Introduction to Translation - Assignment 2

Renata R de Paula - Student number: 22209113

 Part A: Error selection, definition and analysis
My first text is the excerpt of a criminal law in Brazil, and It was selected
from the https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/297687809.pdf and it is an
excerpt from a scientific article about clothing production and
sustainability.
Source Text 1
CONDIÇÕES PARA ARRANJO PRODUTIVO LOCAL (APL) E SUSTENTABILIDADE
AO SETOR TÊXTIL DE ARARANGUÁ-SC
1. INTRODUÇÃO
(9) O presente trabalho analisa, na perspectiva dos elementos
necessários à configuração de um Arranjo Produtivo Local (APL), (1) o
setor de vestuário do município de Araranguá-SC, visando à
(1.1) competitividade e sustentabilidade.
(2) Para tanto, parte do levantamento (1.2) bibliográfico sobre APLs e
(3)confronta a condição nas empresas do setor; considera, nas análises, as
dimensões econômica, social e ambiental; contextualiza a dinâmica dos
processos competitivos com foco nas inovações e nos efeitos da
globalização sobre atividades produtivas locais e no desenvolvimento
regional.
As transformações ocorridas ao longo do século passado e no(1.3)
presente, especialmente na área tecnológica, forçaram o setor produtivo à
adaptação de novas formas de produzir bens e serviços.
Aponta-se que não basta ter acesso às informações, é necessário filtrá-las
para um melhor (6) ) aproveitamento e transformação em conhecimento e
em novas habilidades (4) com vistas à inovação.
A competição nos tempos atuais acontece com maior intensidade,
(5) sendo que a globalização (3.1) acelera os processos produtivos e de
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Target Text 1
CONDITIONS FOR LOCAL PRODUCTIVE ARRANGEMENT (APL) AND
SUSTAINABILITY TO THE TEXTILE SECTOR OF ARARANGUÁ-SC
1. INTRODUCTION
(9) The present work analyses, from the perspective of the elements
necessary for the configuration of a Local Productive Arrangement (LPA),
(1) the the clothing industry in Araranguá-SC, aiming at (1.1)
competitiveness competitiveness and sustainability.
(2) To do so, it starts with a (1.2) bibliographical bibliographical survey
about APLs and (3) confronts the condition in the companies of the sector;
considers, in the analysis, the economic, social and environmental
dimensions; contextualizes the dynamics of competitive processes with a
focus on innovations and the effects of globalization on local productive
activities and regional development.
The transformations that occurred throughout the last century and in the
(1.3) present present, especially in the technological area, have forced the
productive sector to adapt to new ways of producing goods and services.
It is pointed out that it is not enough to have access to information, it is
necessary to filter it for a better (6) and transformation into knowledge and
new skills (4) with a view to innovation.
Competition in current times happens with greater intensity,
(5) and globalization (3.1) accelerate productive processes and product
distribuição dos produtos.
Assim, as atividades econômicas, (3.1) na insegurança no mercado
desregulamentado, se tornam geradoras (2.1) de fortes impactos
ambientais e sociais.
(9.1) O sistema de produção de mercadorias contemporâneo assume
impacto multifacetado na sociedade ao considerar que o resultado é que a
globalização veio para ficar, e com ela o nivelamento por baixo em termos
de salário e assistência social governamental, como regra para diminuir
custos de mão-de-obra e
(6.1 )impostos, em prol do aumento da competitividade
de cada país. (CASAROTTO e PIRES, 2002,
p.18)
Corroborando com os autores, a globalização ocorreu no contexto
da passagem da era da informação para a era do conhecimento, na qual a
competitividade via (10) inovação se torna ainda mais pronunciada.
(7)O diferencial competitivo das organizações não é mais a tecnologia
disponível, visto que esta é facilmente adquirida por concorrentes, a
questão da(10.1) inovação é (8) o fator que torna as empresas especiais ou
preferenciais pelo consumidor e pela opinião pública aliados à estratégia
de se relacionar em grupos de cooperação ou redes.
Error Typology
(1)- Lexis type- addition- addition of function word. (1.1), (1.2) and
(1.3) Lexis type- addition- addition of content word.
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distribution.
Thus, the economic activities, (3.1) in the insecurity in the deregulated
market, become generators (2.1) of strong environmental and social
impacts.
(9.1) The contemporary commodity production system production system
has a multifaceted impact on society by considering that the result is that
globalization is here to stay, and with it the race to the bottom in terms of
wages and and government welfare as a rule to lower labour costs and
(6.1)-
(CASAROTTO and PIRES, 2002,
p.18)
Corroborating with the authors, globalization occurred in the context
the passage of the information age for the knowledge age, in which the
competitiveness through (10) innovation becomes even more pronounced.
(7) O competitive differential of organizations is no longer the technology
available, since this is easily acquired by competitors, the issue of (10.1)
innovation is (8)The question that makes companies special or preferential
by the consumer and public opinion allied to the strategy of relating in
cooperation groups or networks.
This error type seems to be a very common error when using Machine
Translation (MT) such as the Google Translate, it occurs when a word is
added to the target text or even when a word repeats in the target. As
Costa (2015) has pointed this error is language- independent. The
distinction of function word and content word can be made as follows:

