Internet translator to upset portals’ pecking order

By Yoon Ja-young

When the tragic earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, and the ensuing nuclear crisis worsened the situation, many South Koreans headed to Japanese websites for the latest news. They copied the news, ran it on Google translator, and shared it with other Internet users here. Some of them were faster than news released from the press, and the language seemed to be no barrier for them.

Internet translators have made much progress over the past decade. They still have a lot to improve on, but their development is slowly opening doors to major changes. Korean Web users who have been confined by Korean language Internet are getting access to a virtual ocean of information. Local portals, meanwhile, are facing a threat.

Translation improving

The Internet has become the first source of information for many, but it is doubtful whether users here have truly free access. “Text in Korean makes up less than 1 percent on the Internet. The remaining 99 percent has been useless,” says Lois Kim, head of PR & marketing for Google in Korea.

She said that Google regards it as its mission to make all information accessible. It has thus been making huge investment in developing an Internet translator, and its translation has made amazing progress since 2004, when Google founder Sergey Brin ran a message from a fan in Korea through its translation service and got “The sliced raw fish shoes it wishes. Google green onion thing!” Currently, Google Translate, which provides services in 57 languages, is regarded as inarguably the best.

The Google translator is based on data. The result is coarse at first, but it improves upon compilation of data. Each time, it gets closer to the exact translation that people wanted. The translator still needs significant improvement, but analysts say the tipping point is nearing.

“Few people used translation services during the past decade due to poor quality. They are not perfect even now, but they have improved enough to help users understand much of foreign content,” an Internet analyst said. “As more people are starting to use them, they will improve even more upon accumulation of data. I think it is nearing a tipping point where language will cease to be a barrier,” he said.

Translation between those in the same language group, such as Italian and Spanish or Korean and Japanese, works quite smoothly. Translation between Korean and English is also better than that between Korean and Arabic thanks to the compilation of data.

Local portals face slump

The removal of the language barrier, however, is posing a threat to local portals like Naver, Daum and Nate, which have been dominating the Korean Internet world. They have already been showing signs of slumping as they have been confined to local markets. According to Alexa.com, a Web information company, Google is the top site on the Web, followed by Facebook, YouTube, Yahoo, Live, and Baidu. Naver, the biggest portal in the country, ranked at 215th, Daum at 350th and Nate at 746th. The fall of local portals seems evident when compared with the rankings in December 2005. Naver ranked at 18th, Daum 30th, and Nate 53rd back then. As Korean language Internet users are less than 50 million in total, their growth has limitations.

They are likely to face a bigger threat when the language barrier is torn down to allow access to the wealth of global data. “The translation service means there will be alternative content for Koreans. For local portals which have until now monopolized the content provision, this could be a serious threat,” an analyst said.

Global portals, meanwhile, are seeing opportunities here.

“Yahoo has operations overseas, so it will be easier for us to introduce contents around the world to the local market,” said Park Hae-dong, PR & communication senior manager at Yahoo Korea. Yahoo also has a translation service, and the portal in Korea has many who use the Japanese translation service, with Yahoo Japan being the top portal in Japan.

Some expect the whole society to see change upon the development of translation services.

People will be enjoying diverse content around the world. They will receive an infinite amount of information, and society will have to accept diversity as well.

인터넷번역기 포털에 지각변동 가져올까?

대지진과 쓰나미가 일본을 덮치고, 잇따른 원전 위기가 상황을 악화시키자 많은 한국인들은 최신뉴스를 얻기 위해 일본 사이트를 방문했다. 그들은 뉴스를 긁어서 구글 번역기에 돌려 다른 네티즌들과 공유했다. 그들 중 몇몇은 언론사 보도보다도 빨리 움직였으며, 그들에게 언어는 장벽이 되지 못했다.

인터넷 번역기는 지난 10년간 많은 발전을 이루었다. 아직도 개선될 점이 많지만, 번역기의 발전은 서서히 많은 변화의 문을 열고 있다. 한국어 인터넷에 갖혀 있던 한국 네티즌들은 진정한 정보의 바다에 접근하고 있다. 반면 토종 포털들은 위기를 맞고 있다.

진화하는 번역

많은 사람들에게 있어 인터넷은 가장 중요한 정보원이 되었다. 하지만 한국의 네티즌들이 진정한 의미의 자유로운 접근을 즐기고 있는지는 의문이다. “인터넷에서 한국으로 된 텍스트는 1퍼센트도 되지 않습니다. 나머지 99퍼센트는 무용지물이었던 셈이지요,” 구글코리아의 홍보담당인 로이스 킴이 말했다.

그녀는 구글은 모든 정보를 접근가능케 하는 것을 미션으로 생각한다고 말했다. 그래서 구글은 인터넷번역기 개발에 많은 투자를 해왔으며, 구글의 번역기는 구글 창립자인 세르게이 브린이 한국의 팬으로부터 온 메시지를 번역기에 넣고 돌려 “The sliced raw fish shoes it wishes. Google green onion thing!” 라는 결과를 얻었던 2004년에 비해 놀라운 발전을 이루었다. 현재 구글번역은 57개 언어로 서비스를 제공하고 있으며, 명실상부한 최고로 평가받고 있다.