“harmful strategies to translation studies and its practice: localization and crowdsourcing”...

“Harmful strategies to Translation Studies and its practice:

localization and crowdsourcing”

GL/TRAN 5100: Translation Studies- Presentation Joana Sotomayor

2Presentation -GL/TRAN 5100 Translation Studies-Joana Sotomayor

“One look is worth a thousand words”

Fred R. Barnard, in Printers' Ink, 8 Dec., 1921, p. 96.


But it does not work all the time. The "look" may need

the right "words" to convey the right meaning.


Printers' Ink, 8 Dec., 1921, p. 96. Retrieved from http://blog.gumgum.com/2013/02/13/the-origin-of-a-picture-is-worth-a-thousand-words/


The global expansion did not aim at small groups….

7Presentation -GL/TRAN 5100 Translation

Studies-Joana Sotomayor

...it aimed at reaching far...



Statement The way both localization (and its

ramifications, e.g. game localization) and crowdsourcing

are used in the media are not convenient to the direction of the Translation Studies field and its

practice.

9Presentation -GL/TRAN 5100 Translation Studies-

Joana Sotomayor

Argument I

The role of the field and its practice lacks full and public

recognition.


Joana Sotomayor

The Computer, Machine of the Year | Jan. 3, 1983 http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19830103,00.html#ixzz2O2nhSIMn

Presentation -GL/TRAN 5100 Translation Studies-Joana Sotomayor 11

The Internet | July 25, 1994

http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19940725,00.html


Person of the Year: You | Dec. 25, 2006

http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20061225,00.html#ixzz2O2sG5GY3


Argument II

In the Information & Technology and Translation Ages, the user is the remediator, direct producer,

and translation producer 14

Presentation -GL/TRAN 5100 Translation Studies-Joana Sotomayor

-“Everything is translatable “ song turns into “everything must be coded”.

- “Translation Age better defines (...) the alteration, the mutability in relations between languages and cultures brought about by the new translation media” (Cronin, 2012, p. 481).

-Localization is the adjustment of elements to match language and culture to cater the audience (Quah, 2006) but this does not mean audience self-caters the adjustment.


-The media relies on the wisdom of crowds (Surowiecki, 2004-2005) but anyway, the crowds are untrained, do you think they are wise?

-The virtual community is growing: Twitter announced its 7th anniversary this year. The Pope, the Queen, and even our PM tweet.

-User labels, “remediator” (Flew, 2008, in O’hagan, 2009), “direct producer” (O’hagan, 2009), “translation producer” (Cronin, 2012).


Education: 1 year, M.A. in Translation Studies program, Glendon College, York University. M.A. in Applied Linguistics. Professional Experience: 10 years in education management. On-call community interpreter for the Province of Ontario. Languages of work: French (native), English and Spanish.

Certifications: ATIO (in process, January 2013)Current activity: Developer

Education: Grade 10 (complete). Professional Experience: NoneLanguages of work: French (native), English (second language)Certifications: NoneCurrent activity: Developer

-Labels are harmless; their roles are detrimental to the field and its practice.

-The roles of a professional, certified or educated translator and a curious amateur user and viewer of media have become (virtually) the same.


Argument III

Alteration in the translation process will impact the cultural

and linguistic heritage negatively due to poor quality of text.


Joana Sotomayor

-Translation, edit, proofread (TEP) (DePalma & Kelly, 2008) process occurs in parallel with collaborative translation.

-”Participatory culture” (O’hagan, 2009) may reduce both cost and time but poor or no quality are serious risks.


Argument IV

Unfair commercial competition challenges the practice.


Joana Sotomayor

▪ Facebook ▪

• U.S. Patent for an invention called Community Translation on a Social Network will grant more power and the legalization of solicited crowdsourcing project.

• Launched of the Spanish version in less than four weeks and over a thousand Spanish-speaking users only. German and French versions are available. (2008)

• Facebook welcome page contains 259 words. • In 2011, Facebook made $1 billion.



