Framing the Conversation About Translation Quality

#translation #ai

One of the greatest hurdles to rapidly producing Bible translations is a misconception about what makes a quality translation. Everyone recognizes the importance of translation quality, but it is rare that someone can explicitly state how to measure quality or what level of quality is good enough for a first draft. It is likely that the more people you ask, the wider the range of answers you will receive. This is a problem because it is difficult to make progress on a project when the goal is not clearly defined.

In order to best leverage AI technology for drafting translations, it is necessary to be explicit about translation quality. AI works best when you can measure its results, and its translation results are no different.

With that in mind, I believe that translation quality is not determined by theological accuracy. The text of the Bible is theologically accurate, and so theological accuracy is a side-effect of translation quality.

Translation quality is determined by approximate semantic analogy.

• Approximate means quality is not a binary value, but rather a cline which extends from worse to better quality.
• Semantic means quality is a matter of meaning, not form
• Analogy means that meanings may not be the same between cultures, but they may occupy a similar space in a coherent network of culturally bound meanings constrained by contextual factors in both the context of production and contexts of reception. A quality translation attempts to find better and better analogous meanings across languages.

There are three implications of framing quality in these terms.

1. Iterative Quality is not a milestone, but an iterative process. Like a tree, translation quality may grow indefinitely and its limits are only imposed by the environment. As the environment changes, even a very high-quality translation may need to be updated.
2. Indefinite Quality is non-definitive and non-final. There is no point at which one may say a tree is “finished” growing (though it may be big enough for your yard!). Translation involves coordinating between two moving targets, because languages are in a constant state of gradual change, and our understanding of the Greek and Hebrew texts is also in need of continuous re-evaluation as our own languages shift and our descriptions become inadequate.
3. Uncontrollable One of the core values underlying the established process is control. The desire for tightly controlling the translation process comes from a righteous regard for the living and enduring revelation of God that we have in the very words of the Bible. For all this, it is a paternalistic attitude that imputes undue spiritual immaturity on believers around the world. It is also based on a misconception that we may know in advance the nature of the theological challenges that those believers will face as they read and wrestle with God’s word. The only preparation for dealing with bad theology in the future is the guidance of the Holy Spirit and a knowledge of church history.

God’s word has been given to us in natural human language. If our goal is to find the most approximate semantic analogies for its meaning, we will find that the theological accuracy of the resulting translations improves as a direct consequence. Perfection is often the enemy of good, and we cannot let the fear of imperfection paralyze us. While translation quality is essential, we must also simultaneously put ourselves in the place of those who have no Bible at all and recognize our insufficiency to translate with perfection.