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The Forum: Machine Translation: The End of the Human Translator?

Machine Translation: The End of the Human Translator?

04/06/2016

BBC Radio 4 - The Forum, Machine Translation: The End of the Human Translator?

Will new technology mean the end of the human translator?

Machine versus human translator - will new technology mean the end of the human translator?

Translating from one language to another is fraught with difficulty - capturing exact words can be hard enough let alone more subtle meanings like metaphor, pathos, or culturally specific references and phrases. But machine translation is even more complex, although it is developing at a very rapid pace and both text and voice can now be translated very quickly. Bridget Kendall and guests explore whether machine translation means an end to human translators and what impact it might have on our desire and ability to learn and immerse ourselves in other languages.

(Photo: Scholar reading Walatta Petros manuscript at monastery. Credit: Wendy L.Belcher).

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