ESL Blogs

Being a professional translator in the 21^st century has become a double-edged sword. On one side, you have a profession that you know and love, offering you a secure income when everything else failed to do it for you. On the other however, you have translation technology tools, automated applications and algorithm based systems that can sometimes do it much faster than you, taking your job away in the process.

With that said, what does the future hold for translators and translation productivity technology? How can you stay relevant when such an advanced and competitive translator is out there fighting you for the next big contract?

Man and machine

It’s no secret that translation technologies have been around for years. We are all guilty of using Microsoft Office, online and offline dictionaries, grammar checking web tools and so forth. Every good translator knows that you are just as good as the tools you possess, and for years, that was enough for everyone.

You couldn’t find a single translator who translates their work without any tools or a helpful device in their hand’s reach. This meant that the companies around the world started working on making the translator’s life easier by implementing much more complex software that can do more than ever before. But what kind of an impact did this innovation make in the everyday life of a translator?

With that said, recent studies have shown that 72% of questioned translators stated that they couldn’t do as much as they do without dedicated tools at their disposal. This is a huge number and it’s bound to rise with each passing day. What is even more surprising is that 50% of translators think that translation technology software and innovation is yet to make its mark, meaning that they are craving for new toys and devices that can help them do their jobs better. Even a simple music app such as Spotify can sometimes make a large difference in your productivity, creating a more enjoyable mood that boosts your confidence and makes the job that much easier.

Tools of the trade

Seeing that translators all over the world agree that translation technology tools and devices are an important part of their work arsenal, what are some of the tools you can use in order to achieve greater productivity? For starters, it all depends on the type of work you are doing and what kind of a person you are.

Typing Club: Some people like to use touch typing software to help them stay on track and improve their productivity directly. Touch typing software such as Typing Club will give you an advantage over your colleagues by helping you type faster and with much greater precision.

Doing so will increase your ability to translate effectively and make you a more suitable candidate for future work. Translators are some of those people who spend entire days in front of their computers typing away at the keyboard, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that you should be the best typist you can be.

Dragon: Dragon is one of those tools that anyone should use if they use their computers on a regular basis. This speech recognition software can do wonders for your productivity as a translator, offering you a chance to say instead of type whatever it is you are translating.

When we look at Dragon and similar tools at our disposal, it’s easy to see how a translator’s job has never been easier before, and at the same time, harder and more demanding than it ever was. Give Dragon a chance if you are confident in your translating abilities and think that typing is slowing you down. All it takes with speech recognition software is to say the right words and your productivity will skyrocket.

StayFocusd: While not a translation tool strictly speaking; this add-on will do wonders for your translation productivity. The secret of getting ahead is getting started and working until your work is done, not until you come across a distraction that keeps you away from working. StayFocusd is a tool that allows you to block specific websites on your laptop to make you less tempted to stray away from your work. While professional translators will tell you that they never slack off, they most certainly do, and this tool will help you overcome exactly that.

Man vs. machine

Some of the tools we have covered only begin to scratch the surface of what translation technology can do for your productivity. But what does that mean in the long run? Will translators one day become irrelevant and their jobs taken by the machines? No one knows for certain, but one thing is for sure – the machine will never be able to translate as well as a human being.

While this is a bold statement, one only needs to think about the different contexts, slangs, jargons and ways of conveying meaning among humans. We have developed such a complex and intricate system of expressing through language that a machine couldn’t possibly understand all the small details that a human eye could catch.

This doesn’t mean that machines will become irrelevant however – translation productivity technology will only continue to develop, offering translators all over the world smart and versatile tools that they can use to make their jobs easier.

Conclusion

Translators will always have a job on their hands simply for the fact that machines need supervision – even if translation software becomes sentient and translates text on its own, it will still need an administrator. Who says that these translators won’t become translation system administrators in the future, focusing on quality assurance instead of raw translation? No one can say for sure and only time will tell if translation technology will become a positive or a negative in the lives of translators.

Author bio:

Gwen Barret is a professional writer and blogger at skintagsremoving.com. She is interested in topics related to health and self-improvement.