Machine translation has long been treated mainly as an applied field, but no more! Bringing a fresh perspective, Asscher carefully unpacks the role that this technology can play in informing contemporary translation theory, and in so doing, he re-examines what it means to translate.
Professor Lynne Bowker, Université Laval, Canada
When so much translation involves technological assistance, often involving machine translation (MT), it is jarring that MT is rarely mentioned in translation theory. This makes Omri Asschers book particularly welcome, testing whether theories of translation, such as Descriptive Translation Studies and Skopos theory, may be applied to the work of machines, logically moving through the aesthetic, ethical, and communicative dimensions of MT. Asschers argument for a commonality between translation source texts and artificial intelligence (AI) training data as reference points, even as generative AI output becomes unmoored from both, may well chart a way forward for the place of translation theory when conceptualising multilingual generative AI. Accessible, highly readable, and meticulously referenced, Machine Translation and Translation Theory is a timely and important contribution.
Professor Joss Moorkens, Dublin City University, Ireland
