AI in translation – bubble or not?

Just another Monday morning. The morning TV host asks why we need language skills if in the future there will be a device to translate everything from one language to another. Indeed, with AI and digital solutions taking care of language production, translation and, apparently, interaction in the future, will language professionals be needed for anything?

People often ask me if I’m worried about the future of my work. The use of AI has increased rapidly and is also having a significant impact on the translation industry. With the rapid development of technology, people often wonder why linguists and translators are still needed. 

Software and AI as the translator’s “Little Helper”

I use translation software every day. With the software, I also have the option to use an AI-powered machine translation tool. Like all tools, it has its advantages, but it is not suitable for all projects. At best, machine translation and artificial intelligence can speed up translation work and increase productivity. In this case, however, it is important that the text to be translated is clear both in terms of content and structure. The machine translator is most useful for translating simple texts with short sentences, such as technical documents or user manuals.

However, machine translation is no substitute for human translation, and AI will always need human guidance. Machine translation requires careful proofreading and post-editing, as the language is often very context-specific. This is already visible at word level: for example, the word “charge” in a financial text can mean either payment, price or fee, depending on the context. Machine translators also translate content quite literally, so you need to be particularly careful with word order and shortened clauses.

Machine translators can also make some rather glaring errors that may even be considered amusing, even though in reality they would not amuse many customers or readers. One example that comes to mind is an article I translated a few years ago. The machine translator translated the Finnish name “Roope” into the English form “Scrooge” (after Scrooge McDuck!), although names are usually left untranslated.

A machine translator is not the best tool if the text to be translated contains complex and ambiguous sentences, metaphors, idioms or special terms. In addition, the client may have certain requirements, for example in terms of vocabulary, style, fluency or localisation, which the machine translator cannot take into account like a human translator. In such projects, it may take more time to post-edit than to translate from scratch. Read more about post-editing.

The use of a machine translator should always be considered depending on the situation, the subject, and the type of text. 

The future of the language and translation industry

Ultimately, AI is here to stay and is constantly evolving, which is why it is important that language professionals explore new solutions and learn how to use AI in their work. Large language models have rapidly changed the way we use information and interact with technology. However, what remains to be resolved is how thecopyright of creative authors, such as translators, will be taken into account in future legislation on AI. Now the big tech companies are benefiting at the expense of the authors.

Translators have several years of experience in machine translation and AI, as AI-powered translation software and neural machine translation have been a reality in our industry for a long time. I believe that although the tools change, the essence of translation remains the same. A human translator has the ability to understand cultural references, idioms and context, and it will be an invaluable skill in the future as well.

High-quality communication is a competitive advantage for businesses, and language experts play an important role in this.

In Lingo, AI is like a supporting intelligence, helping the translator to translate content more efficiently. However, the responsibility for the creative work, the end result and the quality of the translation always lies with the human translator.

Read more about our translation services.

Sources:

Kieliasiantuntijat ry, opinion piece, Helsingin Sanomat, 25 September 2023, https://www.hs.fi/mielipide/art-2000009871921.html

University of Turku, press release, 28 August 2023, https://www.utu.fi/en/news/press-release/university-of-turku-and-silogen-launch-consortium-to-build-the-worlds-largest