Forms of Death of Professional Human Translators in the Era of Machine Translation Technologies

Abstract

In this paper, we argued that professional human translators were dead. We explored the impact of advanced machine translation engines and artificial intelligence on professional human translators, taking those working in eight major language pairs as a case study. Qualitative data was collected with a questionnaire administered to 330 translators worldwide, and qualitative insights were gleaned from observation. The results showed seven forms of metaphorical death of professional human translators, namely loss of monopoly over the act of ‘translating,’ of monopoly over the title ‘translator,’ of style and voice, of identity and autonomy, of prestige and consideration, of security, and of opportunities and income.