▪ Sun Microsystems (Netbeans) ▪

• Bought by Oracle. • Launched the NetBeans Localization Project

to crowdsource NetBeans software, the Help and user documentation.

• User/participants must sign a contract that grants Oracle “a perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, worldwide, no-charge, royalty-free, unrestricted license to exercise all rights”.

• Contributions are modified constantly creating a chain of derivative works and ownership of lines.



CONCLUSION

a) Localization and crowdsourcing are not stimulating professional certified translation and not supporting TEP.

b) The creation of unfair practices displace and absorb potential profit disproportionally.

c) If the urge to captivate the audience replaces the purpose of providing information and leisure (Macdonald, 2003), then strong message should be sent out by the field and its practitioners.


CONCLUSION

d) ``Every receiver is a transmitter ” (Gerhards & Ringler, 2004, in Tremetzberger) should not interfere with the business of professional translation nor be protected by patents or contracts.

e) The field and the practice are urged to antidote the media model.

f) Rethinking the direction of the field is pivotal as media and technology evolve every second.


“I deleted a Facebook account I opened some time ago. I do not have a Facebook account, do you?”

Joana Sotomayor

26Presentation -GL/TRAN 5100 Translation Studies-Joana

Sotomayor

Bibliography

• Ayto, J., & Crofton, I. (Eds.). (2011). Fred R. Barnard. In Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase & Fable. Chambers Harrap.

• Cronin, M. (2012). The translation age: Translation, technology and the new instrumentalism. In L. Venutti (Ed.), The Translator Studies Reader (pp. 471-482).

• DePalma, D. A. & Kelly, N. (2008, December 19). Translation of, by, and for the people. [Report preview]. Retrieved from http://www.commonsenseadvisory.com/AbstractView.aspx?ArticleID=889

• Facebook. (2008). Facebook Releases Site in Spanish; German and French to Follow. [Press release]. Retrieved from http://newsroom.fb.com/News/238/Facebook-Releases-Site-in-Spanish-German-and-French-to-Follow



Bibliography

• First Steps for Newcomers. (n.d.). [Form] Retrieved from http://nblocalization.netbeans.org/docs/first_steps.html

• Kelly N. (2013, February 11). There’s Big Money in Crowdsourced Translation – Or Is There? [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://www.commonsenseadvisory.com/Default.aspx?Contenttype=ArticleDetAD&tabID=63&Aid=3023&moduleId=390

• Localization. (n.d.). TermiumPlus http://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=localization

• Macdonald, M. (2003). Rethinking “personalization” and the “infotainment” debate. In Exploring media discourse (pp. 57- 101).

• Munday, J. (2012). New directions from the new media. Introducing Translation Studies (pp. 267- 294).



Bibliography

• O’hagan, M. (2008). Evolution of user-generated translation: Fansubs, translation hacking and crowdsourcing. The Journal of Internationalisation and Localisation, 1, 95-121. Retrieved from

• http://issuu.com/lessiusismore/docs/jial_2009?mode=window&pageNumber=102

• Oracle Contributor Agreement. Retrieved from http://netbeans.org/about/legal/

• Quah, C. K. (2006). Definition of terms. Translation and technology (pp. 6-21). New York, NY: Palgrave.

• Surowiecki, J. (2004-2005). The wisdom of crowds. In The wisdom of crowds (pp. 3-22). New York, NY: Anchor Books.



Bibliography

• Tremetzberger, O. (2010). Collaborative pipelines. In K. Howley (Eds.), Understanding community media ( pp. 53- 62). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc.

• Tsukayama, H. (2012, February 1). Facebook IPO: How does Facebook make its money? The Washington Post-Technology. Retrieved from http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-0201/business/35444633_1_facebook-ipo-revenue-payments-and-other-fees

• Wong, Y. (2012) .U.S. Patent No. 8,271,260. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.



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