I feel like a machine that has "Given Up"––Current status of Chinese "Machine Translation"––

　In recent years, machine translation technology has been advancing at a tremendous pace.

　The main language of translation is English, which is used in countries other than those whose native language is English such as USA or UK, every country uses it next to their mother tongue, making it an "International Language."

　Even now, we have created a database of English sentences that are created in countless numbers like grains of sand on a beach from all over the world, it has been translated into machine translation.

　Today's machine translation continues to absorb English knowledge from all over the world, not only vocabulary, but also writing skills and slang skills have improved significantly.

　Machine translated sentences are no longer the same as in the past, where "the meaning was vaguely understandable, but it was an obvious literal translation", the particles are also natural and at a level that makes "them easy to read."

　"Translators will lose their jobs due to advances in machine translation", it is often talked about in the translation industry.

　What actually happens?

　An English translator, I know he mainly works on checking and revising machine translated texts. This is called "Post Edit."

　Other translators used to create translations point by point in an analog way, first, create a machine translated sentence using machine translation software.

　They will use their own translation skills to brush up and finish the translated text.

　There is also a reverse pattern.

　First, create a translated sentence their self, then apply it to machine translation, use it to check for typos and omissions, check for mistranslations and omissions, and identify areas where phrasing is unclear, there are streamlining their work.

　Currently, translators are trying to "get along well with machine translation, or rather make use of it", this stance is often seen.

　The other day, I did some Post Editing of a text that was machine translated from Chinese to Japanese.

　Like English, the Chinese text was machine translated, but the writing style was quite smooth. However, there were also problems specific to Chinese language.

　Chinese people often use "Four-Character Idiomatic Compounds" to describe things.

　Machine translation can't do this. It's a real literal translation and it doesn't make sense.

　For example, describe "the mountains and rivers are beautiful" for "山紫水明", it is translated as "The mountains are purple and the water is bright."

　Interestingly, the forced literal translation of the Four-Character Idiomatic Compounds does not connect with the surrounding sentences, perhaps the machine translation had "Give Up", as the entire sentence around that part was completely untranslated.

　"Chenese poetry" is completely out of the question because of the parade of literal translation. In the end, I ended up working on Chinese-Japanese translation rather than Post Editing.

　As you can see, there are still issues with Chinese machine translation, but I think these issues will be resolved in the near future.

　In the past, the translation industry was quite wary of machine translation, but the reality is that the flow of machine translation permeating the world continues unabated, rather translators are trying to "Coexist and Prosper" with machine translation.

　Everyone is wary of new things.

　Rather than blindly hating it and eliminating it, take it into ourself and walk together. This is a law of progress that applies to any industry.