Do you think machines will ever be as good as humans at translating from one language into another?

@Klausdorth....haha - thanks for posting the link!!! I remember learning to program using punch cards.....ouch!! I am old!!

Are humans so good at translation? It may seem like it if the output sounds like something in our own language, but perhaps that machine translated gobbledegook is no less accurate.

I'd guess the turning point will come when the language we humans learn has been largely generated by a machine in the first place. Are we not heading in that direction? Can we imagine some AI generated children's entertainment? And if that becomes the principle source of language, then it's a done deal.

In the future? With the speed technology advances, of course, why wouldn't it.

They'll soon be better.

Yes,

and the education ministry is counting on it. In English language education, Elementary school children will be taught how to interact with translation 'robots'. The role of foreign English speakers in the classroom is being diminished. To become fluent and functional in a language you will need Private tutoring; there will be growth in that area.

As mentioned by Ah_so, the phone apps already exist...they just need refinement, advancement won't stop. Google is not just going to say 'meh...it's pretty good now, let's just stop'.

In fact in the end I think apps will be more accurate translators because they won't insert a personal bias into the translation.

No, but I think machine translation will become increasingly useful as a tool for aiding translation with different algorithms being developed for specific purposes and situations.

As the technology has human input it is fallible.

No, no way.

Nope. Language changes all the time, it's incredibly organic and varied, I don't think a machine will be able to learn that.

Oh, for sure. Just about the time climate changes exterminates all language speakers...

I think that it will between some languages but not others. Japanese/English will take a long time.

The starker differences between English and Japanese mean that a meaningful online translation is some years away.

Having just looked at a Japanese to English translation with Google, I see that the technology has moved on vastly over the past few years - it is now quite good.

Not until we get that cool Universal Translator they have on Star Trek.

If you think about it, your phone already has a speech to text translator on it. We are not that far from having a rudimentary simultaneious interpreting.

We are not far from machines being able to do the heavy lifting of text transaction, particularly for languages like French to English (look at a French newspaper with Google translate). A human can then tidy them up.

The starker differences between English and Japanese mean that a meaningful online translation is some years away.

Not until we get that cool Universal Translator they have on Star Trek.

If humanity doesn't tear itself apart, and keeps progressing technologically, then yes, we will eventually develop machines that translate better than we can.

That's still quite far down the road though. At least 20-30 years I figure.

For written material; eventually (with the further development of AI) yes.

For verbal translation I would agree with all above. No.

Who knows however? When I was using a computer which required a small room and extensive environmental controls I would have never, ever imagined something like a smart phone with tremendous computing power and the ability to play music, make calls (audio and video) and an enormous amount of memory.....all held in my hand.

I still agree with all above - but....... I have learned not to underestimate the ability of technology to advance.

No.

At this point in time, no. At best, machines can transliterate. Artificial intelligence is not intelligent enough to understand context clues, undertones, figures of speech, etc. But I'd like to believe that someday your Alexa or Siri can exchange witty remarks like Jarvis from Iron Man

No.