Sofia Coppola directs
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The Ringer’s Bill Simmons and Amanda Dobbins head down to the hotel bar at the Park Hyatt in Tokyo to rewatch Sofia Coppola’s Lost In Translation, starring Bill Murray, Scarlett Johannson, and Giovanni Ribisi.
Producer: Craig Horlbeck
For language translation tasks, traditional machine translation systems like Google Translate and those based on Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) or Neural Machine Translation (NMT) have been specifically optimized for translation and generally outperform GPT models in terms of accuracy and fluency. These systems have been trained on large bilingual or multilingual corpora and are fine-tuned for translation tasks.
GPT models like GPT-4 can perform translation tasks, but they are not specialized for it. Their translation capabilities are a byproduct of their general language understanding. They are trained on a wide variety of text, including multilingual text, but are not fine-tuned for translation specifically.
Therefore, they may be less accurate and less fluent than specialized machine translation systems for complex or nuanced translations such as DeepL. If you would like to learn more about the differences between DeepL vs ChatGPT vs Google Bard check out the video embedded below kindly created by translation specialist Adrian Probst.
Other articles you may find of interest on the subject of ChatGPT :
DeepL has been a game-changer in the machine translation industry since its inception in 2017. The company employs a unique neural network (NN) architecture that has redefined the way sentences are translated. This technology enables DeepL to capture even the slightest nuances in language and replicate them in the translation.
The quality of DeepL’s machine translation is not just a claim but has been empirically validated through blind tests. In these tests, professional translators unknowingly pick the most accurate translation among different options, and DeepL has been shown to outperform its competitors by a factor of 3:1.
DeepL offers a flexible and versatile translation service that caters to various use-cases. Whether you’re translating entire documents, web pages, images, or emails, DeepL has got you covered. The service is accessible across multiple devices, allowing you to translate content whether you’re at your desk or on the move.
Overall, DeepL sets itself apart with its unparalleled translation quality and wide array of features, offering a robust and highly accurate translation service that is ahead of its competitors.
While GPT systems can perform translation tasks, their output may not be as accurate or fluent as that of specialized translation systems. They can, however, be useful in scenarios where contextual understanding or multi-tasking capabilities are important.
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The Jamaican language, popularly referred to as (Jamaican) Patwa, is a significant component of brand Jamaica. However, despite its high international visibility and mounting global interest, it is severely under-resourced in its homeland.
The language has benefitted from the work of outstanding linguists such as Beryl Loftman Bailey whose book Jamaican Creole Syntax (1966) was the first technical grammar of the language, and Frederic G. Cassidy and Robert B. Le Page’s Dictionary of Jamaican English (DJE), which was the first scholarly dictionary prepared. While these works have enjoyed much attention in academia, they are not as known as they should be by ordinary Jamaicans, and they are consulted even less.
Admittedly, on the market are numerous phrase books, glossaries, and dictionaries prepared by laypeople, but these tend to suffer from one or more of the following issues: incorrect part of speech identification; mismatch between the part of speech, the definition, and the example sentence; and incomplete information, forcing Jamaican into English structure. One exception is Eric Rosenfeld’s comprehensive Jamaicasaurus, However, like all of the others (including the scholarly works), it only describes those areas in which Jamaican is different from Standard English. Unfortunately, this common approach of only treating the differences ends up making our vibrant language look malnourished.
To fill the gap, work began in earnest this month on the Dictionary of the Jamaican Language (DJL). The DJL will be a bilingual, unidirectional dictionary; bilingual because the headwords are in Jamaican and the definitions in English; unidirectional because there is no reverse section where the headwords are in English and the definitions are given in Jamaican. The latter will be done at a later stage. The main plan is for the dictionary to be web-based but we may contemplate a print version based on demand. The DJL is coming at an opportune time when there is an urgent need for general-purpose dictionaries and learners’ grammars to support the aims of the National Standards Curriculum, as well as the teaching and learning of Jamaican as a second/foreign language.
Scholarly dictionaries such as the DJE and Richard Allsopp’s Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage (DCEU) attempt to treat both Jamaican and Jamaican English between the same two covers. Additionally, they are intended as supplements to dictionaries such as Webster’s Third New International Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary, which cover metropolitan varieties of English. In keeping with their supplemental nature, they mostly list ‘Jamaicanisms’, i.e. words and senses that were considered unique to Jamaica. For example, the only sense the DJE lists for Jamaican sik (sick) is “to sicken, to make sick”, reflecting its use as a transitive verb; because, at that time, that was the only meaning different from standard English. However, Jamaicans also use the word sik as an adjective, e.g. di sik man, and as a stative verb, e.g. di biebi did sik. The latter usage is one way in which the Jamaican word is different from its English source; a feature which Jamaican shares with several West African languages where words denoting properties and states tend to be verbs. The DJL will reflect this aspect of the language rather than trying to force Jamaican into the structures of English and Latin.
