Is ChatGPT the future of translation?

This tool can do so many things: complete homework assignments, write program code, and even translate. But the question is: Does ChatGPT actually deliver useful translations? The answer is quite clear: Yes and no!

In some cases, ChatGPT can be quite useful. For example, you found a recipe for a delicious-looking dish on the internet and want to make it for lunch right away. The catch? The recipe is in Chinese. So you enter it into ChatGPT and get precise instructions on how to prepare it. Sounds great because in this case, translation errors would literally spoil the food!

But where the worst case scenario would be a inedible meal, could have serious consequences in other fields. At first glance, translations from ChatGPT usually sound flawless, but on closer inspection, machine translations often contain terminological errors, inaccuracies, and omissions that can change the entire meaning of the text. And so, texts with important content should be translated by human translators. Only they can ensure that the content is reproduced accurately.

Data protection should also not be overlooked in this context: all entries are stored by the system and used for further development of the program. So, if you have personal documents or confidential business reports to translate, you should refrain from using ChatGPT.

ChatGPT can certainly be a useful tool for quickly finding out the approximate content of a foreign-language text. However, only human translators can ensure accurate and stylistically mature translations.

What experiences have you had with ChatGPT as a translator? What problems have you noticed? What texts would you never entrust to the machine?