Human response to a changing industry: how freelancers are adapting to technological innovation
Thread poster: Jared Tabor
Jared Tabor
Jared Tabor
Local time: 14:44
SITE STAFF
Apr 18, 2019

Dear members,

In March Henry and I gave a talk at the GALA conference in Munich. The talk was called Human response to a changing industry: how freelance translators and interpreters are adapting to technological innovation.


The information presented in that talk has been expanded somewhat and published in written form as a ProZ.com industry report. ProZ.com members
... See more
Dear members,

In March Henry and I gave a talk at the GALA conference in Munich. The talk was called Human response to a changing industry: how freelance translators and interpreters are adapting to technological innovation.


The information presented in that talk has been expanded somewhat and published in written form as a ProZ.com industry report. ProZ.com members can access this report using the site menu, Education --> Knowledgebase --> Translation industry reports, or at this direct link: https://www.proz.com/industry-report


Thanks goes out to everyone who replied to surveys, took part in forum discussions, email exchanges, and calls in the first part of 2019, which all went towards compiling the information discussed in the report.


Jared

Human_response_cover_400


ProZ.com industry reports »
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Lenka Bartošová
Igor Volosyanoy
 
Lenka Bartošová
Lenka Bartošová  Identity Verified
Czech Republic
Member (2019)
German to Czech
+ ...
Interesting article Apr 18, 2019

Really great written. The informations about the trends in the translation practise are important and I can really acknowledge, that I can also feel it hard by my work. Sometimes its frightening but if you are good with computer, you can also let it work for you really good.

 
Post removed: This post was hidden by a moderator or staff member for the following reason: Please don't post a file that is available to members only on the forum.
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 18:44
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
I recommend the PDF version Apr 19, 2019

Jared Tabor wrote:
The information presented in that talk has been expanded somewhat and published in written form as a ProZ.com industry report.


There is a PDF version of that report available, and I recommend reading the PDF version instead of the HTML version. To get to the PDF version, click the tab that takes you to the 2019 report, scroll down to the very bottom, and click the PDF link.

(The moderator hid my previous post because I had linked to the PDF file itself. The PDF file is accessible to the public, which is why I had thought that it would be okay to share the link with other people who are not on ProZ.com. (Added: I only just discovered that the HTML version is accessible only to ProZ.com members.))


[Edited at 2019-04-19 11:59 GMT]


 
Mirko Mainardi
Mirko Mainardi  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 18:44
Member
English to Italian
GoPost Apr 19, 2019

From the report: "GoTrans is a representation of pure machine translation. He submits anonymous entries in every translation contest, in every pair he can, with raw machine translations of the source texts".

Can't wait for a 2.0 iteration that will also post on the fora while trying to pass for a human user... and then a 3.0, 4.0 and so on, each time with added and expanded translation-related "functionality"...


However, I do wonder how the guys who unknowingly r
... See more
From the report: "GoTrans is a representation of pure machine translation. He submits anonymous entries in every translation contest, in every pair he can, with raw machine translations of the source texts".

Can't wait for a 2.0 iteration that will also post on the fora while trying to pass for a human user... and then a 3.0, 4.0 and so on, each time with added and expanded translation-related "functionality"...


However, I do wonder how the guys who unknowingly rated all those MT entries feel about it...
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Katalin Szilárd
Gerard de Noord
 
DZiW (X)
DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
Mimicking FB/Google and others? Apr 19, 2019

I just checked the newsletter and can't help wondering what exactly made the data from Quick Polls and public info "classified" or "privileged" for members only, anyone?

However, I admit there were very poor MT samples in the Translation Contest, which even didn't pass qualification. I thought it was a mistake or noobish post-edit, but it appears a perk...

How about adding a Google/Yandex MT as samples how NOT to translate?


 
Katalin Szilárd
Katalin Szilárd  Identity Verified
Hungary
Local time: 18:44
English to Hungarian
+ ...
I'm speechless or not Apr 19, 2019

Mirko Mainardi wrote:

From the report: "GoTrans is a representation of pure machine translation. He submits anonymous entries in every translation contest, in every pair he can, with raw machine translations of the source texts".

