A Snapshot of Children’s Attitudes toward Machine Translation

Abstract

Technologies offered and used on the Internet play a significant part in the lives of children; nevertheless, little research has been done on how children view and use machine translation (MT). According to recent literature, there are various benefits to using MT in teaching/learning foreign languages, such as more fluent writing, more effective communication, and fewer errors. Nevertheless, the use of MT in classroom settings is often viewed as problematic by language teachers. Despite the fact that a vast number of students have used MT for various purposes or have tried experimenting with MT for certain academic or entertainment purposes, they seem to have mixed feelings about it. The present qualitative study is based on semi-structured interviews and aims to capture a snapshot of Lithuanian children’s perceptions and awareness of MT technologies. The results of the interviews reveal that children mostly find out about MT as a result of their own efforts and employ MT tools for a variety of purposes; however, at school no systematic guidance and/or support in terms of MT use is provided and children tend to perceive that their teachers generally hold negative attitudes towards MT.