https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZDTwJUAZ6PzEQJLOE_W2y29VNepurR3jJF3iVd0ziks/edit?usp=sharing

How to Use:

1. Download the sheet
2. Enter the start date in mm/dd/yyyy format
3. Enter the start time in hh:mm:ss AM/PM format
4. The sheet will then show you how many bottles of formula a day will be tube fed.

In our recent experience, we found a Mandarin speaking nutritionist explaining the complicated process of tube feeding to an Indonesian caretaker. The nutritionist explained all the requirements and how to implement the feeding schedule, but it’s a lot of information for the caretaker to take in all at once! Especially since the caretaker wasn’t immediately familiar with the process.

It can be overwhelming and hard to keep all this complicated information in mind and immediately know what the exact amount to feed or how to move forward. Fortunately, that’s where interpretation comes in handy! By breaking down the complex process into a schedule template the caretaker can understand and find it easy to deal with.

Interpreters help to simplify ideas. For something like tube feeding schedule which can be confusing, we as interpreters have applied the interpretation philosophy and made an easy-to-understand template.

Interpretation is about breaking down ideas making them easy for others to understand. Thanks to interpretation, not only is the challenge that language barriers pose solved, but also information becomes clear through interpretation. Isn’t it interesting to see how interpreters process information and make things easy for the target audience?

One of the highlights of our year is attending the MIIS Career Fair, and it’s so wonderful to return once more! Most of our colleagues at Monterey Language Services are alumni, so it’s always such a great pleasure to go back and speak with the bright and talented students of the best language school in the world–Middlebury Institute of International Studies. It’s a great tradition and privilege to be able to speak with the future minds of our industry.

Empowering Students with Resources

To ensure students had everything they needed, we made our booth informative and approachable. Posters with detailed descriptions of available positions made it easy for them to understand the roles we’re hiring for. Additionally, we put QR codes on the table to allow students to access job postings, sign-up links, and resume submission. This helped to streamline the entire application process and allow for more time to speak with students and create stronger connections with them.

Just like the previous years, the response was phenomenal! A long line of students visited our booth, and many eagerly signed up and submitted their resumes. Their engagement and excitement were absolutely overwhelming! It’s such a special moment for us to see the passion of these bright students and have the opportunity to be a part of their career.

Building Genuine Connections

The best part of the day was the meaningful conversations we had with the students. Many expressed their interest in beginning their professional journey in our company.  It was a privilege to witness their passion and to know we played a small part in helping them take the next steps in their careers.

In general, the energy of the career fair is always so powerful and wonderful to experience. Seeing the students excitedly looking at the vast potential from where to jumpstart their career is not only heartwarming but nostalgic. It’s our absolute pleasure to share in their energy and enthusiasm and help the beginnings of their careers.

A Heartfelt Thank You

To the MIIS community: thank you for organizing another outstanding career fair. As alumni, it’s always an honor for us to return to the campus we come from and participate in such an impactful event.

To the students: thank you for your curiosity, energy, and willingness to connect. We can’t wait to see how your journeys unfold in the years to come.

As we reflect on this wonderful experience, we are already getting so excited for next year’s career fair. We can’t wait to continue making connections with this wonderful community next year as well!

Calling all students interested in sharing their creative minds! Monterey Language Services is creating a series of short AI generated videos that explore the boundless possibilities of tomorrow. And we need YOUR creative vision!

We’re looking for imaginative stories, scenarios that push the boundaries of reality and delve into the truly extraordinary. Think beyond the everyday, beyond the predictable. We want to see the future as you dream it, unbound by limitations.

We are planning to generate AI videos like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7zpyToo_Ls

The above video is a generated video based off the prompt “the creation of the world.” Now, we are looking for a series of stories about the future.

Examples:

• A city floating among the clouds, powered by stardust.
• A world where emotions are tangible, traded like currency.
• A journey into the heart of a sentient AI, exploring its dreams.
• A 2025 child travels into a school in the future and is apprehensive of what is about to happen.

We’re open to any topic, as long as it’s brimming with imagination and takes us beyond the realm of the ordinary.

