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Feng Yue · Youlan Tao · Huashu Wang
Qiliang Cui · Bin Xu Editors

Restructuring
Translation
Education
Implications from China for the Rest of
the World
Restructuring Translation Education
Feng Yue • Youlan Tao • Huashu Wang
Qiliang Cui • Bin Xu
Editors

Restructuring Translation
Education
Implications from China for the Rest
of the World
Editors
Feng Yue Youlan Tao
College of Foreign Languages Department of Translation and Interpreting,
Fujian Normal University College of Foreign Languages and
Fuzhou, Fujian, China Literature
Fudan University
Huashu Wang Shanghai, China
School of Interpreting and Translation
Studies Qiliang Cui
Guangdong University of Foreign Studies School of International Studies
Guangzhou, Guangdong, China University of International Business
and Economics
Bin Xu Beijing, China
College of Foreign Languages
Shandong Normal University
Jinan, Shandong, China

ISBN 978-981-13-3166-4    ISBN 978-981-13-3167-1 (eBook)


https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3167-1

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018968419

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019


This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of
the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation,
broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information
storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the
editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors
or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims
in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721,
Singapore
Preface

Twenty years ago, a translator would work for a few years on a translation assign-
ment from a publisher. However, this has become a rare case, as clients often expect
a 100,000-word document to be finished in just a few days. Expertise on computer-­
assisted translation and management of translation projects have become a neces-
sity for translators to stay in practice. Unfortunately, this is absent in many
universities that cannot afford a fully equipped translation training studio with a
single seat averaging 60,000 RMB. Indeed, when MT, NMT, crowdsourcing, and
online collaborative translation have become the usual practice in the translation
sector, they remain unfamiliar terms to many teachers of translation in universities.
One could not help but doubt if the universities’ teaching philosophy, curriculum
development, practicum, interdisciplinary training, faculty development, and
university-­enterprise collaboration reflect the advance of technology. Pure language-­
focused translation training can no longer satisfy the demands of the translation
markets today. There has been an urgent call for the restructuring of translational
education.
This book deals with the problems of translation education in the context of
localization and globalization in the era of big data. By delving into the status quo
of language service worldwide, the current and future application of big data tech-
nology, and the practice of crowdsourcing, online collaborative translations, speech-­
to-­speech translation, and cloud-based translation, this book highlights the important
changes in the market of translation and thereby points out the inadequacies in the
teaching philosophy, curriculum design, and faculty development in China’s under-
graduate and postgraduate translation programs. More importantly, the book pro-
poses solutions that have been successfully tried out in Shandong Normal University,
Shanghai Foreign Languages University, Zhejiang University, the China University
of Petroleum, Fujian Normal University, Nankai University, and Fudan University,
which can be adapted to suit the situation of other colleges and universities. The
illustrated cases include the project of translating and typesetting books by students
for publishers, the experiment of liberal education among translators, the activity of
translating public opinion updates, the teaching of technical writing as a supplement

v
vi Preface

to translation skills, the interdisciplinary training of legal translation, the online


practicum of specialized translation, the collaboration between universities and
enterprises in the field of translation, and the intensive summer courses of transla-
tion by experts from enterprises. By sharing the successful cases of the restructuring
of translation education in colleges and universities in China, this book may, hope-
fully, throw light on reforming translation teaching for the rest of the world.
Translation policy-makers, translation educators, translators, and learners alike can
all benefit from this book.
The book consists of three parts. Part I is about the new demands for translators.
Part II shows through statistic that translators trained in the traditional way can no
longer satisfy the new demands, and Part III offers solutions proven viable in some
of China’s universities.
The book is the joined effort of a strong team, with three established professors
of translation, three pioneering researchers in the field of transnology, one training
manager with a company, one board chairperson of a language service provider, and
a deputy secretary general with a governmental organization of localization, all of
whom have participated in reforms in translation education on which this book is
based, from which views from colleges and universities, enterprises, and adminis-
trative authorities can be shown.
Dr. Cui, Qiliang, the author of Part II, is Associate Professor at the University of
International Business and Economics. He is also Training Manager and Founder of
Beijing IGS Global Technologies Co. Ltd. Dr. Cui doubles as Deputy Director of
Localization Service Committee of Chinese Translators’ Association, and he col-
lects data about the employment of translation graduates and conducts research on
translation training. Dr. Wang, Huashu, the author of Part I, is Lecturer at Guangdong
University of Foreign Studies while doubling as Deputy Secretary General of
Localization Service Committee of Chinese Translators’ Association (www.taclsc.
org, www.tac-online.org.cn). He explains related governmental policies. Xu, Bin,
the author of Chap. 8, which deals with pilot projects in translation and publication,
is Associate Professor at Shandong Normal University. The above three are the most
active and influential researchers in the field of transnology in China.
Professor Tao, Youlan, of Fudan University and Professor Xiao, Weiqing, of the
Shanghai International Studies University are well-known professors in the field of
translation. They, together with Dr. Zhang, Huiyu, Associate Professor at Zhejiang
University; Dr. Xiu, Wenqiao, Associate Professor at China University of Petroleum,
Beijing; and Ding, Xinru, Lecturer at Zhejiang International Studies University, are
in charge of pilot projects in translation education in their respective universities
and are the authors of the chapters in Part III. Mr. Lin, Shisong, Board Chairperson
of Eagle Eye Translation Service, also joins us so that we can hear the voice from
the business circle.
We would like to express our gratitude to the United Board for their long-time
support for our project, including the 2015–2016 Grant for the program proposal,
Preface vii

Proposal for Publishing a Textbook on Project Administration & Computer-Assisted


Translation, and the Institutional Grant for the fiscal year of 2017–2018 for the pro-
gram proposal, Multi-Institutional Faculty Development for Restructuring
Translational Education to Enhance the Whole Person Education. These projects are
the foundation of this book.

Fuzhou, Fujian, China Feng Yue


Contents

Part I Challenges of Translational Profession


1 The Evolution of the Global Language Service Market����������������������    3
Huashu Wang
2 The Development of Translation Technology in the Era
of Big Data������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   13
Huashu Wang

Part II Status Quo and Concerns


3 Problems and Solutions: The Undergraduate Translator
Education in Chinese Mainland ������������������������������������������������������������   29
Youlan Tao
4 MTI Programs: Teaching and Learning������������������������������������������������   41
Qiliang Cui
5 MTI Programs: Employment Investigation������������������������������������������   55
Qiliang Cui

Part III Restructuring Translation Education:


Theories and Experiments
6 Translation and Typesetting for Publishers������������������������������������������   71
Bin Xu
7 Liberal Education for Undergraduate Translation
and Interpreting Programmes: From Ideas to Practice����������������������   91
Weiqing Xiao and Xinru Ding
8 Translation of Public Opinion Updates�������������������������������������������������� 109
Wenqiao Xiu

ix
x Contents

9 Translation Education Based on Interorganizational


Collaboration�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 125
Huiyu Zhang, Kai Xu, and Qiliang Cui
10 Exploring a­New Pattern of­Translation Curriculum:
A­Learner-Centered FIST Program������������������������������������������������������ 135
Youlan Tao and Yu Xie
11 Technical Writing as a Supplement�������������������������������������������������������� 145
Youlan Tao and Min Xie
12 Online Practicum of Specialized Translation���������������������������������������� 157
Feng Yue and Shisong Lin
List of Abbreviations

ALC Association of Language Companies


API Application programming interface
BFSU Beijing Foreign Studies University
BPO Business process outsourcing
BTI Bachelor of Translation and Interpreting
CAT Computer-aided translation
CNKI China National Knowledge Infrastructure
CSA Common Sense Advisory
DITA Darwin Information Typing Architecture
DTD Document type definition
DTP Desktop publishing
EQ Emotional quotient
FIST Fudan Intensive Summer Teaching
FIT International Federation of Translators
GMX Global Information Management Metrics eXchange
GNMT Google Neural Machine Translation
GUFS Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
IoT Internet of Things
IQ Intelligence quotient
IT Information technology
ITO Information technology outsourcing
LISA Localization Industry Standards Association
MLV Multi-language vendors
MT Machine translation
MTI Master of Translation and Interpreting
NLP Natural language processing
NMT Neural machine translation
OASIS Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information
Standards
OCR Optical character recognition
OPI Over-the-phone interpreting

xi
xii List of Abbreviations

PE Postediting
RLV Regional language vendors
SATC Shanghai Association of Technical Writing
SLV Single language vendors
SQ Search quotient
SRX Segmentation Rules eXchange
TAC Translators Association of China
TBX Term Base eXchange
TM Translation memory
TMX Translation Memory eXchange
VRI Video remote interpreting
WYSIWYG What you see is what you get
XLIFF XML Localization Interchange File Format
XML Extensible Markup Language
List of Figures

