Essential or Obsolete? The Role of Human Competencies in the Tech-Driven Language Services Industry

Abstract

Rapid technological developments in the language services industry including content creation and translation have always provoked fear among human agents, such as language service providers (LSPs), translators, reviewers, and academicians thinking that technology would eliminate the need for humans. This fear can be traced even back to the years typewriters were invented and used in the language services industry, or personal computers replaced typewriters in the process. The twenty-first century, especially the 2010s, witnessed the emergence and rapid development of machine translation (MT), in particular neural machine translation (NMT). Coupled with the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI), human content creators and translators are now face to face with a new competitor. Although the tools used in the industry have changed in line with the technological advancements, achieving quality output has always required the competence of human content creators and translators. This competence has three important pillars: language skills, expertise in the area of specialization, and technological skills. This paper discusses that technological tools such as MT and generative AI demand human intervention to create and translate quality and effective content, which is only possible by acquiring the complete set of the above skills. Focusing on creating content for user manuals, this paper examines how to ask the correct questions, that is, how to give the correct prompts to guide chatbots such as ChatGPT to achieve quality content, thus identifying the limits and benefits of AI in an area of specialization.

Keywords

• human content creators and translators
• artificial intelligence
• ChatGPT
• prompts
• competencies

References

1. Acar, Ferit. 2022. “A Study on Operationalizing Applied English Translation Programs in Turkey: An Examination in Terms of Competencies, Sector and Academy.” Unpublished PhD diss., Istanbul 29 Mayıs University.
2. Alimen, Nilüfer. 2023. “Makine Çevirisinden Sohbet Robotu Çevirisine: ChatGPT ile Deneysel Bir Çalışma.” [From machine translation to chatbot translation: An experimental study with ChatGPT.] RumeliDE Journal of Language and Literature Studies, no. 36, 1532–1548. doi:10.29000/rumelide.1369589.
3. Alimen, Nilüfer, Senem Öner Bulut, and Ayşe Banu Karadağ. 2023. “Yapay Zekâ, Dil ve Çeviri.” [AI, language, and translation.] In Yapay Zekâ: Disiplinlerarası Yaklaşımlar [AI: Interdisciplinary approaches], edited by Berrin Küçükcan and Banu Fulya Yıldırım, 81–103. Istanbul: Vakıfbank Kültür.
4. Brisset, Annie, and Marielle Godbout. 2017. “Globalization, Translation and Cultural Diversity.” Translation and Interpreting Studies. The Journal of the American Translation and Interpreting Studies Association 12 (2): 253–277. doi:10.1075/tis.12.2.04bri.
5. Castilho, Sheila, Stephen Doherty, Federico Gaspari, and Joss Moorkens. 2018. “Approaches to Human and Machine Translation Quality Assessment.” In Translation Quality Assessment. Machine Translation: Technologies and Applications, edited by Joss Moorkens, Sheila Castilho, Federico Gaspari, and Stephen Doherty, 9–38. Cham: Springer.
6. Copeland, B. J. 2024. “Artificial Intelligence.” Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Accessed March 5, 2024. https://www.britannica.com/technology/artificial-intelligence.
7. Esselink, Bert. 2000. A Practical Guide to Localization. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
8. Esselink, Bert. 2003. “The Evolution of Localization.” Localization: The Guide from MultiLingual Computing & Technology #57 Supplement, July/August, 4–7. Idaho: MultiLingual Computing, Inc.

9. IEC/IEEE. 2019. IEC/IEEE 82079-1:2019 Preparation of Information for Use (Instructions for Use) of Products – Part 1: Principles and General Requirements.
10. Massardo, Isabella, and Jaap Van der Meer. The Translation Industry in 2022, A Report from the TAUS Industry Summit Amsterdam, March 22–24, 2017. De Rijp: TAUS BV.
11. Mazur, Iwona. 2007. “The Metalanguage of Localization – Theory and Practice.” Target 19 (2): 337–357. doi:10.1075/target.19.2.11maz.
12. O’Brien, Matt. 2023. “2023: The Year We Played with Artificial Intelligence — and Weren’t Sure What to Do about It.” The Associated Press. December 14. https://apnews.com/article/ai-2023-artificial-intelligence-chatgpt-dangers-565ff5b817b5db0d4e74829ae3d68611.
13. O’Brien, Sharon. 2012. “Translation as Human–Computer Interaction.” Translation Spaces 1 (1): 101–122. doi:10.1075/ts.1.05obr.
14. O’Brien, Sharon. 2023. “Human-Centered Augmented Translation: Against Antagonistic Dualisms.” Perspectives 32 (3): 391–406. doi:10.1080/0907676X.2023.2247423.
15. Öner Bulut, Senem. 2019. “Integrating Machine Translation into Translator Training: Towards ‘Human Translator Competence’?” transLogos Translation Studies Journal 2 (2): 1–26. doi:10.29228/transLogos.11.
16. Öner, Işın, and Senem Öner Bulut. 2021. “Post-Editing Oriented Human Quality Evaluation of Neural Machine Translation in Translator Training: A Study on Perceived Difficulties and Benefits.” transLogos Translation Studies Journal 4 (1): 100–124. doi:10.29228/transLogos.33.
17. Öztürk Baydere, Hilal. 2022. “Makine Çevirisi ve Dijitalleşme Bağlamında Çevirmenlik Mesleğinin Dönüşümü.” [Transformation of the translation profession within the context of machine translation and digitalization.] Unpublished PhD diss, Istanbul University.
18. Öztürk Baydere, Hilal. 2023. “Rethinking Translator Competence in the Machine Translation Era.” transLogos Translation Studies Journal 6 (1): 45–74. doi:10.29228/transLogos.54.
19. PACTE. 2003. “Building a Translation Competence Model.” In Triangulating Translation: Perspectives in Process Oriented Research, edited by Fabio Alves, 43–66. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
20. PACTE. 2005. “Investigating Translation Competence: Conceptual and Methodological Issues.” Meta 50 (2): 609–619. doi:10.7202/011004ar.
21. Thorbecke, Catherine. 2023. “A Year after ChatGPT’s Release, the AI Revolution Is Just Beginning.” CNN. November 30. https://edition.cnn.com/2023/11/30/tech/chatgpt-openai-revolution-one-year/index.html.
22. Vieira, Lucas Nunes. 2020. “Automation Anxiety and Translators.” Translation Studies 13 (1): 1–21. doi:10.1080/14781700.2018.1543613.
23. Wang, Lan. 2023. “The Impacts and Challenges of Artificial Intelligence Translation Tool on Translation Professionals.” SHS Web of Conferences 163:1–6. doi:10.1051/shsconf/202316302021.