Disciplina: Translation Tools and Concepts

Tarefa 2.1

Machine translation! The very words evoke a range of emotions from disdain,
fear, and disbelief to bedazzlement and thrilled expectation. They also raise
deep doubts, aesthetic and even moral. And they bring up myriad practical
questions about what “MT” really is.

Broadly speaking, MT is the technology whereby computers attempt to model

the human process of translating between natural languages. Although
human beings almost always intervene at different points in the job stream,
especially at the end, the underlying process is automatic: the machine is in
charge of the transition from one language to the other.

For many admirers of the translation process, a translation generated by

computer is, a priori, a bumptious affront to human creativity. Others who do
not feel quite so strongly accept that MT might be used in some
circumstances but worry about its dehumanizing effect on translators,
believing that it will turn them into slaves to the machine. Or worse still, they
fear that the machine may end up taking the translator´s place.

Professional issues for translators and interpreters. Edited by Deanna L.

Hammond. Available at: https://books.google.com.br/books?hl=pt-
BR&lr=&id=oV5CAAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA109&dq=%2B
%22machine+translation%22+%2B%22threat
%22&ots=O0gtW1_fcV&sig=4Ev4eMPXdqSUavM6ndVNGQrWuls#v=onepag
e&q=%2B%22machine%20translation%22%20%2B%22threat%22&f=false.
Access on 19/04/2019.

Based on the excerpts above from the book Professional issues for
translators and interpreters and on the issues we dealt with in the textbook of
this subject, write about 20 to 50 lines on how you see the machine translation
issue.
Comment on your feelings about loosing job opportunities, on the
consequences on the creativity of the translator and on dehumanizing the
transltion job. On the other hand, write about the human-machine interaction
and the gain in speed translating as well as on the post-editing work. Make a
comparison of machine translation and computer assisted translation.

I am sure you have a lot to say. Good job!