(2), (2.1) Semantic- Semantic Type- Confusion of Sense
(3) Grammar – Verb- blend and Discourse Type – Style and (3.1) Grammar-
misselection level- tense
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content word relates to words that carry the meaning in a sentence and
function words has little meaning, however, can express grammatical
relations (Costa,2015).The solution is just to eliminate the word added.
Another error that is very common when translating a text, the MT will
function based in probability of occurrence of a word, however, sometimes
the choice given will not be adequate to the text genre. In this case, the
text presented is a scientific article and it requires a formal language style.
The option given in here was “To do so” which I think is quite informal to
the type of text we are dealing with. I would use “For this purpose” which
aligns with the formality of this text. Again, this type of error can be
encompassed in other categories such Discourse Type.
In the second example (2.1) the choice was of strong and the issue here is
collocational and sense of the word. This error depicts the issue that there
is not a correct form of correct translation, there are several and this may
pose a constraint for error typology. Furthermore, we may make other
changes just to fix that error. In this case I would change the word order
too. So, the sentence: “become generators of strong environmental and
social impacts” I would change for: “generate great impact upon
environmental and social aspects”. I must point out that this was the most
challenging error to classify, and Costa has also advised about mixing
Confusion of Sense and Wrong Choice.
This error is also fuzzy since it involves the distance of the subject of the
sentence, which is stated in the beginning of the sentence, it is very
common use in Portuguese (Brazil), however, it is not a norm in the English
language. English sentences tend to be more concise.
It also creates problems regarding coherence and cohesion creating an
error which encompasses Discourse and style. To sort this out the best
would be to re-state the subject, rewriting the sentence as follows:
“confronts the condition in the companies of the sector.
Furthermore, this work analyses the economic, social, and environmental
dimensions. Another goal is to contextualize the dynamics of competitive
processes with a focus” … We can see that to correct this, we may separate
a long sentence in shorter sentences and add link words to connect the

(4) Semantic- Semantic Type- collocation
(5) Lexis -omission -Function Type
(6) and (6.1) Lexis- Omission- Content type
(7) Lexis- Untranslated
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ideas. In (3.1) the error consists of the fact that the verb lacks the -s mark
of Present Simple Tense, to correct we just need to add an -s (accelerates).
The translation output was given word for word and do not express the
real meaning of this expression “Com vista á” which would be better
rendered if it was translated as “Aiming to”. In this case the issue is a
meaning shift which could be corrected by comparing the meaning of this
expression in Portuguese and find an equivalent expression in the target
text. This type of error is very common when dealing with expressions,
clauses, and idiomatic language. As Costa (2015) says collocational errors
occur in blocks of words.
This error represents an interesting analysis regarding how to find a
solution for your translation. The output of MT omitted the translation of
the casual conjunction “Sendo que”, I first checked the translation in
Linguee, however it only outcome a word for word translation of this
expression, and it did not make any sense in our context, this could be the
reason for which the MT omitted this translation. However, looking for
synonyms of this expression in Portuguese helped me to achieve a similar
expression in English “Since”. And as it has be mentioned before function
words will add grammatical relations with other words or sentences.
A common error in MT output is the deletion of some words that are part
of the content of the text. In this case we have the omission of a content
type word in (6) and a clause in (6.1). By comparing the texts, we can
simply add the missing word to our target text. A way of correcting this
mistake in the MT is to continually feed it with more data (De Almeida and
O’Brien,2010). The correction here would be (6) = “better utilization” and
(6.1) = taxes to increase competivity.
In this case the error was the fact that the definite article “O” in
Portuguese which would be translated as “The”, but the output was “O” as
in Portuguese. It is an easy error to spot and to fix. Even though it is not the
case here, but it is worth to think in words that would remain in the target
text as it is in the source such as name of people, places and so on. In this
case language can impact the MT output specially if they do not share the
same alphabet. An example of this is Chinese language translated to

