Language is key to our ability to communicate with other human beings, but the great variety of languages we have developed throughout our collective history means that we often need a way to understand ideas formulated in a language different from our own.
Most of us are touched by translation in some way or other over the course of our lifetimes, whether through reading religious texts, novels, e-mail from far-away places or those &#*@^%! instructions on how to assemble a child's toy or a piece of furniture; and the global reach of today's digital world has expanded and accelerated the exchange of ideas in commercial, scientific, technological, political and other realms, driving the need for translation, and the use of it in daily life, including automated translation tools.
This session, which will present some general concepts on translation, and describe the process and tools I use in my work at COMET, will hopefully stimulate your thinking about this topic:
In your field, do you find yourself forced to read materials in another language simply because they are not available in your native tongue? How does that affect your comprehension of these materials?
The universal translator has been a basic convention in science fiction since the 1940s: are we closer to that reality today?
Is it better to read a mediocre translation, or the source text in language you do not understand well?
Please join my live session on Thursday, November 8 at 15:00 UTC. Register for your spot here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/740285192