| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9] | Consider the consequences of AI before you start a career in translation Thread poster: Gerard de Noord
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Jeff Whittaker wrote:
I predict there will actually be MORE work for translators as a result of AI
I don’t think so. Unless you count sorting out the mess as translation, which I don’t.
It won’t be long now until the world realises most of us have no clothes.
Even I, quite clearly one of the world’s foremost translators, am a naturist most of the time, translation-wise. (Full-time in real life, natch)
| | | | Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:04
Serbian to English
+ ...
| Sure about that? | Sep 3, 2023 |
Denis Fesik wrote: Gerard de Noord wrote:
Carpenter - While AI can assist with some aspects of woodworking, it is unlikely to replace the human skill and creativity required to create unique and beautiful pieces.
Welder - While AI can assist with some aspects of welding, it is unlikely to replace the human skill and creativity required to create strong and precise welds.
Blacksmith - While AI can assist with some aspects of metalworking, it is unlikely to replace the human skill and creativity required to forge and shape metal by hand.
Tailor - While AI can assist with some aspects of clothing production, it is unlikely to replace the human skill and creativity required to create custom-fitted garments.
Shoemaker - While AI can assist with some aspects of shoe production, it is unlikely to replace the human skill and creativity required to create custom-made shoes... We have a joke about a family where the husband is a welder and the wife does nails, and they don't know what to do with all the money they're raking in. One thing I like about the Soviet system is the genuine respect for the working class. Some people in the nomenklatura would look down on the ordinary work folk, but overall, it was a thing of honor to be part of them. This heritage has been nearly lost since the perestroika time, and I hope it will be revived (but not to the point where a factory worker earns way more money than a qualified engineer simply because the country needs more factory workers, which was a trend that started taking shape in the 1950s, I believe). Whatever you're doing for a living, you have to be good at it, and the people who can go all the way to achieving exellence in their trade will always be a minority. It's the same thing with translation. According to one of the big translation proz, only 10% of the folks who are active in the translation market will do a job well no matter what; there is a bigger percentage of those who'll do it well if you pay them well, and the majority just can't do anything properly under any circumstances (again, this is not my observation, but I do find good sense in it). The AI didn't mention bureaucrats, so doesn't it mean that one day they will all become jobless? I don't want to deal with e-bureaucrats, they will surely be worse than their human predecessors
One thing I like about the Soviet system is the genuine respect for the working class.
Not convinced at all about that one - as a declared principle, it's certainly true. But in actual fact?
In the communist Yugoslavia there used to be this system of factories "owned and run" by its workers. In theory ...
As for what AI can and can not do: in few decades, or even just years, there will be very little left that AI can not do better than humans. Those who are really good at whatever they are doing will be the last with a reason to worry. Until it gets to the point where they have join the club.
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:04
Member (2008)
Italian to English
| Denis -your post is the best I've read in a long time | Sep 4, 2023 |
Denis Fesik wrote:
We have a joke about a family where the husband is a welder and the wife does nails, and they don't know what to do with all the money they're raking in. One thing I like about the Soviet system is the genuine respect for the working class. Some people in the nomenklatura would look down on the ordinary work folk, but overall, it was a thing of honor to be part of them. This heritage has been nearly lost since the perestroika time, and I hope it will be revived (but not to the point where a factory worker earns way more money than a qualified engineer simply because the country needs more factory workers, which was a trend that started taking shape in the 1950s, I believe). Whatever you're doing for a living, you have to be good at it, and the people who can go all the way to achieving exellence in their trade will always be a minority. It's the same thing with translation. According to one of the big translation proz, only 10% of the folks who are active in the translation market will do a job well no matter what; there is a bigger percentage of those who'll do it well if you pay them well, and the majority just can't do anything properly under any circumstances (again, this is not my observation, but I do find good sense in it). The AI didn't mention bureaucrats, so doesn't it mean that one day they will all become jobless? I don't want to deal with e-bureaucrats, they will surely be worse than their human predecessors
I'm so glad to read that someone else has noticed and appreciated the love of work, and a good job well done, that was fostered under the Soviet system. We noticed it in the UK when thousands of mainly Polish workers came here and set a new standard for doing a very good job, politely, flexibly, and intelligently. They put the average British worker to shame. But now after Brexit they've all gone, leaving this country in a mess and suffering from a severe shortage of skilled workers.
[Edited at 2023-09-04 10:36 GMT]
| | | | Baran Keki 
Türkiye
Local time: 16:04
Member
English to Turkish
| I don't claim to know much about UK politics | Sep 4, 2023 |
Tom in London wrote:
We noticed it in the UK when thousands of mainly Polish workers came here and set a new standard for doing a very good job, politely, flexibly, and intelligently. They put the average British worker to shame. But now after Brexit they've all gone, leaving this country in a mess and suffering from a severe shortage of skilled workers.
