Tag: diversity

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AI and languages

A big potential of AI is in the field of languages. Translations have been an expert domain and a pain for pupils at school. In professional settings translations are an expensive extra service for some or a good source of revenue. AI has shifted the translation game to a new level. In terms of speed of translating large amounts of written text AI is hard to beat. In terms of quality the battle of translaters against AI is still on. For chess players the battle against AI has been lost some years ago already. It remains an open question whether translators can still outperform AI or just adapt to using the technology themselves to improve both speed and quality of translations. The European Union with its many languages and commitment to cultural diversity can serve even more language communities with documents in their own language than before at marginally higher costs. A panel on the 9th day of translations at the „foire du livre de Bruxelles” 2024 expressed their reservations with regard to the use of AI in translation of political text or speech. Misunderstanding and misinterpretation will be the rule rather than the exception with potentially harmful consequences. Checking the correctness of translations is a permanent challenge for translators and can be very time consuming. There is room for an AI-assisted translation, but similar to other fields of application of AI, relying exclusively on AI bears high risks as well. We should not underestimate the creative part of translators to do full justice to a text or speech.

www.flb.be 2024 Translation
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Special HK

The Special Olympics World Games are special in many respects. The broad range of people with special abilities is only one of them. I had the chance to ask permission to take a photo of the athletes from the team from Hong Kong when the took their team photo at Berlin Alexanderplatz. This is indeed special as the all wore proudly their team dress showing in big letters Hong Kong on the back (participant example). Hong Kong is the unfortunate island that was passed on from Imperial phase from the United Kingdom time to the Chinese rule. Despite an official 1 China, 2 political systems promise, Hong Kong’s democratic movements were soon threated and imprisoned. It was a special moment to me to witness the spirit of the Hong Kong athletes at the beginning of the special games in Berlin.
Other athletes whom I congratulated on the way to the competition were proudly asking me, whether I had seen them on TV yesterday. Beyond the 2 weeks of competition, special athletes are part of our public images of sports persons. This enlarges our perspective of what a sport’s person presumably has to look like. The SOWG question our traditional stereotypes and put inclusion and integration into practice. At least some of the disciplines should go mainstream and be part of the next Olympic games in Paris 2024. But, as we all know the official, not so special, Olympic games are primarily about big business and merchandising rather than inclusion and diversity. Hong Kong athletes remain a unique experience reserved to the special Olympics.