Your Mission:

• Craft a captivating short story, if chosen, then work with us to generate a video
• Let your imagination soar and create a future that is truly unique.
• Focus on scenarios that are “beyond realistic.”

The Reward:

• The selected stories will receive $250 each and the opportunity to be brought to life through AI filmmaking.

Submission:

• Format: Short Story (Word document) or Video (3 minutes maximum)
• How to Submit: Email your submission to mei-ling@montereylanguages.com with the subject line “Future Story‘’ Please include your name and contact information in the email.

This is the 2^nd entry in our blog series on AI and Human in the new year of 2025 about how AI has been applied to our daily life, its potential and limitations. To demonstrate this, we’ve generated an AI video as an example.

First, we need to choose a topic because AI couldn’t choose for us without our input. Topics crossing our mind ranging from commercials for Monterey Language Service, trends for the translation and language industry, learning to ride bicycle, birds nesting, etc. The videos generated from these topics were unadorned, so we finally decided to make it easy for AI. We chose a topic that has a lot of materials for AI to go on — what is Genesis: A Creation of the Earth Story.

As predicted, the outcome is enjoyable. This video, showcasing the wonder of creation in seven days, the birth of the universe and the origin of life, is a testament to the union of art, technology, and imagination.

Please see the video here: https://youtu.be/u7zpyToo_Ls

We also are in the process of translating the English transcript to create traditional and simplified Chinese versions of the video.

The Process of Making the Script

The next step is to create a script. We wanted it to be detailed, blending poetic imagery with vivid descriptions, so we wrote a script based off Psalm 104 in the bible. The script emphasized a resonant style of classic religious art and modern fantasy aesthetics.

The voice talent came from the AI’s databases. The narration was not exactly what we fed the AI to, instead the AI used our prompt as a reference and generated the transcript read by the AI.

Creating the script using AI was a process of trial and error. Not specifying exactly what should happen in each scene would leave everything up to AI. At the same time, depending on the program there’s a limit to how much information we can feed the AI, so we can’t be overly detailed either. It’s best to think about the AI as someone you’re trying to explain your vision to.

We made all the explanations specifically so that the AI video generator understood and was able to make the video. All the necessity was to give information through human prompts to AI and let it generate everything from its databases.

Getting a result was quick, but the first version that came out needed some work, so it was tweaked by giving the AI notes on the general style of the video. We can specify a western animation style, eastern animation style, or black and white, etc.

After this, the prompt was further edited by dictating each scene. For most video generative AI, this is how you can make sure that the progression of the video happens the way you imagined it. See our dictation of scenes at the end of the blog.

The Potential of Creating an AI Movie

We think AI has chosen a wonderfully vibrant voice who delivers the excitement of first creation and keeps the audience captive. This voice brings out the soul of the video and it’s touching and not mechanic as we thought what AI creation would be like. AI makes videos that are human like. The AI potential is certainly there.

However, as with everything AI, there’s a lot to consider. Right now, AI can handle short, prompt-based videos with simple concepts, but it’s hard to tell what full-length movies made by AI would turn out to be like. There’s a lot that goes into making full movies, so it’s hard to imagine that AI can replace humans or save a lot of human time during the process.

However, this short video we made certainly shows proof of the concept that AI has the potential in making full movies that we are used to watching.

AI as a Creative Partner

After we put the script into the chat box, AI analyzed the script, prepared the video materials and began generating. The whole process took no longer than ten minutes.

The video of Genesis: A Creation of the Earth Story contains both narration and visuals. It’s amazing to see AI can generate a deep, resonant male voice paraphrasing the script, guiding viewers through the journey. The video is rife with video footage with some illustrations that align closely with the scenes described in the script. From the light breaking the darkness to sun and stars, and to the peaceful creation of humankind, each moment is visually represented.

This video is a celebration of creative collaboration between humans and AI. This project highlights how AI can be an invaluable partner in creating artistic projects. From generating visuals to refining language, AI helped us bring our ideas to life.

