Linguee, which is a very useful online resource for translators, has come up with a new machine translation program and wow, it’s pretty good. For years Linguee has been collecting translated material online, which allows it to function as a dictionary with endless samples. When you enter a word or phrase you see its dictionary definition followed by all the texts Linguee could dredge up that have undergone translation in the relevant language pair and contain the relevant term(s). These examples are drawn from the work of actual human translators (some of them, admittedly, incompetent…so you need to use your judgement).
Well, Linguee’s sample-collecting habit has allowed it to create a terrifyingly good machine translation program that puts the others to shame, namely “DeepL.” Check out its handling of this press release:
| Original
Der junge Stiegl-Braumeister Felix Schiffner stellte bei der 5. Biersommelier Weltmeisterschaft in München die internationale Konkurrenz in den Schatten und musste sich nur dem Deutschen Stephan Hilbrand im Finale geschlagen geben. Auf dem dritten Platz landete Rodrigo Sawamura aus Brasilien. Mit einer redegewandten und mit viel Witz garnierten Präsentation seines ausgewählten Bieres Bourbon County Barley Wine von Goose Island holte unser Stiegl-Nachwuchsbraumeister Felix Schiffner im Finale der fünften Biersommelier-Weltmeisterschaft am Messegelände München den sensationellen zweiten Platz. Der Mühlviertler, der seine Stiegl-Laufbahn schon als Brauwelt-Guide während seines Studiums begann, wandelt damit auf den Spuren seines Vaters. Er gewann 2009 den ersten Biersommelier-Weltmeistertitel. Wir sind natürlich dementsprechend stolz auf den frisch gebackenen Biersommelier-Vizeweltmeister! Herzliche Gratulation und Prost!
|
Google Translate
The young Stiegl-Braumeister Felix Schiffner overshadowed the international competition at the 5th Biersommelier World Championship in Munich and had only to beat the German Stephan Hilbrand in the final. On the third place Rodrigo Sawamura landed from Brazil. With a talked and giftedly presented presentation of his selected Beer Bourbon County Barley Wine from Goose Island, our Stiegl junior champion Felix Schiffner won the sensational second place in the final of the fifth Biersommelier World Championship at the Messegelände München. The Mühlviertler, who began his career as a brewery guide during his studies, is thus transformed in the footsteps of his father. In 2009, he won the first World Championship titles. We are, of course, proud of the freshly baked World Cup champion! Congratulations and cheers!
|
DeepL
The young Stiegl master brewer Felix Schiffner outdid the international competition at the 5th Beer Sommelier World Championships in Munich and only had to admit defeat to the German Stephan Hilbrand in the final. Rodrigo Sawamura from Brazil finished third. With an eloquent and witty presentation of his selected beer Bourbon County Barley Wine from Goose Island, our Stiegl young master brewer Felix Schiffner took sensational second place in the finale of the fifth beer sommelier world championship at the Munich Exhibition Centre. The Mühlvierteler, who began his Stiegl career as a brewing guide during his studies, follows in the footsteps of his father. In 2009 he won the first beer sommelier world champion title. We are of course proud of the freshly baked world champion in the beer sommelier business! Congratulations and cheers! |
Yikes. Look how much better that is than our old friend Google Translate. Not only does it avoid GT’s objective errors, it also has a much better writing style. I’m not so sure about “the freshly baked world champion” (“newly minted,” perhaps?) but apart from that, good job, Linguee!
Two things happened over the weekend. The first was that I sent a friend who doesn’t speak German an article from the Süddeutsche Zeitung that might interest him, and instead of summarizing it for him I told him to run it through DeepL. I’ve never advised anyone to run anything through Google Translate. The second was that I told a colleague about DeepL, he ran a sample text through it, and then he said, “How much longer do you think we’re going to have this job?”
But let’s not panic. There will always be something for translators to do. Post-editing machine translations at $0.02 per word is actually not a bad gig — with a steady workflow you can make about $30 an hour. And there is a huge amount of content out there to be translated, including a lot of things that people don’t currently send to professional translation services because it’s not quite worth the cost, but they would send to a cheap MT service.
