In the age of technology, there are concerns that professional translators may be completely replaced by technology. However, I believe that the role of the translator is still necessary and cannot be completely replaced. The reason comes from both the nature of work and the auxiliary issues.
Artificial intelligence is still limited in producing good quality translations.
First, translation is not simply about translating from one language into the other. It involves transmitting messages, meanings, and emotions accurately and effectively. The translator not only understands the words but also the context, the culture and the interrelationship between languages. They have the ability to choose the right words, arrange grammatical sentences and express meaning naturally, something that current technology has not been able to do perfectly.
Second, translation professionals play an important role in ensuring the quality and reliability of translations. Automatic translation technology can be useful in translating simple texts, but it has many limitations in dealing with complex texts, such as specialized texts, legal contracts or literary texts. Translation professionals not only know how to choose the right words, but also have a deep understanding of the field of expertise and always ensure the accuracy and effectiveness of the translation.
Third, translation is not merely the transition from one language to another but also requires the ability to think creatively and flexibly. The translator may have to make difficult decisions about the choice of words, the appropriate style of translation, and the correct meaning of the text. These capabilities are factors that technology has not yet been able to achieve. Here is an example that I myself and my team had to spend 15 minutes looking up the original name when Google and ChatGPT were stuck:
There is no technology to replace manual text processing manipulations before and after the translation process
If we can ignore the problem of translation quality, there are still many other problems that only human manual operation can handle. First, there are the issues worth considering related to input text. In fact, the translator will receive a file containing non-editable text (especially projects, contracts, dossiers, papers with woodblock) from the client. Depending on the length of the text, the translator will decide to manually translate and type each word or use CAT tools (Computer-Assisted Translation, I would emphasize CAT, not Machine Translation like Google Translate). So the point will be: Technology must be able to recognize the written words to replace humans in this stage. Currently, there are many optical character recognition (OCR) tools that are widely applied to convert image text into editable text, but they are still not really effective when it comes to identifying Vietnamese characters with vocal signs. Bar and font errors are the two most common problems. Besides, these tools, no matter how powerful, cannot fully recognize handwriting, when people themselves have difficulty reading other people’s handwriting. Next to this is an example that myself and the team have “stretched our eyes” to translate because OCR tools were unable to handle it .
Therefore, I would like to conclude: People still have to play an important role in word processing.
So, is technology really “useless” for translation?
The answer is definitely not. In fact, translator positions at companies require the capacity to use (at least) a CAT tool and word processing tools. It can be seen that technology is an essential logistical factor for the profession. This job requirement is perfectly reasonable for the following reasons:
Firstly, the application of technology to translation will accelerate the translation process. Either CAT tool supports the translator in separating sentences and translating each sentence. The translator only needs to check each sentence that has been translated and edit it if necessary. Although CAT’s translation is still not really of the best quality, the correction of CAT’s translation will certainly be much faster than the human translation of the text itself.
Second, the application of technology to translation will improve the quality of translation. Today’s CAT tools have specialized terminology, and it is the “machinery” of computers that can create high consistency when they apply specific terms and sentences. In addition, CATs are integrated with back translation and translation comparison tools, so translators have more references to make the best translation decisions.
In short, although automatic translation technology has developed significantly, translation specialists still play an important role and cannot be completely replaced by technology. A deep understanding of language, culture and context, the ability to think creatively and flexibly, along with the ability to ensure the quality and reliability of translations, are factors that only a professional translator can bring.
Truong Anh Khoa
