Search

The ever-increasing demand for immediate access to information means interpreters and translators are increasingly using, and relying on, digital technology in their work. In the migratory context, machine translation (MT) and post-editing (PE) have the potential to greatly increase the efficiency of public service interpreting and translation (PSIT), which is currently experiencing huge demand. This article describes and evaluates the implementation of a module focused on MT and PE within a postgraduate PSIT programme at a Spanish university. A mixed-methods methodology was used to collect both quantitative data (via a questionnaire) and qualitative data (via a reflective essay) from a group of 42 students during the 2020-2021 academic year. The results show that students were satisfied overall with both the content of the module and its implementation. However, they also felt that the module needed to be better integrated within the postgraduate PSIT programme as a whole in order to fully prepare them for their professional careers.

The use of machine translation in the field of migrations seems to be very limited and, in view of the latest developments, it is only natural to explore its usefulness in the migratory context. In an attempt to introduce this technology into this particular area, this article reports on a qualitative study on translators’ perceptions towards machine translation and post-editing tasks. The findings of the study indicate that both are not widely developed within the migratory context and further work is required. Based on our findings, we believe that this study can contribute to opening the way for machine translation and post-editing tasks to be included into the field of migrations.

Recent migratory flow patterns in our country involves several linguistic and cultural challenges. In this line, the different public administrations join efforts to help migrants to overcome the possible barriers that may hinder effective communication. This article examines a guide designed to explain public services resources to immigrants in the region of Madrid, and describes the main findings of a linguistic analysis carried out to evaluate the degree of comprehensibility and clarity. The first part of the article focuses on the theoretical framework of the study. The following section gives details of the methodology and the linguistic simplified version. The results show that public administrations make an enormous effort to provide linguistic resources adapted to migrant population. However, textual material needs to be adapted to the specific needs of this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the processing steps followed to build a bilingual parallel corpus (English-Spanish) as a resource for legal translation. The corpus, being in its initial stage of development, is made up of 127 and 145 aligned judgments referring to English and Spanish courts respectively. The corpus was aligned by using InterText alignment software, accounting for a total number of 29983 aligned sentence pairs. The paper describes the different design stages and the technical issues related to the compilation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we explore the processes involving food in contact with food contact materials (FCMs), and the subsequent changes in these materials. We delve into the historical context of "economic poisons", the development of food safety concerns, the regulation of food additives, and the rise of harmful chemicals in food. The focus is placed on mass spectrometry-based analyses of FCMs. We have examined substances, like bisphenols, and the chemical migration from various materials into food, highlighting the difficulty in identifying and managing these substances, especially unknown ones. This work further cements the inadequacy of current regulations in effectively controlling FCMs and mitigating associated risks. We conclude that despite the information provided by mass spectrometry, challenges persist in fully comprehending and regulating the interplay between FCMs and food under actual cooking conditions, emphasising the need for ongoing research and improved regulations to protect consumer health from these evolving chemical threats. • Historical context of food safety and "economic poisons". • Role of mass spectrometry in identifying chemicals in food contact materials. • Limitations of current regulations associated with food contact materials. • High-resolution mass spectrometry is a potent tool in food evaluations. • This technology has allowed to identify new substances of potential concern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]