Machine Translation (MT), which relies on complex machine learning algorithms, is a translation technology that has been in our lives for just over 50 years.
It utilizes algorithms similar to Natural Language Processing and neural networks to dissect large quantities of data snappily, learn the different meanings of words, understand how words acquire meaning, and generate translations that are close to those produced by human translators.
Thanks to recent developments, AI translation has become a highly reliable tool for speeding up international launches, facilitating project management, and translating marketing content into the target language.
Although this translation makes the translation process faster and more efficient, the skills and linguistic abilities of human translators are still necessary and valuable. Human translators possess the ability to fully understand language and accurately translate it, which is essential in delivering high-quality translations.
What is AI Translation?
AI translation is a machine translation method that utilizes complex deep learning algorithms. This method can understand the source text and generate a new text in a different language. AI translators or deep learning systems, inspired by the workings of the human brain, use neural network systems to comprehend the source text and construct grammatically meaningful sentences. In machine translation, artificial intelligence assists in improving parsing behavior, learning word usage, interpreting according to context, and structuring sentences correctly. In translation management systems, AI is utilized to detect patterns in content and facilitate reuse.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Recent advancements and the algorithms used in AI translation have made it more reliable. But like everything, there are still some advantages and disadvantages of this technology.
Advantages:
- Faster learning processes: Artificial intelligence translation enables faster language learning through mobile devices and learning applications.
- Useful for tourists: Artificial intelligence translation software and mobile applications help tourists communicate with locals in the country they visit.
- Fast and accurate results: Artificial intelligence translation provides almost instant translation results with high accuracy.
- Ease of use: The use of AI translation tools is extremely simple. The use of the AI translation tools is extremely simple. In fact, all you need to do is copy and bury the content you want to restate. If desired, you can also utilize these translation tools to translate your entire website.
- Wide range of languages: Artificial intelligence translation facilitates access to a global audience with its ability to translate in multiple languages.
- Convenience: Artificial intelligence translation, when integrated into web pages, makes it easier for internet users to understand content in different languages.
Disadvantages:
- Initial time cost: Artificial intelligence-based translation programs require training with large datasets to achieve high-quality results, which can be time-consuming.
- Dependency on human translators: Artificial intelligence translation cannot fully replace human translators, especially for emotional, persuasive, and impactful texts.
- Privacy and confidentiality concerns: Free artificial intelligence-based translation services may not provide the highest standards of data privacy, emphasizing the importance of working with professional companies compliant with GDPR rules.
- Limited understanding of cultural and emotional nuances: Machine translation lacks the ability to fully grasp the emotional and cultural meanings behind expressions and may fail in translating ironic or nuanced sentences.
Benefits of AI Translation
AI translation is a fast, effective, and cost-efficient method that can provide numerous benefits to businesses. Firstly, this translation enables businesses to reach a wider market by translating product or service descriptions into multiple languages, allowing them to cater to customers in different countries. Additionally, this translation can enhance customer service for international clients and better serve multilingual markets. Users show more interest in content presented in their own language, leading to advantages such as increased subscriptions, brand loyalty, and recognition when this translation is successfully leveraged. In conclusion, this translation is an easy-to-use and cost-effective solution, but careful usage is necessary to ensure accurate meaning and context.
Usage Areas
This translation has a broad impact with its various applications. Businesses can quickly and accurately translate everything from marketing texts to websites, social media content, and customer communications into different languages. Furthermore, this translation can be used for automatically translating content such as product descriptions and customer reviews on e-commerce platforms.
This translation can also be used in specialized fields like academic publications, healthcare documents, and legal texts. It proves particularly convenient for organizations creating educational materials in multiple languages. Fast and accurate translation of tourist guides enhances travelers’ experiences, while automatic subtitle translations are widely used in the film and television industry.
With its speed, accuracy, and extensive language support, this translation offers significant benefits to both businesses and individuals.
AI Translation Applications
AI translation has become increasingly popular among companies and sectors. It is widely used in various fields such as legal texts for international litigation, financial institutions including banks, e-commerce platforms, social networks, governments and public administrations, tourism and hospitality businesses, media and communication companies, translation agencies, and the printing/publishing industry. These translation applications play a significant role in translating legal documents, meeting the translation needs of financial institutions, translating product descriptions for e-commerce websites, and localizing social media content. This translation provides businesses with a fast, accurate, and cost-effective solution, facilitating communication and enabling access to global markets across diverse industries.
Evolution of AI Translation
AI translation, which entered our lives in its simplest form in the mid-1960s, has made significant progress ever since. The initial system developed was primarily used to generate draft translations to assist human translators. By the 1970s, rule-based MT was introduced. This rather simplistic system relied on a dictionary and a set of grammar rules to perform word-by-word translations. However, the resulting translations were often erroneous or incomprehensible.
Subsequently, statistical MT came into play. This technology compared the content restated by mortal translators and organized all the rules with the help of algorithms. SMT significantly improved the quality of machine translation, although it still lacked reliability and required human intervention.
In the 1990s, the era of statistical model-based MT began. Despite being a significant step forward, this method still exhibited noticeable errors.
In 2017, with the advent of artificial intelligence, MT experienced a groundbreaking leap. Developments achieved through neural networks and AI applications were considered significant milestones in the field of translation.
In the subsequent years, statistical and probability-based approaches were surpassed. Presently, AI-based translation systems operate using neural networks and artificial computer processing that mimic the connections between neural cells in the human brain.
Future of AI Translation
The future of this translation is highly promising. While it has yet to fully capture the capabilities of the human brain, such as analytical power, creativity, socialization, and emotional understanding, this translation can serve as a standalone tool for bulk restatements and help human translators, enhancing their productivity and enabling them to meet tight deadlines.
Soon, AI translation will undoubtedly facilitate more efficient interactions between clients and linguists, allowing skilled human translators to make the most of their limited time and resources.
Thanks to AI, it is possible for people who speak different languages to communicate with ease without the barrier of language.
Real- time translation tools (like Siri, Alexa, etc.), which have already become a significant part of our lives, serve as living evidence that this will become a reality in the veritably near future. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that we will indeed make lesser advancements in these areas in the coming times.
Will Human Translation Still Matter?
While AI translation helps optimize translation services, human translation, and editing are always necessary. AI is valuable for error detection and providing cost-effective solutions, but it cannot replace the human factor. Human translators can benefit from this translation by receiving real-time suggestions and using metrics for quality analysis. However, artificial intelligence is still quite limited in mimicking human abilities such as cultural and contextual understanding. Therefore, combining AI and human expertise will enable us to generate better solutions in the field of translation in the future.
