The AI Japanese Translation Showdown: ChatGPT, Bing, Bard, and DeepL
In the world of artificial intelligence, we’re seeing a new breed of chatbots that are making waves. They’re not just making small talk or telling you the weather. No, these chatbots are flexing their muscles in translation, coding, storytelling, and more. And Japan, a country that has been wrestling with English proficiency for years, is all in on this trend.
As a bilingual reporter in Japan, I was itching to put these tools to the test. The question on my mind was simple: Which one of these AI-powered tools can best understand the context in Japanese and translate it into natural English?
To answer this, we put ChatGPT-4, Bing, Bard, and DeepL through their paces. We used Japanese text from three different categories: literature, lyrics, and speech. The translations were scored on accuracy, naturalness of the English, and whether the translation reflected the context.
The Results
In the end, ChatGPT-4 came out on top, closely followed by Bard and Bing. Translating literature proved to be a challenge for all the tools except Bard. The translations varied, and none of them were 100% accurate, indicating that human oversight is still necessary.
The Future of Translators
While AI is making strides in translation, it’s not all doom and gloom for human translators. Those who handle technical documents may be at risk, but translators with specialized language knowledge are less likely to be replaced. The most important thing is to provide a service that surpasses the value of cheap price and speed that generative AIs offer.
In the end, AI is a tool, not a replacement. It’s like a very, very smart person who may sometimes make stupid mistakes. So, you have to be aware, check the mistakes, and verify. The future of translation is not just about AI, but about how we can use AI to enhance human capabilities.
Source: The Japan Times