Despite the wonderful AI work, we noticed some flaws in the video: lack of a cover page and one unrelated B roll. We tried at first to further edit the prompt, telling AI to add a cover page and a title, however, the feedback was “Please clarify ‘subtitle’”.

Making AI delete the unrelated part was not smooth too, so we had to import the video into our usual video editor Adobe Premier Pro to manually delete it.

The conclusion is: Smooth and understandable conversation between humans and AI still has a long way to go. Yet, AI’s strength will grow with user input and will become better and better as long as it is continued to be used.

“Genesis – A Creation Story

Style: Epic, painterly, awe-inspiring, vibrant, and emotionally resonant. Think classic religious paintings combined with modern fantasy art.

Subject: The creation of the universe and life, in seven distinct scenes, each representing a “day” of creation.

Scene 1: Let There Be Light: Focus on the transition from absolute darkness to the first light. A gentle, almost imperceptible breath of color emerges, pushing back the void. Hues of amethyst and rose paint the darkness. Emphasize the quiet power of this moment.

Scene 2: The Firmament: God’s hand sweeps across the canvas, creating the heavens. Waters are separated, forming a shimmering dome. Celestial mist swirls and coalesces. Angels, depicted as beings of pure light, watch in silent awe.

Scene 3: Earth and Seas: The waters below are gathered, and dry land rises. Focus on the emerging continents, still wet and glistening. The land is bare but expectant.

Scene 4: Vegetation: An explosion of life! Plants, grasses, trees of all kinds burst forth. Focus on vibrant greens, from tender shoots to majestic trees laden with fruit. Each seed holds the promise of more life.

Scene 5: Celestial Lights: The sun, moon, and stars are placed in the firmament. The sun blazes with warmth, the moon glows softly, and the stars twinkle like diamonds on black velvet.

Scene 6: Creatures of Sea and Sky: The waters teem with life, from leviathans to tiny fish. Birds of all shapes and sizes fill the air, their wings carrying them across the sky.

Scene 7: Land Animals and Humankind: Animals roam the land, each unique and wondrous. Finally, God creates humankind, breathing life into them and imbuing them with His image. They are placed in a beautiful garden, a paradise of harmony.

Mood: Reverent, majestic, wondrous, peaceful, and ultimately joyful.

Keywords: Creation, God, light, darkness, heavens, earth, seas, plants, animals, humankind, garden, paradise, breath, whisper, symphony, cosmos.

Additional Notes: Pay attention to the details. The textures, light, and colors should evoke a sense of the divine. The overall impression should be one of awe and wonder at the majesty of creation. Consider using a color palette that evolves throughout the scenes, starting with muted tones and gradually becoming more vibrant as life appears.”

The source article is in Chinese. Click the picture to be directed.

We have summarized a very interesting article that highlights the most recent AI development as well as its future. Most of the information and comments are from this link which we translated. AI will become very powerful in every aspect, so the question for humans is how to apply it best in our world.

The next wave of AI: Studying the human brain 

This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics was won by Hopfield and Hinton. They used physics knowledge and tools to respectively invent the well-known artificial neural network, The Hopfield network and the Boltzmann machine, laying an important foundation for machine learning technology and promoting the development of AI.

Artificial neural networks are technologies that imitate the operation of the human brain. Hinton said that if we can understand how the brain adjusts the strength of connections between neurons, we can create amazing AI systems like GPT-4. AI will definitely be better than humans. It will be more intelligent, have a wealth of knowledge, but require far fewer neural connections than humans.

Hassabis, who jointly won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Baker and is the founder of Google DeepMind, believes that the next stage of research can use AI models to analyze the human brain to promote progress in the field of neuroscience. “I think this is a complete cycle. Neuroscience kind of inspired modern AI, and then AI will come back to help us understand what’s special about the brain.”

Can AI knowledge surpass that of humans?

When asked whether or not AI will be able to surpass the knowledge of humans, Hinton said that he believes we’ve already been surpassed. He added that though AI still has the problem of fabricating facts, also known as hallucinating, it doesn’t change the fact that it still has a greater range of knowledge than any human being.

