Information technology has had a tremendous impact on translators' information, practices, and markets. No one would question the view that translators have enormously benefited on many counts from the computerisation of their workstation and working environment. For instance, email is an essential tool for translators as it allows all kinds of file transfers, reduces the risks associated with barely legible faxes, establishes immediate communication and reinforces the links between mailing list subscribers. In the guise of mailing lists and forums, it is also a powerful source of information about all kinds of freeware, some of which can be a real goldmine for those who 'know something about computers'.
The Web resources allow the translator to check a 'hunch', by entering the term as a key word in any search engine to find out, using the search results as a knowledge corpus, if the term or phrase actually exists, whether it is accurate and what exactly it refers to. Any term can thus be shown in context, with all its different usages, and the translator can then determine whether that term can be used in the target language in identical conditions to those in which it appears in the source text.
If the translator still has doubts or has failed to find some of the terminology or phraseology needed, the Web can also be used to contact domain specialists or experts, informers, colleagues and anyone else who might be able to supply the answer.The Web has therefore changed the very way translators work. It is now possible to apply all the precepts that were often impossible to comply with due to the sheer material obstacles the translator faced.
The Web has brought all translators the benefits of instant communication and of the exponential (and continuous) growth of technical and linguistic resources. The Web has become a professional tool of such vital importance that translators simply stop translating when, and as long as, access is denied for whatever reason.
Today, with a click or two of the mouse translators can know whether the material has been translated (in part or in full), get all the information needed to elucidate the meaning of an unknown term or concept or to learn about the subject, check on the validity of their hypotheses, find models and preformatted translations or phrases - and much more. Definitions, drawings, charts, pictures and all kinds of representations are just one click removed.
On a more general level, IT has generated huge translation markets. As a field in itself, IT as a science, as a discipline, as a profession or as a field of competence linked to other professions, generates what are thought to be the largest volumes of any area of specialised translation, with growth rates of some 20 to 30% a year and even more for some language pairs.
When confronted with a terminology problem, translators can access major terminology databases within seconds (or minutes if the network and database are very, very, busy), as well as a host of dictionaries, glossaries and word banks for almost every conceivable language and subject area. There is in fact very little that translators cannot find, nowadays, in the terminological and phraseological treasure trove that the Web has now become. And if they get stuck, fellow list subscribers will be glad to oblige.
The Internet allows translators (and revisers) from different parts of the world to work on the same translation contract under the same project man-agement setup and even to translate and edit the same document collaboratively without ever meeting each other face to face. More directly, being an international medium of communication, the Internet has helped to increase the global volume of translation worldwide - as demonstrated by the expanding machine translation market in this sector. This raises the question of 'human' vs. 'machine' translation.
The Web resources allow the translator to check a 'hunch', by entering the term as a key word in any search engine to find out, using the search results as a knowledge corpus, if the term or phrase actually exists, whether it is accurate and what exactly it refers to. Any term can thus be shown in context, with all its different usages, and the translator can then determine whether that term can be used in the target language in identical conditions to those in which it appears in the source text.
If the translator still has doubts or has failed to find some of the terminology or phraseology needed, the Web can also be used to contact domain specialists or experts, informers, colleagues and anyone else who might be able to supply the answer.The Web has therefore changed the very way translators work. It is now possible to apply all the precepts that were often impossible to comply with due to the sheer material obstacles the translator faced.
The Web has brought all translators the benefits of instant communication and of the exponential (and continuous) growth of technical and linguistic resources. The Web has become a professional tool of such vital importance that translators simply stop translating when, and as long as, access is denied for whatever reason.
Today, with a click or two of the mouse translators can know whether the material has been translated (in part or in full), get all the information needed to elucidate the meaning of an unknown term or concept or to learn about the subject, check on the validity of their hypotheses, find models and preformatted translations or phrases - and much more. Definitions, drawings, charts, pictures and all kinds of representations are just one click removed.
On a more general level, IT has generated huge translation markets. As a field in itself, IT as a science, as a discipline, as a profession or as a field of competence linked to other professions, generates what are thought to be the largest volumes of any area of specialised translation, with growth rates of some 20 to 30% a year and even more for some language pairs.
When confronted with a terminology problem, translators can access major terminology databases within seconds (or minutes if the network and database are very, very, busy), as well as a host of dictionaries, glossaries and word banks for almost every conceivable language and subject area. There is in fact very little that translators cannot find, nowadays, in the terminological and phraseological treasure trove that the Web has now become. And if they get stuck, fellow list subscribers will be glad to oblige.
The Internet allows translators (and revisers) from different parts of the world to work on the same translation contract under the same project man-agement setup and even to translate and edit the same document collaboratively without ever meeting each other face to face. More directly, being an international medium of communication, the Internet has helped to increase the global volume of translation worldwide - as demonstrated by the expanding machine translation market in this sector. This raises the question of 'human' vs. 'machine' translation.
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