School of Advanced Technologies for Translators

Friday 13 and Saturday 14 September 2019 - Milan (Italy)

Constant technological advancement has made the world of translation highly dynamic, with a never-ending influx of new opportunities. To ride the wave, the 21st-century translator needs to be familiar with machine translation technology, the environments into which machine translation is integrated, and the new markets offering unprecedented business opportunities.

On the first day, we will profile the translator in the age of technology through lectures, demos, use case presentations and panel discussions.

On the second day, six practical courses will be offered, each one aimed at teaching core skills and competencies that translators will need in order to be fully prepared for the new opportunities – and challenges – posed by a tech-led translation industry. The six 2.5-hour courses will be run in parallel, covering three main areas: fundamentals, technology, and creativity.

Tickets from €150

until 5 September

Keep up to date with the latest trends

For translation students and professionals, language service providers, and teachers involved in training translators.

The aim of the school is to reduce the gap between professional translators and current/future trends in the translation industry. Our long-term plan is to establish a yearly benchmark event for translators and language service providers who want to keep up to date with the newest technologies and trends.

Speakers

Salvatore Giammarresi

Salvatore Giammarresi

Airbnb, San Francisco, California

Sharon O’Brien

Sharon O’Brien

School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies, ADAPT Centre, Dublin City University

Michael Farrell

Michael Farrell

International University of Languages and Media (IULM), Milan

Claudia Lecci

Claudia Lecci

Department of Interpreting and Translation (DIT), Forlì Campus, University of Bologna

Programme

Friday, 13 September 2019

Translation Technology and the Translation Industry

9:00 – 17:30

8:30 – 9:00

REGISTRATION

9:00 – 9:10

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION TO THE SCHOOL

Speaker: LUISA BENTIVOGLI

9:10 – 10:00

KEYNOTE LECTURE

The translator of the future and the educational curriculum

Speaker: SHARON O’BRIEN

We have seen significant changes in the translation environment over the past three decades, first with the introduction of translation memory technology, then machine translation. The translator training curriculum has tried to keep pace. Graduates are exiting programmes now with more technical skills than before and with better knowledge of machine translation. However, the speed of technology development means that third-level institutions have to stay on their toes. The recent advances in MT have created new demands for translator trainers. This talk examines the current environment, challenges, and opportunities for translator training and proposes some pathways for the translator of the future.

10:00 – 10:45

LECTURE

Introduction to Neural Machine Translation 

Speaker: LUISA BENTIVOGLI

In this gentle introduction, we will cover the basics of neural MT and how it is evaluated. We will introduce the key principles behind MT and the overall architecture of neural MT systems. We will then present both standard human evaluation methods (e.g. fluency and adequacy judgements) and state-of-the-art automatic evaluation metrics. The lecture will focus on the phases of the MT development and evaluation workflow in which the skills of human translators represent a crucial resource.

10:45 – 11:15

COFFEE BREAK

11:15 – 11:40

MT IN USE

The Unbabel Platform – Combining the power of the crowd with AI to eliminate language barriers in customer support

Can the crowd be trained to deliver high-quality translations in a very short turnaround time? At Unbabel, we believe that this is possible. During this talk I will present the Unbabel pipeline for providing barrier-free customer support to our clients and our processes to monitor the quality we deliver. I will discuss the concept of quality and how linguistic insights are key in an Artificial Intelligence and crowd-based pipeline to first assess and then assure high-quality translations.

11:40 – 12:05

MT IN USE

ModernMT – the simple adaptive Neural MT tool for professional translators

Speaker: NICOLA BERTOLDI

Nowadays, most computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools, which represent the dominant technology in the translation market, exploit machine translation (MT). In this scenario, it is crucial that MT is designed for translators. I will present ModernMT, the software as a service which specifically targets professional translators working with CAT tools. ModernMT adapts to the content to be translated and the user’s translation memories and, most importantly, learns from the user’s corrections – all in real time. Currently, ModernMT is available for MateCat and SDL Trados Studio.

12:05 – 12:30

MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS

Media localisation: language technology in creative environments

Speaker: PHILIPPE MARSILI

Media localisation is among the most creative localisation domains. The best results can only be achieved by offering translators an environment that provides the highest level of context and in which they have the freedom to be creative, without ignoring the value and importance of more traditional language technology. This presentation will explain and show how we are building a cloud platform to offer translators the best and most efficient environment to deliver quality.

