Will Artificial Intelligence Replace Human Translations?
                     Will Artificial Intelligence Replace Human Translations? 
 
 
 
As technology continues to advance at a breakneck speed all around us, we are 
starting to see businesses and industries shift and change to accommodate these 
new technologies. Automation and AI are a big part of this shift and are becoming 
an ever-larger part of our everyday lives. We see this most obviously in the 
rudimentary forms of artificial intelligence becoming a fixture on our 
smartphones. 
  
People look at this technological advancement and the tasks AI can currently help 
with and logically assume that if technology continues at its current pace, many 
professions, including translation, may quickly become obsolete. 
  
The concept of using machines to help with translations goes back as far as 
the first half of the 20th century, and the idea existed in science fiction at 
least a century before that. In fact, the famous C-3PO from Star Wars was 
more or less a translation robot. 
  
However, the idea that machines can replace translators is based on a lack of 
understanding of what a translator actually does and the skills that the task entails. 
In this article, we want to briefly break down why translators are not going to be 
replaced by machines for official translation services anytime soon. 
  
  
3 Reasons Why Technology Will Not Replace a Translator 
While the concept of a translation, taking content from one language and putting 
it into another language, is simple, it is anything like that in practice. Depending 
on the purpose and goal of a translation, there can be a considerable number of 
concerns and factors that may play a role in how the final translation is created. 
  
Official translation services for legal purposes will look a lot different than 
translations created for marketing or entertainment reasons. The word choice, 
tone, and creative flair needed by the translator will change depending on the 
purpose of a translation. 
  
The room for error when crossing a language barrier is great for many 
industries, and a very specialized approach may need to be taken.  
  
The best way to explain how the complexity of translation poses several problems 
for an AI is to give you a few solid examples: 
  
  
1.    Accuracy and Accountability 
  
Google, Microsoft, and other major tech companies have put millions, if not 
billions, into creating sophisticated machine learning systems. Their translation 
apps have a high level of accuracy for several languages (often in the high 90% 
area). This accuracy and ease of use make the mobile apps put out by these 
companies fantastic for casual conversations, and they have done a great job 
bringing our world closer together. However, many overestimate the ability of 
these apps in the long run. 
  
In the medical field, even the slightest mistake in word choice can have 
devastating effects on the life of another. There have been some very famous 
cases where hospitals have made disastrous miscalculations based on 
mistranslations. The simple fact is that even a machine being incorrect by the 
smallest percentage poses an unacceptable risk. 
  
While humans commonly make mistakes, moral and legal liability are much 
different. 
  
For the foreseeable future, AI translators will simply not be accurate enough to 
take on the more sensitive tasks, and there will likely be considerable pushback 
against the idea of them ever fully taking over such roles. "But won't machines 
eventually be 100% accurate?" you may ask. It is also worth noting that AI 
machines will likely never be 100% accurate for the reasons we are about to get 
into: 
  
  
2.    Language Changes, Evolves, and Is Often Subjective 
  
Artificial Intelligence thrives in tasks and concepts that are objective and based 
on a black and white world; however, language is full of nuance and is constantly 
evolving along with culture. These days, we see new words enter our everyday 
lives faster than ever. Understanding language to the extent needed for personal 
interaction (like those required for sales or marketing) will require someone with 
a nuanced understanding of the language who can understand it just as well as the 
recipients. For the time being, machines are simply unable to grasp the nuances 
of conversation and cannot provide the personal touch needed for many forms of 
human interaction. This leads us nicely into our next point: 
  
3.    Machines Have Trouble Being Funny 
  
Transcreation is the concept of a translator needing to change or create some 
aspect of a translation to convey the document's original meaning properly. For 
example, if the original document was to have a metaphor or joke that doesn't 
make sense in the other language, a skilled translator will use "transcreation" to 
fix this issue. This often means they will replace what was said with a similar 
phrase in the new language that has much the same meaning. 
  
Without the innuendo, humor, sarcasm, and other devices we use throughout our 
language (the very human aspects of language), our interaction becomes much 
more stunted and expressionless. The tone, word choice, and the overall flow of 
a statement can all play a significant role in how the final product is understood, 
and it requires a skilled language expert to balance these factors correctly. 
  
  
Will Machine Learning Change the Translation Industry? 
Automatic translations will likely continue to grow in importance and use and 
may even find their place in helping facilitate some official translation services, 
however as this article should have demonstrated, we need to temper our 
expectations to reality. While machine learning translations are promising, it will 
be many years before we see the kind of advancements that signal the end for 
human translators. 
  
For now, machines help us travel, make connections, and better understand the 
broader world around us. Though you may not be using AI for official translation 
services anytime soon, it is a truly remarkable technology that is making our 
world a better, more intertwined place. 
  
Do You Need a Translator? 
At The Spanish Group, we specialize in providing official translation services for 
a wide variety of needs in over ninety languages! We serve a broad series of 
complex industries ranging from medical to legal and immigration services. All 
of this is backed by the best price guarantees and expedited services that allow 
you to get an official translation in as little as twenty-four hours. Call today and 
let The Spanish Group open the world up to you. 
 
Address: 19200 Von Karman Ave # 600, Irvine, CA 92612 
Phone: (800) 460-1536 
Website: https://thespanishgroup.org/