Steven Schwaitzberg: A universal translator for surgeons

Translator: Timothy Covell Reviewer: Morton Bast

翻译人员: Sharon Yan 校对人员: dahong zhang

So I want to talk to you about two things tonight.

今晚，我想同大家讲两件事

Number one:

第一

Teaching surgery and doing surgery

教人做外科手术和做外科手术

is really hard.

真的很难。

And second,

第二

that language is one of the most profound things

语言，在这个世界上语言

that separate us all over the world.

将我们彼此远远地隔开。

And in my little corner of the world,

并且，在我的那一方小天地里，

these two things are actually related,

这两件事息息相关，

and I want to tell you how tonight.

今晚，我会告诉大家我的理由。

Now, nobody wants an operation.

现在，没人想做手术

Who here has had surgery?

在座的有人接受过外科手术吗？

Did you want it?

你当时想接受外科手术吗？

Keep your hands up if you wanted an operation.

如果想，请继续举手。

Nobody wants an operation.

没人愿意。

In particular, nobody wants an operation

尤其是，没人想要这种

with tools like these through large incisions

运用工具大面积缝合的

that cause a lot of pain,

带来不少疼痛的

that cause a lot of time out of work or out of school,

耽误大量上班、上课的时间，

that leave a big scar.

最后会留下巨大疤痕的手术。

But if you have to have an operation,

但是，如果你不得不接受手术

what you really want is a minimally invasive operation.

你期望一个微创手术

That's what I want to talk to you about tonight --

这个，就是我今晚想聊的：

how doing and teaching this type of surgery

自己进行、并且教会别人这种手术的想法

led us on a search

使得我们开始寻找一个

for a better universal translator.

优秀的，通用翻译器

Now, this type of surgery is hard,

好的，刚刚讲到，微创手术很难

and it starts by putting people to sleep,

它从让人麻醉睡觉开始

putting carbon dioxide in their abdomen,

然后把二氧化碳注入人的腹部

blowing them up like a balloon,

向吹气球一样吹起来

sticking one of these sharp pointy things into their abdomen --

把尖头的工具刺进腹部

it's dangerous stuff --

很危险

and taking instruments and watching it on a TV screen.

需要一边拿工具，一边对着显像屏幕观察

So let's see what it looks like.

实际情况差不多是这样

So this is gallbladder surgery.

这是一个胆囊手术

We perform a million of these a year

我们一年得做上百万例

in the United States alone.

仅仅在美国就这么多。

This is the real thing. There's no blood.

这是真事，一点血液都看不到

And you can see how focused the surgeons are,

你看，手术师多么全神贯注

how much concentration it takes.

精力完全集中。

You can see it in their faces.

看他们的面部表情就知道

It's hard to teach, and it's not all that easy to learn.

这手术很难教，也很难学

We do about five million of these in the United States

我们在美国做了五百万例

and maybe 20 million of these worldwide.

全世界大概两千万例

All right, you've all heard the term:

嗯，估计大家都听过这句话

"He's a born surgeon."

“他天生就是个手术师。”

Let me tell you, surgeons are not born.

要我说，手术师没有天生的

Surgeons are not made either.

也不是制造出来的

There are no little tanks where we're making surgeons.

我们找不到一个培养容器能够生产他们

Surgeons are trained one step at a time.

手术师是一步一步训练出来的

It starts with a foundation, basic skills.

首先从最基本的技能开始

We build on that and we take people, hopefully, to the operating room

然后在此基础上，有希望的话，把他们带进手术室

where they learn to be an assistant.

在那儿，他们学会怎么做助理。

Then we teach them to be a surgeon in training.

之后，训练他们怎么做手术师

And when they do all of that for about five years,

学大概五年

they get the coveted board certification.

拿到证书

If you need surgery, you want to be operated on

如果你必须接受手术，有证书的手术师

by a board-certified surgeon.

是你的优先考虑对象。

You get your board certificate,

好了，拿到了证书

and you can go out into practice.

就可以实战演练了

And eventually, if you're lucky, you achieve mastery.

最终，足够幸运的话，会变成大师级别

Now that foundation is so important

这其中，基础至关重要

that a number of us

我们当中的一些人

from the largest general surgery society in the United States, SAGES,

来自美国最大的手术协会，SAGES（内镜外科医师学会），

started in the late 1990s a training program

在90年代后期，创立了一个培训项目

that would assure that every surgeon who practices minimally invasive surgery

确保每一个进行微创手术的外科医生

would have a strong foundation of knowledge and skills

都有过硬的知识和技能

necessary to go on and do procedures.

让他们顺利的完成手术

Now the science behind this is so potent

这后面蕴含的科学性显而易见

that it became required by the American Board of Surgery

美国手术委员会的硬性要求

in order for a young surgeon to become board certified.

每一个新进手术师都参与培训才能拿到认证。

It's not a lecture, it's not a course,

这不仅仅是一个讲座，亦不仅是课程

it's all of that plus a high-stakes assessment.

而是除上述两者之外，还要加上高风险的评估。

It's hard.

