Blog Translation Links

As luck would have it, I'm traveling just at the time a story regarding machine translation for blogs, particularly in Arabic, is slated to hit the net. (Update: The article is here at Salon.) So rather than have the top of the blog be unrelated material, here are a set of links to posts here and elsewhere regarding the motivation and status of this effort:

• Prior experiences with machine translation in social software (at Winds of Change)


• Draft of a spec and a how-to guide for marking up translated blog posts using XHTML. Authored and hosted by Lewy14


• A survey of the Arabic/English machine translation market


• A synopsis of the background and some activities to date (at Winds of Change)

There are plenty of other links to follow from those posts. I will open comments on this post for those interested in the effort, and hope to be able drop in to respond. Anything more coherent is likely to wait until middle of next week.

Comments

[Word Translator]

Greetings

If possible can you please include YoFast on your translation links page.

http://www.yofast.org/

Thanks.

David

[Translation India]

One more link to get your documents or website translated.

http://www.translationindia.com

Translation India

[Maxwell]

Hi there, I work for a large UK translations company. There are a few points to make regarding automated translation systems such as those found online. Software can be used for translation projects, but I would advise against it if what you're translating is intended ultimately for publication. There are often so many cultural nuances to take into consideration that cutting corners by using translation software can render your message practically impossible to understand for your target audience. And beyond popular European languages like Spanish (that being 2nd only to English and 4th overall in the world), you run the risk of dramatic misinterpretation. Often the only way to go is to utilise the services of a professional translator. Anyway, great blog though; keep it up. Good to have these things discussed so that people get the facts rather than being left to speculate and not get the results that they want. There is a good article on the subject to be found here: http://www.articlesbase.com/communication-articles/modern-translation-issues-human-vs-machine-532272.html