Also, many clients require a certain level of confidentiality, which free translation websites cannot provide.
If you are a translator who writes well and can edit, proofread, and/or rewrite things, you probably have nothing to worry about. Clients who want an ad rewritten for marketing in a different country or are putting together an exquisitely crafted book will not turn to free or cheap MT services.
And to get a sense of the limitations of MT, take a look at these versions of a passage from Die Harzreise (and if you’ve been reading this blog for a while and are wondering if I have some sort of beyond-the-grave crush on Heinrich Heine, the answer is well obviously). Errors in bold type. Less-egregious errors in italics:
| Original:
Jedoch der ältern Dame war die geheimnisvolle Natur der Blumen nichts weniger als verschlossen, und unwillkürlich äußerte sie, daß sie von den Blumen, wenn sie noch im Garten oder im Topfe wachsen, recht erfreut werde, daß hingegen ein leises Schmerzgefühl traumhaft beängstigend ihre Brust durchzittere, wenn sie eine abgebrochene Blume sehe – da eine solche doch eigentlich eine Leiche sei, und so eine gebrochene, zarte Blumenleiche ihr welkes Köpfchen recht traurig herabhängen lasse, wie ein totes Kind. Die Dame war fast erschrocken über den trüben Wiederschein ihrer Bemerkung, und es war meine Pflicht, denselben mit einigen Voltaire’schen Versen zu verscheuchen. Wie doch ein paar französische Worte uns gleich in die gehörige Konvenienzstimmung zurückversetzen können! Wir lachten, Hände wurden geküßt, huldreich wurde gelächelt, die Pferde wieherten, und der Wagen holperte langsam und beschwerlich den Berg hinunter. |
Google Translate: However, the mysterious nature of the flowers was no more than closed to the elderly lady, and involuntarily she remarked that she was quite delighted by the flowers when she was still growing in the garden or in the pot. On the other hand, a low painful feeling was terribly frightening, when she saw a broken flower-since such a body was actually a corpse, and a broken, delicate, pale-flowered [missing text], like a dead child. The lady was almost frightened at the dull repetition of her remark, and it was my duty to scare it with some Voltaire’s verses. How a few French words can get us back into the proper convent mood! We laughed, the hands were kissed, the dogs were smiled, the horses whined, and the car was slowly and painfully descending the mountain. |
DeepL:
However, the mysterious nature of the flowers was nothing less than closed to the elderly lady, and involuntarily she said that she was quite pleased with the flowers when they were still growing in the garden or in the pot, but that a quiet feeling of pain would be terrifyingly frightening to her breast when she saw a broken flower – since such a feeling of pain was actually a corpse, and such a broken one [missing text]. The lady was almost frightened by the cloudy reappearance of her remark, and it was my duty to frighten her away with some Voltaire verse. How a few French words can put us right back into the convent mood! We laughed, hands were kissed, with a lot of kindness, the horses were smiling, and the carriage slowly and with great difficulty bumped down the mountain. |
From a published translation by Charles Godfrey Leland:
The secret and mysterious nature of flowers, was, however, any-
thing but a secret to the elder lady, and she involuntarily remarked,
that she felt happy in her very soul, when she saw flowers growing in
the garden or in a room, while a faint, dreamy sense of pain, invaria-
bly affected her on beholding a beautiful flower with broken stalk
that it was really a dead body, and that the delicate pale head of such
a flower-corpse hung down like that of a dead infant. The Lady here
became alarmed at the sorrowful impression which her remark
caused, and I flew to the rescue with a few Voltairean verses. How
quickly two or three French words bring us back into the conven-
tional concert-pitch of conversation. We laughed, hands were
kissed, gracious smiles beamed, the horses neighed, and the wagon
jolted heavily and slowly down the hill.
Reading this reminded me of a TED talk I had heard on the radio. Found it on the You Tube. Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ht4qiDRZE8