How will smart technology change the translation industry?

​Translator | Cui Hao

Reviewer | Sun Shujuan

Opening Chapter

Today’s society is in a stage of rapid development of language and technology, so the changes in language and technology A collision is inevitable - some even say it's already happening and we're just waiting for the dust to settle. Digitization, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and beyond – smartphones, speech recognition, and the introduction of the internet and social media; all these technologies have contributed to our lives.

Among all technologies, artificial intelligence is the most widely used in the industry. Today we’re going to talk about the translation industry, which is undergoing huge changes. Borderless communication between businesses is eliminating language barriers. Although machine translation (MT) has existed for a long time, the application of artificial intelligence has greatly improved the real-time and usability of translation and achieved unprecedented results. The application of artificial intelligence brings many benefits, including integrating contextual and linguistic details with high accuracy.

Whether you are engaged in translation or technology industry, I hope this article can inspire you. Let's start with a basic question: What happens when two things (language services and technology) conflict? How do we get real-time translation technology.

Prospects of the Translation Industry

The development of intelligent technology and its penetration into translation have greatly promoted the development of the translation industry. In fact, the translation industry was worth $39.37 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach $46.22 billion by 2028. Beyond this data, the introduction of technical translation engines and the move to machine translation has been a revolution in the field of translation. As a result, in 2019, machine translations surpassed human translations globally.

What is real-time translation technology?

As the name suggests, real-time translation technology (RTT) refers to a technology-driven translation solution that can instantly translate any type of content from one language to another. You read that right, it can be translated into any type of content. Because today, technology can not only translate text but also help translate speech. Using technology you can do speech translation, object detection, text translation, image translation, and more. Not only for individuals but also for businesses, RTT is characterized by improving the quality of communication while bridging language gaps.

From an enterprise perspective, translation providers provide APIs in their services, allowing them to cover internal processes and customer communication systems, such as CMS management, customer support, etc.

Translation software that supports human translation has a strong level of intelligence and can provide translation services without excessive editing. Modern real-time translation software takes advantage of the latest neural machine translation (NMT). Machine learning algorithms and pattern recognition software identify words and sounds, while neural networks and deep learning systems evaluate speech based on context and phrases. The data is then coded and translated. RTT tools with high processing power can form databases from words extracted from millions of pages. The entire process takes only 2 to 5 seconds and is 85% accurate.

The role of artificial intelligence in translation: how does it work?

Many technologies have a profound impact on the industry, especially the translation industry, which relies on voice interaction technology. In this case, AI can provide instant translation in a variety of formats, including text, audio, graphics, and even street signs. AI can now manage large amounts of text or speech that need to be translated.

Artificial intelligence is based on neural networks, which translates the entire phrase instead of just the words. It also takes into account the relationship between words to improve the accuracy of translation. With neural machine translation (NMT), AI continuously learns from past translation experiences, contextually understanding how words are used, the structure of phrases, and the purpose of a language expression. This approach is more successful than any previously used technique because it uses less memory and data to complete the translation job. All translations are interconnected and provide contextual reference for subsequent speech or text, improving translation accuracy.

Behind the scenes, artificial intelligence is supported by multiple technologies such as natural language processing, image recognition, prediction and recommendation engines. Any piece of translation, whether words or text, goes through the following stages:

Data Collection - from the AI ​​stack.

Data Storage- Fast access to big data storage, usually using cloud technology.

Data processing and analysis Involves machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, sentiment analysis, image recognition and recommendation engines. And call the service through third-party API.

Data output and reporting——According to the needs, the output can be in various forms, such as voice copy, voice translation, text form, etc.

How does technology (AI and NLP) help human translation?

The application of artificial intelligence in language translation brings convenience to both enterprises and individuals, allowing translation work to be carried out in a better and faster way.

Continuous Progress

AI-driven neural machine translation leverages past translation experience and language assets to continuously learn and develop by getting feedback. This means that the more you use a translation tool, the smarter it becomes and the more accurate your results become.

Specific Vocabulary for Different Needs

Handle terminology efficiently by arranging terms with custom metadata, thanks to the terminology database included in the advanced AI editor. Use metafields to import terms or create new fields to improve translation consistency. This advantage is crucial in technical translation and professional content.

Time and Cost Effectiveness

If you don’t need to translate large documents with 100% accuracy, then machine translation is a great option. AI-driven translation improvements make the post-editing process easier, reducing the cost and time of manual translation.

Will artificial intelligence replace human translation?

Progress is unstoppable. In fact, no one wants to go back to an era when information was unavailable. There is also a question: "Will artificial intelligence replace humans in some industries, such as the translation industry, or other industries? The answer is: no."

No matter how smart and fast artificial intelligence is, it is not good for technology No empathy. Even with 99% accuracy, 1% of human effort is still needed to make the translation perfect. What we can do is use efficient and fast technology to make life more comfortable.

Translator Introduction

Cui Hao, 51CTO community editor and senior architect, has 18 years of software development and architecture experience and 10 years of distributed architecture experience. Formerly a technical expert at HP. He is willing to share and has written many popular technical articles with more than 600,000 reads. Author of "Principles and Practice of Distributed Architecture".

Original title: ​​How Are Smart Technologies Changing the Translation Industry?​​​, author: Anahit Ghazaryan​

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