Playing With Rabbits
Saturday, November 28th, 2009 | 08:49
I just read “Myths about crowdsourced translation” by Nataly Kelly in the digital edition of MultiLingual, and I just have to respond to “Myth #1”:
Please stop spreading the untruth that post-editing machine translation is this great opportunity for translators. Those who say this have clearly no idea what translation is about. I am having a hard time editing human-translated text. Post-editing machine translation is for a translator what it is for a tennis pro having to play with a rabbit that is blindfolded and using a ping-pong paddle. Please read Peter Durfee’s blog post on this matter. He said it so much more eloquently.
Saturday, 28. November 2009
Amen! The only job I have ever quit in the middle of was a long-term post-editing MT job. I simply could not take it any more. The translations were torturous and made no sense in the context. I still have nightmares about it. This translator is one translator who will never post-edit machine translation again. If that’s the way the industry leans I will either be the lone wolf swimming against the current or in another industry entirely.
Wednesday, 16. December 2009
Just found a great description in Martin Crellin’s blog. It refers to post-editing English copy written by Germans, not to MT, but describes the feeling very well:
Es ist wie einen mit Diesel betankten Benziner wieder flott kriegen. Oder ein Haus mit Asbest in den Wänden wieder bewohnbar machen.