Dear Sir/Madam,

My name is Denitsa Dimova. I am very glad to be given the opportunity to

participate in the 4th edition of Translating Europe Forum because translation
plays a prominent role in my life. Last year I earned a Bachelors degree in Applied
Linguistics at the University of Veliko Tarnovo and I am currently pursuing
a Master's degree in Translatology at the same university.

First of all, by attending this forum I am seeking to complement my skills and build
up knowledge in the field of professional translation. I translate from German and
English to Bulgarian, my native language. Bulgarian was the first Slavic language to
have a written form. With the accession of Bulgaria to the European Union,
Cyrillic has become the third official alphabet of the EU. In addition to my
university studies, my experience includes working part-time as an English and
German teacher at a secondary school.

In my proposal for contribution, I am going to discuss the translation technologies

for lesser-used languages. Our planet has over 7 billion people who speak nearly 7
000 different languages. A language, which is not being used online, risks
disappearing in the near future. Some languages are spoken by millions of
speakers such as English, but unfortunately, there are a lot of languages that
might go extinct over time. However, it is hard to predict which languages will
have a long life, and which ones will disappear. People still study and read Latin
and Ancient Greek.

In the past, people would travel to explore new lands and cultures. Nowadays, the
Internet provides us with the unique opportunity to expand our horizons just by
simply reading an article about a country on the Web. The same applies to
translation. There is plenty of material one can read and understand. In fact,
some Indian languages such as Tamil and Tegulu are still scarcely represented
online.
 Up to now, the vast majority of translation tools were based on major languages,
such as English and Chinese. With the rapid development of translation software
some software corporations, such as Google are providing translations even in
languages like Hindi. Nowadays, more and more translation technology is aimed
at languages threatened with extinction.

The existing translation tools are based on the mere comparison of thousands of
documents, which have already been translated by humans. This method was
very effective in regard to major languages. In contrast, the existing translation
algorithms were not very useful when it comes to lesser-used languages. The
main drawback of translation tools nowadays is that they are blind to grammar.
Google, for instance, contributed extensively to the further development of
translation technologies by providing its software with lessons in grammar. The
software giant decided to launch this new feature in order to improve its
Japanese translations.

Microsoft has also largely contributed to the lesser-used languages. Their team
launched a website, which facilitated the creation of translation software, called
Translation Hub. Thus, the corporation enables communities to save their
languages by creating their own translation models, but also the translation of
specific terms and jargon.

With the rapid development of modern science and technology and the constant
progress of society, the translation tools are also being constantly improved.
Nowadays, they are focused on translation of the lesser-used languages and the
specific terminology. In order to preserve some sidelined languages, the web
giants, such as Google and Microsoft, are implementing many additional features,
which guarantee the digital presence of any community.
Thank you for your contribution, your proposal has been sent.

Please refer to the Translating Europe 2016 Call for proposals for details about the selection
procedure.

Contribution ID: bd6ef761-0270-408c-916e-8d3aeaf4dff7