非常困难

Now just this past year,

仅仅去年一年

one of our partners, the American College of Surgeons,

我们的合作伙伴之一：美国手术师学院

teamed up with us to make an announcement

同我们联合宣布

that all surgeons should be FLS (Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery)-certified

所有的手术师都必须通过FLS (腹腔镜手术基本知识)考试

before they do minimally invasive surgery.

之后才能进行微创手术

And are we talking about just people here in the U.S. and Canada?

仅仅是美国和加拿大的手术师吗？

No, we just said all surgeons.

不，全世界的

So to lift this education and training worldwide

所以，要推广这个全球性的教育和训练

is a very large task,

会是一项非常庞大的任务

something I'm very personally excited about as we travel around the world.

我个人很兴奋，因为我们全世界地旅行

SAGES does surgery all over the world, teaching and educating surgeons.

SAGES在世界范围内进行手术，并提供培训

So we have a problem, and one of the problems is distance.

所以现在就有个问题，距离

We can't travel everywhere.

我们不能每个角落都顾及到

We need to make the world a smaller place.

我们得把这个世界变小一点

And I think that we can develop some tools to do so.

或许开发一些工具能够解决这个问题

And one of the tools I like personally is using video.

其中一个我个人非常喜欢的工具就是视频沟通。

So I was inspired by a friend.

这是我某位朋友启发我的

This is Allan Okrainec from Toronto.

他叫艾伦 奥科莱耐，来自多伦多

And he proved

他证明了

that you could actually teach people to do surgery

可以用视频会议

using video conferencing.

教会人如果做手术

So here's Allan teaching an English-speaking surgeon in Africa

这里是艾伦正在教一个居住在非洲、会讲英语的手术师

these basic fundamental skills

这些基本技能

necessary to do minimally invasive surgery.

是进行微创手术的必备知识

Very inspiring.

非常具有启发性

But for this examination, which is really hard,

但是，对于这个困难的测试

we have a problem.

我们还有一个问题

Even people who say they speak English,

即便人们会讲英语

only 14 percent pass.

仅有14%的人通过测试

Because for them it's not a surgery test,

因为对于他们而言，这不是个手术考试

it's an English test.

而是个英语考试

Let me bring it to you locally.

我讲的更具体一点

I work at the Cambridge Hospital.

我在剑桥医院工作

It's the primary Harvard Medical School teaching facility.

那里是哈佛医学院的主要教学设施。

We have more than 100 translators covering 63 languages,

我们有超过一百位的翻译人员，懂得超过63种语言

and we spend millions of dollars just in our little hospital.

在这个小医院里头，翻译花掉了上百万美元

It's a big labor-intensive effort.

是个劳动密集型的工作。

If you think about the worldwide burden

再设想一下全世界面临的负担

of trying to talk to your patients --

要同你的病人交流

not just teaching surgeons, just trying to talk to your patients --

不是教会手术师，而仅仅是和你的病人交流

there aren't enough translators in the world.

我们就会面临世界范围内翻译人员的短缺。

We need to employ technology to assist us in this quest.

我们得采用技术来帮助我们

At our hospital we see everybody from Harvard professors

在医院，我们看到哈佛的教授

to people who just got here last week.

也看到上个星期刚刚来的人

And you have no idea how hard it is

你无法想象

to talk to somebody or take care of somebody you can't talk to.

要照顾一个你不能交流的人有多困难

And there isn't always a translator available.

而且你还不总能找到翻译

So we need tools.

因此，我们需要工具

We need a universal translator.

我们需要一个通用翻译器

One of the things that I want to leave you with as you think about this talk

这个讲座结束后，我希望大家

is that this talk is not just about us preaching to the world.

并不仅把本次讲座看作一个传道和说教

It's really about setting up a dialogue.

而将它看成建立一个对话

We have a lot to learn.

等待我们学习的东西还有很多

Here in the United States we spend more money per person

同世界其他地方相比，平均下来我们每个美国人

for outcomes that are not better than many countries in the world.

付出的金钱甚多，但收效甚微

Maybe we have something to learn as well.

或许我们也要学习一些事情

So I'm passionate about teaching these FLS skills all over the world.

所以，我满怀热情地在全世界教授FLS技能

This past year I've been in Latin America, I've been in China,

去年，我到了拉丁美洲，还有中国

talking about the fundamentals of laparoscopic surgery.

讲授腹腔镜手术的基础知识

And everywhere I go the barrier is:

然而，我在所有地方每每遇到相同的困难

"We want this, but we need it in our language."

“我们需要这些，但我们希望用自己的语言”

So here's what we think we want to do:

因此，我们想要这样做：

Imagine giving a lecture

设想我正在进行一场讲座

and being able to talk to people in their own native language simultaneously.

并同时能用听众自己的语言同他们交流

I want to talk to the people in Asia, Latin America, Africa, Europe

我希望同来自亚洲的，拉美的，非洲的，欧洲的人

seamlessly, accurately

准确的，毫无隔阂的交流

and in a cost-effective fashion using technology.

运用一种性价比极高的技术，同他们交流

And it has to be bi-directional.

