Can AI be trusted to translate all our museum catalogs, artwork labels, and gallery guides well, by itself? (Hint: Nope. And we’ll find out why.)
Can a machine capture what an artist really meant? What happens when a technically correct translation is culturally embarrassing? Why do museums need both linguists and reviewers? Is there such a thing as “universal” Spanish? How can you make a museum multilingual without starting completely over? And when does translation become part of the artwork itself?
Will Lach (Director of Sales, Eriksen Translations) discusses “Lost in Translation: The Multilingual Museum in the Age of AI” with MtM host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio).
Along the way: Tagalog in San Francisco, beer gardens in Amsterdam, and a dog in Prospect Park.
Talking Points:
1. What do museums translate?
2. What counts as good translation?
3. The Linguist and the Reviewer
4. Which Spanish?
5. Can museums be multilingual?
6. AI and Yoko Ono
How to Listen:
Listen on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/making-the-museum/id1674901311
Listen on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6oP4QJR7yxv7Rs7VqIpI1G
Listen at Making the Museum, the Website:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/podcast
Links to Every Podcast Service, via Transistor:
https://makingthemuseum.transistor.fm/
Guest Bio:
Will Lach helps Eriksen Translations partners find the best way to reach their multilingual audiences. As Director of Sales, he builds long-term relationships in the culture, nonprofit, and healthcare sectors. Before coming to Eriksen, Will led creative teams for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, forged publishing partnerships for the American Museum of Natural History, and was editorial director at Abbeville Press. Today he oversees Eriksen’s sales and business development efforts. A Brooklyn resident of more than 25 years, Will can be found in Prospect Park during off-leash hours and on his Kensington stoop after work.
About Making the Museum:
Making the Museum is a newsletter and podcast on exhibitions, written and hosted by Jonathan Alger. MtM is a project of C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio.
Learn more about the creative work of C&G Partners:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/
Links for This Episode:
Will by Email:
Will.Lach@eriksen.com
Will on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/will-lach/
Eriksen Translations:
https://eriksen.com
Links for Making the Museum, the Podcast:
Contact Making the Museum:
https://www.makingthemuseum.com/contact
Host Jonathan Alger, Managing Partner of C&G Partners, on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanalger
Email Jonathan Alger:
alger@cgpartnersllc.com
C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio:
https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/
Making the Museum, the Newsletter:
Like the show? You might enjoy the newsletter. Making the Museum is also a free weekly email about exhibitions for museum leaders and teams. (And newsletter subscribers are the first to hear about new episodes of this podcast.)
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[Podcast] Lost in Translation: The Multilingual Museum in the Age of AI, with Will Lach
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