(8) Orthography – Capitalization
(10) Discourse type – Style
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English (Villar,2006)
Capitalization errors are inserted in orthographic type of errors and can
occur because the MT will understand a space as a full stop, for instance.
As it has been pointed before, the taxonomy models differ among them
and Costa’s taxonomy includes Capitalization, Vilar’s taxonomy considers
only punctuation errors while Bojar and Vilar also considers spelling errors.
In my example (8) the correction will be to change the capital “T” from the
article “the”.
Repetition of word in nearby context are considered a bad stylistic choice
(Costa,2015) Repetition is not something very problematic, however, if a
human translator is carrying out the translation, he/she would prefer to
use synonym instead. To correct I would change the second “innovation” to
“remodelling”.
I have chosen two texts since I had some difficulties for finding the number of
errors requested. My second text was selected from the
https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/decreto-lei/del2848compilado.htm and
consists in an excerpt from the governmental Brazilian site.
Source Text 2 Target Text 2

   O PRESIDENTE DA REPÚBLICA, usando da atribuição que lhe confere o art. 180 THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC, using the powers conferred upon him by
da Constituição, decreta a seguinte Lei: art. 180 of the Constitution, decrees the following Law:

        PARTE GERAL GENERAL PART

TÍTULO I
DA APLICAÇÃO DA LEI PENAL
(Redação dada pela Lei nº 7.209, de 11.7.1984)
Anterioridade da Lei
(11) Art. 1º - Não há crime sem lei anterior que o defina. Não há pena sem
prévia cominação legal. (Redação dada pela Lei nº 7.209, de 11.7.1984)
Lei penal no tempo
(11.1) Art. 2º - Ninguém pode ser punido por fato que (4.1) lei posterior
(9.2) deixa de considerar crime, cessando em virtude dela a execução e os
efeitos penais da sentença condenatória. (Redação dada pela Lei nº 7.209,
de 11.7.1984)
Parágrafo único - A lei posterior, que de qualquer modo favorecer o agente,
aplica-se aos fatos anteriores, ainda que decididos por sentença
condenatória transitada em julgado. (Redação dada pela Lei nº 7.209, de
11.7.1984)
TITLE I
APPLICATION OF THE CRIMINAL LAW
(Composed by Law No. 7,209 of 11 July, 1984)
Antiquity of the Law
(11) Article 1 - There is no crime without a prior law defining it. There is
no penalty without prior legal determination. (Text given by Law No. 7.209,
of 11.7.1984)
Criminal Law in time
(11.1) Article 2 - No one may be punished for an act that (4.1) a later
law no longer (9.2) considers a crime, and the execution and penal effects of
the sentence will cease as a result of such a law. Text added by Law No.
7.209, of 11 July, 1984)
Sole Paragraph - A subsequent law that favours the criminal, in any way,
applies to previous facts, even if they have been decided by a final and
conclusive sentence. (Composition given by Law no. 7,209 of 11 July, 1984)

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 Lei excepcional ou temporária (Incluído pela Lei nº 7.209, de 11.7.1984)
(11.2) Art. 3º - A lei excepcional ou temporária, embora decorrido o período
de sua duração ou cessadas as circunstâncias que a determinaram, aplica-se
ao fato praticado durante sua vigência. (Redação dada pela Lei nº 7.209, de
1984)
Tempo do crime
(11.3) Art. 4º - (9.3) Considera-se praticado o crime no momento da ação ou
omissão, ainda que outro seja o momento do resultado. (Redação dada pela
Lei nº 7.209, de 1984)
Error typology
(9), (9.1), (9.2), (9.3)– Discourse Type- Style
(11), (11.1), (11.2), (11.3) Orthography – punctuation and it is also a case of
semantic error with omission of a symbol.
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Exceptional or temporary law (Included by Law no. 7.209, of 11.7.1984)
(11.2) Article 3 - The exceptional or temporary law, even if the period of its
duration has elapsed or the circumstances that determined it have ceased to
exist, applies to the act committed during its validity. (Text added by Law
No. 7.209, of 11.7.1984)
Time of the Crime
(11.3) Article 4 – (9.3) The crime is considered to have been committed at
the moment of the action or omission, even if the time of the result is
different. (Text given by Law no. 7.209, 1984)
In these passages, aspects such as coherence and style are compromised,
and the sentences could be ordered differently to promote clarity. (9.2) no
longer considered as a crime, ceasing execution and penal effects of the
sentence. Villar (2006) points out that even omission of a word in the
target could lead to various other type of errors such as in meaning or
word order (grammatical) and so on. This shows the fuzzy state of errors
classification. Costa (2015) pointed out that misordering errors are related
with syntactic problems.
In this case symbols used for ordinal numbers were omitted. This is a very
common error in MT output. Villar (2006) points out that punctuation
errors are considered minor disturbances and easy to fix.
 Part B: Error typologies in the quality of machine translation

B) Describe how typologies like Costa’s, when used for the categorisation of MT

errors, can be used to improve the quality of machine translation. Why do you think

different error typologies may be required for different language pairs? Support your

discussion with illustrative examples and literature.

