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Investors in People
Translators: Never forget your Welsh 

08/12/2009 

 

The Welsh Language Board has today shared hundreds of thousand words of translations with professional translators and linguists. The translations are available free of charge from the Welsh Language Board website to be re-used for the benefit of the Welsh language (see under 'publications' on the right hand side of this screen).

The words have been included in ‘translation memory’ software -  a computerised store of words and phrases which have already been translated, along with the original text (in either Welsh or English).

Translation memory software can search the memory and offer translations of texts matching wholly or 'fuzzily with the text the translator wishes to translate. Such software can therefore speed up and improve consistency of translations.

The quality of translations, of course, depends largely on the quality and consistency of translations inputted into the software.

As much as technology can contribute towards every aspect of life, people are at the centre of Translation Memory software - it is they who use this technology. The aim of the software is to help professional translators to promote the status of the Welsh language.

The Welsh Language Board has decided to release its translation memories in order to give Welsh translators the opportunity to increase the amount of translation they can process, to avoid retranslation, to share work between translators and to speed up the rate of translating.

What is being released?

·        Human Resources translation memory

·        Translation memory of the Board’s website and all its contents

·        Bilingual menus translation memory

The Board aims to publish further translation memories in the future.

Chief Executive of the Board, Meirion Prys Jones, said:

"Publishing the memories is a further step forward in our work of promoting the status of the Welsh language in the field of IT. The translating profession makes an important contribution in terms of promoting the use of the Welsh language in Wales, and therefore the Board is keen to exploit every opportunity to support the work of the profession. The Board is eager for other organisations to do the same and share their translation memories in order to increase the amount of Welsh seen in Wales. We would be happy to consider hosting further memories on our website.

"Although the Welsh Language Board owns the copyright and manages the memories, we believe that the Welsh language belongs to everyone. Anyone, therefore, can download the memories and use them (lawfully) as they wish."

Notes

1. Translation Memories are aspects of Computer Assisted Translation [CAT]. This is the term used to describe IT programs which automate or assist the task of translating from one language to another. They are extremely effective in terms of improving the productivity of translation, especially in terms of the swift translation of repetitive texts . One of the main virtues of such technologies is that translators can share their work with other translators, wherever they are geographically located, through a central database of translation memories served to individual computers through corporate networks or even via the internet. This means that 100% matches repetitions could be deleted, leading to improved consistency in translations.

2. Who are these memories for? The memories are to be used, mainly, by professional translators using all kinds of translation memory software.

3. Were will the memories be kept? On the Welsh Language Board website, and through TAUS (Translation Automation Users’ Society) and on the Google Translator Toolkit.

4. All data is kept as a form of open XML called TMX (Translation Memory Exchange). It includes information about translation ‘segments’, which can be terms, phrases, or paragraphs. They can also include further metadata, such as formatting.

5. There are many types of translation memory software available, and you can read more about some of them on the Welsh Language Board’s website. Because the data is available in standard TMX form, it can be easily imported to different types of translation memory software by following the software’s instructions.

6. By releasing these memories, the Board follows in the footsteps of other regions, such as the Basque Country:

 

Diputación Foral de Bizkaia (http://www.bizkaia.net/home2/Temas/DetalleTema.asp?Tem_Codigo=2507&Idioma=CA)

Instituto Vasco de Administración Pública (http://www.ivap.euskadi.net/r61-3039/es/contenidos/informacion/mem_traduccion/eu_3817/izoko_memoria_e.html)

7. Releasing these memories is an action point from the Board’s Information Technology and Welsh: A Strategy Document (2006).

8. Although the Welsh Language Board is the owner of and  controls the copyright, database rights and other rights in this translation memory the Welsh language is owned by all. Therefore, you can download this material and use it as you wish (legally). Although we have taken steps to evaluate the material, we cannot warrant for the accuracy, thoroughness or aptness of any material included in the translation memory. That is to say, you are responsible for the way in which you use the Boards translation memories and the Board cannot take any responsibility for such use.


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