Languages in the AI Age: Do We Need Translators Anymore?

This event invites participants to critically examine how artificial intelligence is reshaping multilingual communication and the implications for the future of translation work and employment more broadly.

Led by Dr Joseph Lambert (Cardiff University), you will engage directly with machine translation (MT) technologies, using camera-based apps to translate curated foreign-language texts into English. These texts will include linguistic complexities such as humour, cultural references, and technical terminology, highlighting common limitations of automated translation. You will assess the quality of the machine-generated outputs and compare them with professional translations, fostering discussion around the value of human expertise in language work.

This event is part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science, which is taking place in Universities across the UK from 18th October until 8th November.