Replaced by artificial intelligence? How translators reinvent their future

The beginnings of automatic translation do not immediately cause concern at home. Therefore, “”At first, it was called machine translation. However, We did not use the word artificial intelligence. However, it was just genres of advanced translation databases“, Remember Chris Farmer, English-French translator for 15 years. Nevertheless, At the time, no one imagines the speed at which AI will evolve.”We laughed well with Google Translate, because when someone used it, it saw immediately. Consequently, The translation was not very good. Similarly, We were a little arrogant, we told ourselves that the machines will never be able to do like us.“

This vision was then widely shared. Moreover, as confirmed by Marie-Aude Lefer, president of the Louvain School of Translation and Interpreting (LSTI). “Before, I think it was often said that there were areas, such as creative areas, reserved for human replaced artificial intelligence? how translators translation“. But practices have evolved quickly. “Now we see that automatic translation is present in the workflow in many areas of expertise. We are talking not only about marketing content. literary content – audio books in particular -, but also video games, subtitles, dubbing of film series, etc.“

“I started to receive huge documents and we are supposed to work twice as fast for half less money.”

The Covid crisis will precipitate this mutation for many independent translators. Chris Farmer sees his income drops drastically. But unlike other professions, his activity does not leave after deconfination. Several agencies with which he collaborated put the key under the door. Others, on the other hand, now offer him a new type of mission, “post-publishing”. “”It is a nice word that means revising translations made generally with deeppl (Editor’s note. an automatic translation and online text improvement service). “For Chris, this replaced artificial intelligence? how translators work is not very rewarding.”I started to receive huge documents and we are supposed to work twice as fast for half less money.”

Despite everything. it understands the reasons that push some customers to use massively at AI: the savings are real and, at first glance, the quality seems to be there. “”There are no mistakes before with Google Translate. You read the thing at first, you say to yourself: ‘It’s good’. And then. as you read, you start to say to yourself: ‘Ah yes, he did not understand that there are choices to make. And that is not the right choice ‘.“