Advanced technology a boost for translation industry: Dr Harusia

KUALA LUMPUR: The advancement in technology, especially computer aided translation (CAT) functionality offers a wide scope of opportunities for those involved in the translation industry said Deputy Dean (School of Humanities) University Sains Malaysia (USM), Prof Madya Dr Hasuria Che Omar.
Dr Harusia said the advancement in technology has enabled those involved in the translation industry to work anytime and anywhere without having to have a work station.
"For example, translators are able to seek translation 'job' from internet TV broadcast services, iflix and netflix. You can work online from any part of the world and submit the 'job' online, thus improving speed and efficiency," she told Bernama during an exclusive interview.
Dr Harusia, also the vice president of the Malaysian National Institute of Translation (ITNMB), was happy with the advancement in technology and pledged to continue helping those involved in the translation industry to improve the quality of their work to be on par with international standards.

ITNMB plays an important role as an official body that undertakes translation, interpretation and transfer of information in various languages at national and international levels. We provide translation and interpretation services to the public and private sectors as well as individuals. We also conduct translation courses to train translators and enhance their skills.

She also welcomed the participation and involvement of youths in the translation industry since there are vast opportunities due to the rapid development of technology and an increase in translation jobs.
Dr Harusia said the translation industry was expanding rapidly due to a need for translation jobs in the legal fraternity, academicians, and journalists.
"Such technology is also helping retirees and pensioners to work from home at leisure to supplement their income because they have the knowledge and expertise that can be shared," she said.
There is increasing evidence for productivity gains of professional translators when they post-edit machine translation output.

For instance, Plitt and Masselot (2010) compare post-editing machine translation against unassisted translation in a web-based tool for a number of language pairs, showing productivity gains of
up to 80%. – Bernama