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Poll: In the near future, translators will no longer use CAT tools.
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Apr 3

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "In the near future, translators will no longer use CAT tools.".

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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 12:06
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
I hope... Apr 3

I've never used them to begin with! I'm what is called a dinosaur in this business...

Dinosaur
 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 13:06
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
As long as humans are in control ... Apr 3

Where translation is surrendered to AI, there is no need for a CAT.

However, if humans are to stay in control, then a CAT is an excellent tool for keeping track of terminology and ensuring consistency. It can be linked up to AI, but the human translator can check, segment by segment, that the translation is correct, ensuring that hallucinations and inaccuracies are prevented. Where a previous translation is outdated, the human can override it and correct it (assuming the human is aw... See more
Where translation is surrendered to AI, there is no need for a CAT.

However, if humans are to stay in control, then a CAT is an excellent tool for keeping track of terminology and ensuring consistency. It can be linked up to AI, but the human translator can check, segment by segment, that the translation is correct, ensuring that hallucinations and inaccuracies are prevented. Where a previous translation is outdated, the human can override it and correct it (assuming the human is aware of the need, but that is part of the translator's job).

Wikipedia has found it necessary to ban AI-generated material.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/mar/27/wikipedia-bans-ai

“Caution is required, because LLMs can go beyond what you ask of them and change the meaning of the text such that it is not supported by the sources cited.”

AI may be used for editing and for translation. (my emphasis)

Some of the machine translations I have seen have been of quite good quality, but not better than a well-trained human. A CAT can be a very useful tool for checking as well as for translating from scratch, and as long as accuracy and consistency are important, I expect CAT tools will be a part of the process. ▲ Collapse


Lieven Malaise
Martin Jonuschat
Géraldine Fourrier
Annamaria Amik
Marjolein Snippe
Edward Tully
Carmen Valentin-Rodriguez
 
Lieven Malaise
Lieven Malaise  Identity Verified
Belgium
Local time: 13:06
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
I don't think so Apr 3

I see no indications that this will happen anytime soon. CAT tools are still the best and most reliable way to make old translations easily accessible and useful.

Martin Jonuschat
Sebastian Witte
Christine Andersen
Matthias Brombach
expressisverbis
 


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Poll: In the near future, translators will no longer use CAT tools.






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