MAGAZINE

#212 – February

The Great Gap: Singularity, AI and MT

Singularity can be referred to as The Great Gap — one that is closing fast. All of our images in this issue are created with generative AI.

POSTEDITING

D

id you notice anything when you picked up this month’s copy of MultiLingual magazine? Anything feel slightly off about it when you hold it in your hand? It’s not your imagination. This is a big issue — well over 30 pages bigger than our 2022 average. 

That’s all thanks to you: the reader. The response to our request for articles about the singularity, machine translation, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies was overwhelming. So overwhelming, in fact, that producing the issue came with some head-scratching challenges. You may notice, for instance, that we don’t have a Bite-Sized Breakdown summarizing our online news coverage. There simply wasn’t any room for it! 

Where to begin when introducing this magazine? We have an incredible array of opinions and analysis from a swath of industry experts. Workflows, AI, blockchain, machine translation, the singularity, the metaverse: All these topics and more are covered within these pages. We even used generative AI for this issue’s article cover images, using tag words from the article text.

Without a doubt, there will be issues to resolve as these technologies find their societal equilibrium. But there’s plenty of reason to be excited for the future, too. With 2023 off to a rip-roaring start, who knows what the next months hold? 

Katie Botkin signature

Advertisement

TECHNOLOGY

The Great Gap: Will MT ever be on par with human translators?

By Andrew Warner

The debate around human parity in machine translation — whether or not we’ll achieve it in our lifetimes and its potential impact on the language services industry — is hotly contested. Here, MultiLingual’s Andrew Warner dives into the history of this topic and gains insight from language industry experts to see how close we are to reaching human parity in MT and what it could mean for human translators.

Real-world AI-driven Applications are Signaling a New Frontier in MT

By Stefan Huyghe

At GlobalSaké’s Q3 Interactive Virtual Event this past September, innovative localization teams from companies like BLEND and Subway — yes, the sandwich company — shared how they incorporate artificial intelligence into their localization workflows. Here, Stefan Huyghe recaps some of the technology and perspectives that folks shared at the event.

How to Future Proof Today’s Machine Translation

By Bart Mączyński

Did you know that the amount of content produced by humanity each day is estimated to be 2.5 quintillion bytes? That’s more bytes of text than there are stars in the observable universe. In this piece for MultiLingual, Bart Mączyński takes a look at how the translation industry is coping with the explosion of content and the challenges it faces in meeting demand.

Innovators Journal: Disentangling blockchain, NFTs, metaverse, Web3, and Web 3.0

By Nadežda Jakubková

If you’ve been trying to wrap your head around the concepts of blockchain, Web3.0, or the metaverse, look no further. Nimdzi’s Nadežda Jakubková has you covered with this in-depth report in the Innovator’s Journal on these pressing topics and how they could impact the language industry in the near future.

Creative Destruction or Creative Enhancement? Understanding the impact of hyperautomation and workflow orchestration in the language industry

By Bruno Bitter

The latest wave of industrial automation with technologies like hyperautomation, workflow orchestration, and generative AI has the potential to widen the range of tasks and jobs software can perform, raising concerns about the impact on jobs and transformations of roles. As we face these questions, Bruno Bitter takes a look into the past to gain some insight on where the the language industry is headed.

Advertisement

PROFILE

Marco Trombetti: The approaching singularity

2022 was a big year for Translated — from predicting the forthcoming singularity in machine translation to being named a leader in MT by the International Data Corporation, the language service provider has been pretty busy as of late. MultiLingual caught up with the company’s CEO, Marco Trombetti, in an interview on the ways in which language technology is evolving.

Olga Beregovaya: The limits of technology

In nearly three decades as a language service professional, Olga Beregovaya has made a name for herself as an illustrious thought leader on machine translation and artificial intelligence. Here, MultiLingual chats with Beregovaya about how close we actually are to that all-too-elusive concept of human parity in MT.

Jane Nemcova: Studying the future

In this interview with Jane Nemcova, an adjunct professor of artificial intelligence at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, we learn about how she’s preparing students for the oncoming evolution of the language industry by teaching AI’s application in the field, and how human parity in AI might change the role of language professionals.

Jack Welde: Simplifying the process

Although artificial intelligence and machine translation can eliminate tedious tasks and provide invaluable assistance, they’re still met with skepticism by some folks in the industry. In an interview with MultiLingual’s Cameron Rasmusson, Smartling’s very own Jack Welde talks a bit about how these tools can simplify our workflows. Plus, he gives some insight into his big win at the recent LocWorld conference.

Advertisement

COLUMNS

Sankofa

By Tim Brookes

In his latest column for MultiLingual, Tim Brookes of the Endangered Alphabets
Project decides to take a look at how ChatGPT fares when it comes to chatting
about endangered alphabets. Testing it out with his friend Olgierd Uziemblo, he’s
less than impressed with the results — learn why in this column.

l9Ng69g1: The secret to encryption

By Ewandro Magalhães

Are you a code talker? If you’re not, that might change after reading Ewandro
Magalhães’ most recent piece for MultiLingual. Here, KUDO’s chief language
officer takes a look at how ciphers work and the fascinating history of
cryptography.

Advertisement

PERSPECTIVES

LangOps: Where’s the beef?

By Kirti Vashee

After reading the features on LangOps in MultiLingual’s 2022 issue, Kirti Vashee’s still not quite sold on the concept, noting that it overcomplicates things a bit. Here, Vashee presents his thoughts on LangOps and attempts to develop a better, more simplistic approach to talking about it.

Machine Translation’s Role in Literary Translations

By Angela Gabrielle Fabunan

Although machine translation already has a big role to play in other areas of the field, literary translators haven’t quite adopted it so readily — and perhaps it’s for good reason. In this article, Angela Gabrielle Fabunan looks into the role of machine translation when it comes to translating literary works.

Human Translation Skills Needed Today and After the Singularity

By Adam Wooten

The translation industry will still be home to many jobs after singularity is achieved, but Adam Wooten thinks those jobs are likely to look different. In this piece for MultiLingual, he proposes a few thoughts of his own on how the singularity will affect the language services industry and change the role of human translators.

Advertisement

EDUCATION

Education after Singularity

When we reach the singularity in machine translation, there’s a good chance it will change the way we teach our future language professionals — MultiLingual sought out expert insights from language educators all across the world to learn a bit more about how they anticipate technological innovation will impact higher education.

These are some of their perspectives and essays.

Advertisement

COMMUNITY

A World of Difference: GALA celebrates 20 years of language work

By Cameron Rasmusson

After two decades in operation, GALA’s become an undoubtedly prominent organization in our field. Here, Cameron Rasmusson takes a few steps back with GALA leadership to trace back the organization’s history and learn a bit more about what’s in store for GALA’s future.

Advertisement

LIST

The ultimate Top 3 of MT

With the democratization of AI, an engineer can build an MT model in one day. However, beating Google or DeepL in quality, performance, and market presence is another story. So, who are the teams that are able to compete, stand tall, and beat the odds in the market of MT? Here are some of our top picks.

Advertisement

BUYER’S GUIDE

BUYER’S GUIDE