12/7 (C)

Hopefully, Google will be able to perfect its translation service at some point in the near future. The anecdote about German-Arabic translations at the very beginning I think is a good example of why this would be a useful development, since refugees and immigrants who don't speak the language of the country they're moving to would benefit  immensely in many ways from the existence of such a ubiquitous translator. For one, it could help them navigate the legal system of their new state without needing the assistance of another who may in some cases not be very sympathetic to their plight (this may become more important soon as xenophobia seems to be on the rise around the world). A perfect digital translator may also help remove the language barrier between individuals, which may help reduce overall xenophobia and general fears of "aliens" and "outsiders"; It becomes much easier to see that others aren't so different from yourself when you're able to associate some kind of meaning with the sounds coming out of their mouths. I think we should probably make extra efforts to see each other as human, especially these days. So, hopefully Google will be able to get Translate to a near perfect state at some point in the near future, as it would do a lot of good I think!

(Sorry this was rambly >_<)

12/7 Reading Comments

 I found this article by Lewis-Krausdec very interesting, as I also sometimes use Google Translate to translate words that I do not know. Compared to Google Translate that I used to use in language classes in high school, I also feel that the website has become more advanced. Obviously it cannot be relied on fully, as it does not understand context or writing style, but Google Translate has become more and more accurate over the years. I thought that it was very interesting to learn the development of the technology, and how Google decided to reorganize itself around artificial intelligence. As technology (not exclusive to Google Translate) starts to develop dependence on artificial intelligence, machine learning technologies are becoming more accurate and helpful to daily life. Even Google Translate has become increasingly accurate as the technological development of the software furthers. I was impressed with the example that Lewis-Krausdec used of Samsung’s new ultrasound devices, as the company’s medical-imagining subsidiary announced the development of these devices that could detect breast cancer. As artificial intelligence’s development furthers, humans can increasingly rely on technology to carry out basic daily functions, and even more complex, dangerous jobs can be more accurately completed by machines. 

12/6 Reading

This reading was interesting cuz it reminded me how fortunate we are to have services such as Google Maps and Google Translate. "Machine learning" technologies are fairly recent, but I cannot imagine what life would be like without them. I didn't know google translate translated 140 billion words per day. That's a lottttttt. It's interesting that Google translate first started due to the refugee crisis. I enjoyed how they showed the difference between the old translate system and AI-rendered version. "Uno no es lo que es por lo que escribe, sino por lo que ha leído." The AI translated it so well compared to the old translate system. I was not sure how I felt about the talk about Google Maps and having a machine know everything about trends, and how much ppl typically spend for children, etc. It seems kind of excessive at that point, but I guess people will try that new technology if it becomes available. I will not be a fan, personally.

12/7 Reading Questions

 It's not really talked about in the article, but I'm interested what everything thinks about how the future of AI relates to user privacy, as it's something that I often think about, and specifically in relation to this sentence, "...a truly intelligent Maps could also conceivably know all sorts of things a close friend wouldn't... If an intelligent machine were able to discern some intricate if murky regularity in data about what we have done in the past, it might be able to extrapolate about our subsequent desire, even if we don't entirely know them ourselves." Will the inevitable loss of individual privacy through reliance on "free" services like Maps, Translate, Google, etc. coupled by their enormous amounts of data collection be overshadowed by the convenience and benefits to access of ever-improving "artificial intelligence" systems, like those with improvements as remarkable as Translate detailed in the article?

12/7 Reading Comments - Sarah Watanabe

     This article, combined with the one we read last week, was very interesting to think about the future of automated translations, especially for more routine translations. Though I hadn't been conscious of the day on which it occurred, I did definitely notice an upgrade in Google Translate's abilities to translate more extensive phrases and make it sound much more natural than the more "robotic" translations of the past. I did find the article's discussion regarding what is considered AI to be interesting because though I had never really thought about it, most things that were once AI seem to be losing that title as its function is becoming more generally available to the public and routine. Another aspect of this new Google Translate is its ability to learn and this raised the question for me about Japanese translations. Because Japanese has hiragana, katakana, and kanji, it made me wonder how well Google Translate can produce the same result if the same sentence is typed with hiragana, katakana, or kanji. In the same vein, if a person makes a mistake in the kanji they select to describe something, a human translator, though they may lead to a mistranslation, can determine this mistake and determine the meaning from context, whereas it is more probable that a machine would have more trouble with this error. But on the flip side, as we discussed during the mistakes in translation homework, humans make errors too, so if these translation technologies become very advanced, they may eventually be able to proofread for human translators as a way to prevent some of these errors. 

12/4 Reading

 I had never considered how google translate works before. As it was before I believe it worked by cataloging the meanings of each word and trying to understand whole sentences based on the dictionary definitions of each word. Of course, coinciding with the robotic understandings of grammar. But with the change of Translate, using AI or referencing other translations as I have heard it mentioned, has done much better at producing machine translations than it ever has been. I wonder, with this new system, how it responds to rapidly changing elements of language. I think it would be interesting if it could recognize new developments in language, for example; new jargon, slang, colloquial phrases. Right now Translate seems to work similarly to a child repeating things it has heard rather than truly understanding and producing that knowledge. As machine learning continues to develop, I wonder how much Translate and other AIs will be able to understand. However, I think there is still a lot to consider with the nuances apparent in language, and I am still skeptical of how well Translate would be able to recognize them. I might just be worried though that it will try to put me out of a job. But hopefully, I have a while until that might happen. 

11/30 - Comments

Bellos spoke about machine translation more specifically about Google Translate. He speaks about how it translates, which was actually kind of interesting to find out, and why it could never replace real translators. At first glance, that is very true. If you have ever used Google Translate you can see that the sentences are a bit off even if you have no understanding of the language you are translating. Furthermore, I do agree that any machine learning will indeed have trouble translating into more creative pieces of work and literature. But that's the thing though. It feels like there is a limited number of ways to write things that eventually at some point machine translation will eventually be able to translate sufficiently. Even then, there could be a development in the future using some different approach that could replace translators. The passage by Steiner itself was a bit of a translation project, but if I understood correctly, he spoke about the approach a translator should take, so basically the typical motion. The first step is putting faith into what you are translating, meaning that there is a purpose to what you are translating, and not just some nonsensical nonsense. Next would be figuring out what the actual meaning in what you are translating actually is and extracting all of it. Then he goes on to speak about creating some sort of balance in the translation, and compares it to that of importing and exporting. It is difficult to balance what you change and how faithful you are to the original. Lastly, he speaks of ways in which to maintain this balance. At the moment, there is not really anything that I disagree with so I think this is a decent approach, although it is possible later on I may see some flaws.