Can't wait for a 2.0 iteration that will also post on the fora while trying to pass for a human user... and then a 3.0, 4.0 and so on, each time with added and expanded translation-related "functionality"...

However, I do wonder how the guys who unknowingly rated all those MT entries feel about it...


I'm speechless. Again.

But wait I'm not speechless:

My posts from Apr 10, 2018

https://www.proz.com/forum/prozcom_technical_support/324358-censorship_staff_two_posts_hidden_in_another_forum_thread_as_off_topic.html

"3) they are testing machine (AI) related algorithms on the site and these are causing major security and function related issues for many members"
"A coincide or a direct hit?
I was mentioning a hacking option before, my posts were not deleted, I was mentioning the server thing, my posts were not deleted and now when I mentioned the machine (AI) related algorithms my posts were deleted ... "

So it seems we were guinea pigs.

[Edited at 2019-04-19 19:37 GMT]

[Edited at 2019-04-20 08:37 GMT]


DZiW (X)
 
Maxi Schwarz
Maxi Schwarz  Identity Verified
Local time: 12:44
German to English
+ ...
"cottage industry" Apr 19, 2019

I vaguely remember invitation to discuss these ideas before the conference, and some of us did not view translation trends in our own spheres. Quality is not increasing: quality has always been a central factor to professional translation.

My attention was caught by the term "cottage industry". It makes the kind of work that I do seem quaint, antiquated, and not quite professional or a business. Housewives selling cookies for a bit of extra money, knitting slippers for Christ
... See more
I vaguely remember invitation to discuss these ideas before the conference, and some of us did not view translation trends in our own spheres. Quality is not increasing: quality has always been a central factor to professional translation.

My attention was caught by the term "cottage industry". It makes the kind of work that I do seem quaint, antiquated, and not quite professional or a business. Housewives selling cookies for a bit of extra money, knitting slippers for Christmas, folks puttering around with pottery - that's what I picture when I read "cottage industry".

My work does not "adapt" to the "innovations" and don't need to. On the other hand, when such innovations come along that meet my professional needs, I take full advantage of them. Unfortunately the full text is unavailable to me so I've only been able to read the outlines.
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Kaspars Melkis
Katalin Szilárd
Tanja Oresnik
 
Jared Tabor
Jared Tabor
Local time: 14:44
SITE STAFF
TOPIC STARTER
Re: cottage industry Apr 19, 2019

Hi Maxi,

Maxi Schwarz wrote:

I vaguely remember invitation to discuss these ideas before the conference, and some of us did not view translation trends in our own spheres. Quality is not increasing: quality has always been a central factor to professional translation.

My attention was caught by the term "cottage industry". It makes the kind of work that I do seem quaint, antiquated, and not quite professional or a business. Housewives selling cookies for a bit of extra money, knitting slippers for Christmas, folks puttering around with pottery - that's what I picture when I read "cottage industry".

My work does not "adapt" to the "innovations" and don't need to. On the other hand, when such innovations come along that meet my professional needs, I take full advantage of them. Unfortunately the full text is unavailable to me so I've only been able to read the outlines.


It sounds like you are referring to the abstract for the 2010 report, which is nine years old now:

"It has been said previously that translation was a 'cottage industry' in the sense that there were many individuals working in translation in a separate fashion, isolated, each producing his or her own product, with not much in the way of overall standardization"

and

"If this was the case before, it would appear that translation is no longer a cottage industry"

... are the exact lines from the abstract.


 
Maxi Schwarz
Maxi Schwarz  Identity Verified
Local time: 12:44
German to English
+ ...
Jared Apr 23, 2019

Jared Tabor wrote:

Hi Maxi,

It sounds like you are referring to the abstract for the 2010 report, which is nine years old now:

Hm, it does look like it. I clicked on the opening post which gave a link to a report, and as I scrolled up and down to look for one, that is what I found.


 


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Human response to a changing industry: how freelancers are adapting to technological innovation






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