"It was the first time I realized that language isn’t just a code that can be transferred from one system to another and still mean the same thing—that a translator is an artist, not a walking dictionary."
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"It was the first time I realized that language isn’t just a code that can be transferred from one system to another and still mean the same thing—that a translator is an artist, not a walking dictionary."
https://lithub.com/a-rare-and-fragile-cage-on-loving-and-being-trapped-by-the-lithuanian-language/ -
J jwcph@helvede.net shared this topic
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"It was the first time I realized that language isn’t just a code that can be transferred from one system to another and still mean the same thing—that a translator is an artist, not a walking dictionary."
https://lithub.com/a-rare-and-fragile-cage-on-loving-and-being-trapped-by-the-lithuanian-language/@lilithsaintcrow This is why auto-translation can never get past "occasionally not awful" - it can only translate words. Actual translation is about meaning, not words, something machines not only can't do now; at present nobody has anything resembling a viable idea for getting them there.
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@lilithsaintcrow This is why auto-translation can never get past "occasionally not awful" - it can only translate words. Actual translation is about meaning, not words, something machines not only can't do now; at present nobody has anything resembling a viable idea for getting them there.
@jwcph I don't think it will ever happen, frankly. Language is a living thing, and the millions of tiny decisions going into using one word or another simply can't be replicated with binary. And I love that--actual translation is about *meaning*, that's a very elegant way to put it.
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@jwcph I don't think it will ever happen, frankly. Language is a living thing, and the millions of tiny decisions going into using one word or another simply can't be replicated with binary. And I love that--actual translation is about *meaning*, that's a very elegant way to put it.
@lilithsaintcrow It could happen if machines became sapient - but we don't have anything resembling a viable theory of that happening, either, because there's nothing to suggest that sentience, intelligence or sapience are engineering challenges, let alone computational ones.