12:30 – 12:55

MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS

Are you ready for video games Agile Localisation?

Speaker: MIGUEL SEPULVEDA

The video games’ industry is the number one entertainment industry and it has earned more revenue than the movie and music industries combined, every year for the past eight years. Experts say that by 2021 mobile will represent 60% of the total video games’ income. When it comes to Localisation, mobile has his own challenges but also opportunities! This presentation will explain what’s Agile Localisation, the role of language professionals in this framework and opportunities/skills required to shine as a localisation video games professional.

12:55 – 13:10

GROUP PHOTO

13:10 – 14:40

LUNCH WITH TECHNOLOGY SHOWCASE & RECRUITMENT CORNER

14:40 – 15:30

KEYNOTE LECTURE

Software globalisation in the real world

Whether you are in a startup or a large corporation, your product has the potential to reach millions of users online provided you have a solid globalisation strategy. During this lecture, you will learn how small and large corporations design and execute their globalisation strategy. Given the school’s audience, this lecture tackles the topic from an educational/instructional point of view.

15:30 – 16:00

COFFEE BREAK

16:00 – 17:15

PANEL

Translators and globalisation: new roles and opportunities

Nowadays, globalisation is a reality for companies looking to harness the potential of multilingual e-commerce. Internationalisation, localisation and translation are some of the key elements of a globalisation strategy. What are the new roles for translators and language specialists within a company’s globalisation strategy? Which skills are valued? How do translators’ competencies have to change to keep pace with a continuously evolving translation market?

17:15 – 17:30

WRAP UP AND CONCLUSIONS

Saturday, 14 September 2019

Practical Courses

9:00 – 16:00
Parallel sessions

FUNDAMENTALS

TECHNOLOGY

CREATIVITY

9:00 – 10:30

TERMINOLOGY FOR TRANSLATORS

The first part of the course will feature an overview of terminology tasks and software available, to learn more about the different duties terminology teams or individuals need to deal with. The course will deep dive into terminology management systems and best practices for succeeding in maintaining terminology databases.

MATECAT

MateCat is a free online translation platform. What makes it unique is how fast you translate with it and how easy it is to use. In this session, we’ll learn how to translate a document the fast way, going from project creation to translation in a couple of minutes. After that, we’ll dive into some of the most useful features of the tool, such as translation memory and glossary management, machine translation, automated tag management, collaborative work, segmentation and QA.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION (SEO) FOR TRANSLATORS SOLD OUT

The first part of the course will be introductory and methodological: we will briefly see what SEO means and how translators can approach this discipline. In fact, the work of the translator for SEO covers three activities in particular: keyword research in the target language, translating the text, and writing the SEO elements in the target language.

10:30 – 11:00

COFFEE BREAK

11:00 – 12:00

TERMINOLOGY FOR TRANSLATORS

The hands-on part of the course will teach participants the correct process to follow with regard to terminology management for translation. The practical exercise will focus on a sample terminology project: (i) uploading a bilingual corpus (ii) identifying term candidates in the project, (iii) researching and documenting equivalent terms in the target language, and (iv) creating a bilingual glossary compatible with CAT tools. The language combination used during the exercise will be English to Italian and English to Spanish.

MATECAT

This session is all about you. We’ll revisit the key functionalities of MateCat by actually creating a project and translating some files.

SEO FOR TRANSLATORS SOLD OUT

In this practical session, we will work on two exercises. In the first exercise, we will research the keywords in the target language with a professional tool, starting from a list of keywords in English. In the second exercise, we will write an HTML title (also known as SEO title) in the target language, starting from the list of keywords. Translators can work in Italian, German, French, Portuguese or Spanish, always starting from English.

12:00 – 13:15

LUNCH

FUNDAMENTALS

TECHNOLOGY

CREATIVITY

13:15 – 14:45

POST-EDITING

Speaker: MICHAEL FARRELL

After looking at various standard industry guidelines for light and full post-editing, half the attendees will translate short texts from various languages into English or vice versa and the other half will full-post-edit machine-translated versions of the same texts. The two groups will then come together in pairs according to language combination to compare the results, along with the speaker, both in terms of productivity increase and overall quality.

