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The Value of Translation in the Era of Automation: An Examination of Threats

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When Translation Goes Digital

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Translating and Interpreting ((PTTI))

Abstract

Starting from Goldberg’s (Antisocial media: Anxious labor in the digital economy, New York University Press, 2018) claim that the symbolic value attached to cognitive professions is threatened by automation, this chapter approaches the threat of automation and translator anxiety from a sociological perspective. The chapter highlights the task of “pattern recognition” in translation as an important factor related to the value of translation. The chapter argues that incompatibility between the nature of the task and Machine Translation (and related automated practices) is causing translator anxiety. This is supported by data from a focus group study that included 22 translation project managers working in Japan. Three concepts are addressed: morality, money, and suffering. The conclusion addresses the fact that the traditional value of translation will not align with the future of the translation industry, and scenarios of translators’ survival are explored.

The study received an ethics approval from the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Portsmouth (Ref number: 16/17:55).

The author would like to gratefully acknowledge the support of the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation Grant (No 5453) for this project as well as to thank the project managers who have contributed to this study.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Admittedly, the definition of “Specialized Translation” is not free from theoretical issues. For more discussion, see Rogers (2018).

  2. 2.

    For the curious reader: the job ranked as the most resistant to computerisation (or ranked No 1) was Recreational Therapists, and the least (702) Telemarketers.

  3. 3.

    According to Moore’s Law, available computation power doubles every two years (http://www.mooreslaw.org/).

  4. 4.

    Exploring the technical aspect of MT is beyond the scope of this chapter. Interested readers are referred to Somers (2011) and Kenny (2018b) for introductory summaries.

  5. 5.

    An API is a piece of software code which allows the CAT tool to access and use an external MT system.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Languages and Applied Linguistics, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK

    Akiko Sakamoto

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  1. Akiko Sakamoto
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Correspondence to Akiko Sakamoto .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Translation, Université de Saint-Boniface, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

    Renée Desjardins

  2. TransCrit, Université Paris 8, Paris, France

    Claire Larsonneur

  3. Departamento de Filosofia, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil

    Philippe Lacour

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Sakamoto, A. (2021). The Value of Translation in the Era of Automation: An Examination of Threats. In: Desjardins, R., Larsonneur, C., Lacour, P. (eds) When Translation Goes Digital. Palgrave Studies in Translating and Interpreting. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51761-8_10

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