Fig. 3.1 Course structure of Translation and Interpreting Department


at the Fudan University�������������������������������������������������������������������   34
Fig. 4.1 Registration to enrollment ratios of MTI programs������������������������   46
Fig. 4.2 Data of MTI student satisfaction with MTI teaching���������������������   46
Fig. 4.3 MTI teachers’ views on MTI education�����������������������������������������   48
Fig. 4.4 MTI teachers’ suggestions on improving MTI education��������������   51
Fig. 5.1 The form of university-enterprise cooperation
Note: The percentage equals the number of people
choosing this option divided by the number of people
participating in the survey���������������������������������������������������������������   60
Fig. 5.2 Survey data of MTI students’ satisfaction
with MTI education������������������������������������������������������������������������   61
Fig. 5.3 Employer’s evaluation of translation ability
of MTI graduates����������������������������������������������������������������������������   62
Fig. 5.4 Survey data on employment prospects of MTI graduates��������������   63
Fig. 5.5 Employers’ suggestions on MTI education and teaching���������������   64
Fig. 6.1 The visualized list of projects provided by memoQ�����������������������   85
Fig. 6.2 Visualization of the progress of each file in a translation
project���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   85
Fig. 6.3 Most contemporary CAT software adopts the “Translation
Grid” interface��������������������������������������������������������������������������������   86
Fig. 8.1 Screenshot of the official website of China Research
Institute of Global Energy Public Opinion������������������������������������� 112
Fig. 8.2 Screenshot of the official microblog website of China
Research Institute of Global Energy Public Opinion��������������������� 113
Fig. 8.3 Screenshot of the covers of the journal Energy
Public Opinion�������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 117
Fig. 8.4 Screenshot of the cover page and inner page of The Monthly
Report on Oil-Producing Countries����������������������������������������������� 118

xiii
xiv List of Figures

Fig. 8.5 Screenshot of the public account Energy Public Opinion�������������� 120
Fig. 11.1 The demand for language service in China in 2015����������������������� 146
Fig. 11.2 The tekom competence framework for technical
communication������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 147
Fig. 11.3 Students’ feedback on teaching syllabus���������������������������������������� 154
List of Pictures

Picture 11.1 Teaching staff (five members in the first row)


and students in 2016���������������������������������������������������������������� 150
Picture 11.2 Quiz example�������������������������������������������������������������������������� 152
Picture 11.3 Student’s redesign of a metro sign������������������������������������������ 153

xv
List of Tables

Table 1.1 ALC 2015 Industry Survey: language services


market share���������������������������������������������������������������������������������    6
Table 1.2 Recruitment requirements of language service companies
for non-language capabilities������������������������������������������������������   11
Table 3.1 Compulsory courses for translation major����������������������������������   35
Table 3.2 Selective courses for translation major����������������������������������������   36
Table 3.3 Writing courses for translation major������������������������������������������   37
Table 3.4 Reading courses for translation major�����������������������������������������   37
Table 4.1 Coverage of MTI teachers in each MTI award phase
participating in the survey�����������������������������������������������������������   44
Table 4.2 Coverage of MTI students in each phase participating
in the survey���������������������������������������������������������������������������������   44
Table 5.1 Coverage of MTI teachers in each MTI award phase
participating in the survey�����������������������������������������������������������   58
Table 5.2 Coverage of survey participation in MTI graduates
in different phases of MTI programs�������������������������������������������   58
Table 5.3 General situation of employers participating in MTI
education and employment survey����������������������������������������������   59
Table 6.1 Process for publishing translation project management��������������   81
Table 11.1 Technical communication and writing course syllabus��������������� 148
Table 11.2 Technical writing teaching objectives����������������������������������������� 149
Table 11.3 Students’ rating feedback on teaching effect������������������������������� 153
Table 12.1 Market portions of types of translation��������������������������������������� 158

xvii
Part I
Challenges of Translational Profession
Chapter 1
The Evolution of the Global Language
Service Market

Huashu Wang

1.1 Introduction

The rapid development of globalization and information technology (IT) has given
rise to the language service industry, a newly emerging industry consisting of trans-
lation and localization services, the research and development of language tech-
nologies, language teaching and training, and language-related consulting services.
Going far beyond the traditional sense of the translation industry, this emerging
industry has become an important part of the global industrial chain.
As far as the present evolutions of the translation industry are concerned, the
translation itself has taken on new features in terms of specific patterns, contents,
and functions when viewed from the perspectives of work environments, activity
modes, tools and means, and the translation directions. With its connotation and
extension having been greatly enriched and expanded, a new era of translation has
begun. In recent years, the International Federation of Translators(FIT) has changed
its theme from The Changing Face of Translation and Interpreting (2015) to
Translation and Interpreting: Connecting Worlds (2016) and then to Translation
and Diversity (2017), which clearly shows that FIT hopes the global translation
community will face up to dramatic changes in translation work. In the contexts of
globalization and commercialization, language services have taken on distinctive
characteristics of the times.

H. Wang (*)
School of Interpreting and Translation Studies, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies,
Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
e-mail: wanghuashu@vip.qq.com

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019 3


F. Yue et al. (eds.), Restructuring Translation Education,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3167-1_1
4 H. Wang

1.2 Continuous Growth in Language Service Demands

In the age of informatization, information and knowledge have experienced geo-


metric growth, further promoting the process of globalization. Economic globaliza-
tion promotes translation activities from the pragmatic level of satisfying
communicative needs to the strategic level of improving the competitiveness of
enterprises. To occupy the international markets as soon as possible, multinational
corporations are in urgent need of localizations, translations, and simultaneous ship-
ments of their products, thus generating even more language services. These changes
have brought the language service industry into a new era and drawn forth many
new types of business. The growth modes and market structures of language ser-
vices have also undergone great changes.
From the perspective of the global market, according to the Language Services
Market 2017 (CSA 2017) released by the Common Sense Advisory (CSA), the
gross output value of the global language service industry for 6 years from 2012 to
2017 was $33.05 billion, $34.778 billion, $37.19 billion, $38.16 billion, $40.27 bil-
lion, and $43.08 billion, respectively, with a double-digit annual growth. In 2016,
the most important businesses in the language service industry were still traditional
translation and on-site interpretation, whose total market share increased from 57%
in 2013 to nearly 73% in 2016. When compared with 2013, however, the language
service industry has witnessed the emerging rise of mobile phone localization
(0.51%), game localization (0.54%), search engine optimization (0.35%), and sub-
title translation (1.08%). An increasing number of companies began to provide ser-
vices such as creative translation, post-editing (PE), international testing, game
localization, over-the-phone interpreting (OPI), and video remote interpreting
(VRI). These new services occupy small market shares, but they are showing rela-
tively steady growth trends. Moreover, the increasingly diversified markets have led
to consequent changes in the service models. For example, today’s cross-border
e-commerce often requires real-time multi-language communications and transla-
tions, resulting in the advents of instant, dynamic, and fragmented micro-language
service models. And most companies begin to adopt diversified language strategies
in order to respond to the market changes.
According to the China Language Service Industry Development Report 2014
(TAC 2014) and the China Language Service Industry Development Report 2016
(TAC 2016), translation service companies in China have shown a steady trend of
annual growth for 14 years from 2000 to 2013. From 2000 to 2004, the increases in
the number of translation service companies remain at a high level. In particular,
2000, 2002, and 2004 see an increase of 30% or even more than 40%. From 2004 to
2012, the number of translation service companies has maintained a steady growth
rate of more than 10%. As of 2012, there are 37,197 language services and language
service-related companies under operations in China. By the end of 2013, that num-
ber rises up to 55,975. And it shows an average annual growth rate of 25%, which is
far more than that of 18.5% for the period from 2000 to 2011. By the end of 2015,
the number of related companies jumps to 72,495, including nearly 7,400 s­ pecialized
1 The Evolution of the Global Language Service Market 5

language service companies. Within 2 years, there are 16,520 new companies estab-
lished at a growth rate of nearly 30% and an average annual growth rate of 15%.
Furthermore, under the backdrop of a new era, there are significant increases in
international exchanges with the gradual enhancement of China’s national strengths.
Upon the implementation of the “going out” cultural strategy by China, external
publicity has been improved, and the international discourse power of the Chinese
language has been enhanced. The proposal and implementation of the “Belt and
Road Initiative” has created more and larger markets for Chinese language services.
With the rise of the Chinese economy and the spread of Chinese culture around the
world, translation services have also shifted from the “bringing in” in the past to the
“going out” at present. On the whole, Chinese language services have shifted from
“translating foreign languages into Chinese” to “translating Chinese into foreign
languages.”

