Overview

Pervasive and ubiquitous, machine translation systems have been transforming communication and understanding across languages and cultures on a historical scale. Focused on both Neural Machine Translation tools, such as Google Translate, and generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, Omri Asscher pursues the juncture between machine translation and the diverse, often competing, frameworks of human translation theory. He shines a light on the subtleties of the intersection between the two: the places where machine translation corresponds well with the ideas that have been developed on human translation throughout the years, and the places where machine translation seems to challenge translation theory, and perhaps even require that we rethink some of its basic assumptions. Machine Translation and Translation Theory reflects the need for an accessible, panoramic view on the subject. It offers a detailed discussion of various points of theoretical interest: definitions of translation; equivalence in translation; aesthetics of translation; translation ethics; translation as cross-cultural communication; and translation as a historical agent. This is key reading for researchers and students in translation studies, as well as scholars of AI-mediated communication, and computer scientists interested in how machine translation architectures correspond with the understanding of translation in the humanities.

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9781041000594

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Reviews

“Machine translation has long been treated mainly as an applied field, but no more! Bringing a fresh perspective, Asscher carefully unpacks the role that this technology can play in informing contemporary translation theory, and in so doing, he re-examines what it means to translate.” Professor Lynne Bowker, Université Laval, Canada “When so much translation involves technological assistance, often involving machine translation (MT), it is jarring that MT is rarely mentioned in translation theory. This makes Omri Asscher’s book particularly welcome, testing whether theories of translation, such as Descriptive Translation Studies and Skopos theory, may be applied to the work of machines, logically moving through the aesthetic, ethical, and communicative dimensions of MT. Asscher’s argument for a commonality between translation source texts and artificial intelligence (AI) training data as reference points, even as generative AI output becomes unmoored from both, may well chart a way forward for the place of translation theory when conceptualising multilingual generative AI. Accessible, highly readable, and meticulously referenced, Machine Translation and Translation Theory is a timely and important contribution.” Professor Joss Moorkens, Dublin City University, Ireland

Author Information

Omri Asscher is Associate Professor in the Department of Translation and Interpreting Studies at Bar-Ilan University, Israel. His work explores the practical, theoretical, and ethical implications of machine translation for intercultural communication in our time. He also studies the roles literary and theological translation play in homeland-diaspora frameworks.

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