The DJL will focus on contemporary usage but, since it aims to be a full record of the Jamaican language, it will include words and senses that have been used throughout the history of the language. Because of the contemporary focus, the order of senses will not necessarily reflect their historical development. Current senses will be listed before older, more dated, ones. Since the speakers of the Jamaican language are in full preparation mode for the back-to-school season, we decided to announce the start of our work on the dictionary by presenting to the nation a little over 30 of the entries to be included in the DJL which are related to school life.
The headword will be followed by the part of speech. Although we have abbreviated the part of speech below because of space constraints, in the actual dictionary, the part of speech will be spelt out. The part of speech is usually followed by the sense or senses associated with that specific part of speech. Where a word has multiple senses, those senses are numbered consecutively. In cases where additional information about the use of the word/sense may be useful, this is written in small capitals and placed before the relevant sense. Some of these usage labels include “dated”, for words that are old-fashioned (mostly used by grandparents), “offensive” (likely to offend, degrade, upset), “dormant” (no longer in use), and “historical” (still used but only when talking about the past). Each sense is followed by a made-up example sentence which helps to illustrate how the word is used. In the web-based dictionary, each headword will be accompanied by at least one audio file which contains the pronunciation of the word.
Since the DJL is meant to contribute to the standardisation of the language, headwords will be written using the Cassidy-JLU Writing System (CJLU), which is an easy-to-learn phonemic system that was developed by Jamaica-born linguist Frederic Cassidy and amended by the Jamaican Language Unit (JLU). The beauty of this system is that, even if you are seeing or hearing a word for the first time, it doesn’t take long to work out its spelling or pronunciation.
The DJL editorial team comprises a chief editor, Joseph Farquharson; assistant editor, Tajay Henry, and three subeditors, Tali Thorney, Carson Thomas and Donikue Campbell. The initial phase of the DJL is planned to last between 2023 and 2025. This phase is made possible by financial support from the CHASE Fund.
Abbreviations: intr., intransitive; n., noun; phr., phrase; stat., stative; tr., transitive; v. verb
baal-ed-i-tiicha n. OFFENSIVE. a term of address used by children to taunt a boy sporting a bald head. Baal-ed-i-tiicha, wiet til skuul uova.
baks lonch n. cooked food served for lunch in a disposable rectangular or square container. Bai di taim mi riich a kyantiin, baks lonch don.
bak-tu-skuul n. the period just before the beginning of the school year that is used to make preparations. Dongtoun ful op chruu a bak-tu-skuul ya nou.
big skuul n. (for basic and primary-school students) any education level above the one they are at.
Kim api se shi a go big skuul Septemba a kom.
boblz n. a hair accessory for girls comprising an elastic cord with a small ball at each end. Mi lov wen mi mada plat op mi ier an put iin di priti boblz dem.
brait spaaks n. a person who is quick-witted; but, more commonly, someone who is good at book learning. = SPAAKS. Mi no shak se shi paas ar egzam kaa mi nuo se shi a brait spaaks.
brieks n. 1. = BRIEKS TAIM. 2. any snack that is (intended to be) eaten during the short scheduled break during school hours. Mi figat mi brieks pan i dainin tiebl dis maanin.
brieks taim n. a short scheduled break during the schoolday which allows students to refresh themselves. = BRIEKS. Notn no iina yu lonch pan fi brieks taim so yu afi bai sitn a tok shap.
dons bat n. OFFENSIVE. a person who is slow at book learning. Im neva du im uomwork gud. Im a dons bat.
eksasaiz buk n. 1. a ruled book with either a soft or a hard cover (measuring roughly 4.9 x 6.9 in.), primarily used for writing in schools. Dem nowadiez eksasaiz buk no iizi fi mash op. 2. DATED. a ruled book with a soft cover that is primarily used for writing in schools. Mi eksasaiz buk ful op a mats.
fos braitis n. (in schools where students are streamed based on performance) the class at each grade level with the top-performing students. Mi mash op di egzam so mi a-go ina fos braitis neks ier.
freshaz n. a new student at a college or university, especially during the orientation period. Di freshaz dem a kom iin orli fi kalek dem pakij.
grob n. a new student who is bullied by older students to perform menial or degrading tasks.
