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Topic: Machine Translation - Academic Task 2

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2014 8:27 am
by CindyBang
Please feel free to leave comment and fix my writing.
If there are better ways in writing this, such as alternative words/vocabulary or structures, please let me know. I'm very keen to learn ;).
Thank you very much. :)

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Write about the following topic:
Machine translation (MT) is slower and less accurate than human translation and there is no immediate or predictable likelihood of machines taking over this role from humans.
Do you agree or disagree?

Write at least 250 words.


The demand in language translation has recently increased due to the evolutionary of the international economic relation and integration. The development of technology and machinery have advanced in many ways but as some assert that electronic converter has been shown less accurate and slower than human translation. I fundamentally agree with their assertion with two reasons.

Firstly, machinery translation (MT) may not explicitly convert the actual context of the message as what was proposed. Google, for instance, has been well-known for their online translation service, however a native speaker manages to spot inaccuracies in a converted information. In addition, many words contain variety definitions, therefore, even human translator may find it challenging to decide the correct form. Thus, machinery transcription is indeed defective and unreliable comparing to human translation.

Moreover, even though an expert linguist may make grammatical mistakes in their translation, as such, a MT would not be able to perform an errors-free in its translating process. For example, English has been known as a sophisticated language with a range of grammars comparing to other dialects. In comparison, Vietnamese does not have past, present or future tenses as well as changing the verb form into a corresponding tense, hence it would be a difficult challenge for a MT to translate from English to Vietnamese or vice versa. It is obvious that human implement a better performance in their translation role.

In summary, technology or machinery translation is not able to convert information as accurately to its original meaning since the variable in the context as well as the grammar difficulty. It is clear that a MT cannot deliver the desirable result. It is expected that machine will not take over this role from human in a foreseeable future.

Re: Topic: Machine Translation - Academic Task 2

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 1:26 am
by Flick
CindyBang wrote: Machine translation (MT) is slower and less accurate than human translation and there is no immediate or predictable likelihood of machines taking over this role from humans.
Do you agree or disagree?

Write at least 250 words.


The demand in language translation has recently increased due to the evolution of international economic relations and integration. The development of technology and machinery has advanced in many ways but some assert that electronic conversion has been shown as less accurate and slower than human translation. I fundamentally agree with their assertion for two reasons.

Firstly, Machine Translation (MT) may not explicitly convert the actual context of the message as originally intended. Google, for instance, is well-known for its online translation service. However, a native speaker can easily spot inaccuracies in the converted information. In addition, many words have a variety of definitions. Therefore, even a human translator may find it challenging to decide on the correct form. Thus, Machine Translation is indeed defective and unreliable compared to human translation.

Moreover, even though an expert linguist may make grammatical mistakes in their translation, an MT would not be able to achieve a translation as accurate as a human in its translating process. For example, English is known as a sophisticated language with a range of inconsistencies compared to other languages.(<-- a dialect is the same language that is only slightly different depending on region.) In comparison, Vietnamese does not have past, present or future tenses as well as changing the verb form into a corresponding tense, hence it would be a difficult challenge for an MT to translate from English to Vietnamese or vice versa. It is obvious that a human will provide a better performance as a translator.

In summary, Technology or Machine Translation is not able to convert information as accurately to its original meaning as a human counterpart because of variations in context as well as the difficulty of grammar. It is clear that an MT cannot deliver the desirable result. It is expected that machines will not take over this role from humans in the foreseeable future.
Hi CindyBang

This is an excellent essay. Your ideas are easy to understand and you give good examples. Keep up the good work!

Flick

Re: Topic: Machine Translation - Academic Task 2

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 8:16 am
by CindyBang
Thank you very much :).

May I ask what is the difference between "compared" and "comparing"?
I'm a bit confused with noun phrase.
Thus, Machine Translation is indeed defective and unreliable compared to human translation.
And also, why would it be "an MT"?
an MT would not be able
Cindy.

Re: Topic: Machine Translation - Academic Task 2

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 9:04 am
by allen_zhang
I just want to present my ideas about this task, because I believe this kind of topic is unlikely to appear in General Trainning test( I am taking GT test ).

1. language is complicated, subtle, sophisticate. the same words even sentences could have different meaning in differet contexts. so translation is even a challenge for humans. that's why we need professional translators. For example, being a bilingual doesn't mean a person is qualicated for translating a novel. You need to be an expert(probably also a novelist) in your first language. draw a conclusion: machines are unlikely to be as good as humans in this area.

2. current on-line/machine translation is inaccurate -- sometimes confusing even absurd.

3. language is dynamic - it changes everyday, new words are added and some old words and expressions are abandoned. It's hard for machines to catch up with the pace of the change of languages.

Re: Topic: Machine Translation - Academic Task 2

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 9:16 am
by allen_zhang
May I ask what is the difference between "compared" and "comparing"?
I'm a bit confused with noun phrase.



Thus, Machine Translation is indeed defective and unreliable compared to human translation.
"compare" usally use pasive tense here. for me , I like "in comparison with"
And also, why would it be "an MT"?


an MT would not be able
Try to pronounce "MT", is it like "ei-m-tea"? That's why you need "an" but not "a".
Also, it is "an hour" but not "a hour".

Ryan gave me a website which perfectly explains this issue. However, I can't find it out now.

Re: Topic: Machine Translation - Academic Task 2

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 9:41 am
by CindyBang
Hi allen_zhang,

Thank you for spotting it out. I know, some words are usually used in a certain way. But i want to know precisely why it formulated that way, so i can use it more accurately in the future.

I know the difference in using "a" and "an", it's just out of curiosity why would it be "an MT" because it actually is "Machine Translation". Perhaps you are right, they base on the pronunciation to choose whether using "a" or "an" but does it apply to every case? For example, "a Master in Business Administration degree" will it become "an MBA degree"? (I couldn't think of any better example.) It's totally new to me to be honest.

Regarding to the topic, I had to read the topic for few times to decide on what to write. I'm focusing on the quality of the essay before moving on speed writing.

Personally, I think it is about "whether machines doing a better job than humans at translation." So i concentrated more on the accuracy that an MT cannot perform rather than the dynamic or sophisticated of languages.

Cindy.

Re: Topic: Machine Translation - Academic Task 2

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 10:35 am
by allen_zhang
1. the artical "a"/"an" issue, please check the link below. As you guessed, it applies in any case.

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/540/01/


2. something usually "being compared" by some people. that is why it is pasive.

3. I like your ideas. I was just trying to present my own ideas as a way for self-study...

Re: Topic: Machine Translation - Academic Task 2

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 12:26 pm
by CindyBang
1. the artical "a"/"an" issue, please check the link below. As you guessed, it applies in any case.

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/540/01/
Thank you very much, it is very helpful :).

Oh, don't take me wrongly, i was trying to explain my ideas on the essay, not criticising your ideas. IELTS topic is very broad, so everyone has their own opinions indeed.

Cindy.