BENGALI TO ENGLISH TRANSLATION SOFTWARE
Now, let’s see what it brings when I used subtitling software to translate this two-slot sentence humanly. Our model test case (case #1) would use this two-slot sentence that is generated automatically by converting voice to text:
While there is room for improvement still, machine translation of some language pairs has made significant progress and the translators of those pairs use those resources extensively, utilizing various CAT tools.īut what about other languages, such as Bengali? Though, for example, Google Translate claims that it can handle over 100 languages, let’s see how it handles English to Bengali. But today, machine translation has become statistical, and we see statistical machine translation that leverages the vast amount of available translated corpuses in major language pairs that have access to a lot of texts from official governments and also from embassies, and United Nations that publish texts both in English and other languages.Īs these sources contain good quality texts, some languages, especially the major global languages used by the UN systems, were powered by the machine translation systems. Yes, I know that one of the most popular and successful applications of artificial intelligence is machine translation, and how it has to go through many ups and downs after many incidents that completely mistranslated what is wanted. Today, I see that translating text online is as “easy” as clicking a button. But will automated services ever really be enough to break down the boundaries between us in all language pairs? Not likely esp. I’m now seeing how “cheap” translation has become I’m seeing why it has been so, and possibly how humble it has becomes thank to the advent of software-based machine translation. Though I’ve translated many pieces of diverse discipline in between, I entered into the world of online translation after retiring from active service forty years later. I had never been one of the best translators but I had the opportunity to learn from my teachers and editors.
Those were the days when translation (from English to Bengali or Bengali to English) used to be done manually and handwritten from printed texts. I had to translate literary pieces as part of my course. I’m a linguist by training, and as such, translation has been my companion since the days of my undergrad program in English Language and Literature. But before doing so, I want to tell you something more about myself again, and for that I’m begging to be excused again. The elephant in the room is something different. So, what’s the problem, really? Translators aren’t good enough to capture the language? Not really. Well, it’s not my son’s reaction alone but many people in my community feel as such. He often says, “Well, Pa, why do these people speak Bengali in this way?” One day, when I replied, “What’s your problem?,” he then said, “their Bengali sounds weird. These programs were originally made in English but were repackaged in dubbed Bengali for the West Bengal and Bangladesh markets.
BENGALI TO ENGLISH TRANSLATION TV
My 5th grader son is fond of watching some specific programs on TV that are either aired by an Indian version of Discovery Channel, or by Asian TV. The problem raised from an innocent question I’m actually here to tell you something on translation. So, readers, please excuse me for the way I’ve started the blog. What I mention is necessary to understand what I’m going to write about in the succeeding sections. Later, in 1971, East Pakistan became the new nation of Bangladesh, followed by a 9-month War of Independence. A plebiscite held before the partition, and based on the result, the western part of Bengal, with the majority of the population being Hindu, became part of India and the Muslim-majority eastern part joined Pakistan with a new name East Pakistan. One part became Pakistan and the other remained as India. Actually, thanks to the politicians, Bengal was historically divided in two, and when the colonial British left India in 1947, they left behind a partitioned India. There are people in India too whose mother tongue is Bengali. I’m a Bangladeshi, and my mother tongue is Bengali.