Re:Wikipedia Is Trying to Transcend the Limits of Human Lang...
by TchoBeer on Friday September 03, 2021 @10:51AM
(#28404984)
If human language reflect human culture, and NLPs are trained on written text, is it impossible that they can have the cultural context to make such a translation? Is it impossible that an NLP can get a query like "translate this phrase into informal slang Arabic" and the NLP properly does so?
Re:Wikipedia Is Trying to Transcend the Limits of Human Lang...
by Freak_NL on Friday September 03, 2021 @11:06AM
(#28405172)
I find it improbable at this state, because 'understanding human culture' and bridging the gaps between two languages without compromising the quality of the prose depends not just on written text, but also decades of experience in being a human being in that society/language, and being able to make connections which may not be apparent from texts. A computer would also miss the final step: our monitoring function that accepts or rejects translations as silly, down-right anti-social, or totally apt — that well honed Fingerspitzengefühl that comes from the total sum of your experience and maturity.
You would, in effect, have to train an artificial intelligence with a brain capable of mimicking ours by raising it as a child in our society (sometimes cheerfully acknowledged by sci-fi writers who employ such characters), and even then you would need to have a brain that processes certain events, happenings, and subtle hints the way a human being roughly does.
Perhaps someone will manage to train one in a suitable manner one day (far far away — not in our lifetime), but I wouldn't want to be responsible for debugging it.
Someone will manage to make one that is good enough for some purposes though. Plenty of semi-gibberish manuals included with products that strongly reek of machine translation these days.
Re:Wikipedia Is Trying to Transcend the Limits of Human Lang...
by stevesimmons on Friday September 03, 2021 @07:20AM
(#28402725)
Nice examples! Please also do "Nu komt de aap uit de mouw!"
This is something humans (i.e., experienced translators) excel at. It is something computers cannot do except at a very basic level — they lack the cultural knowledge and autonomous connection making capability needed.
In Dutch I could translate 'not my cup of tea' in many ways depending on the context. Some examples:
Neutral translation in lieu of additional context: „Dit is niet naar mijn smaak.”
Young person in a social context: „Dit is niet echt mijn ding, nee.”
Middle age manager in a white collar office environment: „Nee, dit is 'not my cup of tea', zeg maar.”¹
Ironic and/or cynical down-to-earth jocular fellow: „Dit is niet mijn kopje thee.”²
1: Note the literal borrowing of English. 2: A literal translation used humorously, knowing full well that this is not 'correct'.