Singapore has always been a multicultural and multilingual society, with now having four official languages; English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil. Since 1966, their primary focus has been to have a common language while preserving the respective culture of the ethnic majority in their native tongues. We will be talking about singapore translation services that has come back and help us during this Covid-19 pandemic
Singapore today is an English-speaking environment being one of the largest international markets and visitors. This has led to a more diverse population of different cultures and languages that are spoken. An example is the emergence of Singlish, a blend between English and Malay with Tamil.
This has led to a demand for translators who fluent in both the source and target languages while understanding the social context and slang.
Why is Singapore Multi-Lingual Translation Important
Over the past few years in Singapore, there have several major language errors in public events and official documents and materials.
Cases include the 2017 launch of the Speak Mandarin Campaign, where the organizers printed the incorrect Chinese word for “read” on a poster. They used a similar-looking character that meant “to show disrespect”, which resulted in making headlines.
Another case in the same year, organizers of the National Day Parade created publicity pamphlets with Tamil translation errors to Grade 5 pupils. The text’s original purpose was to create a movement #OneNationTogether, but had missing letters, and characters in the wrong place.
In 2019, Kaki Bukit branch chairman Shamsul Kamar from the People’s Action Party issued an apology for providing incorrect Tamil translations on door hanger brochures that were left on Kaki Bukit residents. The Tamil text was meant to inform the residents that the party’s representatives had visited their homes, but the words once again scrambled and unreadable.
The Current COVID-19 Situation
Being multilingual can be beneficial culturally, but it’s a nightmare for a situation such as the current coronavirus pandemic. One announcement has to be translated several different times to ensure the message is communicated properly to all the citizens in Singapore. With the increase of fake news, it’s getting harder and harder to get the right information to the right people.
That’s why Singapore built SG Translator.
What is SG Translator
Singapore Translator for Singapore Translation Services during Covid-19
SG Translator is an AI local translation engine that uses machine learning to help improve the translations of all four of Singapore’s official languages.
Machine learning is a computer software algorithm that has the ability to self learn and improve from experience without human help. It uses statistics to find patterns in huge amounts of data and are able to extrapolate the results to predict a result.
How Singapore Used SG Translator for COVID-19
Singapore’s most popular communication application is Whatsapp, seen by over 83% of the population, or 4 million users use it monthly. SG Translate translation solution became vital as the coronavirus spread. As fear and fake news began widespread.
As Singapore had faced with the fatal SARS outbreak in 2003, they had upgraded their technology and communication methods to cope with any high demand in the future, ensuring that the correct information was sent out to the public before any confusion occurred.
The Singaporean Government blended the WhatsApp medium and SG Translator to create a rapid information sharing solution.
Singapore Translation Services: How Does SG Translator Work in COVID-19
As Singapore has four official languages, the government uses SG Translate to quickly translate the news from English, so the citizens receive important information as quickly as possible. This provided a core of Singapore translation services for the public.
The translation produces an initial draft which is then proofread and edited by civil servants and certified translator before being sent on WhatsApp. As the translation solution was trained using local government documents, the procedure was quick to vet and release.
Citizens received this news through a signup form specifying their desired language. Blending an government encrypted system and cloud solution, SG Translator was able to deliver the news within 30 minutes.
How SG Translate Compares To Other Translators
Most translation machines are built off from billions of documents being translated and millions of translators adjust the translations as the machines adjust and learn. This had made translating phrases, sentences, and a large amount of text a lot easier, and has helped connect people all across the world.
Google Translate is a translation system that is provided by Google that translates words, phrases, sentences, and large amounts of texts. Using a statistical machine translation model that learns from translated documents on the internet to predict the best match for the text that you want to have translated.
The software analyzes large amounts of data and based on past translations and human help, however, often the translation is not to the point, as it uses billions of different data reference models and documents.
Linguee combines a translation system with a search machine. A unique solution that searches the web for suitable translations and definitions. Most of these alternatives are unverified, but they allow you to understand the context and have a good way to find the correct translations.
With the search function for phrases where it considers the context for certain words, Linguee can be a good translation tool when you are researching for technical terms and creative writing.
SG Translator is unique as it’s trained in the context for Singapore, using data taken from the local government communication materials, so it can recognize the slang and local terms better. This makes it easier to deliver the intended message as translators only focus on vetting and proofreading the translated text.
SG Translate Issues
SG Translate is limited to the amount of data it learns from. As there is only a limited amount of documents it can analyze, it’s more prone to errors. When data is limited in one or both of the languages, the accuracy of the translation suffers, leaving you with a guess.
Often words are translated in their literal translations where they substitute one word or group words for the translated word, instead of gaining the exact context of the sentence.
This also leads to self proof-reading. SG Translate doesn’t check for any errors, and you’ll need a certified translator to spot any inaccuracies in the translated text. Which leads us to why we need professional singapore translation services companies to facilitate better translation.
How Singapore Is Planning To Improve SG Translate
Singapore has heavily invested its resources in training public servants, schools, members of the media, and translation agencies to ensure the accuracy of every translation.
As more individuals contribute to the refining and training of using a wider range of localized terms and phrases among all four languages, the more connected Singapore will be.
Why Choose TranslateRight For Technical Document Translation Services
Translated Right is a certified professional technical translation agency that provides technical translations online in 50+ languages. Our translation services languages include English, Chinese, Malay, Tamil, Japanese, French, and more. Providing fast, accurate, and reliable, professional translation services for all types of documents, formats, and lengths.
With over 5000+ professional and experienced translators, we’ve filtered out the best translator using our stringent and detailed interviewing process, ensuring that you can hire only the best-qualified person for your specific translation document.
This has allowed us to simplify the whole entire technical translation process, resulting in a smooth application process.
This is seen by our 1000+ of satisfied customers from our competitive prices, friendly and efficient translation services.
If you’re looking for a translation service near me that can translate from a source language to the desired target language that conforms to the requirements of the technical side of your industry, Translated Right can help you today.
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