Human Translator vs Machine Translation. A Case Study in Turkish-Italian Lexicography

Year 2025, Volume: 5 Issue: 2, 281 - 307, 30.12.2025

Ellen Patat

https://doi.org/10.63673/Lotus.1723648

Abstract

This paper presents a comparative analysis between human translation and automated outputs within the field of Turkish-Italian lexicography. Using a corpus of example sentences extracted from Turklex—a developing online multilingual dictionary—translations were carried out manually by a professional translator and subsequently generated by four different machine translation tools: Google Translate, DeepL, Gemini, and ChatGPT-4. Particular attention is paid to the rendering of headwords, a critical element in lexicographic accuracy. By examining the divergences and overlaps across these translations, the study highlights the strengths and limitations of current NMTs and AI-driven chatbots when applied to a less commonly examined language pair. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first focused investigation into Turkish-Italian translation within a lexicographical framework. The findings aim to inform both the evaluation of machine translation tools and the broader discussion on their integration into language resource development. The research found that while ChatGPT slightly outperformed the other tools, AI chatbots and NMTs still fall short of human translators in delivering translations that are both contextually nuanced and semantically accurate.

Keywords

Machine translation , Turkish-Italian , Lexicography , Online TR-IT dictionary , NMT , AI-driven Chatbot

Project Number

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İnsan Çevirmen ve Makine Çevirisi. Türkçe-İtalyanca Sözlükbiliminde Bir Vaka Çalışması

Abstract

Bu makale, Türkçe-İtalyanca sözlükçülük alanında insan çevirisi ile otomatik çeviri çıktıları arasında karşılaştırmalı bir analiz sunmaktadır. Gelişmekte olan çok dilli çevrimiçi sözlük Turklex’ten alınan örnek cümlelerden oluşturulan bir derlem kullanılarak, çeviriler profesyonel bir çevirmen tarafından manuel olarak yapılmış, ardından dört farklı makine çeviri aracı – Google Translate, DeepL, Gemini ve ChatGPT-4 – aracılığıyla otomatik olarak üretilmiştir. Sözlükçülükte doğruluğun kritik bir unsuru olan madde başlıklarının aktarımına özel önem verilmiştir. Çeviriler arasındaki farklılıklar ve örtüşmeler incelenerek, çalışma güncel NMT (Sinirsel Makine Çevirisi) sistemleri ile yapay zeka destekli sohbet robotlarının, daha az incelenmiş dil çiftlerine uygulandığında gösterdiği güçlü ve zayıf yönleri değerlendirmektedir. Bildiğimiz kadarıyla, bu çalışma, sözlükçülük bağlamında Türkçe-İtalyanca çeviri üzerine yapılmış ilk odaklı araştırmadır. Elde edilen bulgular, hem makine çeviri araçlarının değerlendirilmesine ışık tutmayı hem de bu araçların dil kaynakları geliştirmeye entegrasyonu üzerine geniş çaplı tartışmalara katkı sağlamayı amaçlamaktadır. Araştırma, ChatGPT’nin diğer araçlardan kıyasla bir miktar daha iyi performans sergilemesine rağmen, yapay zeka destekli sohbet robotları ile NMT sistemlerinin bağlamsal olarak incelikli ve anlamsal açıdan doğru çeviriler üretme konusunda hâlen insan çevirmenlerin gerisinde kaldığını ortaya koymuştur.

Keywords

Makine Çevirisi , Türkçe-İtalyanca , Çevrimiçi Türkçe-İtalyanca Sözlük , Sinirsel Makine Çevirisi (NMT) , Yapay Zeka Destekli chatbot , Sözlükbilim

Project Number

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