An Interdisciplinary Approach to Human-Centered Machine Translation

TL;DR

This paper advocates for a human-centered approach to machine translation, emphasizing alignment with user needs and real-world contexts, by integrating insights from Translation Studies and Human-Computer Interaction.

Contribution

It introduces an interdisciplinary framework that redefines MT evaluation and design to better serve diverse user goals and practical scenarios.

Findings

Highlights the gap between MT development and real-world use

Proposes integrating Translation Studies and HCI insights

Suggests new evaluation and design paradigms for MT

Abstract

Machine Translation (MT) tools are widely used today, often in contexts where professional translators are not present. Despite progress in MT technology, a gap persists between system development and real-world usage, particularly for non-expert users who may struggle to assess translation reliability. This paper advocates for a human-centered approach to MT, emphasizing the alignment of system design with diverse communicative goals and contexts of use. We survey the literature in Translation Studies and Human-Computer Interaction to recontextualize MT evaluation and design to address the diverse real-world scenarios in which MT is used today.