When asked for his comment, Nobel Prize Winner in Medicine, Ruvkun, said that he believes human capabilities have been overestimated, and humans are just as liable to create false information like AI does. This is especially true with the rise of social media, which has only made the situation more serious. He concluded his thoughts by saying that it’s necessary for AI to reach the level of human beings, but it’s not a level that’s too difficult to reach.

Hassabis was also in agreement, and said that AI capabilities will advance rapidly in all aspects. Consequently, it is very important to think about how humans will design the AI systems and how they are applied in the real world.

What is a Hopfield Network?

A Hopfield network is a type of recurrent artificial neural network, often considered a “content-addressable memory,” which is designed to store patterns and can retrieve a complete pattern even when given a partial or noisy input, essentially acting like an associative memory system by minimizing an “energy function” to reach stable states; named after its inventor, John Hopfield.

Structure:

A single layer of neurons where each neuron is connected to every other neuron in the network, with symmetric connections (meaning the weight from neuron A to B is the same as the weight from B to A).

Function:

By adjusting the connection weights, the network can store patterns, and when presented with a partial or noisy version of a stored pattern, it will iteratively update its state to converge towards the closest stored pattern.

Energy Minimization:

The network operates by minimizing an “energy function,” where each state change reduces the energy, eventually leading to a stable state representing a stored pattern.

Applications:

Image restoration, pattern recognition, optimization problems, and understanding associative memory in the brain.

We hope this has been an interesting read. Now, what’s next? We look forward to seeing you in the next blog!

Behind the Scenes

Somewhere out there, if this video reaches someone in the world, and it touches their heart with hope and relief, if that happens, then that is worth all our effort made for this video!

After Thanksgiving, we spent quite some time working on this video. There was a lot of thinking involved in order to make the video exactly the way that we wanted it to be: hopeful and gentle in the new year!

The video has 6 slides, but it can be considered to be 2 parts. The first part with 3 slides is the reflection of our thoughts about changes, challenges, and how to face them. Our answers came out to be to embrace them, to seek the best of the situation, and to tackle them with a comfortable pace.

The second set of another 3 slides is about taking action. The music stops after the first 3 slides and plays again at the 4th. Everything is awakened. It’s about how tomorrow will be better, and the new year will be full of hope, joy, and success.

The pictures of nature are taken from our surroundings. They’ve touched our hearts and serve as inspirations that will guide us along the new year. These simple and soft pictures indicate what we foresee 2025 to be like, and sets the path for the next year.

The first photo: Light is cast on the mountain top and turns the mountain top from green to golden, which signifies magnificent opportunities to come.

The second photo: It’s an image that coincides with the idea of us taking a comfortable stroll into the new year.

The third photo: The text is displayed between clouds, which embraces the message of changes. A rainbow is also a great symbol stretching towards a bright future.

The fourth photo: This is a picture of dawn taken by us, which is filled with hope and beauty.

The music is relaxing, calming, and reflective, which matches our theme perfectly. Every slide is on the beat and not too strong. The music stops at the end of the first set and starts again distinguishes this year from next year.

The video is a collective expression of Monterey Language Services. Through our expression, we hope to make connections with those who come pass our path. We wish everyone a wonderful and successful 2025 and it is filled with optimism and opportunities for growth.

We also have a traditional and simplified Chinese version, which is very convenient for people to greet each other in the new year with positive, uplifting messages.

Following the celebration sound at the end slide, we open the door to the new year! Happy Holidays, Happy 2025, and Happy New Year!

Video

The making of our Thanksgiving video was a journey that reminded us of the unique value human creativity brings to our work.

In a world where AI tools are rapidly evolving, we see AI not as competition but as an opportunity to reflect on the qualities that set us apart.

Our process—rooted in collaboration, thoughtfulness, and emotional nuance—is a testament to the irreplaceable role of the human touch in crafting meaningful connections.

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, we decided to create a heartfelt greeting video to thank everyone—our clients, coworkers, and friends. Through our combined team efforts, we were able to make a video that sets us apart from AI. Here’s our process on how we made this year’s video special.

