Machine Translation
The Black Box Myth
| There is a widespread and dangerous myth that translation is a
black box with one input and one output. A source text goes in and
the one correct target text comes out. The one and only specification
needed is the target language. A good black box produces
good translations and a bad box bad ones. The ill effects of
believing in this myth are felt by both the requester
of translation (you) and the outside supplier (an
individual translator or a translation company). The
requester who is shackled by this myth approaches a supplier
and asks for a bid on the translation of a document. If the
supplier asks for specifications and a terminology file, the
requester assumes that the supplier is incompetent (do you
know how to translate or not?) and looks elsewhere. If,
on the other hand, the supplier does not ask for specifications and
terminology, the resulting translation is likely to be
inappropriate. The fact of the matter is that there is no universal
standard of how specialized terms should be translated. As some have
put it, there is no "great [final, static] global
glossary," nor can there be.
Terminology is always changing. New terms are continuously being
coined in huge quantities. And each organization has its own
terms and custom equivalents for widely-used terms. Translation is
not a black box. The specifications and terminology must be visible
alongside the source text. If they are not provided initially by
the requester, then there should be an extra charge by the translator
or translation company for helping the requester develop them.
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