Sabão e água ou água e sabão? A diferença que um tradutor humano (ainda) pode fazer…

Abstract

The world of professional translation is inextricably linked to the conquests of artificial intellig ence (AI), and human translators need to use machine translation tools and translatio n memories to increase their productivity . The aim of this paper is to highlig ht the importance of the human translator in the translatio n process and, consequently , to adapt the tra ining of young translators to the circumstances in which they will have to work in the future. Based on the work of final-year students of FLUP's Master's in Translation and Language Services, we carried out an analysis of several cases that revealed the weaknesses of machine translatio n systems, in o rder to illustrate how human intervention can contribute t o a more efficient tra nslation process and a higher quality of the final product and canalso help translators focus their efforts on areas where human intervention is most valuable. If the translator is aware of the limitations of AI systems in advance and if he/she knows what are the most appropria te lin guistic resources applied in the different text genres of specialised communication in the target cultu re and language, during the revision and post-editing process he/she may focus his efforts on areas where human intervention is most valuable: in producing texts that do not look like a translatio n and reveal the characteristic features of orig inal, specialised discourse in the target culture and language. By paying special attention to pronominal anaphora, collo cations, idiomatic expressions, or macro- and micro-textual conventionstranslators can optimize the revision process, increase productivity, and achieveimproved translations in less time.