We gathered photos of our team members in action—focused, collaborating, and working wisely. These images were the perfect way to showcase the dedication and effort we put into every project. Each picture highlighted a different aspect of our work, whether in the office, in meetings, or working remotely.

We also gathered photos of our team celebrating Thanksgiving together. Whether we were sharing a toast, giving thanks, or simply enjoying each other’s company. These images added a joyful, festival touch to the video. It was important for us to show not only our professional side but also the warmth we share as a team.

To step it up a notch, we reached out to Layla and asked her to write a poem that would capture the team, dedication, and the spirit of Thanksgiving. Layla’s words were both thoughtful and inspiring. The poem beautifully expressed our gratitude and teamwork.

In praise of work partners

Integrity, merit, jubilation
Honorably, you display

Collaborative endeavors and dynamic talents
Significant affiliation creates

Vigorous diligence and wise resolutions
Remarkable admiration cultivates

Our heartfelt gratitude we proclaim to you
A bountiful Thanksgiving we wish for you

We carefully selected the best visuals to match each part of the poem, ensuring the transitions felt seamless and natural. We also added more Thanksgiving elements to make the video warmer and more festive.  We show Layla’s poem in its entirety at the end, but have stanzas of her poem alternate with our wishes and pictures of our staff. The result is a very interesting video that will make the viewer feel the warm greetings from Monterey Language Services while making sure that our thanks are conveyed.

One important thing we did in this video was feature our clients. It’s important to show that we’re all more than just a faceless company, but a team of people who are all working toward a common goal. It helps to show harmony, joy, and peace. This is something that we did last year as well, and something that we will continue to do each year.

We made sure that the transitions were consistent across the entire video and had a method where we would have the text fly in, and then when the next slide had pictures, we’d do a door opening effect. The door opening effect was used for all the pictures, but for text-to-text transitions, we had a slide effect. This was all very intentionally engineered to make a very smooth and comforting feel for the viewer as they watched the video.

From start to finish, we made sure every element of the video reflected the gratitude we feel for our clients, coworkers, and friends. It’s not just about the work we do; it’s about the connections we build and the community we’re part of.

Once completed, we were proud to share the final product—a video that not only conveyed our thanks but also celebrated teamwork, dedication, and joy. It was a reminder that the work we do is about more than just business; it’s about the people we collaborate with, and the relationships we build along the way. It has truly been a joy to work with all our clients and we look forward to our continued collaboration!

When people ask us if Chat GPT or AI is a threat to us, we will proudly answer no. We take a higher road that involves beauty, nuances, and uniqueness that only humans work together as a team can create!  AI produced work is plain and predictable. In our opinion, AI in fact has a long way to go in the language industry!

 Introduction

The debate over the effectiveness of artificial intelligence (AI) vs. human capabilities is more relevant than ever. While it’s easy to fall into the trap of viewing them as rivals, the real question is how the two can work together to be more effective. A recent conversation inside Monterey Language Service highlighted this future trend, revealing the crucial role that human expertise plays in AI development.

Humans can make AI better

In copy editing, AI can analyze text for grammatical errors, and even adjust tone and style based on the context. However, as Gary pointed out, AI may handle at best 80-90% of the editing process, but the last step often requires a human touch: flexible, context-aware, and capable of grasping nuances that AI might overlook.

Mei-Ling, on the other hand, argued that the focus should be not on the limitations of AI copy editing but on celebrating its rapid development and the role humans can play in enhancing AI capabilities.

The Path Forward: Enhancing AI with Human Expertise

Mei-Ling emphasized the idea that humans can make AI even better by providing it with high-quality training data. This is an important insight: the future of AI doesn’t lie solely in its inherent capabilities but in its integration with humans.

While refining AI’s editing capabilities, we need to provide it with a variety of professional materials to cut its teeth on. There are several ways that humans can do this, and it all begins with giving AI high quality writing to train on.

