Freelance translators’ perspectives

Abstract

This chapter looks at how freelance translators have approached and used technology, especially translation technology. It defines ‘freelance translator’, ‘technical freelance translator’, and ‘translation technology’ and its development. Freelance translators have often had an uneasy relationship with new technologies, particularly those with an impact on their core competency of translation. This chapter identifies several factors that may have unnecessarily slowed down the rate of adoption and consequently the possibility of having a greater impact on the development of these now widely used technologies. These factors include the cost of technology ownership, a profound misunderstanding of what the technology in question actually does, a refusal to give up some aspects of translation that were deemed more creative and therefore highly cherished, adjusted compensation schemes, software piracy, botched marketing messages and a lack of training. The challenge for freelance translators today is ongoing adaptation to new technological advances, including machine translation (MT), cloud-based computing and artificial intelligence (AI). While overall there seems to be a greater willingness to engage in and with these new technologies, this chapter describes the continuing challenge both now and in the near future.