Program

Dive into a delightful blend of fun and networking at Wordfast Forward's Mini-Golf Tournament! Users and developers, come showcase your putting prowess at one of Sitges' premier mini-golf courses. An unforgettable experience, where the world of tech meets the thrill of the game. Don't miss this chance to bond, compete, and create memories!

See the Networking page for details.

Meet up with friends and colleagues for this informal gathering before the conference gets underway. See the Networking page for details.

Welcome address, introductions, and messages from our sponsors.

Responsible AI, Green AI, AI for Social Good, Fair AI, Ethically Aligned Design are all terms encompassed under a generic umbrella usually pertained to Ethics and AI. 

This topic has been very disruptive, but still fairly broad and with substantial concrete actions needed, since it is known that the political power and industry will be heavily impacted by the legislation and market rules of Responsible (in the sense of accountable) AI at present and in the near future. 

The realms of the impact of Responsible AI are not just confined to the technical, research, and industry applications, they are also implicated in everyday’s actions of each citizen and affects all areas of society. 

This talk will introduce the core concepts and pillars of Responsible AI, emphasize the main initiatives created, and discuss, based on concrete examples, the ethical concerns around several AI applications. We will zoom in and have a closer look on Machine Translation (MT), to tune our contextualised view on Responsible AI and apply it to the scope of multimodal, multilingual and multicultural MT. The talk will also cover examples of research projects in Responsible AI and initiatives to create world-wide Centres for Responsible AI, aligned with the Sustainable Developmental Goals of the United Nations, and their core challenges to embrace industry differentiation with Responsible AI and human benefit.

• Freshly brewed coffee and cakes

Product managers of different Wordfast tools (Anywhere, Classic, Pro, Server, AutoAligner) will briefly showcase the improvements and new features that have made their way into Wordfast since the last user conference.

Level: All

Hot and cold buffet of Catalan specialties, choice of grilled meat, fish or vegan. Mixed desserts. Water, beer and wine.

Unravel the enigma of Large Language Models (LLM) in this engaging session! Is the buzz around LLMs justified? We’ll dissect the facts and debunk myths. Explore the current constraints of LLMs and learn how to harness their power effectively. Discover how LLM and Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) tools can work in harmony to revolutionize your translation process with a practical example. Join us for a deep dive into the future of linguistics!

Level: Intermediate

Meet with developers or expert users from our tech support team for one-to-one sessions to resolve specific problems or describe features or improvements you would like to see on the development roadmap for your particular tool.

• Freshly brewed coffee and cakes

Improvisation is the art of creating something spontaneously without a script or a plan and often associated with comedy, theater, and music, but it can also be a valuable skill for business. Did you know that improvisation can help you transform the way you work, pitch, present, and communicate? We will do some general icebreaker and warm-up games to get to know each other. Then we will proceed to scene work where you will be surprised at what kind of personalities might come out and how easy it is to come across as a confident and businesslike person even if you are actually a hermit chained to your laptop most of the time. By the end of the session, you will have learned some new skills, made some new friends, and had a lot of fun.

Level: All

Meet with developers or expert users from our tech support team for one-to-one sessions to resolve specific problems or describe features or improvements you would like to see on the development roadmap for your particular tool.

Having recently taken part in a game show in France in her source language, Ruth got to thinking about challenges we could set for ourselves in our source languages to expand our cultural and linguistic understanding as translators. In her presentation, she will talk about opportunities attendees might consider to improve their source language, whether they are living in their source-language country or elsewhere. She will cover language tests, life experiences, volunteering, family events, professional opportunities... and game shows!

Level: All

Meet with developers or expert users from our tech support team for one-to-one sessions to resolve specific problems or describe features or improvements you would like to see on the development roadmap for your particular tool.

Participants will be asked to submit questions they want to discuss. We will compile these submissions and use them to assign themes to several round tables. During this session, participants can sit at the round table whose topic they are most interested in learning more about or sharing knowledge and best practices with their peers. Moderators will briefly summarize discussions at each table at the end.

Level: All

Check out the Networking page for details about this gala dinner party. Please wear white with a blue or red accessory (for pictures’ sake!).

This session will focus on understanding the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on businesses in today’s fast-paced environment. We will explore the challenges of implementing AI solutions and identify strategies for maintaining a competitive edge over time. The discussion will provide insights into how AI is reshaping the global landscape, with a special emphasis on its effects on small businesses. We’ll examine current AI products and services that can enhance your business operations. Attendees will gain practical knowledge to effectively adapt to the dynamic and uncertain business world through AI applications.