1.3 Continuous Expansion of Language Service Scope

The early translation activities mainly focused on the humanities, such as literature,
history, religion, and philosophy. As more and more international exchanges con-
cerning science, technology, culture, and trade are brought about by economic glo-
balization and informatization, the demands of international language service
markets have expanded rapidly, and pragmatic translation has become an increas-
ingly important part of language services as a whole, expanding to all walks of life.
Modern language services involve many vertical fields such as information technol-
ogy, finance, medicine, law, patents, automobiles, chemical engineering, energy,
etc. Nonliterary translations have become the main part of today’s language service
markets and have shown a trend of continuous growth in all aspects.
According to the ALC 2015 Industry Survey released by the Association of
Language Companies (ALC), most revenues of US language service companies
come from medical, legal, and government sectors. In contrast, the areas with the
highest proportions of annual revenues for language service enterprises in Europe
and other regions are technology, manufacturing, and software, respectively. Among
them, the revenue from the technology field accounts for about 11% in 2013, which
is about a quarter of their gross revenue for that year (see Table 1.1).
According to the China Language Service Industry Development Report 2016
(TAC 2016), 80.6% of the 423 surveyed language service companies provide trans-
lation services on legal contracts, followed by chemical engineering and energy
(77.8%), machinery manufacturing (75.9%), and construction mining (72.3%).
Thanks to China’s “going out” strategy, language service demands in such three
fields were large, attracting lots of language service companies to provide related
services. Companies specialized in the translations of software and games account
for 44.9%, and those in the field of cross-border e-commerce account for 40.2%.
With the further development of game localization and cross-border e-commerce,
the number of companies providing translations in these two fields will increase
year by year.
6 H. Wang

Table 1.1 ALC 2015 Industry Survey: language services market share
Language services USA (%) Europe (%) Other regions (%)
Medical care 29 15 19
Law 19 11 5
Government 19 12 16
Manufacturing 14 16 10
Education 14 9 8
Medicine 13 8 12
Service industry 12 8 13
Insurance 8 7 9
Finance 8 10 7
Software 7 16 14
Technology and engineering 7 24 26
Advertising 6 11 11
Safety 6 4 0
Others 14 5 6

It is evident that the businesses of language service companies both in China and
abroad are expanding and diversifying, which also reflects the vast potential of the
language service market.

1.4 Increasingly Diversified Content of Language Services

Changes in translation fields and business types have brought about the diversifica-
tion of translation objectives which are no longer limited to interpretation and trans-
lation. According to The Language Services Market: 2017 released by the CSA,
traditional translation and interpreting services have remained as the most important
services for nearly 4 years, but some business areas related to localization services
such as website internationalization, multimedia localization, software localization,
internationalized services, creative translation, international testing, and machine
translation post-editing are relatively stable. In 2013 and 2014, the total market
shares of the above business areas are 25.81% and 27.84%, respectively, which not
only exceed that of on-site interpretation but also rise up as the second largest busi-
ness type in the language service industry. From 2014 to 2017, the post-editing of
machine translation business increases from 3.33% in 2014 to 4.20% in 2017, rank-
ing as the third largest business type in the industry.
According to the China Language Service Industry Development Report 2014
(TAC 2014), almost all 120 companies surveyed on the types of their main business
(specifically, 117 or 97.5% of them) reported “translation services.” Besides that,
about half of them reported “localization services” and “language service c­ onsulting”
as the main business, accounting for 50% and 48.33%, respectively, of the surveyed
1 The Evolution of the Global Language Service Market 7

companies. Twenty-five percent of them reported “translation tools/software devel-


opment,” and 20.83% of the companies reported “language services plus personnel
training.” Ten companies reported other types of services such as “industrial soft-
ware development,” “translators’ overseas dispatch,” “trade and consulting,” “for-
eign labor services,” and “foreign visa services.” According to the China Language
Service Industry Development Report 2016 (TAC 2016), 96.2% of the 423 surveyed
language service companies provided translation services, 87.7% of them provided
interpretation services, 45.2% of them provided related consultation services, 40.9%
of them provided language services and talent training, 39.7% of them provided
localization services, and 15.9% of them provided technical writing services. It is
evident that interpretation and translation remain as the mainstream services, but the
content of language services is diversifying, and new services are emerging.

1.5 Rapid Development of Language Technologies

With the development of technologies, such as information technology, artificial


intelligence, and natural language processing (NLP), and the realistic needs of the
language service markets, translation technologies have advanced by leaps and
bounds, which changes the traditional scene of the translation industry as a whole,
profoundly affects all aspects of translation work, and promotes further develop-
ment of language services.
The development of translation technologies has quickly brought benefits to the
whole industry, and translation tools are found in nearly all processes related to the
translation activities. The composing process of source documents now involves the
use of professional tools in technical writing, terminology management, document
management, and source document quality control. The pre-translation process
involves de-compilation tools, file format conversion tools, batch search and
replacement, project document analysis tools, word count and timing tools, quota-
tion tools, etc. The translation process involves project management tools, computer-­
aided tools or machine translation tools, term extraction and recognition tools,
multiple electronic dictionary tools, parallel corpus, search engines, etc. The post-­
project processing involves a variety of complex tools for quality control, compila-
tion, typesetting, publish, testing, etc. For each of the abovementioned processes,
technologies are playing a fundamental supporting role.
Moreover, translation technologies are being rapidly updated; the functions of
translation tools are constantly being improved; speech recognition and translation
technologies as well as neural machine translation (NMT) technologies are advanc-
ing rapidly. Cloud translation services and smart language networking will soon
reach out to the entire language service ecosystem around the globe. Traditional
manual models and outdated production tools are about to be pushed out by the tor-
rents of modern language technologies.
8 H. Wang

1.6 Diversified Roles of Language Services

Modern society is just like a huge organization with a high degree of division of
labor. The in-depth development of the service industry must centralize resources
on the core part through a clear division of labor. In the big data era, modern indus-
tries have already changed people’s social production methods and lifestyles
through the production lines, which have also deeply affected the language service
industry. The further development of ITO (information technology outsourcing) and
BPO (business process outsourcing) has optimized the operation modes of language
service companies so that language service companies can centralize their superior
resources to enhance their competitiveness and obtain high-quality and efficient
services at a lower cost. For example, some language service companies specialize
in software localization projects with high market value and high technology con-
tents as subcontractors, while outsourcing the text translations to more professional
service providers. When facing challenges of large-scale language service projects,
language service providers usually need to rely on division of labor and coopera-
tion. Based on the scales and language service capabilities, language service provid-
ers can be subdivided into multi-language vendors (MLV), regional language
vendors (RLV), and single language vendors (SLV). Language service providers
also show a trend of internal verticalization and specialization. For example, some
language service providers focus on the fields of information technology, biomedi-
cine, and automobiles, while other language service providers focus on the fields of
finance, law, patents, etc.
The industrialization has resulted in an increasingly detailed division of language
services. In language service companies, each project has professional processes
and procedures, and each process and procedure has a professional division of labor,
including sales managers, customer managers, translators, editors, proofreaders,
terminologists, typesetting engineers, translation technical support specialists,
localization engineers, multimedia engineers, project managers, project assistants,
test engineers, trainers, etc. The roles of managers themselves can be subdivided as
project managers, customer managers, quality managers, marketing managers,
typesetting managers, test managers, technical managers, supplier managers, and so
on. The roles within the customer-party enterprises are also being continuously
refined. For example, many large international enterprises have such roles as local-
ization project managers, localization quality managers, localization supply manag-
ers, localization engineers, and terminologists to respond to the market demands.
The market has exerted higher and higher requirements on the specialization level
for each position, which puts forward higher requirements for quality language ser-
vice personnel.
1 The Evolution of the Global Language Service Market 9

