ProZ.com translation contests »
Mini-contest 2012: "Yogi Berra Quotes" » English to Turkish

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Discussion about Mini-contest 2012: "Yogi Berra Quotes" in English to Turkish
Zeki Güler
Zeki Güler  Identity Verified
Local time: 19:06
Член ProZ.com c 2012
английский => турецкий
+ ...
Word by word translation attempts Nov 17, 2012

Word by word translation attempts crerate odd sentences, which dont reflect meaning of the source text at all . As a result, we have odd turkish sentences.
Poor voters rate such translations high, unfortunately.

i request the site administration to determine the quality of such translation texts through a really competent translator, rather than submitting them for vote.

Best,
 
Cagdas Karatas
Cagdas Karatas  Identity Verified
Турция
Local time: 19:06
Член ProZ.com c 2007
английский => турецкий
What is translation? Who is a translator? Nov 22, 2012

After seeing majority of the entries in this contest, I have finally come to understand that an elementary or pre-intermediate level English speaker with a good English to Turkish dictionary can achieve great things in translation contests. Once again, the need for an independent body of voters formed by expert language professionals has shown itself. In line with Zeki's remark above, I feel obliged to remind and emphasize that word for word translation for a source text full of puns and tricks ... See more
After seeing majority of the entries in this contest, I have finally come to understand that an elementary or pre-intermediate level English speaker with a good English to Turkish dictionary can achieve great things in translation contests. Once again, the need for an independent body of voters formed by expert language professionals has shown itself. In line with Zeki's remark above, I feel obliged to remind and emphasize that word for word translation for a source text full of puns and tricks is nothing but a big shame for someone who calls him/herself a translator. ▲ Collapse
 
Ahu Yalcin
Ahu Yalcin  Identity Verified
Турция
Local time: 19:06
английский => турецкий
+ ...
Voting Nov 27, 2012

I have doubts about the voting phases; the votes in the final phase do not match with the quality and accuracy marks in the semi-finals.

I agree with Zeki and Çağdaş that independent voters / a jury of proffessionals are needed for a reliable and objective result. Otherwise we can never know whether the voters were translators' friends or not. All in all, 4-5 people voting determine the winner.
 
Henry Dotterer
Henry Dotterer
Local time: 11:06
ОСНОВАТЕЛЬ САЙТА
Possible reason Nov 27, 2012

Ahu Yalcin wrote:

I have doubts about the voting phases; the votes in the final phase do not match with the quality and accuracy marks in the semi-finals.

One possible explanation is the fact that the "source text notes" (in which the nuances of the original quotes were discussed) were presented beside the voting interface for segment-based rating in the qualification round, but were not as readily available for voters in the finals.

Is this possible?

The voters in the final round are not necessarily the same as the voters in the qualification round. It may be wise to assume they are different people.
I agree with Zeki and Çağdaş that independent voters / a jury of proffessionals are needed for a reliable and objective result. Otherwise we can never know whether the voters were translators' friends or not. All in all, 4-5 people voting determine the winner.

It is true that the number of voters is less than would be ideal. But there were 30 voters in Turkish in the final round. It would be hard to deny that the winner is the entry that voters liked best.
 
Henry Dotterer
Henry Dotterer
Local time: 11:06
ОСНОВАТЕЛЬ САЙТА
Selection must be by peers Nov 27, 2012

Çağdaş Karataş wrote:
... the need for an independent body of voters formed by expert language professionals has shown itself.

There were sixty language pairs in the current contest. There were more than one hundred pairs in one of the prior rounds of the contest. It would be impractical to attempt to assemble a team of "expert language professionals" in so many pairs.

Apart from the sheer volume of work that would be involved in finding and communicating with hundreds of "august" judges, consider also the challenge of assembling a body of experts in, say, English to Friulian or Javanese (which were in the Berra round), and Spanish to Serbian or Indonesian to Italian (which already have entries in the new round.)

So as a practical matter, if for no other reason, there is no question: our contests will be "among and by peers". So the challenge is how to make it work. I think we can say that it already works well, when tagging is used, with "normal" texts. This segment-based approach was an experiment, and while I wish to take nothing away from the winners, who are the legitimate favorites, it seems possible that some further refinement may be in order.

Thanks for participating, Çağdaş.
 

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