In the February issue of the ATA Chronicle, Charlotte Brasler and Jost Zetzsche address translators and machine translation working together. For years translators have viewed automated translation either with fear, contempt, or misunderstanding.

According to Brasler, “Translators need to have a basic knowledge of MT,” and Zetzsche agreed that “every professional translator needs to understand how MT relates to [them] and [their] profession.”

Brasler and Zetsche recommended a number of basic things that translators should recognize about machine translation, otherwise known as automated translation (AT).

First, there are different types of automated language translation, including rule-based, statistical, and hybrid. Language translators should understand the difference and the basic characteristics of each one.

Second, well-trained automated translation systems can be a helpful tool for human translators, helping them to complete projects more quickly and accurately. Translators should understand the role that such systems play in the project, and should be able to work alongside them.

Finally, while development of automated translation programs is at different stages for different languages, it has the potential to become a major asset to translators of less common languages.

While machine or automated translation is currently far from perfect, Brasler and Zetzsche agree that it has enormous potential to change the face of translation. Already the number of translators using automated translation to support their translation work is rising, and the accuracy of automated translation systems is rapidly improving.

As attitudes toward automated translation start to change, Brasler and Zetzsche are confident that we can eventually expect to see “exciting developments” in the translation industry.