Monday's Eisteddfod Activities

Bangor University’s School of Welsh will be celebrating the opportunity the School had during the past year, to work with companies working Welsh publishing, during the National Eisteddfod; Gwasg y Bwthyn, Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, and Barn Cyf. 

‘Ai Breuddwydion Bardd Ydynt?’, a volume of poetry by John Gruffydd Jones is being launched at Bangor University’s stand, on Monday 5 August at 11.30 to mark the cooperation with Gwasg y Bwthyn. 

This will be a double celebration as John also completed an MA in Creative Writing at the University’s School of Welsh in 2012.

On the same day, the book 'Sgyrsiau Noson Dda' (Gwasg Carreg Gwalch) by Dyfed Evans is launched at 1.00 on the University’s stand.  The work to process and produce this volume was facilitated by Gwenno Gruffydd an ATM studentat Bangor University in partnership with publishers, Gwasg Carreg Gwalch of Llanrwst. The Access to Masters (ATM) provides students with an opportunity to work on a MA project in collaboration with their academic supervisor and an organisation or company partner, the ATM project is part-funded by the European Social Fund through the European Union’s Convergence (West Wales and the Valleys) programme administered by the Welsh Government.

For the second year in succession, the School of Welsh has worked in collaboration on an ATM projectwith Cwmni Barn Cyf, who are responsible for publishing the Welsh culture and current affairs journal, 'Barn'. To mark the fruitful cooperation, the journal’s annual lecture will be held at Bangor University’s stand at 2.00 on Tuesday. The Lecture will be by Guto Bebb MP.

The School of Lifelong Learning then take the stage at 2.00 with a Lecture: ‘Atebion Cymreig i argyfwng deallusol y diwylliant Eingl Americanaidd’  ( Welsh answers to the Anglo American intellectual and cultural crisis’ by Selwyn Williams,  a lecturer at the School.

Welsh Translation Technology at the Eisteddfod

On the Bangor University Stand, Monday, 4pm at the National Eisteddfod, Canolfan Bedwyr’s Language Technologies Unit will be displaying highlights from their recent work.
One of the pioneering products demonstrated will be their new translation system, CyfieithuCymru / TranslateWales. According to Delyth Prys, head of the Unit, “This is the first system of its kind to focus on translating between English and Welsh. We first developed it for use by Bangor University’s own internal Translation Service, but seeing the interest shown by other organizations in Wales, a commercial version was then created. It’s important that cutting-edge technology is available for translators in Wales, and this system minimises translation time while raising translation quality - a winning combination”.

Description of the system

The translation software contains a workflow manager, guiding the process from the moment a customer orders a translation, through allocating it to a specific translator, translating it, sending it back to the customer, archiving it and producing reports and statistics to aid translation administration. It also includes translation aids and tools: translation memories, machine translation and spelling and grammar checkers. In the translation memory, similar sentences from past translations are shown on screen to avoid the need for re-translation. An innovative feature is the way suggestions from the Language Technologies Unit own machine translation program are also displayed, and treated in the same way as suggestions from the translation memories. Cysill has also been integrated to the system, and will correct spelling and grammar errors as the translator types. Suggested correct vocabulary is also displayed in a pop-up window as the translator types. The original and translated documents are saved on a dedicated server, or, using today’s jargon, in the “cloud”. This means that translators don’t have to worry about maintaining the technical side of things - all they need do is log on with your own personal username. An organisation’s translators are all able to share translation memories and vocabularies easily. They can also work away from the office, as long as you have internet access. Snow or floods are no longer excuses for being unable to work!

Training for Industries

The session at the Eisteddfod will also present the Unit’s new Training in Languages and Translation (TILT) scheme. This is a joint project with Swansea University, sponsored by the Government of Wales and European Union. The aim is to improve language and translating skills of businesses in north and west Wales, enabling them to provide better services for customers and the public. Training on translation technology will be given at Bangor University using the CyfieithuCymru system to teach translators and language officers. David Chan, CofCyfieithu’s main developer who also works on the TILT project said: “Translating companies have been asking us to train them in the use of such technology for quite a while. Finally we have the opportunity to do so, and their staff can also gain credits towards an MA in Translation Studies at the same time.”
As well as training for translators, TILT also offers Welsh, French, Spanish, German, Japanese and Chinese lessons to businesses, once again making use of the latest technology to facilitate the work.

Publication date: 2 August 2013