My hope As a Translator in the AI Era

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Despite the growth of artificial intelligence, I have found that there are points that make my work as a translator fundamental and irreplaceable. So, this is an invitation to inspire all translators to recognize the great value and support that they are giving to the world today. And I am also saying “today” because it is the best way to face the real challenges and not the unrealistic, pessimist future events that make us powerless. There is always hope for all of us if we understand that our lives are under construction and we are the constructors of our reality. Therefore, I will mention some skills in my job that still make me brave and confident in the AI era.

First, I work on translating and creating Spanish learning products for an American client, where the team and I use ChatGPT to get an overview of the content that we will produce for the American market. Months ago, using artificial intelligence, I found that ChatGPT did not have 100% accurate information, even though it was very efficient and productive. One particular case was when my client prompted 500 slang words and idioms from Latin America, and the results were expressions from both Spain and Latin America. As a Latin American who has watched “La casa de papel” and a lot of other Spanish entertainment, I recognized some expressions, such as “que mala leche” or “que maja” that did not belong to my culture. So ChatGPT is perfect for those who want to complete a task on time, but not for those who want to create accurate, trustworthy products and services for their customers. 

On the other hand, not everything is the fault of artificial intelligence. It is difficult for ChatGPT to get accurate information if you do not have enough experience in prompting. So, it is a hard skill that I recommend anyone develop before judging this new technology wrongly. I also have to mention that some data produced by ChatGPT might not be considered valid information because, in the project mentioned previously, I had obtained Latin American expressions that were difficult to localize on the internet, and fellow translators told me that they had never heard them before. So, I decided to not use some data because it was ambiguous. 

Second, I have learned that cultural sensitivity and gender equality are really important skills in translation services. This sensitivity is from humans to other humans, so it requires that a translator plays with the words to get not only a correct translation, but also adequate to the context and to the needs of the client. I will show a particular example in Spanish, which is “los doctores y las enfermeras.” This means male doctors and female nurses. Today, you can find both male or female doctors, as well as nurses, so you could make some changes to this translation to indicate equality like “las doctoras y enfermeros,” or you could mention not the attributes of people, but the discipline “personal médico y de enfermería.” Indeed, this is one of many cases where human translation services shine by their humanity, novelty, and respect for the different human conditions.

Lastly, I also translate sermons and Christian articles where it is necessary to use Bible verses and paraphrase them. There are also different versions of the Bible, which cover the requirements for several religious communities, including languages, accuracy, closeness to the original, and approach to the culture of each community. In the Spanish language, you could find a literal translation from the original version of the Bible in Greek and Hebrew, such as “La Biblia de las Américas.” On the other hand, you can use another version more comprehensible for the current generation, like “La Reina Valera.” In addition, you can find a new biblical version where “ustedes” is mostly used for the Latin American community, such as in “la nueva Biblia de las Américas.” So, the Bible versions in Spanish and other languages are diverse, and as a translator, I have to paraphrase Bible verses or keep them exactly how they are to get a coherent translation for pastors’ sermons and articles.

For these reasons and more, I feel optimistic in the AI era, and I recommend you read the Slow Translation Manifesto to get a better idea of what I have mentioned in these few paragraphs. I am also convinced that artificial intelligence has to be used as another tool in our profession to get new ideas and different perspectives. Lastly, I am interested in reading your comments about this post and knowing your previous experiences where you realized that your translation skills are unique and incomparable.