[Edited at 2023-09-04 10:36 GMT]
But wasn't the Brexit, to a large extent, down to the sexy Polish Plumber and his ilk? You know, the bloody foreigners coming in to take your precious jobs and all that? I was in the UK in 2004 and 2005, and the sentiment towards Eastern Europeans wasn't all that great. I was in a small town close to London, and it was full of Lithuanians working all manner of jobs (minding doors, selling fish & chips, cleaning etc.), I don't know how good they were at their respective jobs, but they were pissing off a lot of locals for sure. Farage had a field day thanks to them.
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| I wrote nothing about "owned and run" | Sep 4, 2023 |
Daryo wrote:
Not convinced at all about that one - as a declared principle, it's certainly true. But in actual fact?
In the communist Yugoslavia there used to be this system of factories "owned and run" by its workers. In theory...
I wrote about respect, and the respect was there, with the caveat I mentioned and maybe a few others. I usually write from experience, but my remark was also based on other sources of knowledge I believe I have to trust. I know that when working-class people in the USSR were allowed to rise through the ranks and were given the reins, they'd often become terrible bureaucrats. And I saw what happened when the working class suddenly became unimportant, giving their place to managers and finance workers. I know many things, good and bad, about our history, but I won't share them here because forum non conveniens. There was another thing, friendship of peoples, which, according to Wikipedia, is nothing more than propaganda. The actual fact is that people took it seriously, and I can give you colorful examples, from my own and my family's experience, that support this thesis. I prefer to study history rather than propaganda (I know some people here might believe it's impossible in Soviet Russia). Don't know much about ex-Yugoslavia though. Maybe the situation there was so bad that its demise was only a matter of time
Tom in London wrote:
I'm so glad to read that someone else has noticed and appreciated the love of work, and a good job well done, that was fostered under the Soviet system
Thank you, Tom
| | | | Mr. Satan (X)
English to Indonesian
| Well, since we're in the subject of forecasting… | Sep 7, 2023 |
Generative AI will replace 2.4 million US jobs by 2030, and influence another eleven million, but other forms of automation will cost more jobs, according to a report from analyst firm Forrester.
[…]
White collar workers most at risk of being left behind will be technical writers, social science research assistants, proofreaders, copywriters, and those in administrative positions.
The biggest disruptions will be felt by workers that have college degrees, perform white-collar jobs, and are middle class. People with annual salaries less than $60,000, for example, will be impacted less by generative AI than those that earn $90,000 or more.
[…]
Forrester’s analysts reckon that workers in more creative industries, like editors, writers, authors and poets, and lyricists, are more likely to incorporate generative AI tools in their jobs and are less likely to be replaced.
News Article:
https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/06/generative_ai_jobs_forrester_report/
PDF Report:
https://regmedia.co.uk/2023/09/06/forrester_gen_ai_report_pdf.pdf
| | | | toasty
Italy
Local time: 15:04
Member (2013)
Italian to English
| True but clients say otherwise | Sep 8, 2023 |
Daniel Frisano wrote:
... that AI plateaued more than a decade ago, chronically unable to get past perhaps a 6 or 7 out of 10 level in translation competence, completeness, consistency and fluency. Examples abound everywhere.
Yes, DeepL, I'm looking at you and all your little brothers.
Good if you're a mediocre translator, say a 5, willing to "elevate" yourself to a 7. Pretty much useless if you're an 8 or 9.
I totally agree, but the problem is that clients (usually non-native in the target language) believe that the AI translation is good, so now they want post-editing rather than translation, which comes with fees that aren't sustainable. In other words, something has to give: either the market realizes AI isn't up to snuff, or translation takes a nose dive in quality. I'm afraid it's going to be the latter no matter how hard we fight against it.
My plan B is flipping houses LOL.
| | | | Chris Spurgin
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:04
Member (2016)
Russian to English
+ ...
| Facts about UK immigration, Poles and skills | Nov 4, 2023 |
The assertion that all the skilled EU workers have left the country is simply untrue.
The main factor in any departures to Poland specifically is that the Polish economy is on the up in relation to advanced Western European economies.
EU migration to the UK is in the hundreds of thousands per year. Non-Eu migration is nearly at 1 million per year. Overall immigration is higher than it was before Brexit.
Skills shortages are a problem across advanced Western... See more The assertion that all the skilled EU workers have left the country is simply untrue.
The main factor in any departures to Poland specifically is that the Polish economy is on the up in relation to advanced Western European economies.
EU migration to the UK is in the hundreds of thousands per year. Non-Eu migration is nearly at 1 million per year. Overall immigration is higher than it was before Brexit.
Skills shortages are a problem across advanced Western European economies, as are growth and productivity. ▲ Collapse
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