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7-8 Apr 2022 Paris (France)
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Call for Proposals (EN)Over the last decade we have witnessed momentous changes in the field of translation and natural language processing (NLP) technologies. The popularisation of neural translation technology and the new directions taken by research in translation automation (machine translation (MT), text-to-speech and vice-versa, navigation between image and text, evaluation metrics) are widening the scope of translation tools. The dynamics of this research are boosted by the rapid growth of the language industry (Nimdzi, 2021) and the interest of tech companies (GAFAM, BATX, iFLYTEK, etc.) which invest heavily in translation technologies with a view to embedding MT in their various interfaces, platforms and applications (Larsonneur, 2020). This is not only a research issue. It means that the conditions within the translation profession are changing, perhaps along with the general perception of what translation is (Lavault-Olléon & Zimina, 2019). Two major shifts are underway. The first concerns the emergence of data as a central issue in translation. Collecting, cleaning, annotating and structuring data in massive corpora is key to the efficient training of translation algorithms. Data can be viewed as a commodity, as an element of a fundamental right and as an asset of the commons (Moorkens & Lewis, 2020). All of these aspects need to be assessed, put into perspective and regulated according to the specificities of translation. The second major shift is from a focus on content to a focus on usage: texts are now produced, shared, assessed and repurposed online in ways that challenge the division between gist, “fit-for-purpose” and “ready to publish” work. Moreover, agile content, user engagement metrics and the automated generation of texts by large language models like GPT-3 all rely on a mix of human and machine language production, a combination which needs to be addressed (Ehrensberger-Dow & Massey, 2019). The pace and scope of technological, economic and societal change are such that they raise a number of concerns. The recent hype about neural MT masks the numerous areas in which language processing technologies, though advanced, are still not up to mark: one could cite, on various levels, discrepancies between high-resource and low-resource languages, the limitations of MT interface design or the opacity that surrounds the construction of training corpora. More generally, there are issues concerning the future role, status and financial perspectives of translators, the eco-sustainability of the translation model (Cronin, 2017) and the accountability of the main providers of automated translation. Translator education also stands at a crossroads, having to balance these new developments with more traditional skills and contents (Froeliger, 2019; Massey & Kiraly, 2019). In view of the crucial role translation and language technologies play in societies, we propose that a new consensus between the human uses of language and the inputs of the machine need to be reached, not only in order to enable exchanges and contribute to the construction and dissemination of knowledge, but also to feed our social sense of responsibility (Martens & Hobbs, 2015). There appears to be a need for a heightened and more widely shared digital literacy in language technologies and of a greater awareness of their societal, economic and ethical implications (Koskinen & Pokorn, 2021; Moorkens & Rocchi, 2021). For the Tralogy 3 conference, we therefore invite presenters to identify blind spots in the current landscape of translation and multilingual language technologies in research, theory, practice and education, and to offer critical perspectives and suggest innovative avenues for dealing with the issues identified above. In line with the first two Tralogy events (http://www.tralogy.eu, https://webcast.in2p3.fr/container/tralogy_2013, https://webcast.in2p3.fr/container/tralogy_2011), this international conference is geared towards bringing together specialists in the various fields and disciplines involved in the translation professions of today and tomorrow: academics (both in the Translation Studies and NLP fields), professional translators (most notably through the involvement of SFT, the French society of translators), users of translation (especially through the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Translation, DGT) and translator educators (via the French association of translation training programs, AFFUMT). It will be co-sponsored by the DGT, in the form of a 'Translating Europe' Workshop, and coordinated with the SPECTRANS and PAPTAN projects (CLILLAC-ARP, Université de Paris), whose interests are closely aligned to our own. We especially welcome contributions on the following topics:
References Nimdzi (2021, 1 March) The 2021 Nimdzi 100: The ranking of top 100 largest language service providers. https://www.nimdzi.com/nimdzi-100-top-lsp/#market-size-growth Bowker, L., & Buitrago Ciro J. (2019). Machine translation and global research: Towards improved machine translation literacy in the scholarly community. Emerald Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1108/9781787567214 Cronin, M. (2017). Eco-translation: Translation and ecology in the age of the anthropocene. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315689357 Ehrensberger-Dow, M., & Massey, G. (2019). Le traducteur et la machine : mieux travailler ensemble ? In É. Lavault-Olléon & M. Zimina M. (Dir.) Des mots aux actes. 2019, n° 8: Traduction et technologie, regards croisés sur de nouvelles pratiques, 47–62. https://doi.org/10.15122/isbn.978-2-406-09779-2.p.0047 Froeliger, N. (2019). At a Certain Stage, one has to Deliver: Why Professional Translation Masters’ Matter. Cultus: The Journal of Intercultural Mediation and Communication, 12. http://www.cultusjournal.com/files/Archives/Cultus_2019_12_003_Froeliger.pdf Koskinen, K., & Pokorn, N. K. (Eds.). (2021).The Routledge handbook of translation and ethics. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003127970 Larsonneur, C. (2020). Neural machine translation: From commodity to commons? In R. Desjardins, C. Larsonneur & P. Lacour (Eds.), When translation goes digital: Case studies and critical reflections (pp 257-280). Palgrave-Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51761-8 Lavault-Olléon É., & Zimina M. (Dir.) (2019).Des mots aux actes. 2019, n° 8: Traduction et technologie, regards croisés sur de nouvelles pratiques. Classiques Garnier. https://dx.doi.org/10.15122/isbn.978-2-406-09779-2 Martens, H., & Hobbs, R. (2015). How media literacy supports civic engagement in a digital age. Atlantic Journal of Communication, 23 (2), 120–137. https://doi.org/10.1080/15456870.2014.961636 Massey, G., & Kiraly, D. (2019). The future of translator education: A dialogue. Cultus: The Journal of Intercultural Mediation and Communication, 12, 15–34. Moorkens, J., & Lewis, D. (2020). Copyright and the re-use of translation as data. In M. O’Hagan (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of translation and technology (pp.516–530). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315311258 Moorkens, J., & Rocchi, M. (2021). Ethics in the translation Industry. In K. Koskinen & N. K. Pokorn (Eds.). The Routledge handbook of translation and ethics. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003127970 |
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