Interpreting Services Needed in Monaco?

No, I don’t believe they need any interpreting services in Monaco, just trying to have a reason to get there. In a couple of months, Monaco will be hosting GALA’s Language of Business conference. It will be held in the beautiful city of Monte Carlo.

If you are interested in the Translation Services or Interpreter Services industry, this looks the place to be and did I mention it is in Monte Carlo. There are a ton of hot topics on slate including SEO, social media and machine translation as it applies to interpreter services and language translation.

It’s about a three day conference that will allow you to also network with others knee deep in the language translation and interpreter services. Just Google GALA 2012 and you’ll learn all the details including an outline of the prospective speakers who themselves are from translation service agencies or provide interpreter services.

Language Translation using Google’s ‘Babel fish’

Even being an advocate for in-person (human) language translation services, it is still fascinating to learn about the advancement of translation services using tools like Google’s Babel fish. There was an interview conducted recently with one of Google’s Translate research scientist that offered some insight in the progress of this tool.

The scientist provided the following information regarding this translation service tool.

• It currently supports 63 languages which is quite a lot. The content for this comes from users inputting translation terms into the Internet.
• There are some challenges which include some of the very tough languages. It’s difficult for this tool to provide language translation for languages that are very different from English. This is because English is used as an intermediate language. Simply put, the tool does not translate Russian to Japanese. It translates Russian to English and then to Japanese.
• Another challenge is that this tool is dependent on its source data. When wanting to add a new language to their list of languages translation services, they have to first verify that there is sufficient data of the language on the Web.
• The scientist does concede that in the future that 80% of languages will be covered by these machine translations, but the other 20% will not be a substitute for a human language interpreter or translator.
  

The scientist was asked about what type of team he has formed to help develop this language translating service tool. He candidly stated that it was Wikipedia, statistics, and his grandmother that helped influence his decision on launching a set of Indian languages. The scientist is originally from India.

Language Translation at a All Time High

According to a PR firm in Canada, the need for language translators and language interpreters is at an all time high. Many international companies are in need of not only document translation and localization but also in-person interpretation. Some turn to recruitment agencies that have a slew of language interpreters and translators ready for short notice assignments. They can provide part time and/or full time language specialists. These agencies claim they their language translation services and interpreter services are of a high quality because they have a very stringent vetting process.

This is a claim that should be tested, quite frankly, tested with whatever type of translation service company you choose. These recruitment agencies are not focused on the actual language industry but instead are focused on filling a personnel need. This may work for some quick needs even like Google translate works for a quick language translation. However, if accuracy is important for your interpreting service need, then contact an actual language services company, like Interpreters Unlimited. IU has been providing translation services and in-person/phone interpreting services including American Sign Language for over 40 years. IU understands the nuances of this industry including matching dialect and cultural competency. Contact IU today and learn more about the quality of our language interpreter services and how they will meet your timeframe, budget, and expectations.