1.7 Language Services Moving Toward Standardization

With the development of the market economy and the continuous improvements of
the service industry, it is essential to standardize translations as a diversified and
multilevel service product. A company’s translation service standard is not only
about the regulations at the level of languages and texts, but it should also consider
the project elements, product specifications, production processes, and project out-
comes of its language service. ISO and other international standardization organiza-
tions have also published a series of standards for the translation industry as below:
• ISO/TS11669:2012 Translation Projects-General Guidance
• ISO 17100:2015 Translation Services-Requirements for Translation Services
• ISO/DIS 18587: Translation Services-Post-editing of Machine Translation
Output, Requirements
• ISO/AWI 20539: Translation, Interpreting and Related Technology-Vocabulary
• ISO/NP 20771: Legal and Specialist Translation Services, Requirements
Since 2003, China has successively issued many standards and specifications for
language services, including:
• Specification for Translation Service – Part 1: Translation
• Specification for Translation Service - Part 2: Interpretation
• Target Text Quality Requirements for Translation Services
• Translation Service Requirements T/TAC 001-2016
• Basic Terminology for Localization Service
• Quotation Specification for Localization Service
• Specification for Selection of Localization Service Providers
• Quotation Specification for Translation Service
• Quotation Specification for Interpretation Service
• Localized Translation and Document Typesetting Quality Assessment
Specification, etc.
From the multiple viewpoints of service providers and customers and with regu-
lations in terms of infrastructure, human resources, technical capabilities, service
quality, project processes, service steps, and results, these standards gradually form
a complete system of service quality assurance, which is of great significance in
promoting the standardization of language services.
In addition, standards on technical writing and translation data are constantly
refined. Document productions begin to comply with specifications or standards
from the very start, such as DTD (Document Type Definition), XML (extensible
Markup Language), and DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture), greatly
simplifying the post-processing workload. The LISA (Localization Industry
Standards Association) has successively developed industry standards such as TMX
(Translation Memory eXchange), TBX (Term Base eXchange), SRX (Segmentation
Rule eXchange), GMX (Global Information Management Metrics eXchange), and
TBX Link. The OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information
10 H. Wang

Standards) developed the XLIFF (XML Localization Interchange File Format) stan-
dard in 2002. It separates texts to be localized or translated from the complex for-
mats and enables the same source files to be processed with different tools,
facilitating the effective resolution of various conflicts between data compatibility
and language asset management.

1.8 Conclusion

With the diversifications of translation fields and service contents, the surges in
translation requirements, the improvements of translation processes and environ-
ments, the rapid development of translation technologies, and the continuous
improvements in translation standards, the features of language services are chang-
ing, and translation educations face new opportunities and challenges.
As market demands change, companies have put forward increasingly more pro-
fessional requirements for the capabilities of language service personnel. The
requirements of modern language service companies for full-time translators are
quite different from those of the past. The author examined the job advertisements
related to translation services of 50 major language service companies from 3 major
recruitment networks in China and found that most recruiting companies require all
candidates, whether full-time or part-time translators, to have the following capa-
bilities in addition to excellent language skills, as shown in Table 1.2.
Professional translators are not only expected to master interpretation and trans-
lation skills but also master many other skills, such as IT capabilities, translation
techniques, translation norms, marketing, and translation managements.
Consequently, translation educations should have a macroscopic vision of the lan-
guage service industry chain and must be reformed in many aspects, such as training
concepts, the designs of teaching materials, teacher training, and teaching
contents.
Translation education reform and translation research innovation are closely
related. According to statistics from the Translation Studies in China for 30 Years
(1978–2007) (Xu and Mu 2009), there are very few articles on the characteristics of
the translation industry from a macro perspective and papers related to the transla-
tion industry and its management account for only 0.6% over the past 30 years.
According to statistics from the Applied Translation Research in China for 30 Years
(1980–2010) (Fang 2012), traditional translation research still holds an overwhelm-
ing advantage, while macroscopic analysis of the language service industry is rare,
and research on applied translation lags behind the realistic needs of the industry.
Many translation researchers still focus on the translation concepts at the literary
translation stage and regard some nonliterary translation facts, behaviors, and activ-
ities in terms of concepts, standards, and methodologies for literary translation (Xie
2012). The natures of the contemporary contexts of translations have changed, but
unfortunately China’s translation educations have not been able to keep pace with
such changes.
1 The Evolution of the Global Language Service Market 11

Table 1.2 Recruitment requirements of language service companies for non-language capabilities
Capability module Main contents
IT Basic knowledge and skills on computer operating system
Basic editing and typewriting skills of office systems
Coding and format conversions: UTF, PDF, INDD, FM, DWG, and other
format conversions and OCR (optical character recognition)
Quick access to information: search quotient (SQ), an index of the required
information obtained per unit time
Translation Pre-translation: word count, repetition rate calculation, translation memory
Technologies reuse, term extraction
Translation: the use of MT/CAT tools during translation and terminology
management tools
Posttranslation: quality assurance, language asset maintenance
Project experience Project management: basic knowledge and related skills for the kickoff,
planning, implementation, and closing of projects
Organizational coordination capabilities: internal, external, and cross-­
departmental coordination
Cost and schedule control capabilities: unit cost control and risk prevention
and control
Project experiences in professional fields
Professional ethics Service awareness: professional principle of translation as a service
Quality: delivery according to industry quality standards, customer quality
requirements, etc.
Time management: delivery according to basic industry requirements,
customer and project basic requirements, etc.
Confidentiality: compliance with industry’s principle of integrity, customer
requirements, etc.

The translation educators of the new era should study new problems in the new
environments based on the integrations of basic theories on modern translation and
practices of the international language service industry from a global perspective.
Educators should examine the entire language service ecosystem, in particular, the
development of the translation profession and the characteristics and needs of the
entire language service industry, and examine modern language services from a
multidimensional perspective. New tasks for translation educations in the new times
include paying close attentions to the development of the translation industry, value
chain analysis, business and marketing managements, project managements and
translation process designs, crowdsourcing, information technologies, language
technologies, knowledge managements and language asset management, translation
standards and service industry standards, translation professionalism, etc. Only by
studying new situations and constantly analyzing new problems can we deepen our
understandings of modern translation phenomena and activities, further explore the
natures of translation activities, reform the orientation of translation educations,
improve the setup of translation disciplines, and promote the sustainable develop-
ment of language service educations.
12 H. Wang

English References

ALC. (2015). Industry survey: Data and analysis [R]. The Association of Language Companies.
CSA. (2016). The language services market: 2016 [R]. Common Sense Advisory.
CSA. (2017). The language services market: 2017 [R]. Common Sense Advisory.
ISO. (2015). ISO 17100:2015 Translation services – Requirements for translation services [S].
Geneve: ISO.
TAC. (2014). China language service industry development report 2014 [R]. TAC.
TAC. (2016). China language service industry development report 2016 [R]. TAC.

Chinese References

Fang, M. (2012). Yingyong Fanyi Yanjiu 30 Nian (1980–2010). (Applied Translation Studies in
China for 30 Years (1980–2010) [J]). Shanghai Journal of Translators, (2), 22–27. [方梦之.
(2012). 应用翻译研究30年(1980—2010)[J]. 《上海翻译》, (2), 22–27].
Xie, T. (2012). Xin Shidai Yujing Qidai Zhongguo Fanyi Yanjiu de Xin Tupo (Expected new break-
throughs in Chinese translation studies in the context of the new times). Chinese Translator
Journal, (3), 13–15. [谢天振. (2012). 新时代语境期待中国翻译研究的新突破. 《中国翻
译》, (3), 13–15].
Xu, J and L. Mu. 2009. Zhongguo FanyixueYanjiu 30 Nian (1978–2007). (Translation Studies in
China in the Past Three Decades (1978–2007) [J]). Journal of Foreign Languages, (1), 77–87.
[许钧, 穆雷 (2009). 中国翻译学研究30年 (1978–2007)[J]. 《外国语》, (1), 77–87].
Chapter 2
The Development of Translation
Technology in the Era of Big Data

Huashu Wang

2.1 Introduction

The progress and development of human society throughout history, including


every major social reform, have all been closely related to scientific discoveries and
technological inventions. Technological revolutions have brought about industrial
revolutions, and each technological revolution has led to unprecedented develop-
ment in social productivity. The rapid development of information technology has
led humans into the era of big data. Big data involves a variety of technologies. The
emergence and comprehensive applications of the Internet enables data to be gener-
ated and gathered in massive quantities, laying the foundation for data collection
and integration. The emergence of cloud computing has provided storage space and
access to big data, and the IOT (Internet of Things) and mobile Internet have served
as accelerators for the development of big data. The widespread smart terminals
have supplied terminal services for the application of big data. Together, these com-
prehensive technologies have brought human beings into the era of big data.
Data is ubiquitous in the era of big data. The world is comprised of and expressed
by data However, the data discovered is only the tip of the iceberg, leaving a vast
amount of data to be excavated, understood, and applied. In the face of huge quanti-
ties of chaotic and unstructured data, modern language processing technologies are
urgently needed to mine data that is meaningful and valuable to specific industries.
Big data computing technologies have solved the problem of oversized data, which
cannot be analyzed and processed completely by traditional computing methods in
a reasonable amount of time. Fueled by big data technologies, great progress has

H. Wang (*)
School of Interpreting and Translation Studies, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies,
Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
e-mail: wanghuashu@vip.qq.com

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019 13


F. Yue et al. (eds.), Restructuring Translation Education,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3167-1_2
14 H. Wang

been made in the areas covering speech recognition, machine translation, semantic
retrieval, corpus alignment, and term extraction, quietly changing the ecological
environment of language services.

