engleski

Development of Translation Technologies and its Implications for Translation (and Language) Studies

Technology permeates human lives, and its development is likely to continue at ever increasing rates. Over the past decades, digital technology in general and translation technologies in particular have drastically changed the face of translation (Austermühl 2001, García 2009). The most recent advances in machine translation (MT) are promising – or threatening, depending on one’s position – to bring down the language barrier as one of the last barriers to a fully globalized world. Taking care to navigate the traps of “hard technological determinism” (Smith and Marx 1994), “technological orthodoxy” (Winner 1979), “reheated futurism” (Edgerton 2006) as well as “neoLuddism” (Jones 2006), this talk will trace the development of translation technologies, starting with the inception of MT systems during and in the aftermath of WWII (Weaver 1949) and ending with solutions just being introduced at the cutting edge (Wu et al. 2016, Denero 2016, Toral and Sánchez-Cartagena 2017). We will look at how translation technologies have been shaped by economic, political and other factors, and how they themselves have in turn changed the landscape of professional and even amateur translation, not only in terms of the content being translated but, more importantly, in terms of the social and cultural relations involved (Pym 2004, Folaron 2010) and with regard to the very identity of the translator (Cronin 2003 & 2013). Finally, we discuss the potential of translation technologies to affect the future of intercultural communication in its broadest sense, and what this impact might mean for the studies and students of translation and languages.

translation technology, machine translation, intercultural communication, sociology of translation, globalization

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