Interpreting is a translational activity in which one produces a first and final target-language output on the basis of a one-time exposure to an expression in a source language.
Translation studies is an academic interdiscipline dealing with the systematic study of the theory, description and application of translation, interpreting, and localization. As an interdiscipline, translation studies borrows much from the various fields of study that support translation. These include comparative literature, computer science, history, linguistics, philology, philosophy, semiotics, and terminology.
A translation management system (TMS), formerly globalization management system (GMS), is a type of software for automating many parts of the human language translation process and maximizing translator efficiency. The idea of a translation management system is to automate all repeatable and non-essential work that can be done by software/systems and leaving only the creative work of translation and review to be done by human beings. A translation management system generally includes at least two types of technology: process management technology to automate the flow of work, and linguistic technology to aid the translator.
A video relay service (VRS), also sometimes known as a video interpreting service (VIS), is a video telecommunication service that allows deaf, hard-of-hearing, and speech-impaired (D-HOH-SI) individuals to communicate over video telephones and similar technologies with hearing people in real-time, via a sign language interpreter.
Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services—including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary crowdsourcing often involves digital platforms to attract and divide work between participants to achieve a cumulative result. Crowdsourcing is not limited to online activity, however, and there are various historical examples of crowdsourcing. The word crowdsourcing is a portmanteau of "crowd" and "outsourcing". In contrast to outsourcing, crowdsourcing usually involves less specific and more public groups of participants.
Language localisation is the process of adapting a product's translation to a specific country or region. It is the second phase of a larger process of product translation and cultural adaptation to account for differences in distinct markets, a process known as internationalisation and localisation.
Like any supplier of goods or services, a translator potentially bears ethical and legal obligations toward his patron or employer. This has turned to be of enormous importance with the development of the language industry at global scale. For the protection of both parties, standards have been developed that seek to spell out their mutual duties.
A specification often refers to a set of documented requirements to be satisfied by a material, design, product, or service. A specification is often a type of technical standard.
EN 15038 is a withdrawn quality standard developed especially for translation services providers. The EN 15038 standard ensured the consistent quality of the service. In 2015, CEN withdrew EN 15038 and adopted ISO 17100 as a European standard.
Telephone interpreting connects human interpreters via telephone to individuals who wish to speak to each other but do not share a common language. The telephone interpreter converts the spoken language from one language to another, enabling listeners and speakers to understand each other. Interpretation over the telephone most often takes place in consecutive mode, which means that the interpreter waits until the speaker finishes an utterance before rendering the interpretation into the other language. As the use of the telephonic modality is increasing it is allowing users to access an interpreter immediately, regardless of time and location.
Mobile translation is any electronic device or software application that provides audio translation. The concept includes any handheld electronic device that is specifically designed for audio translation. It also includes any machine translation service or software application for hand-held devices, including mobile telephones, Pocket PCs, and PDAs. Mobile translation provides hand-held device users with the advantage of instantaneous and non-mediated translation from one human language to another, usually against a service fee that is, nevertheless, significantly smaller than a human translator charges.
GlobalSight is a free and open source translation management system (TMS) released under the Apache License 2.0. As of version 7.1 it supports the TMX and SRX 2.0 Localization Industry Standards Association standards. It was developed in the Java programming language and uses a MySQL database. GlobalSight also supports computer-assisted translation and machine translation.
Post-editing is the process whereby humans amend machine-generated translation to achieve an acceptable final product. A person who post-edits is called a post-editor. The concept of post-editing is linked to that of pre-editing. In the process of translating a text via machine translation, best results may be gained by pre-editing the source text – for example by applying the principles of controlled language – and then post-editing the machine output. It is distinct from editing, which refers to the process of improving human generated text. Post-edited text may afterwards be revised to ensure the quality of the language choices are proofread to correct simple mistakes.
The European Master's in Translation (EMT) is a partnership project between the Directorate-General for Translation (DGT) of the European Commission and a number of universities from European and non-European countries. EMT is a quality label for translation programmes that offer a Master's degree. The DGT awards the label to higher education programmes that meet the EMT quality standards for translator training. The initial project was launched in 2006 and the first network was set up in December 2009. It consisted of 34 universities from 16 European countries. In 2011, 20 more programmes were selected, bringing the total number of members to 54 programmes from 20 European countries. In the 2014 selection round, the EMT membership increased to 63 member programmes from 22 countries, including two non-EU members. For the 2019 - 2024 period, 81 programmes were selected including three from non-EU countries. As of January 2021, the membership decreased to 68 members when the programmes from United Kingdom left the network after withdrawal of the country from the European Union. After each selection round, the EMT members elect the EMT Board, which decides on strategic issues. It consists of ten representatives from member universities and two representatives from DGT.
The use of crowdsourcing and text corpus in human-machine translation (HMT) within the last few years have become predominant in their area, in comparison to solely using machine translation (MT). There have been a few recent academic journals looking into the benefits that using crowdsourcing as a translation technique could bring to the current approach to the task and how it could help improve and make more efficient the current tools available to the public.
An authors' editor is a language professional who works "with authors to make draft texts fit for purpose". They edit manuscripts that have been drafted by the author but have not yet been submitted to a publisher for publication. This type of editing is called author editing, to distinguish it from other types of editing done for publishers on documents already accepted for publication: an authors' editor works "with an author rather than for a publisher". A term sometimes used synonymously with authors' editor is "manuscript editor" which, however, is less precise as it also refers to editors employed by scholarly journals to edit manuscripts after acceptance.
Language professionals are individuals who support authors in publishing by helping produce documents of appropriate scope and quality. Their role is particularly important in the research setting, especially when the authors are not native English speakers but are required to publish in English for international communication. The work of language professionals falls within the language industry.
Mediterranean Editors and Translators (MET) is a non-profit, interdisciplinary association for language professionals who work mainly with or into English within the Mediterranean area. The association's members include translators, authors' editors, copy editors, writing and presentation coaches, teachers of academic writing, applied linguists, interpreters, professional writers and more. MET offers training workshops, an annual conference, networking and other opportunities of continuing professional development for its members. The activities of the association are guided by six objectives, summarized as follows:
- Maintain a stable network and means to hold events for English language consultants
- Communicate knowledge that can contribute to improving the quality of language support services available in the Mediterranean
- Be a conduit for exchanging information between language consultants in our geographic area and those in other parts of Europe and the world
- Stimulate research in Mediterranean communities on the needs of academics, scientists and others and on promising practices that meet their needs well
- Identify local expertise in language support and help our experts share their knowledge with a wider audience
- Help users of language support services locate appropriate solutions to their needs and promote mutual understanding between suppliers and users of these services
The Association of Translation Companies (ATC) is a professional membership association promoting language services in the United Kingdom and beyond. The ATC represents the interests of translation companies operating in the UK's expanding language services industry which is home to over 1,200 translation companies, is worth more than £1 billion and employs more than 12,000 people.
The Institute of Intercultural Management and Communication or ISIT is a French Grande École.