2.2 Basic Concepts of Translation Technology

Featured with computer, the Internet, and communication technologies, information


technology revolution has penetrated all aspects of society. The power of technol-
ogy has influenced all walks of life. For a long time, linguists and natural language
processing specialists have dreamt of realizing artificial intelligence, making com-
puter translation fully automated to solve the growing problems of language transla-
tion and communication. Stimulated by new technologies, different translation
technologies and tools have come into existence, springing up like mushrooms.
Technologies have been extensively used in translation practice, including computer-­
aided translation, machine translation, corpus alignment, translation memory, term
extraction, speech recognition, quality assurance, translation management, etc.
So, what is translation technology? Many scholars both at home and abroad have
discussed the concept of translation technology. Their representatives are as fol-
lows: Melby (1983), Hutchins (1986), Kay (1997), Kenny (1999), Austermühl
(2001), Bowker (2002), Sommers (2003), Quah (2006), Munday (2012), etc. Many
scholars in China have also discussed translation technology, like Yuan Yining
(2002), Xu bin (2004), Chan Sin-wai (2004, 2015), Zhang Zheng (2006), Su
Mingyang (2007), Lv Lisong and Mu Lei (2007), Qian Duoxiu (2009), Yu and
Wang (2010), Wang Huashu (2012, 2013, 2014), Zhang Xiaojun et al. (2013), Lv &
Yang (2015), Fan Jun (2016), and so on.
Previous research involved basic issues surrounding machine translation and
computer-assisted translation, which helped deepen our basic understanding of
translation technology. However, some terms are easily confused, such as “com-
puter translation,” “automatic translation,” “computer-aided translation,” “computer-­
assisted translation,” “machine-aided translation,” “machine translation,” and
“machine-aided/assisted human translation.” In the following part, the author will
talk mainly about the differences between the basic concepts of machine translation,
computer-assisted translation, and translation technology.
Machine translation (MT) is an automated translation technology that investi-
gates the use of computers to translate text or speech from one language (source
language) to another language (target language). In this process, computers convert
natural human language into computing algorithms, so that the source language can
be translated into the target language according to these algorithms. Typical MT
systems include Google Translate, Bing Translate, Systran, Baidu Translate, Youdao
Translate, Sougou Translate, and Tencent Translate, etc. So far, many language ser-
vice suppliers both at home and abroad, including the SDL, Lionbridge, UTH, and
Global Tone Communication, have brought the advantages of machine translation
and artificial intelligence into full play, providing customers with quick, accurate,
and customized machine translation services.
2 The Development of Translation Technology in the Era of Big Data 15

Compared with MT, computer-aided translation (CAT) is a relatively new con-


cept, on which different scholars hold different opinions. Generally speaking, it can
be understood in both the narrow and broad senses.
In the narrow sense, CAT usually refers to technology that improves translation
efficiency through matching techniques of translation memory. It utilizes the ability
of a computer to emulate the human brain’s memory function and gives computers
simple and repeated translation tasks so that translators can be freed from mechani-
cal work and concentrate fully on the translation activity itself. The operating prin-
ciple of translation memory is to establish one or more translation memory databases
(TM) using existing source texts and translation. During the process of translation,
the system can search for the same and similar translation resources automatically,
including words and sentences, to provide suggested translation so that the transla-
tor can avoid unnecessary repeated work and concentrate on translating new con-
tent. Meanwhile, translation memory can keep learning and automatically storing
new translation and become more and more “smart” and efficient. Translation mem-
ory technology functions as a translation assistant, hence the name “computer-aided
translation.” The mainstream CAT tools, including those well-known in the interna-
tional market such as SDL Trados, Déjà Vu, Wordfast, memoQ, STAR Transit, etc.
and those popular in China’s market such as Yaxin CAT, Transn TCAT, Snowman
CAT, Transmate, etc., are all covered in this type of technology.
In its broadest definition, CAT technology can be understood to include any
types of computerized tools that translators use to help complete the jobs (Bowker
2002). This is close to the concept defined in ISO 17100. ISO 17100:2015(E) which
holds that translation technology comprises a range of tools used by translation
practitioners when translating, revising and proofreading texts. Translation technol-
ogy include content management systems, authoring systems, desktop publishing
(DTP), word processing software, translation management systems, translation
memory (TM) and CAT tools, quality assurance tools, revision tools, localization
tools, machine translation, terminology management systems, project management
software, speech-to-text recognition software and other existing and future transla-
tion technology (ISO 2015).
Based on previous research, the author tries to define translation technology as
follows: translation technology refers to different technologies applied comprehen-
sively by translation service professionals during the process of translation, includ-
ing format conversion, resource extraction, word counting, repetition rate analysis,
task analysis, term extraction, repeated segment extraction, and pre-translation tech-
nology in pre-translation stage; auxiliary spelling, auxiliary input, electronic dic-
tionary and parallel corpus query and verification, translation memory matching,
and terminology recognition during translation; and quality inspection, translation
format conversion, posttranslation layout, translation product language testing, and
language asset management in posttranslation stage. These have generally covered
those technologies that translation service professionals may use during the process
of translation.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
From the opposite side came a different cry:
“He’s your meat, Lefty! Get him, and it’s all over! Don’t lose him,
on your life!”
It was to be the great test. A clean hit would leave Hoover still
supreme in the league; a strike-out would place another far above
him. The lips of the Bully at bat curled back from his teeth, and he
stood there ready, like a man made of steel springs. With a sort of
placid grimness, Locke swung into his delivery.
Hoover fouled the first one into the bleachers.
“Strike!”
“That’s one on him!”
“You’ve got him coming, Lefty!”
“He can’t hit you!”
“You can’t let him hit!”
“Do it again!”
Hoover stamped his spikes into the ground, rooting himself, that
the hit might be effective when he landed on the ball. He had felt of
the first one; he would straighten the next one out. In fancy, he saw
himself cantering over the sacks, with the runners ahead of him
scoring, and the Bancrofters splitting their throats. Doubtless a two-
bagger would score all three of the runners; and then, even if he did
not reach the rubber himself, he would go out there and hold the
“Kinks” runless in the last of the ninth. He knew he could do it.
“Ball-l-l!”
Jock sneered at Locke’s teaser. What a chump the fellow was to
think he would reach for anything like that!
“Put one over!” he invited. “You don’t dare!”
It came—whistling, high, and taking an inward shoot. Hoover did
not graze the horsehide.
“Strike tuh!”
That set the Kingsbridgers off again:
“Get him, Lefty—get him!”
“Oh, you, Lefty!”
“You’re the stuff, old boy!”
“Sic him, you wiz!”
“Mow him down!”
“Polish him off!”
“End his suffering, Lefty!”
“Oh, you, Lefty! Oh, you, Lefty!”
Hoover’s teeth were grinding together like millstones. Although
angered by his failure, he still gripped and held his confidence that
he could hit Locke at this time when a hit meant so much; for, as a
pinch hitter, he had an enviable record.
Another shoot came over. Jock hit it. But again the ball went into
the bleachers, causing the umpire to stop the base runners with a
bellow:
“Foul!”
“That’s the best he can do, Lefty! He’s going! He’s almost gone!”
There was a delay. Some one had pocketed the ball, and
presently a spotless, fresh one was tossed out to Locke.
“Where’ll that one go when he hits it?” yelled a Bancrofter.
“When he hits it!” mocked a Kingsbridger. “He never will!”
Leaning forward to get Oulds’ signal, Locke gave his head a
shake. The sign for a drop was instantly changed to one calling for
an inshoot, and the young pitcher lost no time.
There was a white streak in the air, and the ball almost seemed to
twist round Hoover’s neck, slightly grazing the bat close to his
knuckles as he swung. Into Oulds’ big mitt it plunked.
“Y’re out!” was the cry of the umpire, as he flung his hand upward
above his head.
Instantly Hoover called Tom Locke a vile name, and sent the bat,
with all the strength of his quivering, muscular arms, spinning
straight at the pitcher’s head.
CHAPTER XIV
AFTER THE GAME

