People often ask me if translation is music or science. The reality is, it’s a combination of both. A good parallel for the translation profession is the music industry, which has been revolutionized by technology.

See this video from Smartling , “Why Translation Is Like Music,” below.

There is definitely an art to creating the perfect version of a sentiment in another language. It takes human creativity and talent. However, translators also perform many tasks that are of a more scientific nature, especially when they use translation technology.

A great deal of confusion exists about translation technology. People often think that that “translation technology” refers only to computer-generated translation , such as Google Translate. In reality, translation technology encompasses much more than that.

Various types of technology for translation have been around for nearly as long as…

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Photo credit | “cello” by Ingmar Visser on Flickr