Will you get better high-quality translation from a human or from artificial intelligence, such as Google Translate? A competition pitted a human translator against Google’s latest translation technology to see who really comes out on top. Google’s competitor was a highly ranked and certified Spanish-to-English human translator, Adriana. Fellow human translators were the judges and were charged with pinpointing who was better at cultural idioms, comprehension, grammar and basic translation.
It’s no surprise that Google Translate worked faster than Adriana. However, Google couldn’t pick up on the language nuances that Adriana did. Currently, no technology is advanced enough to read how a particular phrase is used with cultural idioms. It was found that Google “overly literally translated” the text and used poor word choice as well as broken syntax.
The Results
The small piece was about beekeeping. Google translated it as, “Let’s get high demand in foreign markets and provides services such as pollination in crops of commercial interest.” Adriana translated it as, “Beekeeping has become an enterprise of great importance, as it allows for creating high demand products in foreign markets and provides services such as pollination of crops that have commercial interest.” Even without seeing the original Spanish piece, it’s clear that Adriana has a stronger grasp of the language and translates it into a reasonable piece.
However, you may be able to get the gist of what Google Translate was trying to convey. This highlights why this type of translation can work in a pinch, but should not be used for important documents. The judges found that Adriana has “excellent accuracy and interpretation of the original text” and no weaknesses were found in her translation. Google, on the other hand, didn’t fare so well. One judge said, “I think the app did a good job of providing the gist of the text. It could serve as a quick read tool or for cases where the reader needs to get to the general idea on the spot.”
Which to Choose?
Google and other artificial intelligence tools can be great in a pinch. However, one judge said, “The sentences were disjointed; the grammar, readability and flow needed to be corrected for the text to make sense.” Another judge said, “Google Translate is a great tool for certain purposes, but not for achieving a professional translation. A good-quality translation will entice and provide useful information.”
Adriana passed with flying colors. “The translation was well-crafted and thoughtful without losing the intent of the original,” said a judge. In this competition, it’s human 1, Google 0.
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