Translation within the federal government House of Commons

Translation within the federal government House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages April 11, 2016 donald. barabe@bell. net

Purpose of the presentation Ø Review : § the issue of machine translation and its implementation within the federal government; § the Translation Bureau’s mandate and financing model. Ø Answer Committee members’ questions 2

Machine translation (MT) Ø World context § 400 M pages/day translated on Google § equal to the Bureau’s entire annual production each and every 5 seconds… 24/7 Ø European Union offers machine translation to its citizens. 3

Machine translation (MT) (cont’d) Ø Federal context § One million Google translations requested by federal civil servants 1 →Texts from the Government of Canada loaded on servers of a company subject to the Patriot Act § MT used in the federal government since the early 1970 s (Meteo) § Implementation of social medias creates demand for instantaneous translation 1 D. Achimov, Translation Bureau CEO, House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages, 03. 07. 2016 4

Machine translation (MT) (cont’d) Ø Four conditions for success § no classified texts § for personal information § professional revision previous to any distribution § non-contamination of text corpus by erroneous translations 5

Translation Bureau’s mandate and financing model Ø Three important dates in the history of the Bureau: § 1934 § 1993 § 1995 6

Translation Bureau’s mandate and financing model (cont’d) Ø 1934: Enactment of the Translation Bureau Act § The use of Bureau’s services is mandatory. § The Bureau must make all translations requested by departments and Parliament. § The Bureau is financed through parliamentary appropriations. 7

Translation Bureau’s mandate and financing model (cont’d) Ø 1993 Bureau is transfered from Secretary of State (now Canadian Heritage) to the Department of Supply and Services (now Public Services and Procurement Canada) § From a component of the country’s social fabric, translation becomes an ‘’administrative service’’. § The Bureau’s mandate and financing model stay unchanged. 8

Canadian linguistic duality le 12 mars 2007 9

Canadian linguistic duality (cont’d) Percentage of the bilingual population 2 11. 4% 3. 3% 8. 9% 6. 8% 4. 6% 5% 4. 7% 9. 1% 42. 6% 11. 5% 17. 5% Canada 2 Statistics Canada, 2011 Census • 17. 5 % of the Canadian population is bilingual • Translation is an essential bridge between cultures and communities 44. 4% NCR 719 650 33, . % 12. 3% 10. 5% 10

Mandat et financement du Bureau de la traduction (suite) Ø 1995: Bureau becomes a special operating agency (SOA). § Bureau services go from mandatory to optional, except for Parliament. § Bureau has to recover its full costs, except for services to Parliament. o Bureau services are no longer free for departments. 11

Translation Bureau’s mandate and financing model (cont’d) Ø Difficulties : § Mandatory for the Bureau to meet any translation demand but optional for departments to use the Bureau § Full costs recovery means billing departments for certain costs for which they are not appropriated (eg. rent, insurance) § Bureau prohibited to bid on departments’ translation contracts § More procurement authorities in translation to departments than to the Translation Bureau 12

Translation Bureau’s mandate and financing model (cont’d) Ø Unintended consequences: § Translations delayed or cancelled § Higher costs to government as some departments create their own internal translation units § Fragmentation of federal buying power, which contributes to the fragmentation and vulnerability of the Canadian translation industry 13

Conclusion Ø Machine translation is a useful tool, if used properly. Ø The Translation Bureau is a key component of the infrastructure that Canada has established to operate as a bilingual country. Ø Unfortunately, it is underused. 14

Recommendations Machine translation Ø Ensure the four conditions are applied for a successful implementation of the machine translation software Ø Educate departments on the benefits and limitations of MT and on issues relating to the Official Languages Act 15

Recommendations (cont’d) Translation Bureau Ø Review the Bureau’s location within the federal government Ø Correct difficulties and unintended consequences Ø Use the Bureau’s expertise to: § eliminate duplication of costs; § translate what the private sector should not translate and what it would not translate; § consolidate the federal buying power in order to promote the development of the Canadian translation industry. 16