What is computer-assisted translation?

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These days, most translators work with special computer programmes that help them to work more accurately and efficiently. I am not talking about machine translation, which still has a long way to go before it can rival human work, rather software that breaks the text down into sections, allowing the translator to focus on one sentence at a time.

As you type and confirm each sentence, your work is stored in a kind of database called a translation memory, which you can use as a reference when you do similar work in the future. This means that when you have looked up or researched a term or concept once, you will never have to do it again because it is stored in your translation memory.

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Another advantage is that the translator does not have to type in repeated sentences, which pop up automatically for you to accept or amend. When texts contain a lot of repetition and the translator works with these tools, you may be able to get a discount on the translation price because the work will be less time-consuming.

Computer-assisted translation software makes it easier to provide better quality, more consistent work because it is easy to keep track of terminology as you translate. You can also create an automatic termbase, so that the programme can suggest translations for specific words as you go along.

If you will be translating materials over a long period of time, you should insist that your translators use these tools, to ensure quality coherence among your documents, and to reduce your translation costs. 

Ask us about the translation tools we use to provide our clients with premium services.

The right person for the job

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If you are reading this, you are probably interested in entrusting your precious texts directly to a translator or a small group of translators rather than a faceless agency. Congratulations on your wise decision!

These days, big corporations launch tenders to allocate their translation work. The large agencies bid for translation contracts in competition with each other. These tenders push translation rates down and, as a result, despite being the ones doing the work, their translators are paid a pittance. The money you pay does not go to the translator, it goes to project managers, sales representatives, directors, middle managers, and shareholders, so do not expect to get a specialist! Work is assigned to translators using an online system. There is no personal contact with translators and the rates paid to translators are incredibly low. As they say, pay peanuts, get monkeys. 

However, little you pay the agency, you can be sure the money is not going to the translator. You are helping to finance a company with directors, middle managers, project managers and, at the bottom of the heap, a freelance translator willing to work for rock bottom rates. Of course, these are often recently qualified (or unqualified) workers.

When you choose a small agency or an individual translator or partnership, you will not pay any more than you would to use a large agency, but you will get so much more for your money. You know the translator who is translating your work, and you know that translator is not going to accept work outside her area of expertise. The translator, the person really doing the work, is able to earn a decent living, and is able to devote more time to do an excellent job for you.

We aim to form long-lasting, personal relationships with our clients. The longer we work together, the more familiar we will become with your subject matter and style. If you would like to know more about us and our areas of expertise and experience, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Telecommunity our new reality

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COVID-19, the Coronavirus Pandemic has forced companies to send employees home, working in office is no longer a viable option. Telecommuting simply refers to the practice of exercising one’s job outside the company’s office.

Telecommuting can refer to different categories such as remote work, virtual jobs, or work from home jobs all, as these all entail different degrees of working from independent locations.

Service providing companies such as iddiom have systems put in place to make sure the transition runs as smoothly as possible. iddiom interconnected systems and security precautions (NDA disclosures) have enabled its workflow to move online. Making sure all its employees are equipped to work from home with the necessary devices and software at their disposal. When working from home, it’s important to keep in mind the following.

  • Prepare your work area; when choosing a place to work remotely, make sure you choose a location that does not hinder your productivity.
  • Stay away from crowded spaces and find a place that allows you to work to the best of your ability, make sure you have access to high speed internet and the necessary devices.
  • Communication is key; remote work comes with a lot of autonomy and responsibility that is not to be taken lightly, as you are still accountable for your work.
  • Although most remote work is independent in nature, collaborating with your colleagues when necessary is important,

as it is you who has to make the extra effort in contributing equally and establishing regular check-ins with your supervisor and colleagues. Due to the coronavirus, telecommuting is becoming a reality for most of us, make sure to stay on top of things and most of all stay safe.

Waiting for a vaccine

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I am not a doctor, and therefore I have no medical qualifications, but I endeavour to base my beliefs and actions on scientific evidence and reason. I, like many others, hope that scientists will soon find a safe and effective vaccine, one that can be produced in sufficient quantity to stop this terrible pandemic in its tracks. I say “many” people and not “everyone”, because health care professionals are afraid that public distrust of vaccines may lead to a continued spread of the virus even if they can come up with a solution that works. As we all know, in the 21st century, there are too many people who are vulnerable to politicisation and irrational fear of vaccination, which happens to have saved millions of lives over the decades and continues to do so today.

The number of vaccines developed to beat the coronavirus is irrelevant if people don’t want to take them, and given how difficult it is to persuade people to wear masks, which is far simpler than going to the doctor for an injection, we can only imagine how hard it will be to convince people to get vaccinated.

For decades, the world was happy to believe reliable, accessible information about vaccines, supported by sound, scientific data. Then came the internet, and now logical thought and trust in science are losing ground under the weight of dubious information gleaned by the public from unreliable sources such as social media and self-interested politicians, and unsubstantiated snippets of knowledge backed by no more than fuzzy, unscientific “beliefs”.

The truth is that vaccinations have been a triumph for global health, but a disaster for public relations. According to the World Health Organisation, vaccinating the population is one of the most successful public health achievements of the past century, reducing the frequency and deaths from preventable diseases like whooping cough and measles, both of which are creeping back in some countries as misguided parents refuse to adequately vaccinate and protect their children.

It is a cause for celebration by humankind that more than 20 potentially fatal diseases can now be prevented by immunisation, and new vaccines for killers like diarrhoea, cervical cancer, cholera, and meningitis are being administered in numerous countries. The vital work to protect people of all ages from preventable disease must also continue during the current pandemic.

Despite the misinformation spread by politicians and some doctors, numerous reliable studies have shown that there is absolutely no evidence to support the idea that vaccines cause autism or other chronic illnesses, nor is it true that our immune systems can’t handle more than one vaccine simultaneously.

Many people worry that vaccines contain unsafe toxins, but the truth is that only trace amounts of some chemicals are used, and there is no scientific evidence that they are harmful. Others believe that improved hygiene and sanitation are responsible for decreased infections, not vaccines, but they are mistaken. When the first measles vaccine was introduced in the United States in 1963, there was a steady infection rate of 400,000 per year. This had fallen to just 25,000 cases by 1970, without changes in hygiene and sanitation standards. The evidence is as clear for anyone who care to look.

Regardless of how concerned you may be, you are wrong if you believe that vaccines are not worth the risk. Only one death was reported to the Centre of Disease Control between 1990 and 1992 attributed to a vaccine, and there is thought to be just one severe allergic reaction for every million or two injections. On the other hand, if you wanted to gain immunity to measles, for example, by contracting the disease, you would face a one in 500 chance of dying from your symptoms.

As I say, I am not a doctor, but I can read, and I prefer to get my health information from the World Health Organisation than from Facebook or Instagram.

If you still have doubts, then think of the last time you had flu, or even a really bad gastrointestinal infection and then think about how ill you might be if you caught Covid-19 because you didn’t want to have a vaccination.

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