Will Machine Overrule Human Translations
There are a few debates that have bothered our minds from the beginning of time. There is the discussion about free will and morality. Philosophers have filled thousands of pages to discuss moral dilemmas and what people should do in a certain situation. Another famous debate is nature vs. nurture that we are no closer to figuring out the answer to. People can claim that their argument was better and concluded the debate, but in truth, we have not reached a conclusion in most of these matters. As the world progressed, we ended up adding more topics to the pile of debate. Today, we have new questions that bother us, and we try to figure out their answers.
Human Existence in the World of Machines:
It all began when we invented the wheel. It wasn’t the first useful tool we created, but it definitely changed the world completely. It was a revolutionary invention that changed everyone’s lives. The world, as we know of it today, would not have existed without that invention. However, once people saw how useful this invention could be, they started experimenting with it. This is how we ended up with self-driving cars. But transportation isn’t the only field in which we have made progress. Our world of today is a remarkable place and all because of the inventions of a few geniuses.
We live in a world of machines now where everything is dependent on modern technology. From washing our clothes and dishes to managing our homes’ temperature, machines do everything. However, there are a lot of questions that bother humans about their current existence in a world that is run by machines. They wonder what would happen if the machines take over everything and kick humans out of their own lives. There are many theories of artificial intelligence becoming powerful enough to defeat the human race. But for now, there are still many fields in which machines cannot perform better than humans.
What is Necessary in the World of Translation:
The human race never liked any hurdles in its way. Whenever a problem arose that kept humans from living their routine lives, they got to work and came up with a solution as quickly as possible. The linguistic barrier was a problem that kept humans from interacting with each other. Had we not solved this issue, the human race would have encountered even bigger problems. A world where misunderstandings were common, peaceful existence would have been impossible. But thankfully, we managed to come up with the idea of translation. It is true that a lot can get lost in translation, it is still a useful way to bridge the gap between the speaker of different languages because the people of the world cannot learn all the tongues that are spoken on the planet.
Will Machine Overrule Human Translations?
The translation is important in a lot of different fields. The corporate world relies heavily on it for its success. Because of this, there are many companies in the world today who are working tirelessly to help their clients with linguistic issues. But common people cannot afford to hire a company every time they have to talk to a foreigner. This is why they use apps and online tools to translate languages and keep a steady conversation with a foreigner. This practice has given people the idea that maybe machines are capable of helping people with linguistic problems.
It is true that a few translation apps are quite accurate today, especially when it comes to the most common languages. You can easily find the meaning of Spanish words and phrases. But these apps fail to assist people when the language they need help with is not very popular. Even some popular languages like Arabic and Urdu are not translated properly by these apps. There are multiple reasons behind this, but it clearly answers the question of whether or not machines will overrule human translations. It’s not that the machines are incapable of accurate linguistic assistance in the year 2020. The truth is, they will remain incapable of providing accurate translations forever.
There are plenty of factors that come into play when a human expert is working on a document. They not only consider the cultural aspect, but they also pay attention to the context. They sometimes ask questions from their clients to get a better idea about the paper they are translating. They know what kind of conversations humans carry out. To put it simply, they can do their job properly because they are human.
Whether we are talking about translations or interpretations, human experts know which things to focus on while working on a project. They know what the tone of a person means. In the same way, they understand what business language is and what is the meaning of professionalism. Anyone who is worried about losing their job in the language industry to a machine in the near future can relax. We are nowhere near that future in which the human element will lose its value, and machines will take over the language industry.
This explains why every time someone needs the translation of a sensitive and complicated document; they should only go to a human expert. They cannot risk it by getting the help of an app and showing the incorrect results to their audience. Whether it is a business document or a birth certificate copy, it must only be handled by the right expert.
