Translation AI, here at Itransling, we explain in Translation with AI the following: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered Translation, AI Translators vs Human Translators: Pros & Cons– Which solution should you choose? Will AI translators replace human translators? Should human translators be worried about their jobs? How will AI-powered translation impact the translation market particularly and business market generally?
Elements of Translation with AI
- Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered Translation
- AI Translators vs Human Translators: Pros & Cons– Which solution should you choose?
- Will AI translation replace human translation? Should human translators be worried about their jobs?
- How will AI-powered translation impact the translation market particularly and business market generally?
Introduction to Artificial Intelligence Translation
Artificial intelligence is a branch of computer science; it is a technology that enables machines to simulate human capabilities and solve problems. Tasks which require human intervention can be performed by AI. AI systems can function based on cognitive skills including learning, reasoning, self-correction, and creativity. They are basically based on stored data. AI is currently applied in all industries such as healthcare, education, retail, cyber security, transportation, marketing, manufacturing, and finance.
Since the globalization came into our life, the communication across borders became a necessity. This crucial mission is handled by the translation experts. Like other industries, translation is unquestionably and apparently affected by AI. Any person can now use a mobile or desktop translation platform to translate any text or even full document. Google Translate is one of the most famous AI-powered translation platforms.
This technology is based on the use of neural network and machine learning where the language is analyzed and translation is provided. For years, computer scientists are seeking to solve the language barriers through the use of computers. They have recently achieved a great leap in this regard. With the integration of AI and big data, machine translation is rapidly advancing. The big obstacle to machine translation was the ability to understand the nuances of human language. However, these translation systems are continuously improving their ability to understand the languages through continuous learning. This advanced capability was only possible for humans, but machines are currently prepared to simulate human intelligence.
AI Translators vs Human Translators: Pros & Cons– Which solution should you choose?
With every technology introduced to the human world, there are advantages and disadvantages and there are concerns regarding how far such technology impacts the humans. AI-powered translation made a huge stir in the translation market. AI-powered translation is being developed every day, but it is still so far inaccurate as compare to human translation. In this article, we will make a comparison between AI-powered translation and human translation and highlight their pros and cons. If we look for the high speed, cost effectiveness, availability 24/7, and scalability, the AI-powered translation will definitely win. However, the AI-powered translation counters many challenges summarized as follow:
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Cultural Differences and Idiomatic Phrases:
Cultural differences can’t be understood by machines and this leads to wrong translation. Idioms can’t be also literally translated and machines can’t capture or translate them.
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Limited Access to Data:
AI-powered translation technology largely relies on the data. The more the data is accessible, the higher performance it can do. AI-powered translation systems find difficulty to access large volumes of texts in different languages. Thus, their performance is still untrustworthy.
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Technical and Specialized Texts:
AI-powered translation platforms have difficulty to translate specialized texts such as medical, legal, or engineering content. This type of texts needs deep understanding of specialized field. This ability is mastered only by humans. AI systems can’t identify the meanings of specialized terminology or technical expressions.
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Ambiguous Meanings and Semantic Nuances:
In any language, a term may have a meaning in a specific context while the same term may have a different meaning in another context. Machines can’t capture this difference. Accordingly, they can’t convey the intended meaning.
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Linguistic Style:
AI-powered translation systems are still unable to identify the linguistic style of translation. This feature is reserved to humans; especially in marketing translation.
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Quality Assurance:
There is a big concern as regard to the quality of translation generated by AI-powered translation platforms. If you intend to translate an important sensitive content, you can never trust the machines. Any machine-generated translation must be reviewed and validated by human linguists.
Human translators surpass if you focus on context understanding, cultural nuances, and accuracy. Human translators are more curious and investigative and they use offline and online available tools. They definitely can convey the deeper meaning. Moreover, human translators utilize glossaries and widest search tools. They also take the target audience, visual context, and intended purpose into consideration.
Humans excel in ensuring that a source text resonates with the target audience typically as same as the original text. Human translators are also originally linguists and they use the linguistic rules to ensure the consistency across texts. There is also an ethical aspect in translation which is the confidentiality and privacy. Human translators can be instructed to sign confidentiality undertakings or non-disclosure agreements. You can be assured that your sensitive content will be kept confidential. This feature doesn’t apply to the AI-powered translation. In general, the AI-powered translation hits the issue of cost and speed while human translation is more expensive, but much more accurate.
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After outlining the advantages of human translation and AI-powered translation, the question which may come to your mind is that “which solution should you choose?” Deciding which translation solution you should choose depends on, inter alia, the text type, complexity of text, purpose of target text, sensitivity and privacy of content, and volumes of content. On the first hand, AI-powered translation is suitable if the content is simple and doesn’t need to be perfect, such as posts and comments on social media, insignificant emails, or user reviews.
AI-powered translation is also a good option for big volumes of content. On the other hand, human translation is perfect solution if the quality and accuracy can’t be compromised. Human translators must be employed for translating texts such as legal documents, medical prescriptions, financial statements, and technical manuals. This is because any wrong translation of such type of texts may result in catastrophic consequences.
Will AI translation replace human translation? Should human translators be worried about their jobs?
Over years, debates are arising around the machine translation and whether it will replace human translators. The short answer is NO. AI-powered translation can never fully replace humans. As explained in this article, machines can’t understand the language and AI technology isn’t advanced enough that it can be fully trusted in translation. Since the 1950s, the researchers are claiming that it is just few years to get accurate automatic translation. A long time passed while the automatic translation is still inaccurate.
The translation technology is undoubtedly advancing, but the researchers’ claim is proved to be untrue. Like any other technology, AI-powered translation can be used to help translators. We can’t deny the most important feature of AI-powered translation systems; they are able to store big volumes of data. This feature can be harnessed by human translators to create accurate translation instantly.
This AI revolution reminds us of the Industrial Revolution. People were worried that machines would take their jobs, but it was found later that machines helped them to do their jobs and created more job opportunities in all industries. Similarly, human translators must understand that any technology is invented just to help humans and open new markets. For example, a new job was introduced since the appearance of AI-powered translation; it is Machine Translation Post Editing (abbreviated as “MTPE”). There are two type of MTPE; light editing and full editing. A translator can edit a big quantity of translation generated by machine with good prices. In conclusion, human translators shouldn’t be worried. They should instead cope with the developments and use the advanced technology to help them.
How will translation ai impact the translation market particularly and business market generally?
Despite the increased efficiency of AI-powered translation tools, they are still inaccurate and human translators are still needed for both simple texts and complicated texts. In addition, new jobs will emerge as a result of AI. Translation experts are needed to manage the AI-powered tools and to assure the quality of automated translation. Moreover, translators should be more specialized in industries in which AI is yet to make big progress such as technical, legal, medical, and creative fields. Some people think that AI-powered translation will make the translation jobs redundant. However, the human translation is highly demanded as the businesses expand their reach across borders and generate more content.
Business market will leverage from the AI-powered translation which helps companies to translate their content into different languages so that their products can be easily accessible by a wide range of clients across borders. In addition, businesses can quickly respond to their clients’ enquiries and demands through using translation with ai tools.
In conclusion, AI-powered translation is more accessible, affordable, speed, but its quality isn’t reliable. Human translators are slower and more expensive, but their accuracy is more trusted. Clients should decide the appropriate solution based on their needs.
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