Level: All

Ever felt an itch for a particular feature in Wordfast or have a brilliant solution for a lingering issue? Here's your golden chance! Join the Wordfast Feature Hackathon, where users meet developers to shape the future of translation tools. See the description below for the format.

Level: All

• Freshly brewed coffee and cakes

Participants will first pitch their challenges or feature ideas, after which teams will naturally form based on interests and expertise. With a mix of users and developers in each group, teams will collaboratively ideate, design, and start the development process. As the morning progresses, there will be periodic checkpoints where moderators will provide feedback and guidance to ensure teams are on the right track. At the end of the morning, each team will have the opportunity to showcase their concepts or prototypes. A panel of Wordfast experts and audience votes will determine the most promising solutions, with potential considerations for integration into future Wordfast releases.

Level: All

Discover Pastey, ProZ.com’s newly released companion app that allows translators to combine their human expertise with technological innovation.

Level: All

Do you really know your keyboard? In this session, Reginaldo will guide you on a tour of its secrets and possibilities, including a study of the rationale behind the arrangement and functioning of its different types of keys. Throughout the journey, participants will get to know numerous shortcuts and other key combinations to be used in different levels: in OS-wide tasks, in different programs, and specifically in Wordfast (mostly Pro).

Level: All

Meet with developers or expert users from our tech support team for one-to-one sessions to resolve specific problems or describe features or improvements you would like to see on the development roadmap for your particular tool.

Ever need to do more than just simple edits to your Wordfast TMs (or TMXs from other tools)? Enter the new PlusTools, a next generation Swiss army knife for global TM operations, such as search/replace, filtering, merging, cleaning, and anonymizing. This session will survey the tool’s features, then show how to import a Wordfast Pro TMX and perform a few of the aforementioned operations. The session will also provide instructions for running the Windows-only tool on Mac and Linux without needing Windows.

Level: Advanced

Meet with developers or expert users from our tech support team for one-to-one sessions to resolve specific problems or describe features or improvements you would like to see on the development roadmap for your particular tool.

• Freshly brewed coffee and cakes

Based on personal experience, this session presents a series of tips, dos and don’ts to show how it is possible to start and develop your business as a freelance translator working with direct clients instead of agencies.

Level: All

Meet with developers or expert users from our tech support team for one-to-one sessions to resolve specific problems or describe features or improvements you would like to see on the development roadmap for your particular tool.

Michael conducted an anonymous online survey in 2022 to gain insight into the proportion of translators that use machine translation (MT) in their translation workflow and the various ways they do. How does experience correlate with likelihood to accept MT post-editing (MTPE) assignments? Does working with lower-resource languages affect the statistics? How many translators use MT in their own workflow? Do the respondents that declared that they use MT while translating always or usually use it in the way the pioneers of MT envisaged, i.e., MTPE? Or do they prefer to use MT in a whole range of other ways, such as enabling MT functions in CAT tools and doing hybrid post-editing; using MT engines as if they were dictionaries; and using MT for inspiration? Do professional translators see MT as just another tool that their clients do not necessarily need to be informed about? By the end of this session, participants will have gained insight into how their colleagues use MT in their translation workflow and may be inspired to adopt some of their working methods

Level: All

Meet with developers or expert users from our tech support team for one-to-one sessions to resolve specific problems or describe features or improvements you would like to see on the development roadmap for your particular tool.

Sharing glossaries can be helpful in various contexts and highly beneficial when facilitating effective communication and understanding. However, it is essential to consider the glossary’s context, purpose, and cultural sensitivity before deciding to share it. In this presentation, the speaker will deal with situations where sharing glossaries is not recommended or might not be a good idea.

Level: All

Meet with developers or expert users from our tech support team for one-to-one sessions to resolve specific problems or describe features or improvements you would like to see on the development roadmap for your particular tool.

Stick around for a prize drawing, a few closing remarks, and to find out where next year’s conference will take place.

Time to kick back, relax, and enjoy the rest of your tax-deductible business trip to Sitges with some local fare in this typcial Catalan house! Check out the Networking page for details about this dinner.

PENEDES WINE & CAVA DAY TRIP

Join Spanish Trails on May 18th, 2024, for a captivating Penedès Wine & Cava Day Trip, exploring boutique wineries, savoring hand-selected wines and cavas, and indulging in traditional Catalan cuisine, all seamlessly complemented by door-to-door transportation from Sitges.

See the Networking page for more details. Pre-book when registering and pay on site.