Computers and Translation: A translator's guide: 35 (Benjamins Translation Library) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9027216401 ISBN 13: 9789027216403

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Co, 2003

Synopsis

This volume is about computers and translation. It is not, however, a Computer Science book, nor does it have much to say about Translation Theory. Rather it is a book for translators and other professional linguists (technical writers, bilingual secretaries, language teachers even), which aims at clarifying, explaining and exemplifying the impact that computers have had and are having on their profession. It is about Machine Translation (MT), but it is also about Computer-Aided (or -Assisted) Translation (CAT), computer-based resources for translators, the past, present and future of translation and the computer.
The editor and main contributor, Harold Somers, is Professor of Language Engineering at UMIST (Manchester). With over 25 years’ experience in the field both as a researcher and educator, Somers is editor of one of the field’s premier journals, and has written extensively on the subject, including the field’s most widely quoted textbook on MT, now out of print and somewhat out of date.
The current volume aims to provide an accessible yet not overwhelmingly technical book aimed primarily at translators and other users of CAT software.

About this title

Synopsis

Chapter 1; Introduction*; Harold Somers; UMIST, Manchester, England; 1. Preliminary remarks; This book is, broadly speaking, and as the title suggests, about computers and translators. It is not, however, a Computer Science book, nor does it have much to say about Translation Theory. Rather it is a book for translators and other professional linguists (technical writers, bilingual secretaries, language teachers even), which aims at clarifying, explaining and exemplifying the impact that computers have had and are having on their profession. It is about Machine Translation (MT), but it is also about Computer-Aided (or -Assisted) Translation (CAT), computer-based resources for translators, the past, present and future of translation and the computer. Actually, there is a healthy discussion in the field just now about the appropriateness or otherwise of terms like the ones just used. The most widespread term, "Machine Translation", is felt by many to be misleading (who calls a computer a "machine" these days?) and unhelpful. But no really good alternative has presented itself.

Terms like "translation technology" or "translation software" are perhaps more helpful in indicating that we are talking about computers, the latter term emphasising that we are more interested in computer programs than computer hardware as such. Replacing the word "translation" by something like "translator's" helps to take the focus away from translation as the end product and towards translation as a process1 carried out by a human (the translator) using various tools, among which we are interested in only those that have something to do with computers. We hope that this book will show you how the computer can help you, and in doing so we hope to show also what the computer cannot do, and thereby reassure you that the computer, far from being a threat to your livelihood, can become an essential tool which will make your job easier and more satisfying.

Edition details

• Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Co
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 9027216401
• ISBN 13: 9789027216403
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 365
• Editor: Somers Harold