Luk ou lang wi sen di grob fi go bai pati an im kyaahn kom bak yet. v. tr. to bully a new student by forcing them to perform menial or degrading tasks. Di fos wiik mi de a ai skuul di biga bwai dem grob mi.
guomin taim n. = GUOMIN UOM TAIM.
guomin uom taim n. the scheduled time one departs for home at the end of a day-long activity such as school or work. = GUOMIN TAIM. Di bel jos ring so dat miin se a guomin uom taim nou.
jain op phr. v. tr. 1. to link or connect two or more things. Dem jain op di buod dem an mek wahn siit. 2. to work together; co-operate; collaborate. Di tuu a dem jain op fi pie di bil. phr. v. stat. be linked or connected. Di tuu piis a waya dem jain op. phr. v. intr. to become a member of a group or organisation. Dem a plan paadna agen bot dis taim mi naa jain op. n. a style of handwriting in which the letters of a word are joined to each other: cursive. = JAININ OP. Sins mi staat taip mi kyaahn rait ina jain op agen.
jainin op n. = JAIN OP n.
kalijaz n. a student who attends a teachers’ college or community college. Di kalijaz dem ful op di kuk shap.
kapi skecha n. a student who copies from the work of others. = kapi teka. Mi a chrai tel tiicha se Jan a kapi skecha.
kapi teka n. = KAPI SKECHA.
kraab tuo = KRAB TUO.
krab tuo n. poor handwriting. Da kraab tuo ya aad fi riid.
lainz n. a sentence or passage that is copied multiple times by hand as a form of punishment in school. Mi kech a skuul liet so di klaas priifek gi mi lainz fi du.
push paint n. 1. a type of pencil with an internal chamber that holds the graphite stick. The stick comes out by squeezing or twisting a part of the pencil. Di push paint we mi a yuuz ron outa led. 2. a wood-cased pencil with a loose graphite stick that can be pushed through the wood casing from either end. It aad fi rait wid push paint.
rang bang n. an X mark used by a teacher grading student work to indicate an incorrect answer. Mi a-go stodi aad fi Mats kaa mi no waahn get no rang bang.
red ingk n. 1. ink that is red in colour. Di red ingk kech mi kluoz. 2. a pen that has red ink. Beg yu wahn red ingk mek mi maak dem piepa ya.
skuulaz n. a student who attends school, especially up to the secondary level. Di ruobot taksi dem no waahn kyar no skuulaz.
spaaks n. = BRAIT SPAAKS.
stiki n. a check mark used by a teacher to indicate that a student’s work is correct or has been checked. = uk stik. Luk umoch stiki mi get ina mi buk.
taim tiebl n. = TAIMZ TIEBL.
taimz tiebl n. a list containing multiples of a series of numbers, used by students as a study aid. = TAIM TIEBL. Tiich se wi fi nuo wi taimz tiebl.
tiich n. an affectionate term of address for a teacher. Tiich, mi jos waahn fi tangk yu fi tek kier a Jahnoi.
uk stik n. 1. a check mark used by a teacher to indicate that a student’s work is correct or has been checked. Johnny get nof uk stik ina im buk. 2. a long stick with a crook or a v-shaped hook at one end used for hoisting or lowering things. Di uk stik kudn riich di manggo dem pan di tap lim. 3. a sturdy stick roughly 2 ½ ft in length (cut from a tree in such a way so there is a short hook at one end), used while clearing land or weeding with a machete. Di faama dem yuuz dem uk stik wen dem a bush di plies so di mashiet no chap dem.
wash out phr. v. tr. 1. use water or other types of liquid to remove unwanted material from something. Mi tuu tayad fi wash out di tuu likl piis a kluoz. 2. (of an event) to cancel because of rain. Di fans dem beks kaa rien wash out di mach. 3. to have an abortion. Im gi mi sitn fi jringk fi wash out di biebi. phr. v. intr. (of a place that is normally dry) covered by a lot of water; flooded. Mi faada grong wash out an im luuz evriting. n. the process of using a substance to stimulate the evacuation of the bowels. Wen alidie don wi afi tek wash out.
Email carilingjm@gmail.com for further information and how to support the work of DJL.
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Until recently, it would have sounded like science fiction. Imagine making a video call to an individual who lives on the other side of the world. This person speaks Japanese, but through your headphones, you hear their words in English. It’s similar to having a live interpreter, who can translate different languages in person or online. In this case, however, there is no human involved, but rather artificial intelligence (AI) that can provide simultaneous interpretation.
Kudo, a company that has grown in the market by connecting interpreters with corporate clients, has taken a step forward by including a technology that performs simultaneous translations in online conferences. Its job is not to translate written sentences, but rather to carrying out voice translations, allowing participants in a video conference to hear the translation as if they had an interpreter present.
