Jezikoslovlje
8.2 (2007): 229-243 ɱ 229
Prikazi knjiga
Book reviews
Rezensionen
Marija Omaziü
Josip Juraj Strossmayer University
Faculty of Philosophy
Osijek
Lynne Bowker, 2002. Computer-Aided Translation Technology. A Prac-
tical Introduction. (Didactics of Translation Series). Ottawa: Universtiy
of Ottawa Press. 185 pp. ISBN 0-7766-0538-0.
Lyne Bowker’s book Computer-Aided Translation Technology published in
2002 is one of the books in the Didactics of Translation Series, which caters to
the needs of students and professionals of translation/ interpreting . The book
examines the emerging possibilities of using computers and information and
communication technology (ICT) in translation, and argues for the necessity of
adopting the new trends in both teaching translation and interpreting, and prac-
ticing translation as a profession.
After the initial awe at the wonders of machine translation, followed by a pe-
riod of shock caused by the unexpected and, albeit funny, frighteningly wrong
results of machine-translated texts (such as The spirit is willing but the flesh is
weak translated into Russian as The vodka is good but the steak is lousy), trans-
lators are beginning to see the light – machine translation (MT) is not a miracu-
lous tool that cancels the translator, but a tool that can, and increasingly does,
aid the translator. There is still some entrenched resistance to jumping on the
bandwagon of computer-aided translation (CAT) technology, but the new trans-
lation training programmes are now increasingly embracing CAT tool skills as
indispensable parts of the curriculum, and include their mastery in their learning
outcomes. One such example is the MeLLange programme in Multilingual
eLearning in LANGuage Engineering, launched jointly by several European
Universities (EILA Université Paris 7 - Denis Diderot, Universität Wien, Uni-
Prikazi knjiga
ɱ 230 Book reviews - Rezensionen
versität des Saarlanders, Praetorius, Univesita di Bologna Sede di Forli, The
University of Leeds, and Université de Genève.
The CAT tools that are now largely commercially available, though perhaps
still not widely put to use, include optical character recognition, voice recogni-
tion, conversion software, corpus analysis tools, terminology management sys-
tems (TMS), translation memory systems, localization tools, etc. The aim of
Bowker’s book is to present the possibilities, advantages, as well as the limita-
tions and disadvantages of these tools. The scope of the book surpasses (or pre-
supposes) the mastery of indispensable word processing tools, spreadsheets, da-
tabases, grammar and spell-checkers, e-mail, and searching the Internet, how-
ever valuable, and sets off to explore a wider range of more advanced and more
sophisticated computer-aided tools.
The book comprises six chapters: in Chapter 1, the author addresses the ques-
tion of why the interpreters and translators need to learn about technology. It
looks beyond the straightforward answer of becoming more competitive on the
job market, and delves into other benefits to be gained by mastering CAT tools
and including them in the translation training programmes. Chapter 2 gives an
overview of the possibilities of converting information into a machine-readable
form using OCR and voice-recognition software. Chapter 3 provides a critical
analysis of corpus-analysis tools, such as word-frequency lists, monolingual and
bilingual concordancers, and collocation generators. Chapter 4 focuses on ter-
minology-management systems, especially on the recent developments that in-
creased the flexibility of storage and retrieval, and gives guidance to users on
how to start their own TM system. The most recent of the CAT tools, the trans-
lation memory systems are the subject of Chapter 5, followed by a discussion of
newly emerging technologies and trends in Chapter 6, including software local-
ization tools, diagnostic tools, new types of translation work, Web page transla-
tion, and the integration of translation into the document-production cycle. Fi-
nally, there are two useful appendices: Appendix A is a glossary of important
terms and concepts related to translation technology, whereas Appendix B offers
practical advice on the contemporary commercially available CAT tools, cou-
pled with their prices, online reviews, system requirements, and questions poten-
tial users need to ask the vendors in order to establish whether a given tool suits
their needs.
Computer-Aided Translation Technology by Lynne Bowker is a systematic,
comprehensive, and user-friendly account of CAT tools, their applications,
benefits, and drawbacks. It provides both translation trainees and professional
translators with an overview of the existing and newly emerging possibilities,
and with its scope and focus it forever breaks the illusion that translation will
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8.2 (2007): 229-243 ɱ 231
always and only be done in a traditional way. It, however, does not aim to put
off potential new users. Quite to the contrary, in fact. With clarity of explana-
tions, step-by step procedures and illustrative practical examples, it aims to en-
courage and entice, rather than discourage.
Furthermore, it sets a list of desiderata for the future development of CAT
tools, including a movement toward client-server architectures, better coopera-
tion of software developers with translation training institutions, better CAT tool
training, increased levels of user-friendliness of tools, further integration of
tools, further use of generated resources to develop other natural-language proc-
essing tools, and the development of diagnostic tools. It is beyond doubt that
these tools will help the translators improve the speed of the translation process
and increase the quality of their end-product. Moreover, the increasing software
and system possibilities will provide the scholars working in the field of transla-
tion studies with both access to a larger body of translations, and tools for con-
ducting more focused, and thus also more illuminating and productive, basic and
applied research into the translation process, translation pedagogy, terminogra-
phy, and CAT tool evaluation.
