Through artificial intelligence (AI), there may be another kind of imagination for translation, said Nicolas Bousquet, the scientific director of Quantmetry, a French consulting firm specializing in AI. The expert made the comment when attending a forum, titled “Translation in the Era of Artificial Intelligence,” at the 2019 Taipei International Book Exhibition on Feb. 15.
Earlier last year, Quantmetry and German start-up DeepL shocked the industry by completing the translation of an 800-page book in 12 hours using AI. It would take a translator about five to six months to translate a book that thick. However, translator Mu Zhuo-yun believes that since humans and machines comprehend sentences differently, only the former is able to truly capture the more artistic conception of literature that an author wants to convey.
In addition to the evolution of written translation, the demand for real-time language translation devices that translate speech, images and street signs is on the rise. Some AI-powered gadgets even boast that they are capable of interpreting 30 to 40 languages.
Photo: Wu Pei-hua, Liberty Times
照片︰自由時報記者吳佩樺
(Eddy Chang, Taipei Times)
法國「人工智慧」(AI)諮詢公司Quantmetry科學主任尼可拉布斯格說，透過AI翻譯也許有另一種想像！這位專家在參與二○一九年台北國際書展時，於二月十五日的「AI人工智慧時代的翻譯論壇」作此表示。
在去年，Quantmetry和德國新創公司DeepL共同藉由AI技術，僅花了十二小時就翻譯完一本八百頁的書籍，翻譯界對此大感震驚，因為一位譯者要翻那麼厚的書，可能要花上五、六個月。不過譯者穆卓芸認為，人類與機器了解句子的方式是不同的，只有人類才能真正掌握作者想傳達的「文學性意境」。
除了筆譯的進化之外，對於可以即時翻譯談話，圖像或街道標誌的語言翻譯機，需求也在成長。有些AI支援的翻譯機，甚至宣稱能口譯三十至四十多種外語。
(台北時報張聖恩)
An outbreak aboard a cruise ship of a rare rodent-borne illness called hantavirus has left three passengers dead and sickened others, but global health officials say the risk to the general public remains low because the germ does not easily spread between people. “This is not the next COVID, but it is a serious infectious disease,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness at the World Health Organization (WHO). “Most people will never be exposed to this.” The virus usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings. Hantaviruses have been around for centuries and are thought to
Have you ever wondered how people navigate the world when they can’t see a map? For individuals with visual impairments, conventional maps are nearly impossible to use. This is where tactile maps come in — essential tools that allow people to “see” the world through touch. A tactile map is specially designed with raised lines, textures, and symbols to represent geographical features such as roads, rivers, and buildings. Users explore it with their fingertips. However, these maps are not exclusively for people with visual disabilities. They serve as valuable multisensory learning tools that enhance spatial understanding for everyone, making
1. 他病了三天。 ˇ He has been sick for three days. χ He has been sick since three days. 註︰這裡現在完成時態 have / has been 表示從過去某一時日到現在的一段時間存在的行為或狀態，與它連用的時間副詞應為 「for ＋若干時」，如 for a year, for three hours 等，意思是歷時多少。 2. 他自從星期三以來都很忙。 ˇ He has been busy since Wednesday. χ He has been busy from Wednesday. 註︰「自從……以來」，該用 since。說從某一天（某一時刻）到某一天（某一時刻）才用 from，如 from Monday till Friday。 3. 房間角落裡散放著一些零星物件。 ˇ There were some odds and ends lying in the corner of the room. χ There were some odds and ends lying at the corner of the room. 註︰「在房間角落裡」該用介詞 in。例如： He stood in the corner. There is a lamp in the corner of the room. at the corner 指房子外部的拐角。例如： A little boy
A growing green movement allows hotel guests to fund tree planting projects simply by opting out of daily room cleans. This approach turns an ordinary hotel stay into a direct contribution to nature. Founded in the Netherlands, the nonprofit “Hotels for Trees” operates on the principle that one skipped cleaning equals one new tree. It has planted more than 750,000 trees since 2021. Similarly, Sarnia Hotels in Guernsey donates ￡2 per refused clean. Since 2024, over 3,300 services have been cancelled, raising sufficient money to plant 1,100 native trees and hedgerows. Simplicity has been central to this success.
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