In a demonstration carried out for EL PAÍS, Tzachi Levy, Kudo’s product manager, speaks in English while he is interpreted almost in real time in Spanish. Although the voice sounds robotic and there is a slight delay compared to a human translation, the result is still surprising. While a human interpretation usually has a delay of five to seven seconds, the artificial experience is around 10.
The company has 20 corporate clients that already use this service, which continues to be constantly improved. The tool works on Kudo’s own video conferencing platform, but is also integrated with Microsoft Teams, which is popular in the corporate world.
At Kudo, they explain that in situations where 100% accuracy in translation is required, the human interpreter will always be the best option. Levy gives the example of European Parliament sessions: “Artificial systems will probably not be used, but in smaller meetings, where there are no interpreters available at the time, this solution can be effective.”
Levy argues that the advance of AI is inevitable, and that progress that was originally thought to take five to 10 years has been achieved in a matter of months. The field is evolving so quickly that, he estimates, within the next year AI could accurately achieve simultaneous translations in 90% of common situations.
In June of this year, Wired did a comparison of Kudo technology with interpretation performed by experts. Humans obtained significantly superior results compared to the AI tool, mainly in regards to understanding context. Claudio Fantinuoli, head of technology at Kudo and creator of the automatic translation tool, tells EL PAÍS that the model evaluated by Wired three months ago has already been improved by 25%. The next step in development is to integrate generative artificial intelligence to make the user experience more pleasant: for the voice to sound more fluid, human and able to capture intonation.
One of the main challenges, according to Fantinuoli, is getting AI to interpret the context of the narrative, in other words, to read between the lines. This challenge is still great, but progress is being made thanks to “large language models,” such as the one behind ChatGPT.
Fantinuoli, who is also a university professor and teaches young students aspiring to become professional interpreters, says “he sees no conflict” between AI and human training. What’s more, he believes human interpreters will always be of higher quality. “I try to make them [his students] understand that robots are a reality in the market and that they have to be at the top of their game,” he says. “AI is driving them to be very good interpreters.”
Another option that is set to appear in the near future is to add the speaker’s own voice to the interpretation. Fantinuoli says that technically this is already feasible, and it will be integrated into the company’s service in a matter of months. Other companies have already tested the possibility of using a single voice to play content in different languages, but not simultaneously. This is the case of the ElevenLabs platform, which can interpret 30 different languages with the same voice.
The process is simple: a user uploads an audio of more than a minute of the voice they want to replicate. From this file, the tool reads aloud the text they want, either in the source language or other available ones. The platform allows the user to make custom adjustments, fine-tuning the clarity of the reading or even exaggerating the style of the voice, according to their preferences. The program not only imitates the voice, but also captures and reflects distinctive nuances, such as tone, rhythm, accent and intonation.
Recently, Meta launched a multimodal translation model, which can perform speech-to-text, speech-to-speech, text-to-speech and text-to-text translations for up to 100 languages, depending on the task. This could be of use to polyglot speakers, those who mix two or three languages in a single sentence. Meta claims that this model is capable of discerning the different languages at play and carrying out the corresponding translations. While it still shows some small errors, it works quite well when the sentence is expressed in a single language. The tool is available for free in the Beta version.
Claudio Fantinuoli says the Meta’s new tool is surprising, comparing it to “the ChatGPT of spoken discourse.” “What they do is put together all the models, which can do many tasks at the same time. This is the future,” he says.
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Summer is almost over, but you might still have trips planned for this year. If anything, now might be the best time to travel to avoid the heat. Whether or not the heat or something else is pushing you to escape to a new destination, not speaking the local language shouldn’t stop you. The smartphone in your pocket is a great translation tool with the right apps. And if you happen to own an iPhone, then it comes with a built-in Translate app from Apple.
The app can translate phrases, conversations, or text you might find online or out in the world. Below, I’ll show you how to use Translate on iPhone, including a few tricks you should know.
Every iPhone that Apple sells ships with the Translate app preloaded. And older models running iOS 14 or later also have the app installed.
To translate text, voice, and conversations, just open the app and select the languages using the arrow symbols. You need to set your language (English or something else) and the language of the country you’re in. Apple offers Spanish in the following example.
Then, just use the apps’ fields to enter or dictate text. Translate will give you the translation instantly, and you can play it out loud if you’re trying to talk to a local.
Tap the Conversation menu if you want to converse with someone. The app will then show the discussion in a chat-like window. You’ll be able to see each person’s lines in both languages. That way, both parties can understand each other.