 

 

 

 

 

SDL TRADOS STUDIO 2019  WITH MACHINE TRANSLATION

Speaker: CLAUDIA LECCI

SDL Trados Studio is the most widely used CAT tool around the world. In this course, we will present the 2019 version of the software (the latest release). In the first part, there will be an introduction to the basic technologies included in the software (Translation Memories, Termbases, Autosuggest Dictionaries), then the second part will be focused on the integration of Machine Translation (MT) within the SDL Trados Studio environment. The MT services available within the CAT system will be presented, focusing in particular on SDL Language Cloud. This is the proprietary SDL neural MT system that allows the user to create custom adaptive MT engines, i.e. engines that learn from the post-edits made by the user.

TRANSCREATION SOLD OUT

In this first part of the course we will shed some light on what transcreation actually is and on its role within the broader context of creative multilingual content creation. In order to do this, we’ll start by mapping out some of the key processes involved in the creation of multilingual content, and then zoom in on transcreation. We’ll see how transcreation evolved within the industry, and why it’s becoming more and more prominent in these AI/MT powered times.

 

 

 

 

 

14:45 – 15:00

SHORT BREAK

15:00 – 16:00

POST-EDITING

Speaker: MICHAEL FARRELL

In the second part of the course, all the attendees will receive a machine-translated text to post-edit from Italian or Spanish into English, or vice versa. While doing so, they will also be asked to use any knowledge they may have of how machine translation works to attempt a preliminary categorisation of the errors they find. The speaker will then present an analysis of the errors in the raw outputs, as well as other typical errors which occur, in order to provide practical tips for post-editors. Most of the error types analysed are language-independent and attendees who do not normally work with Spanish or Italian but are familiar with a Neo-Latin language are still likely to find the practical exercise useful.

SDL TRADOS STUDIO 2019  WITH MACHINE TRANSLATION

Speaker: CLAUDIA LECCI

In this hands-on session, participants will translate a short text in the SDL Trados Studio environment in combination with SDL Language Cloud and will be able to evaluate the performance of the baseline system on the one hand, and the adaptive system on the other.

The language combination used during the exercise will be English>Italian, but participants will also have the opportunity to translate from English into French or Spanish (dedicated MT systems will be available).

TRANSCREATION SOLD OUT

A panel of field experts will join the hands-on part of the course to share and discuss some transcreation examples and use cases. You will also have the opportunity to practice on a real life transcreation assignment.

At the end of this course you will have a clearer idea of what transcreation entails and of the best practices and guidelines to become a proficient transcreator.

You will also receive a TAUS Transcreation certification, which can make the difference in the market thanks to TAUS’s international reputation as an industry reference knowledge center.

Registration Fees

Late

August 1 - September 5
Standard Participants 325 €
AITI/FEDERLINGUE Members 280 €
Students 150 €

AITI and Federlingue Members

  • 20% discount on the registration fee
  • AITI members only: 16 CFP Programma di Formazione Continua

Membership code will be requested for registration.

Students

Bachelor, Master and PHD students can register at a reduced fee.

Proof of student status must be sent to satt-2019@fbk.eu.

Practical courses

On Saturday 14 September, parallel courses will be offered:

  • Fundamentals: Terminology (morning); Post-Editing (afternoon)
  • Technology: MateCat (morning); SDL Trados Studio 2019 (afternoon)
  • Creative: Translating for SEO (morning);  Transcreation (afternoon)

When registering, you will be asked to choose 1 course for the morning and 1 course for the afternoon.

Since courses will take place in computer labs, participants are not required to bring their own laptops.

Cancellation Policy

Information about cancellation of registrations is available HERE

Visa

Information on how to obtain a Visa support letter is available HERE

About Milan

Milan, in Northern Italy, is the second-most populous city in Italy after Rome with approximately 1,366,000 inhabitants. The city is considered a leading alpha  global city and its business district hosts Italy’s Stock Exchange. Milan has long been named the fashion capital of the world and the world’s design capital thanks to several international events and fairs, including Milan Fashion Week and the Milan Furniture Fai. It also hosted the Universal Exposition in 1906 and 2015.

Milan is the chosen destination of over 8 million overseas visitors every year, drawn by its museums and art galleries boasting some of the most important collections in the world, including major works by Leonardo da Vinci. For further information about attractions in Milan and the surrounding area, visit the local tourist information center.

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