Source language classification of indirect translations

Abstract

One of the major barriers to the systematic study of indirect translation – that is, translations of translations – is the lack of efficient methods to identify these translations. In this article, we use supervised machine learning to examine whether computers can be harnessed to identify indirect translations. Our data consist of a monolingual comparable corpus that includes (1) nontranslated Finnish texts, (2) direct translations from English, French, German, Greek, and Swedish into Finnish, and (3) indirect translations from Greek (the ultimate source language) via English, French, German, and Swedish (mediating languages) into Finnish. We use n-grams of various types and lengths as feature sets and random forests as the statistical classification technique. To maximize the transferability of the method, the feature sets were implemented in accordance with the Universal Dependencies framework. This study confirms that computers can distinguish between translated and nontranslated Finnish, as well as between Finnish translations made from different source languages. Regarding indirect translations, the ultimate source language has a greater impact on the linguistic composition of indirect Finnish translations than their respective mediating languages. Hence, the indirect translations could not be reliably identified. Therefore, our results suggest that the reliable computational identification of indirect translations and their mediating languages requires a way to control for the effect of the ultimate source language.

Open Bibliographical Data Workflows and the Multilinguality Challenge

“…MARC21 partly stores the information about the original title of the translated book as well, but this information is processed inconsistently (fields 240 and 765) with respect to the cataloguing rules used. In each of these approaches, it is clear that application is far from reaching its full potential, so that sometimes the name of a translator (in 245$c together with other contributors) is the only evidence that a book is a translation (no source language nor original title is recorded) (Ivaska 2020).…”

Poster presentations in Translation Studies

“…Taggart & Arslanian 2000). A title such as "Uncovering the many sources of translations" (Ivaska 2016) fits the ten-word rule, at the same time giving enough information for meaningful engagement and creating curiosity ("uncovering"); the subtitle "Indirect translations of Modern Greek prose literature into Finnish 1952-2004" provides a more academic presentation of the topic, while also revealing that the scope of the title is quite wide to be fully covered in a poster.…”

“…However, as posters may be visited also outside the poster session, for example during coffee breaks (Figure 4), the poster should tell a coherent story that is understandable also on its own. For example, Ivaska's (2016) poster is roughly 300 words: the methodology is presented as a list of keywords and references to leave more space for evidence and to invite the audience to engage the presenter in a conversation on the methodology.…”

“…Catchy visuals can also help grab the attention of scholars working on topics different from that of the poster (Figure 3). For example, Torres-Simón (2016) mimicked Wikipedia's well-known page layout to introduce attendants to the topic of her poster and to attract passersby's attention (Figure 12), while Ivaska (2016) used a map of Europe to visualize the geographical extent of her case study (Figure 13). This page was last modified on 11 September 2016, at 08:03.…”

“…Remember that some participants may have color vision deficiencies, resulting in difficulties in distinguishing or seeing colors. Since Torres-Simón's (2016) topic is Wikipedia, her poster uses the same colors as the Wikipedia page, whereas Ivaska's (2016) poster on Modern Greek literature in Finnish translation uses the colors of the flags of Finland and Greece, white and different shades of blue, and a contrasting color, red, to highlight the most important details on the poster.…”