Tag: ai

Go West(words)!

Fifty translators and interpreters from 5 ITI networks congregated in Birmingham for a wealth of interactive sessions on Saturday 25th April 2026. Organised by Lloyd Bingham of ITI Cymru Wales, networks from the South West, West Midlands, North West and the Western Regional Group also came along to The Warehouse in Digbeth for the Westwords (Un)conference. The day featured 1 conference and 2 unconference streams covering yoga, subtitling, football-related outreach, comedy drama, technology and a fun quiz.

[Ozzy the Bull, Birmingham New Street Station]

So, what is an unconference?

Each delegate proposes a topic. The most popular then feature with a brief introduction followed by lively discussion. The conference sessions are more formal: sometimes with slides, sometimes simply led by the presenter with Q&A. Both hard and soft skills related to translating, business or technology were popular at Westwords.

My day started with Health & wellness at work, a conference session by Courtney Greenlaw. This was no formal PowerPoint presentation. Yes, there were slides showing us research about our sedentary, eye-straining profession, but also guiding us into yoga poses and meditation. After a somewhat difficult journey to the venue, this was the interactive tonic needed to start the day positively, both physically and mentally.

After a quick coffee, I ventured to the small ‘room’, Digbeth Community Garden, where Luke James held the unconference session Adaptation across nations: differences in English across the Anglosphere. As I translate, proofread and edit both British and American English, I am aware of some stark differences there. Here, I was also introduced to some radically different words and phrases in Australian and Canadian Englishes plus relevant forums for further information.

Back to the conference where Nicole van den Wittenboer spoke about The tech gap in the translation profession. Specifically, this was about whether we understand AI, its use and value alongside our own role. There ensued intense discussion about AI’s purpose, our workflows, what clients need… I was able to comment at the fifth attempt, as there were few pauses.

A lunch-time stroll

With 4 options for lunch. I headed off with the pub group, our route veering off-course due to building sites. Still, we made it via a lovely canal walk:

[Wandering along the canal]

[Our destination]

A sunny, mindful and practical afternoon

My afternoon began with an unconference session in the delightful garden: Jenny Taylor proposed Fostering an abundance mindset in a world of scarcity. I facilitated this session, which flowed gently from discussions of what we can celebrate workwise, personally and what is in our ‘locus of control’. In challenging times, it is easy to focus on the negative, but we should embrace the positive. Jenny mentioned ‘GLAD’, where we can show Gratitude, think about what we’ve Learned, find an Accomplishment and take Delight in something each day. The garden’s musical birdsong only enhanced this uplifting atmosphere.

Then, I returned indoors to facilitate the unconference session of Finding & marketing to direct clients, proposed by Katie Ward and Robert Calkin. Whilst working with agencies has long been the mainstay of freelancing, downwards pressure on prices alongside the post-editing of machine and AI-generated translation means that more fulfilling work (and remuneration) is possible with direct clients. Specialising, networking with colleagues and engaging with other professionals by commenting on your ideal client’s posts, attending trade fairs, blogging and using social media to demonstrate what you do and your interests were among the many useful ideas here.

[The Western Regional Group banner]

The wrap-up

In the wrap-up, we discovered that, besides regional networks, subject and language networks had also been represented. Some of us discussed the day’s highlights with refreshments at the nearby Custard Factory, a venue uniting Birmingham’s industrial past with its creative present – a fitting end to Westwords.

AI Chatter – Do Shortcuts Matter?

A job advert recently popped into my inbox. It was in English, but the job itself was based in Germany. A line in the email simply recommended using “intelligent programs” to understand the job description on the company’s website.

How odd, I thought. If you want to work abroad, it certainly helps if you can read and write the relevant language – from shopping to getting a doctor’s appointment through to enjoying hobbies and making friends. Having worked in Germany, this seems obvious to me. So, why would you expect someone to use a tool to understand their future working environment?

Save time and get the gist

What is an intelligent program? The OED defines AI (artificial intelligence) as “The capacity of computers or other machines to exhibit or simulate intelligent behaviour […].” A popular AI tool, ChatGPT, is just one example. It is a large language model (LLM) that can save you time and help you get the gist of what you’re reading. LLMs are trained on large amounts of data to enable them to “understand” and generate a natural language style. Chat GPT could write a Victorian novel for you or give you advice on just about anything, apparently.

But is the gist enough?

AI models are often very complementary about their own achievements. According to a 2023 Forbes headline, “AI Could Help Find Life On Mars With 90% Accuracy, Scientists Say”[1]. When it comes to translation, 90% accuracy sounds great until you realise that means 1 in 10 words is wrong.

For example, one tool translated ‘untermauern’ (German for ‘to reinforce’ or ‘substantiate’) as ‘undermine’ – the complete opposite of what it really means. The tool understood ‘unter’ correctly as ‘under’ and then failed to work out the rest. What happens when there are not just 10 words, but 10 pages or even 100 pages?

As AI can only reproduce text based on previous documents, it cannot create something new. This is why it stumbled when faced with an unfamiliar word. There is also a copyright infringement risk if you use it to translate confidential documents. Added to this is the high processing power of these tools – an adverse environmental impact. Excessive demand from users can also cause outages that completely stop a system from working.

[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2023/09/25/new-ai-could-help-find-life-on-mars-with-90-accuracy-say-scientists/?sh=6cf72f8b4c40

Bridging the gap?

AI tools appear to read, but what are they really doing? They are analysing text based on existing data using algorithms. They piece this data together into phrases as a translator would. But they can only do so based on old information. They do not actually understand what they are reading or writing.

What makes my job exciting is that language is dynamic and beyond the scope of machines. I make new discoveries all the time. As the world changes, new words emerge. Some become more popular, while others disappear. Some change their meaning too – don’t get caught out!

You wouldn’t look at an old map to find a safe route across a river. So, why trust a tool that is searching for old information to tell you something new? AI can only take you so far. Without translators and interpreters, you would be lost!

[Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons]

With thanks to my colleagues in the German Network of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (https://itigermannetwork.org.uk/) for a recent online discussion, which inspired this article.