The ATA Chronicle - July/August 2019 - 24

GEEKSPEAK

BY JOST ZETZSCHE

Fake News

es, I hate this buzzword as much
as you do, at least as it's used in the
present political climate. But it did
capture your attention, and, like it or not,
there actually is some meaning associated
with the concept of "fake news" in a more
traditional sense.
I believe we're dealing with several "fake
news" items when it comes to translation,
especially translation technology. I would
like to talk about two of these items. The
first is something I've discussed before
at length, though my explanation must
have been less than effective since it still
dominates the thinking of many. The
second item is something we might all be
guilty of in some way.

MISCONCEPTION #1: WORKING WITH
MACHINE TRANSLATION IS THE SAME
AS POST-EDITING
The first conceptual misunderstanding
is that working with machine translation
(MT) is essentially the same as postediting translation. Most of us translators
know this is not true, but not because
we were told so or taught that way.
It's because we know that MT really is
only one of many resources (alongside
translation memories, termbases, corpora,
dictionaries, and other online and
offline resources) that can be used in
the translation processes. We also know
that most translation environment tools
allow us to dynamically use (or not use)
the content that comes from MT engines.
Our proven experience stands in sharp
contrast to the idea that post-editing (i.e.,
the correction of raw MT content) is the
only way to use that technology.
Of course, we could say, "well, let others
believe what they want to believe and let me
do what I know is best for my business," but
I think there's a problem with that kind of
thinking. I've noticed how very difficult it
is to talk about MT with anyone outside
those who have some practical experience
with it. That includes MT researchers and
developers and, maybe more importantly,
clients of ours who (are trying to) use
MT. Typically, these individuals share

the assumption that MT can be used by
the translator only in the reactive way:
the translator reacting to suggestions
coming from the MT engine (i.e., postediting). If that's the assumption, then
the projects offered to translators will
be structured so only that kind of work
with MT is possible, and the research and
development into working with MT will
look only into that avenue.
And this is not because of evil intent.
Wordsmiths like us understand the power
of words and language. If I have a concept
in mind (such as how to work with MT),
and the only language I have to apply to
it is that of post-editing, it's just very, very
hard to change that. This is why we have
to be patient, insistent, and strong in our
communication that while there is this
one way of working with MT output (in
some cases, productively), in more cases
than not there are other and better ways
to work with that technology. Only then
will we be sent a different kind of project
and the research will look more deeply
into other kinds of approaches.

MISCONCEPTION #2: AI EMULATES
FUNCTIONS OF THE HUMAN BRAIN
This brings us to another topic, one
where we ourselves might be helping
to communicate something erroneous
with unfortunate consequences. I'm
talking about artificial intelligence (AI).
There has been a lot of writing in this
column and elsewhere about AI and its
effects on the world of translation. Not
only via neural MT, but as we discussed
a few months ago, on a whole host of
other kinds of technology that have an
impact on the translation and translation
management processes.
Clearly, we need to talk about and
understand AI. Not like an AI researcher
or developer would, but so we can
have a healthy estimation of how much
it supports our work now and in the
future. But we've been led astray on a
path littered with our own words and
our own imagination. Terms like "neural
MT," "artificial intelligence," and "deep
learning" all seem to suggest that these
are processes that emulate functions of

This column has two goals: to inform the community about technological advances and encourage the use and appreciation of technology among translation professionals.

The ATA Chronicle | July/August 2019

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The ATA Chronicle - July/August 2019

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