Put “crottin de chèvre” into Google Translate， and youll be told it means goat dung.

So if it appeared on a menu， you might pass. Alas， you would be ruling out a delicious cheese made of goats milk that is often served as a starter in France.

Such misunderstandings are why Google admits that its free tool， used by about 500 million people， is not intended to replace human translators.

Tourists might accept a few misunderstandings because the technology is convenient. But when the stakes are higher， perhaps in business， law or medicine， these services often fall short.

“Using Google Translate can lead to some serious errors， especially when words have multiple meanings， which is often the case in fields such as law or engineering，” says Samantha Langley， a former lawyer who is now a legal translator based in Meribel， France.

That is not to say professional translators do not use computer-assisted translation （CAT） tools. Some sophisticated applications can help them take the donkey work out of repetitive translations.

CAT tools are even used as part of modern language degree courses these days. So how good are they？

在谷歌翻譯中輸入crottin de chèvre，它會(huì)告訴你其意思是“山羊糞”。

所以如果這個(gè)詞出現(xiàn)在菜單上，你可能不會(huì)點(diǎn)它?？上У氖?，你會(huì)因此錯(cuò)過(guò)一道美食。在法國(guó)，這個(gè)詞指的是用山羊奶制成的美味奶酪，經(jīng)常被當(dāng)作開(kāi)胃菜。

正是由于有這樣的誤譯，谷歌承認(rèn)，這款已經(jīng)擁有大約5億用戶(hù)的免費(fèi)工具不會(huì)替代翻譯人員。

考慮到工具本身的易用性，游客可能會(huì)接受少許誤譯。但在商業(yè)、法律或醫(yī)療等專(zhuān)業(yè)領(lǐng)域，這類(lèi)服務(wù)往往達(dá)不到要求。

“使用谷歌翻譯可能會(huì)導(dǎo)致一些嚴(yán)重的錯(cuò)誤，尤其是在法律或工程等領(lǐng)域，許多單詞常常會(huì)有多種含義?！痹诜▏?guó)梅里貝爾工作的薩曼莎·蘭利說(shuō)。她曾是一名律師，現(xiàn)在是一名法律翻譯。

這并不意味著專(zhuān)業(yè)的翻譯人員不使用計(jì)算機(jī)輔助翻譯工具。一些先進(jìn)的應(yīng)用程序能夠幫助他們減少很多重復(fù)度高、單調(diào)乏味的工作。

如今，現(xiàn)代語(yǔ)言學(xué)位課程甚至涉及計(jì)算機(jī)輔助翻譯工具的使用。那么，它們的效果到底如何？

One of the most popular new tools is the so-called “translation earpiece”. Usually paired with a smartphone app， they pick up spoken foreign languages and translate them for the user.

“It has taken decades of research to create a framework of algorithms designed to recognize patterns in the same way as the human brain—a neural network，” says Andrew Ochoa， chief executive of US startup Waverly Labs， which produces translation earpieces. “Combining that with speech recognition technology has allowed us to make a huge leap forward in terms of accuracy.”

Theres no doubt that CAT tools have taken some of the hard grind out of text translations like instruction manuals or questionnaires， says Milan-based Paola Grassi， a professional translator for Wordbank， a global marketing and translation agency.

“Survey contents are among the most repetitive ones and a good CAT tool can hugely speed up the process，” she says.

For meetings and conferences， wearable translators like Waverlys are undoubtedly popular. But even this new generation tech， which combines speech recognition neural networks and Internet-based translation engines， has limitations.

Users must wait at least a few seconds for a phrase to be translated， or more if the Internet connection is poor.

And computers still lack the subtlety of human communication.

“Translation technology is undoubtedly a useful tool for certain content such as manuals，” says Zoey Cooper， brand? director at Wordbank. “But if you want to create a relationship with the reader， you need a human translator to make it sound natural and capture the sentiment.”

“翻譯耳機(jī)”是最流行的新翻譯工具之一。它通常與一款智能手機(jī)應(yīng)用程序配合使用，將聽(tīng)到的外語(yǔ)給用戶(hù)翻譯出來(lái)。

“經(jīng)過(guò)幾十年的研究，我們創(chuàng)建了一種算法框架，目的是以與人腦（神經(jīng)網(wǎng)絡(luò)）相同的方式來(lái)識(shí)別語(yǔ)言模式。”美國(guó)初創(chuàng)公司、翻譯耳機(jī)生產(chǎn)商Waverly Labs的首席執(zhí)行官安德魯·奧喬亞說(shuō)，“通過(guò)將它與語(yǔ)音識(shí)別技術(shù)相結(jié)合，我們大幅提高了翻譯的準(zhǔn)確性?！?/p>

在米蘭工作的保拉·格拉西是全球營(yíng)銷(xiāo)和翻譯機(jī)構(gòu)Wordbank的一名專(zhuān)業(yè)翻譯。她認(rèn)為，毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，計(jì)算機(jī)輔助翻譯工具已經(jīng)接手一些文本翻譯的煩瑣工作，例如產(chǎn)品說(shuō)明書(shū)或調(diào)查問(wèn)卷的翻譯。

