Aspects of human translation: the current situation and an emerging trend

Abstract

The sharp rise in the use of technology tools in the translation process has rendered human translators more invisible than ever. The importance of the role played by human translators in translation, however, cannot be denied or understated. This paper aims to examine the primary factors influencing the work of human translation combined with translation technology tools. Therefore, the paper provides an overview of the translation and language industries and insights into translation industry standards, quality concerns and the most frequently used tools, as they are aspects that influence and condition the translator’s work today. The final and main section in this work emphasizes an increasingly common trend in translation: a human-assisted machine translation model based on the post-edition of the output from machine translation systems. By analyzing market studies, surveys and papers on the aforementioned aspects, this article confirms that the role of human translators in technology-driven translation processes will be as central in the future as it is today.