2.0: facing the challenges of the global era. Session 4 - Tools for translators Alberto Fernández Costales To cite this version: Alberto Fernández Costales. 2.0: facing the challenges of the global era. Session 4 - Tools for translators. Tralogy I. Métiers et technologies de la traduction : quelles convergences pour l’avenir ?, Mar 2011, Paris, France. 13p. hal-02495901 HAL Id: hal-02495901 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02495901 Submitted on 2 Mar 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. 2.0: facing the challenges of the global era Alberto Fernández Costales University of Oviedo (Spain) This paper explores the new horizons in the field of translation resulting from the technological breakthroughs and the influence of globalisation. The promotion and development of high-speed communication systems in the global village have also provoked a sharp increase in the amount of infor- mation exchanged on a daily basis and this requires streamlined trans- lation workflows in order to meet the overwhelming demand for online contents in different languages. This new scenario does affect both, the aca- demic field and the professional practice of translation, as more and more users are getting engaged in the so-called fan translation. The Web is a fast consumption communication tool that imposes certain rules and features that can influence the development of the translation industry in the next years. TRALOGY I - Session 4 Date d’intervention : 04/03/2011 lien video : https://webcast.in2p3.fr/video/translation_facing_the_challenges_of_the_global_era 2 SESSION 4 - LES OUTILS DU TRADUCTEUR 1. A brave new world Globalisation, together with new technologies, has changed the way people communicate every day. The world has shrunk and the -still- on-going effects of globalisation have reached far- distant areas from economy affecting practically all spheres in our society [Schäffner, C. (2000: 1)]. In this scenario, translation is not “only” the basic tool for intercultural communication and a vehicle for understanding among nations but it has turned into an essential element in the economy of every company seeking an international presence beyond the borders of its home country [Corte, N. (2000)]. The financial, social, cultural and technological implications of globalisation have had an impact in the current panorama of professional translation. Research in Machine Translation and the development of more powerful and user-friendly CAT tools have contributed to streamline and optimise the translation process in a world governed by the speed of communications, tight deadlines, and fast-paced markets (e.g. ‘sim-ship’, or simultaneous shipment has become the standard in many productive sectors). Also, the consolidation of the localisation industry in the 1990s, supported by the creation of the Localisation Industry Standards Association or LISA has contributed to the shift towards new patterns in the translation industry [Esselink, B. (2000: 6)]. In this framework, there is a need for translators to be constantly adapting and updating in order to meet the requirements of the new market models. Thus, as a consequence of globalisation, the role of translators is in a continuous transition process. This new panorama may have a serious impact on translation, concerning not only the professional practice but also the business model and the development of the industry in the short term. In the last years we have also witnessed how borders between disciplines have been blurred and interdisciplinarity is nowadays a meeting point where translation converges and interacts with other varieties such as video games localisation or web internationalisation. High-speed modes of interaction among users in the so-called Web 2.0 have opened new horizons, as they have fostered the dissemination of new phenomena in communication and in Translation Studies: fansubbing, scanlations or romhacking are activities that can be regarded as types of fan translation, that is translations made by fans and for fans [Ferrer Simó, M. R. (2005)]. The adaptation of contents by amateur translators has been clearly promoted by new technologies thanks to the possibility of exchanging information on a free basis and in real time. Therefore, relying on previous experiences with other collaborative efforts on the Web, we can pose the hypothesis that amateur or fan translation is a phenomenon that can hardly be avoided: even when there are several ethical questions to be solved and barriers can be settled by companies or institutions aiming to hamper certain activities -such as fansubbing- the own specific features of the Internet provide users with an incredibly effective tool to take profit from legal vacuums. The output of fan translation has obvious implications regarding quality, legal and socio- cultural issues that should not be ignored by academia. Indeed, collaborative translation can also have an impact on the way the translation industry develops in the next years: as big corporations (e.g. Google, Facebook) rely on amateur translation for adapting some of the contents of their websites and applications, new business models and synergies can pop up in the short term; likewise, online translation tools and Machine Translation systems can be implemented to allow users to continue adapting web contents. Also, the exchange of translation memories can gain momentum thanks to the new formats and standards. Besides issues concerning the professional practice of translation, it is also important to underline the relevance all this may have from the point of view of Translation Studies, as new paradigms could result from the study of fan translation. Can amateur adaptation of online contents influence the role of the (professional) translator? What about quality criteria? Should new standards be created? What is the role of CAT tools in this process? Can they really improve 2.0: FACING THE CHALLENGES OF THE GLOBAL ERA - ALBERTO FERNÁNDEZ COSTALES TRALOGY I - ANTICIPER LES TECHNOLOGIES POUR LA TRADUCTION 3 translators’ efficiency and textual coherence? These are just some of the many questions that scholars and professional translators have to face in the context of the global village: their joint effort is a must in order to tackle the challenges of the new era. Accordingly, interdisciplinarity will be the key if we want to succeed in the task of transferring the acquired knowledge to society. 2. The coming of age of the World Wide Web The Internet has improved global communications thanks to its high-speed features and has promoted international trade by reducing paperwork and shipping costs. At the same time, it has enlarged the arena for all those companies wishing to export their products and services beyond their national borders. The internationalisation and localisation of websites have already been studied by a good number of researchers and from different points of view [Yunker, J. (2002), Sandrini, P. (2005), Neuert, S. (2007), Jiménez Crespo, M. A. (2008), Fernández Costales, A. (2010)]. Beyond linguistic, cultural or social interests, the adaptation of a website to a particular market is intended to increase the sales figures of the company at the same time it enhances and reinforces its brand image at a global scale. In addition to the financial and marketing benefits it has provided to both, companies and institutions, the Web has completely changed the way we keep in touch, as it has become the main communication tool for millions of people who use it in order to access information on a daily basis: e-mailing and video communications (e.g. videoconferences, video chats, etc.) are low-cost alternatives that make it possible for a user to get in touch with somebody in a foreign country in real time. Within the general development of the Internet, the Web 2.0 can be regarded as the coming of age of this single invention since it has fostered human-computer interaction and also the contact and cooperation among users. Social networks -such as Facebook or Twitter-, collaborative efforts -like Wikipedia- or the creation of forums on specialised topics are just but a few samples of the power the Internet has put on the hands of the users. The bi-directionality of the Web has allowed people to publish an edit contents that are accessed, read, post-edited, reviewed or commented by users all around the world. Also, podcasting or video blogging provide everyone with the necessary technology to create contents on any given topic. In a nutshell, Web 2.0 has brought people and technology together more than any other previous development in World Wide Web. The key of this success is that the Internet has become more user-centred; an interesting issue to be addressed here is whether this model could be exported to particular fields like translation technology in order to make it more user-friendly. As it will be commented later on in this paper, the way people use translation tools today, together with the new practices and activities emerging within the translation industry, may suggest further developments and a possible shift in the design of translation technology in order to make it more usable and accessible on the Web. As it has already been mentioned, the advantages of the Internet seem quite clear, as it has allowed millions of users to access online contents without the need to travel or commute to other places. In terms of revenues, it has also meant an important foothold for many companies and institutions that benefit from international marketing and advertising campaigns [O’Hagan, M.