In this episode of Reality Series, we focus on the myths and realities of machine translation quality estimation, hosted by Mei Zheng, data scientist, and Alex Yanishevsky, director of AI and machine translation. Over the past decade, the evolution of machine translation has significantly changed the industry. With that, there are a lot of factors to consider when we look at the quality estimation of machine translation – and this discussion is dives right in, addressing ways that quality is estimated and calculated, and questions like: - Does a high score mean high quality? - What role do sem ..read more

In the first episode of our Reality Series, Smartling leaders – Olga Beregovaya (Vice President of AI and Machine Translation), Andrew Batwash (Associate Director of Language Services), and Jack Welde (President) – uncover the myths and realities of LanguageAI. Language AI is the topic of the hour for the translation and localization industry. To uncover how it improves business outcomes and where the industry is headed, we explore: What is Language AI? Is it the same as Machine Translation? How can we leverage LanguageAI to build efficiencies and cost-savings into our processes? What outcom ..read more

Junbo Hou is a Chinese linguist with Smartling who wears many different hats. With the Chinese language having many branches, dialects, and uses, translating the language can be difficult. Junbo joins us to discuss the importance of culture, regional distinctions, and understanding your audience when translating Chinese languages. Jump into the Episode [01:07] About Junbo and his background. [02:48] How long has Junbo been in the localization space? [03:11] Does Junbo have any specific interests or fields? [04:04] A quick introduction and history of the group of Chinese languages. [05:05] The ..read more

Our guest today is Milena Ferrante, a professional freelance Italian linguist and translator. Beginning her career as a teacher and then translating at a small agency, her career in translation really took off when she started writing a fanzine for a rock band. That eventually led to her helping translate a book about The Rolling Stones. Milena also has a major in Russian, but now almost exclusively translates Italian to English and vice versa. Milena joins us to discuss the challenges of translating Italian to English, along with tips and tricks for localizing for an Italian-speaking audience ..read more

Sérgio Costa is a professional Portuguese linguist based in Lisbon. Sérgio studied engineering before moving on to translation and technical writing, and he has been in the language industry for 20 years now. With a love of writing always present, Sérgio compromised on his career by combining technical language, writing, and languages. Around 208 million people across the world currently speak Portuguese, making it the sixth most spoken language in the world. Sérgio joins us to explore the language Portuguese, how to improve source text to help achieve higher quality translation, what to know ..read more

Stella Hodkin Paris is the Head of Language Services at Translators without Borders, now part of ClearGlobal. Originally from the UK, Stella studied languages in Edinburgh and is currently based in Northern Italy. She has been working in the language services industry for almost 20 years, performing many roles and honing her marketing expertise. Stella joined Translators Without Borders 3 years ago, an organization founded in 1993 to help people around the globe access accurate information in their languages. Stella joins us on the Loc Show to talk about language gaps around the world, how her ..read more

Taner Tanrıöver is a Turkish linguist who works in localization as a freelance translator specializing in website localization in the IT industry. Taner lived in Australia for over ten years, where he studied communication, and he has been back in Turkey for the last 11 years. He is based in Istanbul today. Taner discusses the intricacies of translating Turkish to English and vice versa, the culture of Turkey, and more. Jump into the Episode [01:11] About Taner and his background. [02:22] Are there specific industries that Taner works with? [03:00] About Istanbul and the culture in the city ..read more

Ulrich Henes is one of the founders of LocWorld and the president of the Localization Institute, and Theophan Marube is managing director of Tamarind Language Services in Kenya. With his work, Ulrich has been working in localization for the last 20 years, and LocWorld is just about to hold its first conference about Africa. Theo and his company provide language services for many multinational companies entering Africa. Theo and Ulrich join us today to talk about the localization landscape in Africa, the rising opportunities, challenges, and solutions for localization in the African regions, an ..read more

Ji Hyun Shin is a professional Korean translator, who works in the Korean, English, as well as German languages. Based in South Korea, Ji Hyun has worked in translation departments in many different industries, from engineering to IT to media. Korean is a heavily nuanced language, filled with words that change meaning depending on the tone and inflection, so translation to English and vice versa can be challenging. Ji Hyun tells us about the complicated process of translating meaning from English to Korean, how the expansion of Korean culture into the global market influences translation, and ..read more

Vanina Kfuri is a professional Spanish linguist who has worked in the translation industry since 2003. Currently based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Vanina has built her freelance business on strong communication. Vanina joins us on the show today to discuss the challenges of translating Spanish into English and what we should know when localizing for the Spanish-speaking audience. Jump into the Episode[01:17] About Vanina and her background. [02:11] What is it like to live and work in Buenos Aires? [02:58] The many different dialects and nuances of the Spanish language. [03:30] A brief introduc ..read more