Can Translation Be Mechanized ?

A GOOD translation of a novel requires many qualities from the translator. He must be a native speaker or have at least native-like command of the language into which he translates, the target language; he must have a good knowledge of the language from which he translates, the source language, and preferably have lived among the people who habitually speak the source language; he must have some knowledge of the author’s biography and cultural background, and of the social situation prevailing at the time and place of the novel’s action; he must have imagination and some original creative ability; and finally he must also have everything that is included under experience. Even if the translator possesses all these qualities to the highest degree, he is still apt to be accused of being a traitor to the author’s original intentions—every translator being by necessity a traitor: traduttore, traditore, as the Italian proverb goes. In view of all these essential requirements, the very idea of trying to explore the possibilities of mechanizing part or all of the translation process may seem a frivolous waste of time, a psychopathic epiphenomenon of a materialistic culture to which nothing is holy—least of all human dignity. This is the almost universal reaction of all literaryminded people when they are confronted with the suggestion of mechanizing translation. Understandable as this reaction is, it is, of course, not sufficient to deter further exploration of this admittedly somewhat queer idea. Only too often what have proved to be sound innovations have been ridiculed in their beginnings, the ridicule turning out to be nothing but a rationalization of mental laziness and temperamental opposition to newfangled ideas. It is not merely intellectual curiosity that induces us to inquire into the possibilities of mechanized translation, though this is a sufficient reason. The translation load is constantly increasing all over the world. Many, many millions of words are translated daily by United Nations agencies alone, and much important material remains untranslated, and therefore not sufficiently utilized, for lack of trained translators and the high cost of human translation. Leaving aside what at the present moment can be only Utopian speculations about the adoption of some natural or artificial language as an international auxiliary medium of communications, quick, accurate, and low-cost translation is, and will continue to become, a major desideratum for diplomacy and its martial extensions, for finance and science, for literature and journalism alike. The obstacles put in the way of spreading information by the fact that much valuable scientific material, for example, remains insufficiently