Jun 2013, 16:12
Illusionville

Individuals who feel they are fluent in a foreign language often believe that they perceive texts, movies or TV shows in that language the same way as a native speaker. This is usually wrong and the real problem is that those individuals are unlikely to ever find out that it is so. Comprehension of foreign discourse is a part of the recipient’s overall linguistic-cultural system and the lack of cultural connotations makes it impossible to absorb all dimensions of the text. More…

May 2013, 9:29
Professionals by decree

I came across a blog post published on Sarah Dillon’s site:
“Some of the best translators I know don’t have a degree in translation, so they are certainly not a requirement to becoming a translator. However, an increasing number of newcomers to the profession are opting to pursue a formal (usually postgraduate) qualification in the field.”

It is an interesting point. Does a degree in translation help developing a career, get a steady flow of freelance work or become a good translator? More…

May 2013, 16:18
Language Interface: Publications on Linguistics and Translation

• Kit M., Kit D. On Development of “Smart” Dictionaries. Cognitive Studies / Ètudes Cognitives 12, SOW Publishing House, Warsaw. The paper discusses the need for development of intelligent dictionaries that allow for two-way interaction with its users. Theoretical ground for such development is suggested. Practical implementation as LexSite lexical resource is shown, concepts for further improvement of the efficiency are proposed.
• Berg Е., Kit M. On state regulations for linguistic expert reviews of regulatory instruments. Prospects for the Development of Modern Philology. Proceeds of International Scientific Conference. Petrozavodstk, 2012. P.59-63. The paper discusses the need of implementation of state regulations for linguistic evaluation of regulatory documents and ways to approach this problem.
• Berg E.B., Kit M.S. On control of linguistic quality of legal documents. Proceeds of the III International Science and Practice Conference “Philology and Linguistics: current Trends and Research Outlook”. Krasnodar, 2012. P.153-154.
• Dictionary as a translator’s tool. Proceeds of International Conference “Text, Culture, Translation”, May 23-25 of 2012., Riga, Latvia, 2012. P.15-23. The paper describes features of cross-language dictionaries in the context of contemporary requirements to translation. Feasibility of measurement of various parameters of dictionaries and the need for that are discussed.
• Kit M. Con Text or on the role of context in translation. Proceeds of the International Conference “Text, Culture, Translation” , May 23-25 of 2012 . Riga, Latvia, 2012. P.109-115. This paper discusses the impact of context on text translation process and describes the effect of the context on translator’s mental mechanism.
• Kit M. On translation quality regulations. Lingua Mobilis. 2012. – №1(34). – С.116-133. Given the intensity of the multilingual information flow the problem of translation quality regulation becomes acute and pressing. The paper discusses translation current quality standards and their features. It presents conclusions on translation regulations.
• Kit M. On Application of Text Redundancy for Improvement of Translation Process Efficiency. RGGU Gerald (Вестник РГГУ) № 11, Vol 13; Series. Linguistics. Moscow: RGGU, 2011. p.196 – 208. Translation of texts can be made less labor-consuming and more consistent through the use of text segments redundancy. This paper discusses studies of statistical distributions in texts of informational/technical nature. Statistical analysis conducted on large sets of heterogeneous documents revealed patterns in the distributions of texts volumes and redundancies.
• Kit M. On High-Performance Online Dictionaries. LexSite Dictionary Development Example. RGGU Gerald (Вестник РГГУ) № 9, Vol. 12. Series Linguistics. Moscow, RGGU, 2010 . P.151. State-of-the-art translation technologies require highly-efficient lexical resources while the existing online dictionaries do not meet this requirement. The paper shows results of a benchmark of the English-Russian dictionaries available online, indicating the need for development of more efficient dictionaries and improvement of relevance of the dictionary response to the user’s queries.
• Kit M. Building a Platform for Experimental Development of Online Dictionaries. Proceeds of International Conference MegaLing2011. Kiev, 2012. P.191-200. Тhе paper discusses advantages and shortcomings of the existiпg online dictionaries. User query timeline is described with identification of sources of time losses in the timeline. An approach to development of smart dictionaries based on users’ queries is proposed. А multilevel structure of user queries is showп to Ье used for analysis of the queries.
• Kit M. On Problems of Cross-Language Communications Management in International Projects. Modern Problems in Science and Education (Современные проблемы науки и образования), 2012, No.6 The paper discusses project cross-language communications management issues. The standard project communications model is described and its deficiencies as applied to international projects are demonstrated. Critical importance of written cross-language communications (WCLC) is emphasized. Extended model is suggested, applicable to both monolingual and multilingual projects. http://www.science-education.ru/106-7393
• Kit M. Translation Industry Today: The Environment, Trends and Development Concepts. The Concepts of Social and Economical Development of Enterprises, Industries and Complexes. Book. 1 : monograph / А.S. Sadulova, А.М. Syrkin, H.H. Akhmadova et al. Krasnoyarsk, The Center for Science and Innovation, 2012. P.144-166. Provides comprehensive review and analysis of the current state of the translation sector with conclusions on the industry potential and apparent trends.
• Configurations of Cross-Language Communications Network in International Projects. Proceeds of the VI International Science and Practice Conference “Integration of Russia in the World Economy”. Part 1. Ural Federal University, Ekaterinburg, 2012. P.252-258. The paper discusses types of cross-language communications (CLC) networks utilized in international projects. Advantages and shortcomings of each network configuration identified, the need for redundant network nodes is discussed. Suggestions made for selection of appropriate network configuration.
• Berg D.B., Kit M.S. Principles of Node Management in Cross-Language Communications Networks. Fundamental Research No.1 (Part 3), 2013, P. 682-686. This paper discussed problems encountered when managing nodes of Cross-Language Communications (CLC) networks that develop in international projects. Functional diagrams of CLC channels and networks are shown. Nodes as elements of the CLC infrastructure are described. The paper describes computation of time required for message processing in the nodes and the node processing capacity.
• Kit M., Koseska V. The Problem of Interdisciplinary Gaps in Linguistics. Proceeds of the International Conference MegaLing2011. Kiev, 2012. P.198-209. The discussion between the authors of the pаper is about the most pressing issues encountered in semantics of natural languages as well as in corpus and computational linguistics. A broad range of knowledge is required in these areas, enabling linguists and information scientists work together. The paper describes some primary problems of human and machine translation.
• Kit M. Multilevel Approach to Cross-language Communications. Management Материалы III международной научно-практической конференции «Социально – экономическое развитие современного общества в условиях реформ». Саратов, 2012 г. с.119. The paper describes an approach to cross-language communications management based on a multi-tier model of project communication system.
• Berg E. Kit M. On Quality of Cross-Language Communications. International science and practice conference Young People in the Post-Industrial Society The problem of cross-language communications quality assurance and evaluation is discussed. The paper elaborates difficulties caused by differences in perception of the source text when transferring into another linguistic-cultural environment.