But what specific steps should be taken to move forward? There are many things we can do including, but not limited to the following:

• Clearly sharing context information with AI concerning the relevant conversation or the audience
• Exposing AI to detailed examples of human conversation, including informal language, idioms, and regional dialects
• Training AI to recognize and respond to emotional cues
• Sharing cultural nuances and social norms
• Guiding AI to better understand references and humor
• To model turn-taking and back-and-forth dialogue to AI
• Helping AI understand the tone, rhythm and flow of human conversation
• Feeding high quality content to AI
• Providing feedback on how the AI’s responses come across

By combining these approaches, professional linguists can play a vital role in shaping AI. More than ever, we as human translators and interpreters have a lot of work to do, particularly in connection with individual creativity and uniqueness.

Our Previous Blogs about AI

Monterey Language Services has constantly kept an eye on AI development. Our blog series since August of 2023 has been aimed at showing how the synergy of human creativity can elevate AI performance.

Check out our previous blogs about AI:

Professional Copyediting after Content Creation: Staying ahead of the AI curve

Blue and White Porcelain: The Joy of Translation from Behind the Scenes

A Love Letter to Chinese Culture — Blue and White Porcelain Lyrics

Advice to Future Interpreters

Interpreters and Music: Translation Accuracy

Interpreters and Voices: On Human Aura

Interpreters and Voices: On Human Recording

AI Performing Music: On Human Individuality

Diversity and Richness: Interpreters and Music

Thoughts about AI: Interpreters and Music

AI and Translation

These blogs discuss AI’s capabilities, how we have worked with it and what our expectations are.

“AI is able to follow patterns to come up with solutions that others may have thought of and implemented before, but without managing to achieve such originality on their own. Is it possible for AI to progress towards greater individuality and uniqueness?” ( AI Performing Music: On Human Individuality)

“AI is capable, but then can AI interpret our tones, our feelings, our energy, our life, our passion, our emotions, and our sense of mission that professional interpreters have shared?” ( Thoughts about AI: Interpreters and Music)

 Conclusion

Rather than debating whether humans or AI did better in copy editing, the blog is intended to celebrate the collaborative efforts that can make AI development and human creativity progress together. Ultimately, it’s essential to value partnership over competition. The future of copy editing will depend on our ability to combine human expertise with artificial intelligence to create something truly remarkable.

Introduction

When it comes to professional copyediting, the conventional wisdom is that professional translators and editors generally perform better than AI. However, we may find striking similarities between an AI’s output and the professionally edited version.

Recently, we experienced an intriguing situation: after copyediting and publishing a text on our website, we later asked an AI to edit the same raw text. Please see one example below.

Raw version: The video is aimed to relax people, not speed them up,

Professionally edited version: The video is aimed to relax rather than energize,

AI edited version: The video is intended to relax viewers, not energize them,

How does AI ‘write’?

Large language models (LLMs) have been trained on a massive collection of text from books, articles, websites, and other published materials. Over time, our blog could be among those texts included in the training materials.

Generative AI “writes” or “edits” texts by using statistically common phrasing and word combinations that frequently appear together.

However, as more AI writing is created and published on the web, more and more of the training data will be AI generated text.

This may result in degrading performance over time, as more low quality LLM-generated content enters the pool. In writing, this could look like an overrepresentation of certain phrasings that sound awkward to the human reader, “hallucinations,” and other distortions.

A professional, human editor can easily identify these issues. If you use AI as a writing aid, a professional editor can add value by introducing a human element that will make your content stand out.

Our experts can help you stay ahead of the curve. Below are some examples of our professional copyediting. Feel free to contact us for full copyediting services in all languages.

Examples of Professional Copy Editing

Conciseness

Raw version: Layla thought the English translation is poetic, so she read the English lyrics as a poem. She has a gentle and clear voice. Her tone is soothing, and the poem is relaxing. Shreya immediately suggested these all work perfectly for ASMR.
Human Edited version: Layla thought the English translation was poetic, so she performed a reading in her clear and gentle voice. Her soothing tone inspired Shreya to suggest creating an ASMR version.

• These sentences were reworked from 41 words to 29 words.
• Redundancies were removed and similar ideas were combined for a more fluid reading experience.
• The tense was also made consistent throughout the passage.
• Word choice and phrasing were adapted to a more formal register.

