Do translators have a future?

[Magnet952]

Any translators out there? Would you advise an interested 20-something to do a translation MA in the hope of working as a freelance translator (German / French / Spanish to English) or is AI translation advancing so rapidly that you don't see much call for human translators in the future?
Thank you for any insights.

Where do you work?

Interpreters are still going to be required long term at places like the UN and EU particularly in conferences.

How do you know?
We are already discussing how and when they could be replaced. Now the people holding the purse strings realise that there is technology out there that will be able to replace human interpreters, how do you think these publicly funded organisations will justify the huge expenditure? It's really only a matter of time.

Andwegoroundagain · Today 08:52
I think there's a few languages (Japanese springs to mind) where AI translation is still poor

That’s interesting. What about Korean?

Because DD works for the EU and AI and the impact on their jobs has been discussed with them and each of the different teams supporting each country.

@Gwenhwyfar Well that’s what I think. Using tech and developing it aren’t the same.

I thought the thread was about a translation MA. I’m not judging anyone or pushing any career but the unis list what most MFL grads look at. Software development wasn’t part of the question and won’t be easy to do after a MFL degree with no experience. If the op loves it already, great. I rather think not.

Two of my friends work for airlines as translators in the airport. To be honest I don’t think people should knock out careers just yet based on ai- it could come for most jobs bar eg hairdressers, nurses, plumbers, anything hands on. Dh works in computers and he says he just hopes he retires in twenty five years as opposed to being edged out by ai!!!

It is coming for most of us!

Same with lawyers and accountants- will be impacted by AI - we are already using it at work

What does it matter?

You are exactly right- the OP’s daughter can research and decide herself, based on myriad factors of which we are not aware. So no need to weigh in and criticise others’ suggestions. Just stick to making your own.

Oh, it has been discussed? Oh well then, fine. They will be able to stop technological advance!

Your posts come across as if you are stating a fact rather than an opinion.

Well if you follow developments with AI, use Deep-L yourself, you see what you see.
The fact that your daughter works for the EU and doesn't want to believe what is happening doesn't change that.

@Gwenhwyfar You are constantly criticizing @Parker231 . Dual standards I think.

As you don’t know what their role involves, you wouldn’t know.

How do I not know what their role involves? They are translators for the EU aren't they? They translate EU documents.

I'm sorry, but I don't want the OP to be given false information.

I doubt there will be deliberate policy to stop, but schools are really struggling to recruit and retain language teachers.

@HotCrossBunplease I'm a software developer... I'm sure you mean well but your advice is spectacularly bad.
Programming is something that can be learnt for free on the internet - at least to start with. I advise people to do this before sinking time and money into a formal course.
Also, becoming a programmer without a CompSci degree isn't new. The degree teaches theory, programming is the craft. Even in the late 90's, companies were hiring people with unrelated degrees and training them. CS as a young field didn't have many graduates anyway and so the workforce had to come from somewhere. Nothing to do with AI and low code.
You can either do it or you can't really.
Even many CompSci degrees only have one or two programming modules. Many people can write essays on theory but can't program.
The 'learn to code' message being obsessively pushed by the media has resulted in everyone and their dog trying to career change into software development - there's a massive glut. However, there are plenty of non-coding jobs like project management, accounting management, integration consulting etc where good communication will be a valuable asset.

The young person in question should aim for these instead.

I appreciate that I mentioned coding as well as software development but I had in mind being involved in software development projects in roles such as Product Owner or change management or indeed project management as you mention. I am a stakeholder and recruiter of teams who do this in my organisation and my husband is a Business Architect in a bank, I am not pulling this stuff out of thin air based on media hype. That said, I also maintain that linguists (especially if the MFL has involved a linguistics module, as mine did, or a language with difficult grammar) are more analytical and suited to IT than many people realise. I’ve a worked with quite a few developers- the ones who can both code and communicate are considerably better to work with. So if there is a glut of people who can code the ones with the people skills will be in a better position.

Anyway the OP didn’t ask about any career other than translation so I apologise for the derail OP.

Or why not teach?

I think it's important to remember that at the end of the day people still use languages to communicate with people.

There will always be a need for people to learn other languages, and there will jobs that will require those skills. I sit in meetings every day with people from multiple nationalities and most of them are not speaking their mother tongue.

Although AI will replace many of the formal/professional linguists' tasks and completely reshape the language services industry, that does not mean that there is no point anyone ever learning another language again.

I work for the EU institutions and we used to employ tons of translators, but we use AI tools more and more (our translators helped develop the tool we use...). Official translations are still required for legal texts, but even for those, the work often involves checking/correcting a machine translated text rather than translating from scratch.

However, we still employ (and will continue to) plenty of interpreters, as all parliament sessions, high level meeting etc need to be simultaneously interpreted. So I would advise going down that route rather than translation personally....

I work in the media, and work with translation houses and much as we love technology I don't think my industry will ever move away fully from human translation services. It's the nuances and the importance of the exact marketed message that is important. However, that's all very small amounts of work.

As I mentioned DD works for the EU as a conference interpreter and not a translator.