GC: n
CT: Machine translation (MT) is the use of automated software that translates text without human involvement. Adaptive MT is a technology that learns and adjusts in real-time from human feedback.
MT is based on probability—not meaning. It doesn’t understand the meaning or the context of what it’s translating. MT guesses the most likely translation so, if you cannot read both languages, you will never know if it guessed correctly.
MT may produce fluent results, but fluency is not accuracy. Just because it looks right doesn’t mean it is right.
S: ATA (last access: 30 May 2025)
N: 1. – machine (n): 1540s, “structure of any kind,” from Middle French machine “device, contrivance,” from Latin machina “machine, engine, military machine; device, trick; instrument” (source also of Spanish maquina, Italian macchina), from Greek makhana, Doric variant of Attic mēkhanē “device, tool, machine;” also “contrivance, cunning,” traditionally (Watkins) from PIE *magh-ana- “that which enables,” from root *magh- “to be able, have power.” But Beekes, on formal grounds, objects to the connection to words in Germanic and Slavic. He finds the Greek word isolated and is convinced that it is Pre-Greek.
Main modern sense of “device made of moving parts for applying mechanical power” (1670s) probably grew out of mid-17c. senses of “apparatus, appliance” and “military siege-tower.” It gradually came to be applied to an apparatus that works without the strength or skill of the workman.
– translation (n): mid-14c., translacioun, “movement from one place to another, specifically “removal of a saint’s body or relics to a new place;” also “act of rendering of a text from one language to another; a text produced by translation into another language;” from Old French translacion “translation” of text, also of the bones of a saint, etc. (12c.) or directly from Latin translationem (nominative translatio) “a carrying across, removal, transporting; transfer of meaning,” noun of action from past-participle stem of transferre “bear across, carry over; copy, translate” (see transfer (v.)).
From late 14c. as “miraculous conveyance to paradise;” also used in Middle English of transplanted saplings. As adjectives, translative (16c.), translatory (18c.), translational (19c.).
- The earliest known use of the noun machine translation is in the 1950s.
- OED’s earliest evidence for machine translation is from 1952, in the writing of J. W. Perry.
2. Automatic translation from one language to another.
- The first known use of machine translation was in 1952.
3. Pioneered in the 1950s, MT is one of the earliest examples of artificial intelligence. Today’s MT is continuing to innovate by leveraging neural network models to deliver unprecedented linguistic quality. However, not all MT is created equal: its quality is determined by how it is trained.
Machine translation (MT) is a form of AI-enabled translation that can perform instant, automatic translation of text from one language to another without any human intervention. MT that relies on complex machine learning algorithms, using neural networks and/or natural language processing, is known as neural machine translation (NMT).
4. There are three different types of machine translation: rules-based, statistical and neural. Neural machine translation (NMT) is the current approach that uses machine learning and neural network models. Our Language Weaver platform is built on NMT and uses deep neural networks based on how the human brain works to train models for different language combinations and content types to produce accurate and natural sounding output.
5. Translation and Interpretating; Computer Processing of Language Data; Artificial Intelligence: machine translation, MT, automatic translation (less frequent), automated translation (less frequent).
- The translation of text or speech from one natural language to another by a computer system, without human intervention.
- The three primary approaches that have shaped the landscape of machine translation [are]: rule-based machine translation (RBMT), statistical machine translation (SMT), and neural machine translation (NMT).
- machine translation; MT: designations standardized by ISO in collaboration with the International Electrotechnical Commission.
S: 1. Etymonline (last access: 30 May 2025); OED (last access: 30 May 2025). 2. MW (last access: 30 May 2025). 3 & 4. RWS (last access: 30 May 2025). 5. TERMIUM PLUS (last access: 30 May 2025).
SYN: MT, automatic translation (less frequent), automated translation (less frequent).
S: TERMIUM PLUS (last access: 30 May 2025)
CR: computer-assisted translation, computer science, language engineering, post-editing, translation, translation technology.