Word Choice

Raw version: The video is aimed to relax people, not speed them up, so instead, we slowed the animation down, reducing its speed to half its normal speed, and like magic, all of a sudden, everything became seamlessly in harmony.
Edited version: The video is aimed to relax rather than energize, so we decided to slow the animation down, reducing the speed by half. The effect was immediate and magical. The animation was seamlessly integrated into the rest of the video.

• “Speed [people] up” sounds a little unnatural and might have unwanted connotations. “Energize” is more appropriate in this context.
• “All of a sudden” was replaced with “immediate” to describe the change more clearly.
• “Seamlessly in harmony” was revised to “seamlessly integrated” to fix the grammar of the sentence.
• The long, run-on sentence was broken up into multiple sentences. Varying sentence lengths makes for a better reading experience, and a shorter sentence between longer ones helps add emphasis.

Style

Raw Version: Some words such as the “jiangnan” area were not possible to include. It is a word that can evoke so much imagery to a Chinese listener, but there was not anything appropriate that fit and could evoke the same imagery to an English speaker.
Edited Version: On the other hand, we omitted the reference to the Jiangnan region altogether. As Jiangnan’s literal meaning is “south of the river,” we gave up geographic specificity but kept its romantic associations by using the word “enchanted” in the same line.

• The copyedited version explains the meaning of Jiangnan and elaborates on the trade-offs in the translation. Instead of stating that nothing could evoke the same imagery as the Chinese words to the English language audience, the copyedited version clarifies that translation strove to preserve its romantic associations at the expense of geographic specificity.

Conclusion

Copyediting is especially important in today’s digital landscape, where AI-generated writing is becoming more common. Over time, if the training data pool becomes more saturated with AI-created content, there is concern that the current performance state of AI will be negatively affected.

Therefore, it is essential for the AI industry to utilize human experts to improve on AI generated text. We as language professionals can stay ahead with our unique and creative perspectives.

A professional copyeditor can polish your content to present your ideas in their best form. Having your work edited by a natural language expert will keep it sounding fresh.

Professional copyediting may be even more valuable if performed by an editor who can provide a fresh perspective. Consider hiring an editor outside of your team!

It may be easy to overlook the importance of having your content professionally copyedited prior to publication. Below are some reminders for today’s fast-paced digital world.

• Copyediting tightens up the message of your content and improves readability.
• Expert advice can help your work attain its maximum potential.
• A creative human touch can take your content beyond AI’s limitations.

After a summer’s worth of hard work, we are proud to share our latest project: a video series diving into the charming world of Jay Chou’s iconic song, “Blue and White Porcelain.”

The series consists of three engaging parts:

1. Educational Video: An introduction to the key terms and concepts in the song, providing valuable insight into its cultural and historical references.
2. English Translation: A clear and thoughtful translation of the lyrics, making the poetic beauty of the song accessible to a broader audience.
3. ASMR Lyrics Reading: A soothing experience featuring an ASMR reading of the lyrics, allowing you to enjoy the lyrics in a unique and calming way.

Click to watch all three parts combined in one video on YouTube.

Feedback Received

It is delightful to be able to engage our clients in a dialogue about culture, poetry and translation!

A client of Monterey Language Services shared a wonderful interpretation of Blue and White Porcelain of her own with us after reading our translation. She thought the song described the beloved landscape scenery of China as captured in blue and white porcelain pottery.

How did this story happen? Let us share how Monterey Language Services turned this beautiful piece into a fascinating project!

Spreading the Joy of Translation

The song “Blue and White Porcelain” by Taiwanese artist Jay Chou was released in 2007, so why did we choose it for our 2024 summer project? The idea didn’t come after a lot of planning or brainstorming, but as a sudden enlightenment.

At the start of the summer, Mei-Ling kept hearing “Blue and White Porcelain” in different places, so she decided to learn it. The more she sang the song, the more the beauty of the Chinese culture embedded in the lyrics resonated with her. Appreciating the poetry of the lyrics, Monterey Language Services decided to share the song with a broader audience by translating the Chinese lyrics into English.

