Have you ever come across some internet or social media posts in foreign languages but need to know what the person is saying?
As a fan of international artists, let’s say Korean, I sometimes find it frustrating when my favorite star tweets something that I can hardly understand. Beforehand, I would need several moments to know what the post is about, waiting for some voluntary translation from other fans.
However, technology has developed and it is now easier for me to know what they say in their posts. It is as simple as clicking the “translate post” button and voila, the tweet is translated into my desired language. Thank MT for all of that.
The Rise of Machine Translation in Daily Life
Lately, machine translation, or MT for short, has been common not only in the translation industry but also in our daily lives as mentioned before. In the industry, this can be seen in the rising demand for MTPE, short for machine translation post-editing.
However, if we look back at the history of machine translation, it turns out that MT has been developed since a long time ago. The idea itself had been brought to public since 1949 although the development was then halted.
So, what is MT? According to the Cambridge Dictionary, machine translation is the process of changing text from one language into another language using a computer. Mainly, the focus of machine translation is to make the translation process easier, faster, and more efficient. The development of machine translators also helps spread information globally.
Challenges in Translation: Culture, Tone, and Context
On the other hand, with the rise of machine translation, one question to be asked is whether MT could overcome the challenges faced by translators. To be able to know that, we certainly have to know the translation challenges that happen every now and again.
Before going further to answer the question, we need to first understand what is meant by translation. Another reference from the Cambridge Dictionary says that translation is the activity or process of changing the words of one language into the words in another language that have the same meaning. Is that all?
Of course, no. The idea of translation is not only about changing word to word from one language to another but it also has to be able to convey the message of the original sayings. Translation errors may lead to misunderstandings and loss of the intended message. That’s why an accurate translation is a crucial thing.
Can Machine Translation Fully Overcome These Challenges?
Producing an accurate translation might be a challenge for the translators. One of the most common challenges is the differences in the culture. Cultural nuance might affect the translation if the translator could not understand both cultures.
An easy example of that is translating jokes and humor. One culture might see something as humorous, but once translated, the joke could be lost. Thus, a translator would usually interpret the intended humor by crafting new jokes so the target audience could find it amusing.
Another example of translation challenges faced by translators is the tone that should be used. Let’s say translating a product campaign. Brands must have their specific intention for each of their products.
This could be done by choosing the right tone for the right product. For example, a snack advertisement might have a different tone than an institutional education campaign. A translator is also tasked to know that kind of thing. They need to understand what kind of tone the text they’re translating has and what kind of diction they have to use.
The Essential Role of Human Translators in the Age of MT
Under those circumstances, would an MT be able to face the challenges? Lately, machine translation has been improved. Take an example from the translated posts on social media that have lately been better and better.
From what I remember, it used to be hard to understand the machine-translated posts, unlike nowadays. However, there are still some occurrences of inaccuracies that lead to ambiguity.
Although, as a part of artificial intelligence, machine translations keep improving due to the increase in the inputs, the lack of cultural nuance, linguistic skills, and context understanding would produce inaccuracies in the translation.
Thus, human touch is still needed. That is one reason why the MTPE is popular nowadays. MTPE would help the translation industry to be more efficient by machine-translating the content, but would still maintain to convey the desired message with the help of the translator’s skill, unique insights, creativity, cultural understanding, and also emotional nuance. By this, the art of translation would be preserved.