并且双向的沟通

They have to be able to teach us something as well.

他们同样可以教会我们一些事情

It's a big task.

这个任务艰巨

So we looked for a universal translator; I thought there would be one out there.

所以，我们尝试寻找一个通用翻译器；我以为它会出现。

Your webpage has translation, your cellphone has translation,

你的网页可以翻译，你的手机可以翻译

but nothing that's good enough to teach surgery.

但没有什么足够充当手术教学的翻译

Because we need a lexicon. What is a lexicon?

因为我们需要一部辞典。什么是辞典？

A lexicon is a body of words that describes a domain.

它是一个描述某领域的词汇系统

I need to have a health care lexicon.

我需要一个医保辞典

And in that I need a surgery lexicon.

这其中，我需要一部手术辞典

That's a tall order. We have to work at it.

这是一个艰巨的任务。我们必须努力去做。

So let me show you what we're doing.

所以让我告诉你我们所做的努力。

This is research -- can't buy it.

这是研究——买不到

We're working with the folks at IBM Research from the Accessibility Center

我们这在同IBM帮助和支持中心的人员合作

to string together technologies to work towards the universal translator.

研发一种通用翻译器

It starts with a framework system

它建立在一个框架系统上

where when the surgeon delivers the lecture

医生用此框架发布一个讲座时，

using a framework of captioning technology,

运用了字幕技术

we then add another technology to do video conferencing.

同时，采用其他技术进行视频会议

But we don't have the words yet, so we add a third technology.

但是，我们现在还没有具体的文字，所以，第三种技术应运而生

And now we've got the words,

有了具体文字之后

and we can apply the special sauce: the translation.

我们把关键的一环加上：翻译

We get the words up in a window and then apply the magic.

我们将文字放入一个窗口，接着施上魔法

We work with a fourth technology.

我们还有第四种技术

And we currently have access to eleven language pairs.

目前，共十一组语言配对可供使用

More to come as we think about trying to make the world a smaller place.

当然，当我们尝试将世界变小一点的时候，更多东西出现了

And I'd like to show you our prototype

我想跟大家分享一下我们的基本模型

of stringing all of these technologies that don't necessarily always talk to each other

这个模型将看似乎不相连的几个技术整合起来

to become something useful.

发挥着重要的作用

Narrator: Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery.

旁白：腹腔镜手术的基本知识

Module five: manual skills practice.

模块五：动手技巧练习

Students may display captions in their native language.

学生可以显示其母语的字幕

Steven Schwaitzberg: If you're in Latin America,

史蒂芬 史威茨博格：如果你在拉丁美洲

you click the "I want it in Spanish" button

请点击按钮“我需要西班牙文”

and out it comes in real time in Spanish.

西班牙文解说会即时出现

But if you happen to be sitting in Beijing at the same time,

如果你人在北京

by using technology in a constructive fashion,

运用相似的方法

you could get it in Mandarin or you could get it in Russian --

你可以找到中文，甚至俄语等等

on and on and on, simultaneously without the use of human translators.

这一切都来自技术，不需要真人翻译

But that's the lectures.

这就是教学讲座

If you remember what I told you about FLS at the beginning,

如果你还记得我一开始讲到的FLS

it's knowledge and skills.

我的描述是：知识和技巧

The difference in an operation

在一个手术中

between doing something successfully and not

做错或做对

may be moving your hand this much.

常常仅在手的分毫移动中决定

So we're going to take it one step further;

所以，我们要更进一步

we've brought my friend Allan back.

现在，我们把老朋友艾伦找回来

Allan Okrainec: Today we're going to practice suturing.

艾伦：今天，我们来练习缝合

This is how you hold the needle.

针应该这样拿

Grab the needle at the tip.

拿起尖头处。

It's important to be accurate.

一定要准确

Aim for the black dots.

对准黑点

Orient your loop this way.

你的缝线圈圈应该是这样的

Now go ahead and cut.

现在把线切断

Very good Oscar. I'll see you next week.

奥斯卡，非常好。下周见

SS: So that's what we're working on

ss: 这就是我们现在在做的

in our quest for the universal translator.

找寻一个通用翻译器

We want it to be bi-directional.

我们希望它是双向的

We have a need to learn as well as to teach.

我们需要教，亦需要学

I can think of a million uses for a tool like this.

我能够想出千万种使用这个工具的方法

As we think about intersecting technologies --

当我们谈论起交叉互通技术时

everybody has a cell phone with a camera --

每个人都有一个带摄像头的手机

we could use this everywhere,

随时随地可用

whether it be health care, patient care,

比如健保、病人护理、

engineering, law, conferencing, translating videos.

工程、法律、会议、视频翻译等等

This is a ubiquitous tool.

这是个各处皆宜的工具

In order to break down our barriers,

若想打破限制

we have to learn to talk to people,

我们必须学会沟通

to demand that people work on translation.

同别人一起提高翻译技术

We need it for our everyday life,

我们日常生活都需要这个工具

in order to make the world a smaller place.

而世界才得以变得更小

Thank you very much.

谢谢大家！

(Applause)

（掌声）