Speech Technologies, Translation and Communication
Programme
Wednesday, 22 February 2023 11.15 – 14.30
11.15 – 11.30
Welcome
Eleni Paleologou
Deputy Head of the Representation of the European Commission in Greece
Katerina Nicolaides
Professor, Head of the Joint Postgraduate Program in Conrference Interpratation and Translation, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (European Master’s in Translation)
11.30 – 12.00
Experience in adapting speech-to-text systems at the European Commission
The presentation will provide an overview of the practical work done recently at the European Commission adapting speech recognition systems based on several popular speech-to-text models, describing the implementation details, challenges encountered and future plans.
Vilmantas Liubinas
Computational linguist – Information Technology, DG Translation, European Commision
Vilmantas Liubinas holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the Central European University (Budapest). He has a decade-long experience working as a translator at the European Court of Auditors. For three years he has worked at the European Commission as a computational linguist at the eTranslation team of the Directorate-General for Translation (DGT) whose main field of activity is the machine translation in a multitude of languages relevant in the EU context. He has been currently involved in adapting and developing speech recognition systems.
12.00 – 12.30
Live Speech-to-text and Machine Translation Tool for 24 Languages
The talk will present how an innovative European Parliament project aims to facilitate real-time accessibility to multilingual debates for all EU citizens’
Martina Giannarelli
Communications Assistant, Speech-to-Text Unit, DG Translation, European Parliament
Martina Giannarelli holds a BA in Foreign Languages from the University of Pisa (Italy) and MA in Conference Interpreting and Translation Studies from the University of Leeds (United Kingdom). For about five years, she worked in two private-sector translation agencies in London, coordinating conference interpreters’ teams for international, multilingual events. In 2019 she joined the European Parliament in Brussels as a trainee Career Events Coordinator at the DG for Logistics and Interpretation for Conferences. Following her traineeship, she then moved to the DG for Translation, in Luxembourg, where she is currently working as Communications Assistant for the Speech-to-text Unit.
12.30 – 13.00
Automatic speech recognition for Greek
The talk will be on the current state-of-the-art for speech recognition in Greek for various domains: dictation, call-center conversations, human-machine interaction, Greek parliament.
Athanasios Katsamanis
Principal researcher, Institute of Language and Speech Processing, ATHENA Research and Innovation Center
Nassos Katsamanis, Ph.D., is a Principal Researcher at the Institute for Language and Speech Processing (ILSP) at Athena R.C. since 2019, conducting research on multimodal speech processing, multimodal human-computer interaction, and dialogue systems. Nassos is also the CTO of Behavioral Signal Technologies, Inc. He works with a team of engineers on the research and development of conversation analytics based on the affective computing of spoken interactions. He got his M.Eng (with highest honors) and Ph.D. from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) in 2003 and 2009 respectively, and after that, he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Viterbi School of Engineering at USC for almost three years.
13.00 – 13.15
Break
13.15 – 13.45
Why and How to Start Using Your Voice in Translation
This hands-on session will invite participants to adopt a “lean philosophy” in translation and progressively integrate speech recognition technologies into their translation workflow.
Julián Zapata
Toronto Metropolitan University & InTrTechnologies, Canada
Dr. Julián Zapata is a certified translator, a translation researcher, and an entrepreneur. He is an Assistant Professor at the Toronto Metropolitan University. He completed his PhD in Translation Studies (2016) at the University of Ottawa, where he also taught an array of courses including English, Spanish and French translation, translation technology and professional aspects of translation. Julián has worked internationally in several projects related to translation processes, language technologies, and translator training, with several publications and dozens of presentations, guest lectures and plenary speeches in more than 25 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas.
13.45 – 14.30
Speech-to-text for translator trainees/trainers working with Greek: some insights and exercises
This hands-on session will invite participants who work with Greek to playfully explore speech-to text applications when translating.
Kyriaki Kourouni
Department of Translation and Intercultural Studies, School of English Language and Literature, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Kyriaki Kourouni holds a BA (Hons; AUTh), an MA in Translation (University of Surrey/UK), as well as a DEA in Translation and Intercultural Studies and a European Doctorate (Universitat Rovira i Virgili/Spain). After a five-year stint with the Hellenic Data Protection Authority, she joined the School of English, AUTh, where she teaches courses related to translation technology and translation studies. Her research interests include translator training and translation technology. She has been active as a translator and subtitler. She has served as board member of several associations, including the Panhellenic Association of Translators (2008-2010) and the European Society for Translation Studies (2016-2022). She is currently a Board Member of the Greek Applied Linguistics Association (2021-2023).
Effrosyni Fragkou
Department of English Language and Literature, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Effrossyni Fragkou is an Associate Lecturer in the Department of English Language and Literature (University of Athens/NKUA), specializing in translation theory and practice and in healthcare interpreting. She holds a BA in French Language and Literature (NKUA); an MA in Trilingual Translation (ITIRI/France); an MA in Translation Studies (York University, Canada); a Ph.D. in Translation Studies (University of Ottawa); currently, she is a Ph.D candidate in medical interpreting (Ionian University). She is a translator and healthcare interpreter. Since 2012, she has been teaching healthcare interpreting in the MA program of Conference Interpreting at York University (Canada). Effie is active in the academia (publications, conferences, etc.).
Organised by
“Conference Interpreting and Translation”