T he indescribable uproar which greeted the strike-out that settled


the game prevented Hoover’s words from reaching Locke’s ears,
but the glare in his eyes, the expression of his face, and the
movement of his lips told well enough what he said. The triumphant
pitcher barely avoided the whistling bat by an agile side spring. In
another instant, his face went white; he was coming at Hoover with a
rush.
Tense with excitement, Janet Harting saw it all; she saw the
steady, youthful, almost boyish, Kingsbridge pitcher fool the Caliban-
faced Bully for the final fruitless slash which settled the game, two to
nothing, in the home team’s favor; saw Hoover, snarling, hurl the bat;
and then beheld a swirling rush of shouting, wrathy human beings,
who smashed the restraining rails in front of the bleachers, and
poured upon the field like a spring flood from a bursted reservoir.
“I think,” said Benton King, gathering the reins, “that it is time for
me to take you away from here, Janet.”
Trembling, she grasped his arm. “No, no!” she cried. “What are
they going to do? That wretch threw his bat at—at Lefty.”
“Yes; and he’ll get his, if his friends don’t look out for him well.
Locke has got all Kingsbridge behind him, and they’re a tough bunch
when they get good and mad. There’s likely to be some broken
heads.”
“Oh, wait a moment!” she entreated. “Look! They’re trying to hold
the crowd off, and I believe Lefty is helping them.”
Out there on the diamond, raging, frothing men were shaking their
fists at the offending pitcher; while others, including a number of
Kingsbridge players, having packed themselves round the
threatened man, were holding the hot-heads back by main force.
And it was true that Tom Locke was one of those who sought to
protect Jock Hoover from the wolfish mob.
“Stop!” his voice rang out, clear and distinct. “Keep back! The
trouble is between that man and me. We’ll settle it.”
“Let-a me git at-a him!” raged an Italian, the same who had
amused the crowd after the striking out of Mace in the first inning, by
asking what was the matter with Lefty. “He throw-a da bat! I knock-a
da block off-a da sneak-a!”
His cigar gone, his hat smashed, his collar torn awry, Mike Riley
succeeded in reaching Hoover.
“You infernal idiot!” he puffed. “Didn’t you know better? What made
ye do it?”
“Bah!” retorted Jock with contempt and courage worthy of a better
cause. “These barking curs won’t do anything. Give me a show, and
I’ll break that left-handed dub’s face. He hasn’t got the courage to
give me an opportunity right now—here. He’s a——” The concluding
epithet was a repetition of the insult he had hurled at Locke along
with the bat.
“No man can swallow that!” muttered Larry Stark. “Somebody
must fight that miserable rowdy.”
“Give me the chance,” said Tom Locke, “and give him the same
even show, without interference. Let the crowd keep back.” They
marveled at his calmness.
Some of Hoover’s friends sought to rush him off, against his will,
and the vociferous, twisting, lunging mass of humanity swept over to
one side of the diamond, where Bent King had his hands full in the
task of restraining his fretting span from plunging forward and
trampling some of them. King had listened to Janet’s appeal, and
dallied a few moments too long; now they were caught in the midst
of the mob that packed close on all sides. Two men, taking note of
his difficulty, grasped the horses by the bits; but the crowd,
seemingly deaf and oblivious to everything except the imminent fist
fight, could not be induced to make way.
“I’m sorry, Janet,” said the lumberman’s son. “This is no place for
you. I was a fool to wait a minute when the trouble began.”
“Never mind,” she returned, her voice quivering a little, her face
quite colorless. “I—I want to see. It isn’t right for them to fight; it isn’t
fair. Lefty can’t be a match for that ruffian. Why don’t they stop it?”
Not much time was wasted in preparation when it was understood
that Locke was ready to meet his challenger. Members of the two
teams began pushing the crowd back to make room, begging them
to give the men a chance, and a fifteen-foot space was finally
cleared. Eager spectators climbed upon the shoulders of those in
front of them; the bleachers, at one end, were loaded to the cracking
point with human beings; and every stout limb of a near-by tree
quickly bore human fruit.
Bareheaded, the men met in the center of the cleared space.
Hoover came with a rush, and Locke was not dilatory. Plainly the
Bully weighed ten or fifteen pounds more than his slender
antagonist, and many a sympathizer with the youth feared the match
must prove to be pitifully one-sided.
Jock led, right and left; but the youngster parried, blocked, and
countered like lightning, closing in without hesitation. His jaw was
set, and he was still cool, while the Bancrofter blazed with all the fury
of a conflagration.
The sound of thudding blows caused Janet Harting to drop her
parasol, which she had closed; her hands went up to her heart, and
her lips were parted that she might breathe, the open air seeming
close and smothery.
CHAPTER XV
MAN TO MAN

I t was a scene to be printed indelibly on the memory: The palpitant,


swaying crowd, those in front pushed forward by those behind; the
baseball players round the edges of the cleared space, bracing to
hold the mob back almost by main strength; human beings climbing
on other human beings to get a momentary glimpse of the fighters;
men and boys jammed in a dense mass on the bleachers, and still
more of them clinging like monkeys to the bending limbs of the tree
—and every face ablaze with the primitive passion of mankind, the
savage zest of battle, the barbarous joy of witnessing a sanguinary
struggle between two of their specie.
But Janet saw only the fighters; not for a moment did her straining
eyes waver or wander. She watched them leap and retreat, meet
again, stagger, recover, sway this way and that, all the time turning
round and round to the left or to the right, their arms flashing out,
their battering fists giving forth sounds now sharp, now sodden, as
they smashed on head or body. She saw the head of the brown-
haired youth jerk backward before a blow full on the mouth; and
then, as blood stained his lips, a cry—half snarl, half roar—broke
from the crowd.
Hoover had drawn first blood, seeing which, an expression of
malicious joy contorted his repellent face, and he seemed spurred to
still fiercer efforts. He thirsted to leave the stamp of his fists indelibly
recorded on that clean-cut face; to mark the youth for life would be
an exquisite pleasure, lingering long in aftertaste.
Locke, however, continued to keep his head, improving such
openings as he could find or make. A cut lip was of no consequence
when he had not felt the blow much; but he must take care that his
antagonist did not reach his jaw with a swing like that, having a bit
more steam behind it. And he must husband his energy and bide his
time, for this was no fight by rounds, and Hoover had set a pace
which flesh and blood could not keep up protractedly. In time, he
must weary and slacken, and Locke hoped to be ready to make the
most of it when this faltering came.
The youth’s left-handed guard bothered Jock somewhat, causing
him to fret and snarl. Twice he pinned Locke up against the crowd,
that could not make room for his free movement; but once Tom got
under his arm and away, and once he met the aggressor with such a
sudden storm of blows that Hoover was checked and driven back.
After that both men were bleeding, the Bully having received a stiff
smash on the nose.
The crowd shouted applause and instruction:
“Fine work, Lefty!”
“Keep after him, Jock! Put him out!”
“You’ve got him going! Follow him up!”
“Look out for his left, boy!”
“Soak him another in the same place—that’s the stuff!”
“Well,” said Bent King, in wonderment, “I’ll be hanged if Locke isn’t
holding his own with that terrier!”
Apparently Janet did not hear him. A little color had risen into her
cheeks, and her bosom was heaving against her tightly clenched
hands. She was still fearful of the final result, but he with whom her
throbbing heart sympathized had met his brutal enemy like a man of
courage, and made it a worthy battle. She could hear Hoover
breathing heavily, like one on whom the tremendous strain was
beginning to tell at last, while Locke, although his breast rose and fell
rapidly, was, to all outward seeming, the fresher of the two.
Once a little, choking gasp escaped her, for the youth was sent
reeling by a blow, Jock rushing forward to follow it up. Locke,
however, kept his feet with the agility of a cat, avoiding that rush, and
getting in a body punch that made the other man grunt.
Following this, discovering at last the drain his efforts were putting
upon him, Hoover sought to take it easier, and recuperate. This
quickly became apparent, and a cry arose:
“He’s stalling, Lefty! Go to him! Don’t let him get his wind back!”
Locke had no intention of permitting his antagonist to rest, and
now he took the aggressive, and kept at it with persistence that wore
on Hoover.
Up to this point, Mike Riley had entertained no doubt as to what
the end must be, but now uncertainty seized him, followed by alarm
as he beheld tokens which seemed to denote that Hoover was
becoming a bit groggy.
The Bancroft manager had no wish to see his puissant slabman
whipped, for that would leave him no longer the terror he had been
to opposing batsmen; and much of his success as a pitcher had
doubtless come through the awe which he had inspired.
“Hey!” croaked Riley suddenly. “I guess this here’s gone ’bout fur
enough.”
But, with his first movement to interfere, he was seized by more
than one pair of hands, jerked back, and held.
“Guess again!” cried Larry Stark. “Hoover forced it on the boy, and
now he’ll have to take his medicine.”
“That’s right! That’s right!” shouted half a hundred voices.
“You bet it’s right!” roared a big millman in the crowd. “If this
Bancroft bunch tries to meddle now in a square fight, they’ll have the
whole o’ Kingsbridge on top of ’em.”
Possibly a free-for-all fight might have broken out at this point, but
suddenly Tom Locke’s fist fell on Hoover’s jaw with a crack like a
pistol report, and the Bancroft pitcher’s legs seemed to melt beneath
him.
Prone upon the trampled ground he sank in a huddled heap, while
Locke, lowering his hands at his sides, stepped back and stood
looking down at him. A hush came over the crowd. The fallen man
made a blind, feeble effort to lift himself, turned his body partly, then
slumped back, his face in the turf, and lay still.
“He’s put Jock out!” said some one in an awed and marveling
voice.
With a yell, Larry Stark leaped forward and seized the victor’s
hand. That yell was echoed by the mob.
“Lefty did it!”
“Oh, you, Lefty! Oh, you, Lefty!”
Locke’s face was sober and unsmiling, betraying no elation.
Satisfied that it was really over, he lifted his eyes, and found himself
unexpectedly gazing into the wide blue eyes of a girl who was
looking down at him from a carriage round which the crowd was
wedged. For a moment they stared at each other, while the cheering
continued, and slowly a flush of shame mounted into Tom Locke’s
cheeks. He turned away.
“Come, Bent,” said Janet in a husky voice, “can’t we get out of
here now? I’m really faint. Please hurry.”
CHAPTER XVI
BENTON KING AWAKENS

