<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<p>“If you translate long into the machine, the machine translates back into you,” is one of the issues the present article strives to establish and explore qualitatively. I intend to examine the effectiveness and efficiency of machine-assisted translations of significant literary works from a hermeneutical perspective. Essentially, I analyse the output of automated translation platforms such as Google Translate and compare them to human translation. This investigation is valuable in determining whether translators should exercise caution when utilizing translation platforms for culturally rich literary works. Additionally, the article scrutinizes the localisation, cultural, and grammatical coherence of Homer’s <italic>The Iliad </italic>translated from English to Romanian using the Google Translate platform. The human translations used are rendered into English and Romanian from Greek. As Homer’s Greek remains incomprehensible to the translation platform, we employ a secondary translation technique for a tertiary machine-assisted output. Nonetheless, this approach highlights the serious pitfalls of using translation platforms haphazardly in translation work. This analysis will show how awareness of the machine’s imperfect translation capabilities may, in turn, enhance the human translator’s awareness of what works while translating with the help of a translation application.</p>
</abstract>

“If you translate long into the machine, the machine translates back into you,” is one of the issues the present article strives to establish and explore qualitatively. I intend to examine the effectiveness and efficiency of machine-assisted translations of significant literary works from a hermeneutical perspective. Essentially, I analyse the output of automated translation platforms such as Google Translate and compare them to human translation. This investigation is valuable in determining whether translators should exercise caution when utilizing translation platforms for culturally rich literary works. Additionally, the article scrutinizes the localisation, cultural, and grammatical coherence of Homer’s The Iliad translated from English to Romanian using the Google Translate platform. The human translations used are rendered into English and Romanian from Greek. As Homer’s Greek remains incomprehensible to the translation platform, we employ a secondary translation technique for a tertiary machine-assisted output. Nonetheless, this approach highlights the serious pitfalls of using translation platforms haphazardly in translation work. This analysis will show how awareness of the machine’s imperfect translation capabilities may, in turn, enhance the human translator’s awareness of what works while translating with the help of a translation application.

On the Efficiency and Efficacy of Machine-Assisted Literary Translation: A Case Study for English/Romanian and Romanian/English Machine-Assisted Translation

East-West Cultural Passage

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

“If you translate long into the machine, the machine translates back into you,” is one of the issues the present article strives to establish and explore...

On the Efficiency and Efficacy of Machine-Assisted Literary Translation: A Case Study for English/Romanian and Romanian/English Machine-Assisted Translation

Published Online: Mar 16, 2024

Page range: 59 - 79

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ewcp-2023-0013

Keywords
techno-determinism, machine-assisted translation, gist translation, literary translation, digital age, neural machine translation, artificial intelligence.

© 2023 Emilian Tîrban, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

On the Efficiency and Efficacy of Machine-Assisted Literary Translation: A Case Study for English/Romanian and Romanian/English Machine-Assisted Translation

Published Online: Mar 16, 2024

Page range: 59 - 79

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ewcp-2023-0013

Keywordstechno-determinism, machine-assisted translation, gist translation, literary translation, digital age, neural machine translation, artificial intelligence.

© 2023 Emilian Tîrban, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
techno-determinism, machine-assisted translation, gist translation, literary translation, digital age, neural machine translation, artificial intelligence.