August 16, 2011

When machine translation is subtly disastrous

We're used to seeing machine translation which is so disastrously wrong that the error is obvious to the point of being ridiculous. But what about when machine translation produces apparently fluent translations but with serious errors that are more difficult to detect?

August 6, 2011

Spot the scam

A frequently discussed topics among translators, and indeed communities of other professions where many work remotely and are thus susceptible to this kind of crime, is how to spot scams. I quote the following, admittedly slightly easy, example that appeared on a translators' forum today. See how many telltale signs you can spot.