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Nothing is more frightening than change and the unknown. This past week,
the Israel Translators Association hosted several industry and technological
leaders, who addressed the future of translation in the face of fast-developing
technology. The participants in the conference gained an understanding of the
impact of new developments in the field and practical approaches to future
growth. The level of the presentations, both in terms of content and delivery,
was extremely high without any significant overlapping, thus providing a perspicuous
and broad view of the situation. The lecturers included Keith Brooks (To
Grow, or Not to Grow, That is No longer the Question, But the Imperative),
Zvi Gordon (Technology in the translation industry: current picture and a
look at the future), Katia Jimenez (Understanding the progress of
artificial intelligence in language), Kirti Vashee (The changing
translation technology landscape), Nora Díaz (Translation and
Interpretation Technology: The Basics and Beyond) and Rafa
Lombardino (Language Professionals: Technology is On Our Side), to name
just a few. My conclusion from these lectures was that not only was technology already here and a part of the industry, it does not actually threaten
translation or translators, nor does the new wonderchild, ChatGPT. Just as
importantly, translators can and should study the emerging technology and
harness it to their specific needs.
The dominant message was that the various forms of machine translation had
already established a strong presence in the industry but not necessarily at
the expense of human translators. Specifically, certain domains have fully
adopted every-improving version of machine translation and use them almost
exclusively. Interestingly, these domains are places where human translation could
not tread, i.e., where the sheer volume, potential cost and limited context
made machine translation the ideal tool. For example, companies such as Airbnb,
Ali Express and Amazon need to localize thousands of words on a daily basis. By
contrast, in areas where context, accuracy and style count, such as in law,
medicine and marketing, the worldwide volume of human translation keeps on
expanding. Referring to the human element, Ellen Elias-Bursać said in her lecture
on interpreting and translating during the Hague War Crimes trials that the
translators had to stand in court and justify their translation. Where ever
there is that potential, whether in court or in front of any person, human translation
and interpretation is the best option.
As for the latest craze, reaching 1 million users in only four months, ChatGPT
is very interesting but not actually a threat to translation. Specifically, the
speakers noted that the machine compiled text from existing corpus without discrimination
of accuracy, bias or style of content. In other words, it was a random
generator of text, somewhat regulated by the limitations imposed by the party
entering the request. It can be valuable for identifying grammar mistakes or
improving style or vocabulary, especially for non-native writers. However, as
its output is not specific or accurate enough for most translating assignments,
its value as a translator is quite limited.
In practice, the speakers consistently spoke of the need for translator
to investigate any technology that may improve their work content or process.
Clearly, it is possible to be successful without applying most if not all of
the technological tools, but future success will probably depend on selective
use of modern methods as well as understanding their advantages and
limitations. The message for translators was that the future involved not only selectively
adopting new technology but also changing the attitude towards it from complete
fear to measured understanding.
As a demonstration of that approach, one of the speakers mentioned fully
automated cars, noting that some major companies have stopped investing money on their development but are actively using them for moving goods from one building to
another on a clearly defined route. The moral here is that not that the
technology is not valuable but its effective use is limited by its lack of
ability to make complex judgments. Likewise, where judgment is vital, human
translators will have work. Yet, those that better leverage existing and
emerging technology will have an efficiency advantage. To identify the appropriate
tools, more than ever, translators need to keep an open mind in regards to
technology. It is far less frightening than it would seem and may be quite
benevolent. The future is in our hands as we learned at the ITA 2023
conference.
* Picture captions help the blind fully access to the Internet.
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