Acaba de concluir en Washington (EE. UU.) la II Cumbre Norteamericana sobre Interpretación con el lema «Quality Interpreting in a Push-Button World: How Professional Identity & Technology are Driving the Future of Our Field», es decir, el papel y lugar de las tecnologías en el mundo de la interpretación: un tema apasionante. Los que no asistimos a las conferencias en persona, pudimos seguir muchas de las charlas y debates a través de twitter y facebook rastreando todo lo que decían nuestros colegas desde tierras norteamericanas con la etiqueta #InterpAmSummit.
Me llamó la atención, entre otras cosas, el estudio que presentó Common Sense Advisory sobre la opinión y actitud que tienen los intérpretes sobre las tecnologías. Según este estudio que se realizó a 179 intérpretes para averiguar qué esperaban de las tecnologías, los intérpretes esencialmente quieren poder escuchar y ver con claridad, recibir con nitidez la voz del ponente, comprender sin interferencias, herramientas para analizar la voz, contexto, información pertinente, acceso a terminología, apoyo y ayuda, más productividad, coexistir con la tecnologías y, en suma, un planteamiento realista. El estudio concluía con la opinión de los intérpretes de que los tecnólogos debieran trabajar con ellos en lugar de intentar sustituirlos. Y de eso precisamente trataba la entrevista que hizo Nataly Kelly a Raymond Kurzweil con motivo de la II Cumbre Norteamericana sobre Interpretación. Kurzweil es un inventor estadounidense, además de músico, empresario, escritor y científico especializado en Ciencias de la Computación e Inteligencia Artificial. Este experto tecnólogo de sistemas y de Inteligencia Artificial y eminente futurista explica cómo ve el futuro de las tecnologías en el ámbito de la traducción e interpretación:
Ray Kurzweil on Translation Technology from Nataly Kelly on Vimeo.
Time will tell, but 2029 sounds to me like another failed prophecy and we’ve seen more than a fair share of those in the area of automated translation.
Interpreting is even harder as anyone who’s worked in the booth knows because language is just half of the story there, the other half is message delivery, with the appropriate tone of voice and intonation, precisely positioned pauses etc. As far as I know there are no robotic actors yet. Because that is what interpreting takes, the skills of an actor. Maybe not an Oscar-winning one, but an actor nonetheless.
I don’t think anyone can listen to text-to-speech for a whole day without crying for mercy (although a bad interpreter will make you cry for mercy 5 minutes into the talk.)
If technologists want to skip this very complicated business of nonverbal communication by displaying automated subtitles, good luck with that. Most speakers talk too fast for subtitles. Will the machine be able to capture language, translate it automatically, make a clever summary of what is being said (like subtitlers do) and display it just at the right time? Without much of a lag please, because the audience gets very uncomfortable when there is a lag.
I found it a bit shocking too that Kurzweil cannot think of any computer-assisted interpreting tecnologies in the likeness of CAT tools. Because I can think of a few tools that would be extremely helpful for interpreters.
Things that go from the very basic concept of listening and seeing better (why not for example, a camera that the interpreter can control from the booth to zoom in on an eyechart slide, or an audio recording slide that enables you to go back when you miss a word and then go fast forward to catch up with the speaker again) to a sophisticated predictive system that would pop on my computer screen the translation for pitfall words or even glossary approved terms whenever they are mentioned by the speaker.
Obviously none of this exists and probably never will exist, because interpreting is expensive enough as it is and every effort is being made to replace us not to help us do a better job.
Hi Maria Eugênia!
Thanks for your comment. I fully agree with your views, I’m not a futurist but I cannot see how computers can replace humans 100%, as the expert technologist says. I think CAT tools, for instance, are very helpful for translators as CAI tools may be in the future, but these IT tools are useless without the help of humans. I know of a couple of attempts to replace interpreters sing machines (https://www.bootheando.com/2010/05/27/interpretacion-automatica-o-el-interprete-mas-listo-de-la-clase/ and https://www.bootheando.com/2009/11/24/interprete-humanoide/)…let’s see if these or similar ones are around by 2029 😉
Best from Bootheando
Well, ME, I saw a few things at the II InterpretAmerica Summit that you would just love! just a few below:
Media Vision-USA – console with sound signal for blind interpreters, [tech] button to call the tech personnel when there’s a problem in the booth, a [slow] button to signal the Chair that the speaker needs to slow down, a [repeat] button that will retain 6 seconds of the speech and regurgitate it back to the interpreter (!), AND a console with a 10″ screen that is Windows OS and internet enabled! They forgot the masseuse!
There was lots more and I can’t wait to write more about it once I have the time. I was co-moderating the technology group and I can tell you that the sound engineers and equipment designers were all very eager to listen to what we had to say – including about their marketing strategy.
Beijos to you and thanks to Bootheando for making this forum available.
Gio
Wow Gio! That sounds fantastic! I want a booth with all these buttons 😉 When and where are you going to write about these technologies? Please keep us informed; I’ll be glad to write a post in Spanish on such a topic.
Best from Boothando
I contribute to the ATIF* newsletter and I have to present a report (I am the prez, also). I’ll keep you posted.
Gio
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*Association of Translators and Interpreters of Florida (you can find us online easily).
Hi Gio,
Thanks for your message. I look forward to your feedback so that I can also disseminate this info on the blog too.
Best from bootheando
Hi Gio,
Exciting news, please keep us posted at the APIC fanpage on Facebook too!
Thanks for following the 2nd North American Summit on Interpreting and for your blog post. We are glad to hear that the tweets were interesting and useful. We hope to have the video of Nataly Kelly’s presentation on the InterpretAmerica website soon. One of the goals of the Summit was to bring interpreters, technology providers, and end users together to talk to each other. After all, “hablando se entiende la gente,” as they say. We were pleased to see that some very constructive dialog resulted. Technology was the topic of one of five working groups that met on the second day of the Summit. The conclusions of the five working groups will be published later this summer (northern hemisphere) in a white paper that will be made available free of charge on the InterpretAmerica website. I’ll finish with one great quote from the interpreting and technology panel discussion. Bill Wood, president of Design Specialists Interpretation, rightly said: “Interpreters will not be replaced by technology. Interpreters will be replaced by interpreters who use technology.” I couldn’t agree more.
Muy interesante la oportunidad de participar en un evento tan completo y bien organizado. Me llamó muchísimo la atención el estudio de Nataly. Espero poder participar en la próxima y encontrarme con todos por allá para intercambiar experiencias. Saludos desde Costa Rica!
Many Thanks Barry for your comment and information about the summit and future publications. As you can see technologies have enabled dialogue between interpreters from all over the world and who did not attend the Summit 😉 I’ll keep an eye on InterpretAmerica webpage to read the white paper….and I fully agree with Wood’s statement too!
Best from Bootheando
¡Gracias por tu comentario Evelyn! A mi también me encantaría participaren la Conferencia del próximo año en Monterey …. Veremos que nos depara el 2012 😉
¡Un saludo desde España!
I am only commenting now because I just found your blog today. Very interesting. I also attended both the first and second InterpretAmerica Forums and found it very interesting both times. For a more detailed review of the event this year, please visit my blog at http://mariacristinadelavegamusings.wordpress.com/2011/06/19/second-north-american-summit-on-interpreting-june-17-18-2011/.
Saludos,
María Cristina