Poll:Do you believe that the linguistic resources on the Internet are enough for a translator's work
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Aug 23, 2005

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you believe that the linguistic resources on the Internet are enough for a translator's work?".

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[Subject edited by sta
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you believe that the linguistic resources on the Internet are enough for a translator's work?".

View the poll here

A forum topic will appear each time a new poll is run. For more information, see: http://proz.com/topic/33629

[Subject edited by staff or moderator 2005-08-24 16:34]
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Henry Dotterer
Henry Dotterer
Local time: 02:18
SITE FOUNDER
What is missing? Aug 23, 2005

A question for the approximately 80% who think the terminology resources available are insufficient...

 
Chinoise
Chinoise  Identity Verified
Local time: 03:18
English to Chinese
+ ...
Nothing is missing... Aug 23, 2005

I would say.

 
Natalia Zudaire
Natalia Zudaire  Identity Verified
Argentina
Local time: 03:18
Member (2004)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Double-checking Aug 24, 2005

I think resources on the Internet are not enough because I am particularly suspicious of certain types of websites. Everybody can write on the net, and everybody can build a webpage, so when I feel it's necessary, I double-check with colleagues, professionals, books, publications, etc.
Besides, translating is not a matter of just terminology. There are many books that are excellent, and on which I rely a lot when translating, that are not available online.

Natalia


 
Julio Torres
Julio Torres
Mexico
Local time: 00:18
English to Spanish
+ ...
The more resources the better Aug 24, 2005

I have the idea that the more resources you have the better work you will do. It'a a kind of philosophy of the "captive ballon": you wouldn't want to be tied with one rope, you will want to have the more ropes you can.

 
Chinoise
Chinoise  Identity Verified
Local time: 03:18
English to Chinese
+ ...
What I mean is that... Aug 24, 2005

Nothing is missing in the choices of Answers, i.e. "Yes" or "No".

What is missing is the "correctness" of the existing internet resources. Natalia is right in pointing out that "Everybody can write on the net, and everybody can build a webpage...".


 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 23:18
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
It depends on how you use them. Aug 26, 2005

Compared with the resources available when I started working 30 years ago, the banquet we have on the Internet is nothing short of staggering. I solve about 90% of my problems by searching the Internet. Of course, I still have a couple of hundred hardcopy dictionaries from my past, but I don't use them nearly as often as I used to.

I'm not sure everyone is aware of all the search strategies available using combined terms and fixed strings, or how to find glossaries and definitions.
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Compared with the resources available when I started working 30 years ago, the banquet we have on the Internet is nothing short of staggering. I solve about 90% of my problems by searching the Internet. Of course, I still have a couple of hundred hardcopy dictionaries from my past, but I don't use them nearly as often as I used to.

I'm not sure everyone is aware of all the search strategies available using combined terms and fixed strings, or how to find glossaries and definitions. Obviously Googling a couple of terms without restricting them is going to produce random, unreliable results.
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Gina W
Gina W
United States
Local time: 02:18
Member (2003)
French to English
One can not rely solely on internet resources Aug 27, 2005

Some terms actually are simple enough to check in a dictionary, even if you wouldn't know them off the top of your head. And not all specialized paper dictionaries are going to be online, either. Translators used to use ONLY paper dictionaries at one time, and it's great to have internet resources now, but I do not believe they should be the only ones used, if possible one should ALWAYS check more than one paper dictionary, preferably at least one general language dictionary and one subject/sp... See more
Some terms actually are simple enough to check in a dictionary, even if you wouldn't know them off the top of your head. And not all specialized paper dictionaries are going to be online, either. Translators used to use ONLY paper dictionaries at one time, and it's great to have internet resources now, but I do not believe they should be the only ones used, if possible one should ALWAYS check more than one paper dictionary, preferably at least one general language dictionary and one subject/specialized dictionary in your language pair.

Also, some of the translations on the net can be wrong. I disagree with plenty of translations I find when using Google. Not all, but enough to know that Google, or any internet resource, is not the be-all end-all to producing a quality translation.

JMO.
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Maria Rosich Andreu
Maria Rosich Andreu  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 07:18
Member (2003)
Dutch to Spanish
+ ...
depends on the language Aug 30, 2005

When I work with English / Spanish I hardly touch paper dictionaries, but I think internet resources are definitely not enough in smaller languages.

I am thinking for example of Catalan, Danish or Dutch. The biggest dictionaries are on-line, often for free; but there are hardly any bilingual dictionaries/reference sites on the net. However, the situation is improving constantly.


 
Dan Marasescu
Dan Marasescu  Identity Verified
Romania
Local time: 07:18
Member (2003)
English to Romanian
+ ...
Maria is right Sep 1, 2005

I was thinking of bilingual and specialised dictionaries too when I answered "no". It would be great to have a Grand Dictionnaire Terminologique for more languages.

Dan


 
Sam Berner
Sam Berner  Identity Verified
Australia
Local time: 16:18
Member (2003)
English to Arabic
+ ...
Almost none - and that is what's missing Sep 12, 2005

As an Arabic/English translator, the cyberspace is an almost empty space

The few Arabic/English on-line based dictionaries are not complete, the CD-based dictionary does not run on Win XP, and apart from an attempt at a IT dictionary and a very good WHO glossary - there is N-O-T-H-I-N-G.

The one good thing is that many website owners who write about medicine, pharmacology, applied sciences and the IT put
... See more
As an Arabic/English translator, the cyberspace is an almost empty space

The few Arabic/English on-line based dictionaries are not complete, the CD-based dictionary does not run on Win XP, and apart from an attempt at a IT dictionary and a very good WHO glossary - there is N-O-T-H-I-N-G.

The one good thing is that many website owners who write about medicine, pharmacology, applied sciences and the IT put the English equivalent of the term between brackets after the Arabic. These are actually more useful than anything else in my combination of languages.
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Poll:Do you believe that the linguistic resources on the Internet are enough for a translator's work






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