Can Computer Translators Ever Beat Speaking a Foreign Tongue? 计算机翻译会取代人工翻译吗？

Put “crottin de chèvre” into Google Translate， and youll be told it means goat dung.

So if it appeared on a menu， you might pass. Alas， you would be ruling out a delicious cheese made of goats milk that is often served as a starter in France.

Such misunderstandings are why Google admits that its free tool， used by about 500 million people， is not intended to replace human translators.

Tourists might accept a few misunderstandings because the technology is convenient. But when the stakes are higher， perhaps in business， law or medicine， these services often fall short.

“Using Google Translate can lead to some serious errors， especially when words have multiple meanings， which is often the case in fields such as law or engineering，” says Samantha Langley， a former lawyer who is now a legal translator based in Meribel， France.

That is not to say professional translators do not use computer-assisted translation （CAT） tools. Some sophisticated applications can help them take the donkey work out of repetitive translations.

CAT tools are even used as part of modern language degree courses these days. So how good are they？

在谷歌翻譯中输入crottin de chèvre，它会告诉你其意思是“山羊粪”。

所以如果这个词出现在菜单上，你可能不会点它。可惜的是，你会因此错过一道美食。在法国，这个词指的是用山羊奶制成的美味奶酪，经常被当作开胃菜。

正是由于有这样的误译，谷歌承认，这款已经拥有大约5亿用户的免费工具不会替代翻译人员。

考虑到工具本身的易用性，游客可能会接受少许误译。但在商业、法律或医疗等专业领域，这类服务往往达不到要求。

“使用谷歌翻译可能会导致一些严重的错误，尤其是在法律或工程等领域，许多单词常常会有多种含义。”在法国梅里贝尔工作的萨曼莎·兰利说。她曾是一名律师，现在是一名法律翻译。

这并不意味着专业的翻译人员不使用计算机辅助翻译工具。一些先进的应用程序能够帮助他们减少很多重复度高、单调乏味的工作。

如今，现代语言学位课程甚至涉及计算机辅助翻译工具的使用。那么，它们的效果到底如何？

One of the most popular new tools is the so-called “translation earpiece”. Usually paired with a smartphone app， they pick up spoken foreign languages and translate them for the user.

“It has taken decades of research to create a framework of algorithms designed to recognize patterns in the same way as the human brain—a neural network，” says Andrew Ochoa， chief executive of US startup Waverly Labs， which produces translation earpieces. “Combining that with speech recognition technology has allowed us to make a huge leap forward in terms of accuracy.”

Theres no doubt that CAT tools have taken some of the hard grind out of text translations like instruction manuals or questionnaires， says Milan-based Paola Grassi， a professional translator for Wordbank， a global marketing and translation agency.

“Survey contents are among the most repetitive ones and a good CAT tool can hugely speed up the process，” she says.

For meetings and conferences， wearable translators like Waverlys are undoubtedly popular. But even this new generation tech， which combines speech recognition neural networks and Internet-based translation engines， has limitations.

Users must wait at least a few seconds for a phrase to be translated， or more if the Internet connection is poor.

And computers still lack the subtlety of human communication.

“Translation technology is undoubtedly a useful tool for certain content such as manuals，” says Zoey Cooper， brand  director at Wordbank. “But if you want to create a relationship with the reader， you need a human translator to make it sound natural and capture the sentiment.”

“翻譯耳机”是最流行的新翻译工具之一。它通常与一款智能手机应用程序配合使用，将听到的外语给用户翻译出来。

“经过几十年的研究，我们创建了一种算法框架，目的是以与人脑（神经网络）相同的方式来识别语言模式。”美国初创公司、翻译耳机生产商Waverly Labs的首席执行官安德鲁·奥乔亚说，“通过将它与语音识别技术相结合，我们大幅提高了翻译的准确性。”

在米兰工作的保拉·格拉西是全球营销和翻译机构Wordbank的一名专业翻译。……