J anet was pale and silent as King drove into town. Glancing at her,
he saw that her lips were pressed together, her smooth brow
puckered a bit, and her eyes filled with a strange, thoughtful
expression. Her hands tightly gripped the handle of her parasol.
“I’m sorry it happened that way, Janet,” he said apologetically. “It
was thoughtless of me to get caught in that mob, so that you were
compelled to suffer the humiliation of witnessing such a brutal
spectacle.”
“You were not to blame,” she returned, in a low, queer voice. “I
begged you to wait. I’m glad I did.”
“You’re what—glad?” he exclaimed, astonished. “It was not a thing
for a girl like you to see and hear.”
“Still,” she declared, “I am glad I saw it. I know now that any man
with an atom of manhood in his make-up may sometimes be
compelled to fight.”
“That’s right,” he agreed, “and he can’t always pick a gentleman,
or a man of his own class, for an antagonist.”
She looked at him quickly. “Do you think Tom Locke is a
gentleman?”
“Oh, I don’t know about that; it’s doubtful, considering the
company he’s with.”
“Do gentlemen never play baseball?”
“Certainly—in college games.”
“But they never play professionally?”
“I wouldn’t say that, you know,” was his slow answer. “Some
college men go in for professional baseball after graduating. Almost
always, they need the money to give them a start in some chosen
profession or business. But not all college players are gentlemen, by
any means; far from it. At Harvard, even though baseball and football
players and members of the track team were decidedly popular in a
general way, there were none of them in my set, and I didn’t see fit to
associate with them much.”
Even as he said it, he flushed a bit, knowing she, like many others
in Kingsbridge, must be fully aware of the fact that his exasperated
father had removed him from Harvard in his sophomore year to
avoid the disgrace of his suspension, or possible expulsion, because
of certain wild escapades in which he had been concerned, along
with some others of his own particularly swift set. Nevertheless, he
had his standards of deportment and qualifications essential to the
gentleman, though, doubtless, it would be no easy matter to make
them clear to some strait-laced, narrow-minded persons.
He was nettled by the conviction that Janet was suddenly taking
altogether too much interest in the practically unknown Kingsbridge
pitcher, who, following his surprising double victory of the day, was
surely destined to become a popular idol in the town. He had known
Janet three years, having met her at a church sociable in the days
when Cyrus King was setting about in earnest, by the construction of
his mills, to turn Kingsbridge from a dull, sleepy settlement into a
hustling, chesty town. At first she had seemed to be an unusually
pretty, vivacious little girl, with somewhat more refinement and good
sense than the usual run of country maidens; but that he would ever
become genuinely and deeply interested in her had not occurred to
him as a remote possibility. Even after he had left college and begun
work in the big sawmill, although he found her much matured and
developed, and therefore still more interesting, he but slowly came to
realize that she was the possessor of some potent charm, indefinite,
elusive, indescribable, which was casting a powerful spell over him.
Not until this day, however, had he realized how firmly this spell
had gripped him. It had come upon him as a surprise which he
obstinately tried to misinterpret; for why should he, the only son and
heir of old Cy King, several times over a millionaire, permit himself to
be bewitched past self-mastery by this little country girl, daughter of
a broken-down village parson, who had not tried to bewitch him at
all? It seemed ridiculous, something to demand self-reproach; for,
least of all, when he thought of such a thing, which was rarely, had
he fancied himself silly enough to be caught in such a net. Moreover,
he knew what stormy anger the knowledge would produce in his
father if the knowledge ever came to him.
The truth had stabbed him there upon the baseball field. It had
taken the piercing form of a jealous pang, which he had sought to
conceal when he saw that Janet was becoming interested in the new
Kingsbridge pitcher; and it cut deeper and deeper as her interest
grew and developed into out-spoken admiration. He had seen her
watching that fierce fist fight, knowing all the while that she was
praying that Locke might conquer, and, though she had held herself
marvelously in hand, he seemed to fathom all the torture and dread
which filled her heart. That she should care so much what might
happen to a total stranger, even though he were the new-found idol
of the Kingsbridge fans, was sufficient to skim the scales swiftly from
Benton King’s eyes, and leave him confessing to himself, without
shame, that she was very dear to him. For, trite but true, that which
we desire very much becomes a thousand times more desirable as
our chance of possession grows less.
And now, as they drove slowly homeward, something writhed and
burned within him at the further evidence of her interest in Locke. He
was tempted to speak up boldly and say that there was not one
chance in a million that the fellow could be a gentleman; but he had
not yet lost his head, even if his heart was gone, and he had sense
enough to know that such a course might be the most unwise one he
could pursue. So he held himself in check, registering an inward vow
that he would see to it that this fellow Locke found as little chance as
might be to give him worriment over Janet.
Too soon the little parsonage, a modest story-and-a-half house,
one of the oldest in Kingsbridge, came into view. Too soon they were
at the door, and he was helping her to alight. He held her hand to the
extreme limit of good taste, held it and pressed it, saying:
“I shall be at church to-morrow. If you don’t mind, it would give me
pleasure to escort you home after the services.”
She looked at him in surprise, her lips parted in an odd little smile,
her violet eyes emphasizing her wonderment.
“Why, Bent, you’ve scarcely attended church half a dozen times
since you came home from college. What brings you out to-
morrow?”
“You!” he answered, feeling himself thrill and choke a bit. “I’m a
heathen, I admit; but I’m coming out to-morrow to worship—you.” He
had said such things before, to other girls, but he had spoken them
lightly, and without a tremor; now little electric vibrations were
running along his nerves, and, though he knew that his face was
pale, he could feel his swollen heart pulsing hard, and his temples
drumming. He had never dreamed that saying such a “little thing” to
a pretty girl would come so near unmanning him.
Her surprise had grown, but she was self-possessed. “Thou shalt
not worship false gods,” she laughed. Then, as if she saw something
in his eyes which made her fear he would go further, she hastily
gave her consent: “If you come out to church to-morrow I’ll permit
you to walk home with me—after Sabbath School. That’ll be your
reward for listening to father’s sermon. Now, for the first time in my
life, I feel that I have really done something for the heathen.”
Laughing, she ran up the steps of the trellised porch, turning a
moment to say good night, framed in an arch of June green vines.
Head bared, he gazed at that picture, and found it the fairest his
eyes had ever looked upon. There was now in his mind no question,
no doubt; he knew.
“Good night, Janet,” he said softly. “Until to-morrow, and that will
be—a year.” He had laughed at silly, lovesick chaps who said things
like that; but now, before he knew what he was saying, he had
uttered it with all the sincerity of his soul.
CHAPTER XVII
FATHER AND DAUGHTER