Even non-Chinese speakers were able to join in this effort. In this video, Layla, a Spanish interpreter whose native language is English, read the translation as a poem. We then developed the reading further using ASMR techniques.

This story is an inspiring example of the power of translation to facilitate communication between people of different languages and cultures.

Collaborative Teamwork

This project is the product of collaboration between many colleagues and professionals. The end result surpasses what one person is capable of doing alone.

We started the project with Christoph, whose Chinese-to-English translation follows the syllable-count and meter of the original song and provided the foundation for what was to come. See our previous blog post for more information.

After the English translation video was complete, Shreya joined in. She suggested adding an educational video with eye-catching images to explain the key terms in the lyrics.

Layla thought the English translation was poetic, so she performed a reading in her clear and gentle voice. Her soothing tone inspired Shreya to suggest creating an ASMR version.

Finally, we wanted to create a complete sensory experience. Gary edited the background music and added sound effects such as rain falling on leaves, fire crackling, and pottery wheel clicking. These effects enhanced the video and made it atmospheric.

We are proud to mention that the younger generation also played a part. The background image of the ASMR video was drawn by De-Yi Lee, a junior high school student.

For this project, we have many people to thank, including the song’s original composer and singer Jay Chou and lyricist Vincent Fang. The song inspired a lot of creativity, which has made this project very enjoyable.

Through the collaborative efforts of many talented individuals, we were able to produce a video with a clear vision.

Video Editing

The combined video has three parts, and we created it in three different phases. As the videos consist of many different elements, video editing was required to combine and synchronize them. Smoothing the audio and creating seamless transitions between different segments were also fun to handle.

In the introduction to Parts One and Two, we used a stunning animated image of falling flower petals, while a blue and white bowl rotates in the background. On its own, the animation is beautiful, but when put it into our video, we felt that the speed was a little too fast.

The video is aimed to relax rather than energize, so we decided to slow the animation down, reducing the speed by half. The effect was immediate and magical. The animation was seamlessly integrated into the rest of the video.

From start to finish, we made sure that there are smooth transitions throughout the video. Our aim was to find a balance between joy and serenity as well as between majesty and simplicity, while maintaining a relaxing mood on the whole.

Translation Journey

Before translating the lyrics, we took the time to decide on our approach. We weren’t merely trying to produce a mechanical, one-to-one translation of the words. Instead, we aimed to create a singable English version that mirrored the rhythm and flow of the original song.

At the same time, we also wanted to faithfully convey the story told by the original lyrics. Therefore, every word went through a great deal of consideration and scrutiny.

To keep the translation accessible and easy for a non-Chinese audience to understand, some proper nouns had to be dropped. These included references to a Song dynasty style potter’s mark on a vase, and a town in Jiangnan, a region in China known for its romantic river scenery.

Both terms are richly evocative to a Chinese listener, but their dense cultural meanings could not be explained within the limitations of the syllable count.

For the Song dynasty reference, we simplified the phrase to “old potter’s mark”. Although “antique” may have been better at capturing the intended meaning, “old” was a better fit for the syllable count.

On the other hand, we omitted the reference to the Jiangnan region altogether. As Jiangnan’s literal meaning is “south of the river,” we gave up geographic specificity but kept its romantic associations by using the word “enchanted” in the same line.

After a process of painstaking deliberation, we are happy with the translation. It is both faithful to the original lyrics and singable to the original meter.

Interpretations of the Song

Song lyrics can be considered a form of poetry and can have many different interpretations. During the translation of the song, we had a debate about whether the speaker in the lyrics is addressing a blue and white porcelain vase or a human love interest.

One interpretation was that the speaker is an art lover recalling his encounter with a beautiful blue and white porcelain vase in Jiangnan. The art lover’s treasure hunt led him to discover the porcelain vase hidden behind a splashed-ink landscape painting among other works of Chinese art.

The other interpretation is that this is a love song that uses metaphors from Chinese art to describe his longing and the beauty of his lover.

Creative translation, also known as transcreation, of works such as “Blue and White Porcelain” can spark lively discussion, as there can be many different interpretations of the same text.