Can Machine Translation Declare a New Realm of Service? Online Folktales as a Case Study

Abstract

A common claim goes that only technical, informative texts are fit for machine translation (MT), but this paper tries to investigate if MT has its useful role in folktales when the audience reads their MTs only for gisting and cultural knowledge acquisition, not literary appreciation. Drawing on the functionalistic theory as the theoretical framework, this research aims at investigating how MT acceptance relates to the new function of folktales. An MT assessment is conducted based on a three-scale assessment and the results show that most respondents favor the English MT of a folktale tailored to the informative function than to the traditional function of literary appreciation. Most respondents prioritize a clear, smooth flow of ideas and consistent use of tense verbs over the preservation of the conversational literary form. The implications indicate that technological innovation has affected the way of web audience’s reading of online folktales, and therefore MT service can declare a new, expanding realm on the web. In a nutshell, this research suggests a breakthrough towards a new target of MT application and sheds light on the inevitable impact of technology on the web audience’s acceptance of literary MT in the digital era.