Machine Translation Post - Suis

I appreciate Johnson’s view on machine translation because he suggests coexistence between humans and technology. Much of the responses I’ve heard from fellow translators on the topic of machine translation replacing human translators has been negative. Translators often feel threatened by MT. Johnson notes that although MT is improving as AI (deep learning) improves, translations are still inadequate for translating more than basic translations. Johnson suggests that the use of machine translation is efficient and it leaves the “brain-challenging stuff for people who have a knowledge of a language and something else.” Specialized knowledge can be knowledge in classical languages (such as Latin or Classical Japanese) which machine translation is not great for translating (yet). Furthermore, I think about translating literature as something that fits under “specialized knowledge.” When translating literature, one must consider the context, history, and world of the entire text. Word choice is deliberate and important in the interpretation of literature. More importantly, I don’t think MT is good enough to translate poetry.

In the “Beyond Babel” article, it was reassuring to see that the most accurate translations are done by humans and that “computers, no matter how sophisticated they have become, cannot yet truly grasp what a text means.” I feel this is especially the case for poetry. Even if the machine has the “context,” which should be the “entire poem” here, it fails to recognize its entirety.

Original text (poetry):

陽射しに閉ざされた輪郭が

こんなにも　ましろく

君を　漂白する（ケシテシマウ）

私は

君の残像を　なぞり　ながめ　ながら　あるく

Machine Translation (DeepL):

The contours closed by the sun

So pale

I bleach you.

I trace and ponder

While I trace and ponder your afterimage.

My Translation:

The contours of your body, enclosed by the sunlight

Is so very   white

This  bleaches and erases  you

I

Trace and  gaze at  your afterimage  and  walk