AI Translator: Benefits, Uses, and More in Society and Education 2022?

What is Artificial Intelligence?  First, we must venture into the question of what is Artificial Intelligence or in other words AI. Essentially, this is the future in which all our modern computers are heading to.

Artificial Intelligence generally gives a computer the ability to develop an intellectual process.

Bluntly speaking, AI gives your computer the ability and power to think for itself in a number of situations, similar to the human mind.

Although, in this case the intellectual capacity that the computer would be endowed with would be far more powerful than any human mind. This gives our computers the power to help us live life seamlessly in our ever progressing technological world.

However, in our present times AI technology has not yet reached its full potential in terms of commercial use for the public. But, it can already be seen in every device with a microchip.

This would include devices such as computers, tablets/pads, Smartphone, and many more. AI, even in its most primitive form, can be found in almost everything we own. Whether that be in your offices, homes, malls, hospitals, and even restaurants.

What is an AI Translator?

AI translator is a digital tool that can be used by anyone anywhere around the world to translate individual words, sentences, and even whole paragraphs.

An AI translator is a tool that is built in devices that use artificial intelligence in translating not only written words, but also spoken words to be able to perceive the meaning of certain texts. Its uses can range from a number of tasks that can benefit both professional uses and leisurely uses.

It is simple to understand why artificial intelligence would be so intertwined with language translation. Considering that languages consist of large sets of data that are filled with words and meanings. These datasets are presided by rules that determine how those words are used. AI translation simply applies machine learning to languages.

AI translators can come in a number of different programs such as SIRI, Alexa, Bixby, and others. Its most common and probably the most recognizable program comes in a program called Google Translate.

Google Translate is an AI translator that translates one word into its corresponding word in another language. This AI translator does not only translate words into English but is also able to translate words into any other language.

A digital tool like AI translators gives its users the ability to take down language barriers, which enables them to communicate seamlessly with anyone. Whether those people are in the same area or not, AI translators are incredibly powerful tools that help mankind in terms of communication.

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Can a Human Translator beat AI Translators?

Traditionally, human translators have been around for centuries and have been the prime source of translating words, sentences, and paragraphs.

Human translators have been utilized long before the advent of the computer, and play a prime role in political settings. These translators are still being used today in large political functions that involve countries that speak different languages.

The prime basis of both human translators and AI translators is to translate words, sentences, and paragraphs from one language to another language.

A difference between the two is that AI translators lack the human aspect in terms of translating how sentences or paragraphs mean in certain situations. 

More often than not, human translators can often detect areas of language like sarcasm, which can be dangerous in other situations.

However, AI translators still have a significant amount of advantages when compared to human translators.  Unlike human translators, AI translators are readily available to the general public through their computers and smart devices.

AI translators can be used by anyone and everyone with access to the internet. Other factors like swiftness and ease also play a part in the advantages AI translators bring to translation.     

More advantages and disadvantages are listed down below on the pros and cons of AI translators.

How Can An AI Translator Help?

AI translators are digital tools that are undoubtedly very useful, however not in everyday life. This digital tool can be used in emergency situations when traveling and can be utilized perfectly when asking for information like directions.

AI translators are also very helpful when individuals such as you and I need to translate words, sentences, and paragraphs without the need of context very quickly.

AI translators can also aid in student learning. This can be identified with its uses in translating written or spoken words seamlessly and in an instant. This helps students who study in areas or countries that do not speak his or her native language.

Digital tools like Google translate is a program that has been repeatedly used by teachers and students alike for subjects that involve foreign languages. More on how AI translators help students and education will be discussed later.

What are the Pros and Cons of AI Translators?

AI translators rely on technology that carry out localization campaigns, which means that there are still key pros and cons that everyday users still need to look out for.

A plethora of advantages and disadvantages are bound to appear for technological and digital tools that are far from being the peak of their performance and development. With that said, there is no doubt that some major advantages AI translators include:

Speed

AI translator tools can instantly deliver word translations that are beneficial to travelers and students alike when they are needed the most.

An example of this is when individuals visit foreign countries and need to read the items or dishes available in the menus of a restaurant.

Another example is when a foreign exchange student in another country is in need of reading street signs for directions to the school or school facilities. In these situations AI translators are essential to be able to use in a moment’s notice.

Support

AI translators act as an invaluable guide or assistants to real world translators. These digital tools provide feedback instantly when writers are analyzing or transcreating content in quite large amounts. 

AI translators are also able to flag up current issues that relate to the tone of voice in which other and much older digital translators may have missed. 

Cost

The financial overheads that are brought in with AI translators are effectively cost efficient for both the consumers and the producers.

Producers in terms of the companies that manufacture smart devices and computers and the companies that code and program the digital tools we all know as AI translators.

In other cases, the cost of localization can significantly be reduced with the help of human translators that are tasked in the performance of utilizing their skills to act as quality control for things like digital batches.

As it was said, with these technological and digital tools there are bound to be some cons or disadvantages that both consumers and producers alike should take careful note of. These potential disadvantages include –

Downsides of AI Translator

Cultural misunderstandings

With the constant incline of progression that technology has been facing throughout the recent years, AI translators have been recorded to be more accurate than ever.

However, this digital tool still lacks the human aspect in its process and code, which in turn has no concept of the deep knowledge within certain and local cultures. Even when these translations are accurate they can still be misleading. 

These misleading translations have the potential to be offensive to the local population. A generalized thought of this can be summed up into how our computers and smart devices are ill-equipped in analyzing aspects of language such as humor. 