Feb 2013, 23:27
LexSite: Online Dictionary Development Platform

Web-based application and data suit LexSite is designed for translators, specialists, linguists, teachers, students and other users who has to deal with cross-language communications.
Studies conducted at Language Interface Inc. suggest that in average the actual performance of translators is 74% lower than their potential performance (see details in a paper by Mark Kit in Moscow Journal of Linguistics, vol.12, 2010.. Further, our studies More…

Aug 2011, 15:23
Mikhail Rozov’s book is being translated

The Language Interface translation team is working on a translation of the book Social Relay Theory and Problems of Epistemology by the remarkable Russian thinker Mikhail Rozov. The plan is to complete the translation and submit the book to the publisher this coming fall.
Mikhail Alexandrovich Rozov died in January 2011, leaving behind this book – the result of his 20+ years invested in researching the means of existence of semiotic objects. In describing his findings the author dives deep into the kinds of linguistic problems that must be solved in order to carry out any cognitive studies. This fascinating, easy-to-understand and convincing book is sure to find an audience in the West. Here are a few lines from it.
“I do not want to sum up and conclude all this. I just want to quote the words of Montaigne: ‘This is a sincere book, my reader.’ It is a result of long searches and contemplations that continue as I am writing these lines, and I do not want to stop. I have presented my thoughts as clearly as I could, without hiding their incompleteness. I am far from thinking that the proposed solutions are final. And perhaps I should have waited much longer before putting this book together, because it is much more exciting to think and search than to write and draw conclusions. The final push for writing came from Kozma Prutkov’s fable:

A shepherd carried milk one day,
But carried it so far away,
That he never came back home again.
My reader! Did you see the man?

All of a sudden I realized that this verse was about me and that it does no good to carry my milk forever. My reader won’t meet me and the milk will turn sour.
If I am asked what I believe is most important in this book, I will reply that the main point is the solution of the problem of the means of existence of semiotic objects. One cannot study signs, knowledge, science or literature without figuring out, in principle, what the nature of the objects we are dealing with is. Take, for instance, such a phenomenon as the meaning of a sign or a sentence. Once you start to examine it, amazing adventures of human thought begin when you are trying to capture and trivialize a fairly non-trivial situation. “The word ‘meaning’ is a peculiar whore among words,” Colin Cherry writes. “’Meaning’ is a harlot among words; it is a temptress who can seduce the writer or speaker from the path of intellectual chastity”. The difficulty is presented by the ‘resistance’ of the meaning or the text content being alienated from the researcher, he cannot jettison them to the distance required for them to be analyzed objectively. I think that this has been overcome through such ideas as social relays and kumatoids.”
The translation team includes Mark Kit, Sarah Hurst, Sergey Sitnikov, Elena Moshkova, and Gennady Smirnov.