Artificial Words: Translation in the Age of AI

With the recent availability of AI tools to quicken and standardise the work of many industries, it is evident that translation is no exception. It was seen over the past few years with AI-powered translation tools, such as Google Translate and DeepL, offering instant translations that help individuals and businesses easily cross language barriers. Indeed, the forces of industry grow with rising efficiency, but we must dig a little deeper and see the implications that are at once, exciting and complex.

Efficiency and speed, the ideals of modern business. And by briefly mentioning discussion of AI and translation, we can already know that the most significant advantage of their relationship is speed. Traditional human translation involves the process of:

1. Reading

2. Mentally translating

3. Adjusting for cultural nuance

4. Translating on paper

   
   

When this is done for large volumes of text, the process seems time-consuming. For businesses, cutting out steps 1, 2 and 4 with AI means faster communication across global markets. For the individual, its emails, official documents and website content translated in seconds. But how do we account for step 3?

Though efficient, AI-powered translations often fall short in terms of accuracy and nuance, where human NAATI translators excel. Immigrants seeking a new life in Australia with official documents in Arabic, still require NAATI translations because of their accurate and legally nuanced nature. Precision is key in the handling of documents such as marriage certificates and police clearance records. And precision is found in translators with expertise in idiomatic expressions, cultural context, and specialized language.

Indeed, AI can be used to streamline time-consuming translations and it can be thought of in this sense as evolving translation. However, costly mistakes such as an official document being rejected by faulty translation is where Phoenix Translations comes into play. With our NAATI expertise, we ensure that the complexities of legal language, the context of immigration applications, or the nuances specific to languages like Arabic are managed through quality translations.

While AI offers speed and convenience that is reshaping the translation industry, it equally enlightens us to the irreplaceable value of human expertise for high-quality, context-aware translations. Where AI can help streamline translation work, we will always need the stamp of human verification.