “geliyorum” means “I’m coming” and “geleceğim” means “I will come”. The agglutination can get really weird because it sometimes creates interminable words.
Professors - would you like to give your translation students a head start in their careers? Contact Filip to set up a Free Academic Edition for your university!
Translation students - would you like to share your thoughts about the translation industry with us too? Get in touch now!
