![[ D ] Albrecht Dürer - Saint Jerome in his Study (1514)](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5310/5579907583_6d43c85415.jpg)
This is Saint Jerome in His Study (1514), an engraving by Albrecht Dürer. Jerome was born in Dalmatia in the 4th century and is best known as the translator of the Bible from Hebrew into Latin. I chose this picture because Jerome is the Patron Saint of translators (and I am a translator myself.) The process of translating words or text from one language into another is very complex, and has changed over time because of the different emerging technologies. I’m glad we don’t have to use quill and ink, pen and paper, or even typewriters anymore. I’m also glad that computers and different technologies (like translation memories and term bases) have made the translation process a lot easier, especially when working on big projects. What makes me really happy is that machine translation (like Google Translate) is still not good enough to replace human translators.
My name is Mariana Reinoso and this is my 4th MET course. Originally from Chile, now I call Vancouver home. I am a professional translator involved in education these days, working on professional development courses (online) for mining professionals. I coordinate translations of the courses into Spanish, proofread the materials, standardize terminology, maintain translation memories, etc. I’m excited to be part of this course and look forward to working with you.
Hi Mariana!
Nice to meet you. I have taught ESL for many years, so I can somewhat understand the struggle of translation. How do you think computerized translation has helped you? I worry that it may be limiting the language and in the future our vocabulary and understanding of languages will be limited to what a computer can comprehend.
Thanks and great picture!
Jessica
Hi Jessica!
Nice to meet you too. I use computers to facilitate the translation process, not to do the translation itself (like Google Translate). I work mostly with translation memories and terminology management software, which are computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools. More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-assisted_translation
I still do all the work, but the translation is stored in a database which allows me to retrieve related segments in the future. It is particularly useful in large technical projects, when concordance is very important. Without this aid, it would be easy to lose track of what terms I have used in the past.
Cheers,
Mariana
I have always been interested in translation. Such an art form! I need to work on my Spanish before I can ever hope to be a proper translator! Maybe we can practice!