For conversations, you either tap the microphone icon for each person or tap the three-dot menu to enable an Auto Translate feature. The latter might be more useful, but it’ll be up to you to determine how to hold conversations via the Translate app.
When traveling, you’ll likely need to understand restaurant menus, commute information, and information about local attractions. Some of those might be bilingual already, but that’s not always a given. Also, you might not speak English, which is usually the second language you’d see in such places.
The iPhone’s Translate app can come in handy again. Just tap the Camera menu and ensure the camera gets a good look at the text. That means the text has to be in focus for the app to work. You can tap the circle to pause and view the translations.
From there, you can copy the translated text, add it to favorites, and listen to both the original and the translated text. You can also screenshot the translation as you would take a regular screenshot.
The same Camera setting lets you select a photo that contains text from your Photos app. Just tap the photos symbol to choose the images you need. You should be snapping pics of everything you think you should have handy while you roam the streets, like the entry conditions for a museum. Later, you can perform the translation.
As Apple explains in a different support document, you can use the iPhone’s built-in translation tool in various apps, not just the Camera and Photos apps.
Translation works in Safari, Messages, Mail, and third-party apps. Whenever you select text on the handset in these apps, you can tap it and then go for the right arrow menu to surface a Translate option. In Safari, you’ll find a familiar Translate icon.
The idea is to translate any app on iPhone, and that’s a problem for now. The Translate app only supports 19 languages, including two versions of English and Chinese. You can download as many of them as you need for on-device translation.
If the language spoken in the country you’re traveling to isn’t in the list above, the iPhone’s Translate app won’t be good enough.
Thankfully, there’s a solution. You can download Google Translate on iPhone to get access to almost every language in the world. And Google Translate works similarly. It supports text, voice, and conversation translation. It also lets you use the camera to translate text.
What Google Translate doesn’t have is integration with other iPhone apps. But even so, I keep Google Translate installed on my iPhone to ensure I never get lost in translation.
In Denis Villeneuve's 2016 science fiction thriller Arrival, the pivotal moment comes when Louise (Amy Adams) uses the dying words of General Shang's (Tzi Ma) wife to convince the Chinese leader to stand down from military action against the alien ships. She does this by using information she learned from Shang in the future after she cracked the Heptapod's alien language and the key to understanding their non-linear timeline. In the film, she communicates over satellite phone the same words she whispered to him in the future, which causes China to de-escalate.
The movie intentionally delivers these lines in Mandarin, and it's not translated for the audience. This was done purposefully by Villeneuve and screenwriter Eric Heisserer, so that the focus would be on General Shang's reaction, making it more powerful. Villeneuve later admitted he wanted the words to not be translated in the movie, but he always thought what was said should not be a secret. After the movie's release, Villeneuve finally told audiences what Louise says to Shang to prevent him from starting a war with Arrival's aliens in the movie.
When Louise calls General Shang during the crucial moments before China attacks, she is able to reach him on his private number and relay back to him the last words Shang's wife said before she died. What Louise says in Mandarin translates into "In war, there are no winners, only widows." She knows that information and how to reach him directly because at an event 18 months after the events surrounding the Heptapods, Louise met Shang and he gave her the information she needed to make the call.
Louise's understanding of the Heptapod language, and its ability to comprehend things outside the confines of time, allows her to recall these future memories at a time when the world stood on the brink of war with the alien species. Several other countries were following China's lead and planning to deploy military action against the aliens after they misinterpreted a message from the extraterrestrials to mean "use weapon." In a fast-paced, emotional layering of the present and future events, Louise and Shang are able to communicate and likely save humanity from what turns out to be a benevolent species.
Understanding in the long run it was the right decision, Shang himself makes Louise tell him these words in the future so that he will know not to attack the alien ships in the past. The meaning behind these words in the midst of Arrival's poignant ending is especially significant. While Shang, China, and other countries may have seen force as the only reasonable option against an unknown adversary, the reality that his wife tries to communicate is that war is not a zero-sum game that can claim winners and losers. All sides lose significantly in war, including in the massive loss of human life.
Before this conversation, Shang is determined to use his military against the 12 ships that have descended on Earth because he feels there are no other options to consider after failed communications. A few words from his wife completely change his perspective. Ironically, it's simple communication - the tools Louise deploys - that ultimately helps defuse the conflict. Arrival, in its most literal form, focuses on another species descending to Earth. However, in a deeper reading of the theme of the movie, Louise, Shang, and other characters arrive at a resonant understanding of what it means to make connections, to communicate with others, and how to truly live.