Complexity

Good and uncomplicated can be clearly translated through AI translators, although some content or texts need to be complex. An example of these complex content or texts is technical manuals.

This evidence complies with the AI translator’s ability to struggle with texts that have tendencies to be ambiguous or obscure. AI translators may not be the best possible source of precision translation when it comes to texts where technical jargon is involved. 

May not be reliable

Apps or applications that utilize digital tools and AI translators more often than not misinterpret the words, sentences, or phrases that users often want to translate.

These applications struggle with the task to translate colloquialism and idioms, which makes products of everyday speech in television, film, or music quite strenuous to produce a translation for. 

In terms of being used in education, these digital tools will be able to produce outputs with the correct translations, but would have the unreliability in terms of the context being portrayed in their output. 

Blandness

Computers and smart devices have the ability to be exceptional at tasks that call for constant repetition and require clear and constant outputs.

This however provides problems in making these outputs good, engaging, and enjoyable or fun to read and understand. Texts and content more often than not can produce a bland or neutral read when it is made or translated by AI translators.

Texts that produce a bland or neutral read are not necessarily a bad thing, however texts that require branding or personality are often produced and supplied by human translators.

Are AI Translators beneficial?

AI or Artificial intelligence is often viewed to bear large amounts of potential in terms of handling learning language or languages. It is important to keep in mind that one of the many aspects and benefits that pertain to language students is to translate words from other languages quickly and seamlessly.

Students that study language or languages are often able to do this by using or downloading these digital tools or AI translators. When individuals or students do this it significantly increases and expands the learning they attain in schools or classrooms.

This allows all types of students whether or not they study language or languages an expansion of their time to focus on other aspects or tasks in their education.

The use and integration of AI translators in schools and classrooms has modernized the way students and individuals look for data.

In the past, students would have to search laboriously through dictionaries and encyclopedias to look and/or find out the meaning of just one word.

This constant incline and progress with our ever so changing technology has allowed digital tools like AI translators to give students and everyday individuals the power to let apps or applications do all the hard work for them.

Additionally, AI translators are now seen as a part of the gauntlet in modern day traveling. AI translators have the ability to make traveling easier for people who travel to places that do not speak the same language as them.

An example of this is when a certain individual or individuals who live in the United States travel to countries that do not have a large population that speak English, like China or Afghanistan.

Applications like Google Translate have the ability to connect that language barrier by being the bridge in conversations. AI translators act as the savior for individuals who find themselves in this certain situation.

Advancements of AI Translators

As it was previously mentioned, there has been a constant increase in the progress and advancement of our technology.

This constant increase in progress or advancements to our present technology whether that be in hardware like our computers or smart devices or software like the programs and codes used to operate our devices, has given rise to the significant betterment of digital tools like artificial intelligence and AI translators.

In other words the constant advancement of technology has influenced their constant advancement.

The advancements that have significantly increased the capacity of work that allows artificial intelligence to operate complex text and content translations can give its credits to the creation of neural machine translation or NMT.

NMT or neural machine translation works hand in hand with artificial intelligence to create a well integrated partner process that gives these digital tools the ability to manage ever increasing amounts of data.

This is found to be evident in companies like Google, with their Google Translate features they are able to offer-up higher quality results in terms of translating words, sentences, and paragraphs.

This constant increase or progress and advancements have allowed students and educators or school faculty as well as businesses the ability to translate words quickly, seamlessly, and with relative ease.

It also means that students are not as likely to produce study content or texts that have misleading or mistranslated words.

Advancements like these save a large amount of embarrassment for students and other individuals alike that are afraid to produce outputs with cultural misunderstandings.

What Kind Of AI Translator Technology Is Available Today?

As it was previously said, Google Translate has been an online application that is well-known throughout the world to be the largest advancement to AI translators.

Google Translate is exceptionally great at being a tool that helps individuals, businesses, and students who study language or languages achieve daily tasks and/or assignments.

This online application now has features that include a camera function that has the ability to seamlessly and instantly translate texts from one language to another only using the camera. This feature can be used by students and faculty alike and is completely free.

All the camera needs to do is hover over the existing text whether it is a hard copy and/or a digital copy. Google Translate then instantly translates the text or texts.

Voice recognition software for artificial intelligence programs has now also been improved. Many of these programs can now talk back to you; programs such as SIRI, Amazon’s Alexa, and Samsung’s Bixby.

These artificial intelligence programs also have the ability to translate words from one language to another language seamlessly and instantaneously.

This gives students who study language or languages the ability to talk to these AI translators and verbally ask to translate certain words into a language they would understand.

Not only students but all kinds of users, including personal and business users can benefit from AI translation.  They can get instant translations for text that they want to convert from one language to another in no time.

Aside from Google, Microsoft has also been working on their software, program, and code for digital tools like AI translators.

One program Microsoft has been developing is the microsoft LUIS. This program is usually utilized and in service as online chatbots that communicate to consumers of this program in their natural or local language.

Microsoft has also been developing an app that has similar characteristics to the features of Google Translates camera function. This application would be able to translate street signs.

Concluding Thought

AI translators have a plethora of uses that can be beneficial in our world, not only in education but in modern society as a whole. It can be utilized in a number of ways from being an academic helper to a personal on the road translator; digital tools like AI translators play a big part in our journey.

Although despite its numerous disadvantages, we can be assured that as technology continues in its progression, so can the code that acts as the bloodline to AI translators.