T he door of the Reverend John Harting’s study was open. In the


softened afternoon light which came from the window above his
desk, he sat, giving his morrow’s sermon the last polishing touches.
But when Janet would have slipped past, he heard her light footstep,
and called to her. She stopped at the door.
“Come in, my dear,” he said, lifting his spectacles to his forehead,
and turning from the outspread pages of manuscript. “Would you
mind sitting down a moment? I have something I wish to say to you.”
He spoke precisely and formally, and even in ordinary
conversation he had a touch of that singsong intonation which all
old-time ministers affected. A fringe of white locks, carefully combed,
added to the somewhat stern, but almost patriarchal, expression of
his angular, deeply lined face. It was the fearless face of a good-
hearted man, and yet there was something about it indicative of
narrowness and bigotry. Such a face, one fancied, might have
belonged to a leader of martyrs.
She came to him, and sat upon the arm of his chair, encircling his
neck, and patting his cheek.
“Now, father, dear,” she laughed coaxingly, “I hope you’re not
going to scold. I know you didn’t want me to go to the ball game, but
I was just dying to go, and Benton invited me, and—”
“He came round here, and cajoled me into consenting, against my
will. He is a young man with a most persuasive and flattering
tongue.”
“I’ll not dispute you,” she said, thinking of those parting words at
the door. “He needed a persuasive tongue to win you over, you are
so dreadfully set against baseball. You can’t seem to realize that the
game itself is really harmless and clean, and two-thirds of the people
of this town are crazy over it. They’ll be crazier still after to-day, for
we beat Bancroft—shut ’em out without a single tally, gave ’em nine
beautiful goose eggs. What do you think of that, father?”
He looked a bit puzzled. “What have goose eggs to do with
baseball, my dear?”
“Oh,” she laughed, “I mean to say that we handed them a beautiful
coat of whitewash, and we bingled out a couple of merit marks for
ourselves. The crowd just went crazy when our new southpaw slant
artist started the fireworks going in the sixth with a clean wallop,
moved up a peg on a sacrifice, pilfered the third hassock, and slid
home on a beautiful squeeze that gave us our first count, and—”
“Stop, Janet!” he cried, bewildered. “What are you talking about?”
“Why, baseball, daddy! I’m simply telling you how we won the
game.”
“You may be trying to tell me, but you are not doing it simply. ‘Coat
of whitewash,’ ‘bingle,’ ‘southpaw slant artist,’ ‘clean wallop,’ ‘third
hassock,’ ‘beautiful squeeze’! My dear, it’s dreadful for a young lady
to use such language. It is ample evidence of the absolutely
demoralizing influence of this game called baseball.”
She laughed still more gayly, and again patted his cheek
caressingly. “That’s simply the idiom of the game, which every true
fan understands.”
“But you should remember that I am not a true fan, whatever that
may mean. I abhor slang, especially from the lips of a refined girl.
You know my efforts alone last year prevented the desecration of the
Sabbath by this dreadful game, which seems to turn people’s heads,
and is productive of untold strife and bitterness. What will be thought
now when my daughter is seen attending these games?”
“But they are not playing Sunday baseball, daddy, and I agree that
you were quite right in bringing your influence to bear against that,
though, as I said before, I hold that there is no harm in the game
itself.”
“There is harm in whatever produces harm, which is sufficient
answer to your argument. And look at the class of men who take part
in those games. Would you be proud to associate with them? Would
you choose them as friends?”
“No,” she confessed; “not many of them; but still there are some
really decent ones who play. Larry Stark is one. I know him, and I’m
not ashamed of it.”
“There may be an occasional exception, but you know the old
saying that exceptions prove the rule. Once in a while a respectable
young man may be led by necessity to make a business of baseball,
but I am sure no such young man will long continue to follow it up.”
“Respectable people watch the games. Some of the best people in
Kingsbridge were there to-day.”
“Which denotes a deplorable tendency of the times. And you must
not forget that this town has changed from a peaceful country
settlement to a place that is rough and crude, and filled with
viciousness and vice. I am having a struggle against these evil
influences, and I need the moral support of my daughter’s example,
at least. If your mother had lived—”
“Now, father, please don’t! You seem to have an idea that I’m a
most reckless, wicked young person, and you always use that form
of argument to shame me in my sinful ways. I saw in the grand stand
to-day several of the most respectable ladies in town, at least two of
whom are regular attendants at your church.”
“Some seed must fall on barren ground. I hope young King will not
ask you to go with him again. If he comes to me, I shall refuse my
consent; if you go, you will do so against my wishes.”
With him in this inflexible mood, she knew the uselessness of
persuasion or cajolery, and she left him, to run up to her room a few
moments before the maid should call them to tea. Removing her hat
before the mirror, she pouted a little at the charming reflection in the
glass.
“Father is so set,” she murmured; “yet I’ve always been able to
bring him round some way, and I must do it about this; for I just can’t
stay away from the games. I guess I’m a real fan, all right, and I’ll be
worse than ever with Kingsbridge winning from Bancroft, and—and
Lefty pitching. He’s surely what they can call some pitcher. And he
can fight—gracious!”
She shivered a bit at the recollection of the scene she had
witnessed after the game was over. Again she seemed to behold
those fighting men hammering at each other with their bare fists,
savage, bloodstained, brutal. She shuddered at the remembered
glare of their eyes, the wheezing of their panted breathing, and the
crushing sound of their blows. From her parted lips came a little
gasp, as once more on her ears seemed to fall the clear crack of
Tom Locke’s fist smiting his foe full on the point of the jaw with such
force that Hoover’s legs had given way beneath him like props of
straw.
“He can pitch, and he can fight,” she whispered. “He looks clean
and manly, too. I wonder what he’s really like. I suppose he must be
coarse and vulgar. When father hears about that affair, he’ll be far
more set against the game than ever, and he’s sure to hear, for the
whole town must be talking of it now.”
While she made her toilet for tea, the clean-cut, determined face of
the young pitcher seemed to haunt her. Vexed by this, she decided
to put him resolutely out of her mind.
“I’m like a silly schoolgirl, seeking a hero to worship,” she laughed,
blushing at her folly. “I’m old enough to know better. Such heroes
always have feet of clay. Still, I’d like to think of him as well as I can
—as a pitcher; and, to do so, it is wise that I should view him from
afar, that his flaws may not be too apparent. I’ll take care about that.”
Then her thoughts turned to Benton King, and a little frown
gathered upon her face. To-day, as they were driving homeward, and
especially as they were saying good night at the door, there had
been something in his manner and his words that he had never
before unveiled to her. Hitherto they had been just good friends—he
deferential, in a way—yet free and easy, as such friends might be,
with no self-consciousness or constraint; but now, after this,
something warned her that it would be changed, even though, as
she believed, he had been neither deep nor sincere in what he had
felt or said.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured, still frowning; “for I like Bent, and he’s
about the only young man in Kingsbridge I’d care to be really friendly
with. I suppose it’s been so long since he’s had an opportunity to talk
such nonsense to a girl that he just had to try it on some one to keep
in practice. But I don’t like it, and I’ll have to stop it. Next time he tries
it, I’ll chaff him till he quits. I’ll tell him I like Lefty.”
She could not have chosen a more certain method of preventing
Benton King from quitting.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER

T he sermon was dry and tiresome, old-fashioned and overflowing


with “doctrine.” John Harting had never made a pretense of
sympathizing with the liberality of modern dominies who relied wholly
for the saving of souls upon “the message of love.” True, he had
ceased openly to preach “hell fire,” but doubtless he still believed in
it, if not as a literal punishment for the sinful hereafter, then as the
only adequate synonym of the penalty that should be meted out to
the evil-doer who died unregenerate.
He had found that such preaching, instead of attracting and
holding congregations, left the pews of the little old church sadly
vacant; and the effort to modify his sermons had taken from them the
little heart they once possessed, and made them wearisome and
soporific.
The day was warm and sunny, and at times faint little grateful
breezes, venturing in at the open windows, brought the June odors
of flowers, and grass, and green growing things. Birds were singing
in the trees which shaded the church, and away out yonder the river
smiled, and the woods beckoned one to cool shadows and mossy
glades.
Thoughts of those glades and shadows occupied Janet in her pew
far more than thoughts of the sermon. But those were not by any
means her only thoughts; once or twice she had ventured an
admirably careless and unstudied glance in the direction of two
young men who were sitting far over at the side of the church, both
of whom were maintaining a commendable and heroic mien of strict
attention to the words of the parson.
It was not, however, Larry Stark who had drawn her glances; her
eyes had been directed toward the clear profile of Larry’s pewmate,

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