For everyone using Google translate, one thing is pretty clear: although it is good for simple translation, try to translate a whole paragraph of text and you often end up with strange, grammatically incorrect gibberish. While the technology might be impressive, we’ll give you 5 reasons why there’s no need to worry about switching careers anytime soon:

1. There’s no comparison for accuracy – literal machine translation is complex in its methods. However, it lacks the ability to accurately intertwine colloquialisms, slang, and expressions into its translations which are often necessary for people when communicating.

2. It’s a bit robotic–professional interpreting is more than understanding the language. It’s about understanding the implications carried by that language through cultural habits, norms and beliefs. Humans know that different cultures have different ideas about the world that can affect how something is translated or interpreted, but a machine doesn’t…

3. It’s too logical – languages by nature have rules; however, a machine translator will follow them to the t. Without the flexibility a human interpreter has with something that can’t literally be translated, the machine will stick to its strict, logical algorithms. As such words lose their context, and the greater meaning of the sentence isn’t conveyed. 

4. There’s no flow –grace and style is lost on machine translators. Often text comes across as choppy and grammatically incorrect – fine for communications where it’s more about the idea than the words, but for professional businesses or workers, how the words look and sound is just as important as the general idea they represent.

5. It’s  a tool rather than a replacement – the development of technologically aided translation and interpretation can actually serve as a new platform for human interpreters to work on (for example video and phone apps) to reach more clients rather than a disruption that will take away jobs. It allows them to work outside an agency, and have a much more accessible reach.

 

 

Machines are far from replacing human interpreters, so start your launch into professional interpreting with our Interpreter Training Programs, offered for Medical, Legal, and Business & Community Interpreting!

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