Regarding errors category models, we know that there are many types of models proposed and in this analyse we will take into account the one presented
by Costa (2015), and which was an extension of other taxonomies to accommodate translation errors related to Romance languages. Costa (2015) has
pointed out that some errors are considered language-dependent other errors are language-independent. Punctuation for instance, can vary across
languages and there is also the uncertainty that all languages use punctuation. Capitalization errors are language specific since some languages like Chinese
do not have Capital letters. Lexis errors (omission, addition and untranslated) as well as words that should not be translated category are not considered
language dependent issues. This awareness of errors being associated with differences across languages may help translators, pos-editors and Machine
Translations (MT) specialists to find appropriate solutions for translation errors.

Various factors need to be taken into account when we think about error categories and penalties as a way of assessing translation quality. Some works
have been carried out to verify some aspects of the translation, professional and unexperienced translators, post-editing time frame and effort. Many of
these studies have used error typology as an instrument and some researchers pointed out the need of more fine-grained frameworks (Koponen et

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al.,2012; Popovic et al.,2014.) Error typology analysis can be impacted by the content type of text, country standard style, translators experience and so on.
It is crucial to perceive the difference across languages, and that some languages such as Spanish are highly inflicted, and some errors will occur for this
reason (Villar, 2006). It has been pointed out that inexperienced translators tend to treat the task as a mere lexical task while professionals tend to pay
more attention to other aspects such as coherence and style (Tirkkonen-condict,1990) De Almeida and O’Brien (2010) carried out a research linking the
experience of professionals and the post-editing process and found that experience is linked to a faster post-editing process and with the choices of making
essential and preferential changes. Some of the errors categories are classified as acceptability which adherence to the target language norms, such as
grammar, spelling, lexicon and some are related to adequacy which can be assessed by comparing target and source texts, for instance, deletions, additions,
mistranslations and meaning shifts. It is crucial that we understand that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to translation quality evaluation (QE) and that
even the definition of quality in translation is a fuzzy element. When we think in quality we need to think about accuracy, fluency, purpose, and end- user
needs for instance. One of the definitions says that quality is when user and customer is satisfied. The framework for error typologies also presents some
complexities and it was O’Brien (2011) who stated that models and metrics used are not measuring the same thing. Error typology measures the editing
distance and time taken to complete the task. Variance across languages and content type, consistence across industry, variability in categories,
standardized way to categorize are important approaches to have error category models that are effective to apply to translation.

Having said that, error typology can also be very time consuming and costly. Stoeller (2014) after analysing the quality measurement of human translation
in a virtualization software company has suggested that the use of sampling may reduce time and price for checking quality. Sampling could be carried out
randomly by selecting a subset of the text and evaluating number of errors. Systematic sampling, however, will select a subset of the text where errors may
cause a greater impact. Sampling could an effective way of analysing error typology, however, Stoeller also pointed out that there is not much information
available in the translation industry on how to reach Systematic sampling and by the time he carried out his study, there was not any tool available for this
purpose.

After reading up about error category models and applying Costa’s taxonomy to this activity, I can conclude that indeed it is not a straightforward task to
apply the error category model. It seems easier at first, but the error types are fuzzy, and classification requires reflection upon the target language, genre,
and so on. I also conclude that it is important to have variety of models since they may accommodate different type of needs, such as Costa’s model to
accommodate the Romance languages. Make these models available to academia is also a crucial step that companies need to take in order to create a
bridge between industry and academic studies and benefit the whole field of translation. Furthermore, taxonomies like the one from Costa (2015) may help
in improving the quality of the output of Machine Translation, since we can analyse errors and realise their recurrence, understand what may cause these
errors and provide an effective solution.

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Reference:

Daems J, et al. (2017) Identifying the Machine Translation Error Types with the Greatest Impact on Post-editing Effort. Front Psychol. Aug 2; 8:1282.
doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01282. PMID: 28824482; PMCID: PMC5539081.

De Almeida G., O’Brien S. (2010). “Analysing post-editing performance: correlations with years of translation experience,” in Proceedings of the 14th Annual
Conference of the European Association for Machine Translation, Saint-Raphaël. [Google Scholar]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5539081/

Stoller, W. (2014) Linguistic Quality Review: A Case Study. Tradumática. Vol.12

Vilar D. et al. (2006), Error Analysis of Statistical Machine Translation Output. In Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Language Resources: A
linguistically motivated taxonomy for Machine Translation error analysis.

Costa, A. et al. (2005) A linguistically motivated taxonomy for Machine Translation error analysis. Machine Translation, Vol. 29, No. 2 (June 2015), pp.
127-161, Springer.URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44113801

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