“調(diào)查問(wèn)卷是內(nèi)容重復(fù)度最高的文本之一，好的計(jì)算機(jī)輔助翻譯工具能夠極大地加快翻譯進(jìn)程?！彼f(shuō)。

在各種會(huì)議中，Waverly Labs等公司制作的可穿戴式翻譯器確實(shí)很受歡迎。但是，即使是這種結(jié)合了語(yǔ)音識(shí)別神經(jīng)網(wǎng)絡(luò)和基于互聯(lián)網(wǎng)翻譯引擎的新一代技術(shù)，也有局限性。

用戶(hù)至少要等待幾秒鐘才能聽(tīng)到一條短語(yǔ)的翻譯版本。如果網(wǎng)絡(luò)條件不太好，等待的時(shí)間會(huì)更長(zhǎng)。

另外，計(jì)算機(jī)翻譯仍然難以表達(dá)人際交流的微妙之處。

“毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，對(duì)說(shuō)明書(shū)等特定內(nèi)容來(lái)說(shuō)，翻譯技術(shù)是一種有用的工具?！盬ordbank品牌總監(jiān)佐伊·庫(kù)珀說(shuō)，“但如果你希望與讀者建立聯(lián)系，那么你就需要一名翻譯人員。翻譯人員會(huì)讓你表達(dá)的內(nèi)容聽(tīng)上去更自然，更容易引發(fā)共鳴?！?/p>

“I believe CAT tools hinder creativity，” says Antonio Navarro Gosálvez， a translator based in Alicante， Spain. “If the tool shows you a partial translation match， I find its actually harder to discard part of the sentence and rebuild it than to just create something from scratch.”

Ochoa thinks this problem could be resolved within the next 10 years.

“When it comes to expressing emotion and intonation， we need sentiment analysis， which is not there yet but may well be in 10 years time，” he says.

Foreign language skills are still in demand in the labor market.

In the UK about 15 percent of the jobs posted on recruitment website Reed ask for a foreign language.

New research from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages shows 75 percent of manufacturing companies need employees with diverse language skills.

For Cooper， speaking a foreign tongue remains a precious skill.

“There are lots of opportunities for language graduates， both in specialist translation and global marketing，” she said.

And even if you dont use your language professionally， it has other benefits.

“How can you get to know a country and embrace the culture if you dont speak the language？” says Cooper. “Even with the voice-activated apps available， you will still miss out.”

“我認(rèn)為計(jì)算機(jī)輔助翻譯工具會(huì)阻礙翻譯人員發(fā)揮創(chuàng)造力?！痹谖靼嘌腊⒗蔡毓ぷ鞯姆g人員安東尼奧·納瓦羅·戈薩韋茲說(shuō)，“如果計(jì)算機(jī)輔助翻譯工具已經(jīng)譯出部分詞句，我發(fā)現(xiàn)舍棄部分詞句并重新組織語(yǔ)言甚至比從頭開(kāi)始翻譯更困難?！?/p>

奧喬亞認(rèn)為，這個(gè)問(wèn)題有望在10年內(nèi)得到解決。

“談到表達(dá)情感和語(yǔ)氣，我們需要情感分析。雖然目前還無(wú)法做到，但在未來(lái)10年內(nèi)也許能夠?qū)崿F(xiàn)?！彼f(shuō)。

在勞務(wù)市場(chǎng)，外語(yǔ)技能仍然重要。

在英國(guó)招聘網(wǎng)站Reed上，大約15%的職位要求應(yīng)聘者懂一門(mén)外語(yǔ)。

根據(jù)美國(guó)外語(yǔ)教學(xué)委員會(huì)的最新研究，75%的制造企業(yè)需要掌握多種語(yǔ)言的員工。

庫(kù)珀認(rèn)為，掌握一門(mén)外語(yǔ)是一項(xiàng)非常寶貴的技能。

“在專(zhuān)業(yè)翻譯和全球營(yíng)銷(xiāo)領(lǐng)域，語(yǔ)言專(zhuān)業(yè)的畢業(yè)生有很多機(jī)會(huì)。”

就算你在工作中不使用外語(yǔ)，它也會(huì)給你帶來(lái)很多好處。

“如果你不會(huì)說(shuō)某個(gè)國(guó)家的語(yǔ)言，你怎樣去了解那個(gè)國(guó)家及其文化呢？”庫(kù)珀說(shuō)，“就算能使用語(yǔ)音翻譯軟件，你還是會(huì)錯(cuò)過(guò)很多東西?！?/p>

Word Study

rule out 把……排除在外

The proposed solution was ruled out as too expensive.

starter /'stɑ?t?（r）/ n.（主菜之前的）開(kāi)胃小吃，開(kāi)胃品

sophisticated /s?'f?st?ke?t?d/ adj. 復(fù)雜巧妙的;先進(jìn)的

algorithm /'?lɡ?r???m/ n. 算法;計(jì)算程序

grind /ɡra?nd/ n. 令人疲勞（或厭倦）的工作;苦差事

subtlety /'s?tlti/ n. 精妙之處;微妙差異

sentiment /'sent?m?nt/ n. 情緒

discard /d?s'kɑ?d/ v. 丟棄;拋棄

intonation /'?nt?'ne??n/ n. 語(yǔ)調(diào)