Feeling human
It’s been one of those weeks with challenges at a most personal
level. My Dad, who is a lively 91 year old who drives a car and volunteers
at the old people’s home, was diagnosed with a life threatening illness. This
was quite a shock. My heart goes out to him and all those people who have
to deal with family and friends going through an experience like my Dads.
Despite the really awful situation there have been some
good experiences as well. The wonderful way the NHS have treated Dad, the
care from his personal doctors and the support shown by my family and friends
to name a few. For my part, it’s given me an opportunity to be able to take
time with my father who, between you and I, can be quite a difficult guy. He
has been very strong and I’m very proud of the way he’s dealing with the
situation.
As I always do, I relate my personal experiences with my
working relationships. I founded thebigword 36 years ago this April and
it seems to me to be a living, breathing entity. This is because it’s
made up of the most amazing people, our employees who are not just
dealing with commercial Translation and Interpreting, but also themselves
placing our linguists within the NHS in the UK and hospitals in other countries.
Both our staff and our linguists often deal with difficult conversations very
much like the one me and my family had to experience when hospital personnel
described an imminent end of life scenario to us.
The service our wonderful linguists deliver, sometimes
under pressure within challenging environments and in areas of conflict around
the world where we provide Interpreting, is something I’m very proud of.
As you know our technology is at the core of the service
that our linguists and staff provide. I love technology, not because I have any
skills in it but because I love what it facilitates. However, I do find that
the almost religious/zealous belief that technology holds all the answers
worrying. I’d like to bring to your attention a subject that is very
important at thebigword, an area where we’re investing, and that is Machine
Translation.
Machine Translation (MT) provides an automated way to
translate content using computer software where the original source content is
used for the translation into the desired target language(s). When translating
content through computers or humans the meaning of the original text must be
accurately reflected in the target language, in order for the same message to
be conveyed; something which is typically more difficult for machines to
achieve.
People often refer to Google Translate, which in one way
is good because it gives you the gist of the conversation quickly and for free,
but there is a real risk of poor quality with many areas and often misleading
translations. At thebigword we think there are many areas where Machine
Translation can be used but there are also many areas where it cannot.
Our Technology team have produced a White Paper explaining our approach on MT which
you can view by clicking on the link at the end of this blog.
I believe that technology working in partnership with
humans will really speed up many of the challenges we face, not just in health,
but in breaking down the final barriers of peace, prosperity, health and
happiness. That barrier is language and I’m proud that thebigword is
taking on this challenge.
I wish you all good health and a great weekend ahead.
