Good point, Jhonny! Receiving language assistance starts long before you actually set foot in a hospital through education about your options, rights and responsibilities; the availability of a free interpreting service needs to be part of public health literacy campaigns.

Thanks, Siyao, for laying out the different affordances and limitations of human and machine translation so clearly. One danger I see in relying ever more on machine translation is that we actually forget about these nuances; human interpreters will then only be available to the elite (like the politicians you mention) and everyone else has to make do with inferior machine translations … for instance, one of the studies Brynn was looking at found that doctors just write “US” when ordering an ultrasound; machines consistently translated that into Spanish NOT as “ultrasonido” (the Spanish word for “ultrasound”) but as “Estados Unidos” (the Spanish word for “United States”) …

Thanks, Arghavan, for the reference! I hadn’t come across this case before and I’ve added it to my collection of media reports about language barriers. This particular write-up, of course, is an infomercial and pushes the services of a particular company. Australia, btw, has offered these kinds of services through a national translating and interpreting service since the 1980s 🙂

Thank you very much for sharing this article and video. Both human and machine translation have their advantages. Machine translation is convenient and practical, and can translate one language into multiple languages. It saves both time and labor for some simple sentences because it uses literal translation as long as people can understand. However, the machine has limitations in the translation of some important occasions and books, etc., such as accuracy cannot be guaranteed, especially for simultaneous interpretation. It is difficult for machines to distinguish some people’s accents and words. At this time, interpreters need to use certain translation skills to convert the language into words that others can understand. Human translators can interpret context, understand creative uses of language, such as metaphors and puns, and convey them into the same meaning, understand the differences in expression between different languages, and find the most appropriate translation for content that cannot be translated literally while ensuring accuracy.

In terms of medical care, interpreters who have been professionally trained by hospitals can accurately and clearly translate what doctors say, especially some medical terms. Even if the patient does not understand, the interpreter can explain it in layman’s terms, which helps the patient understand their condition and the doctor’s recommendations better, but some simple processes, such as how to pay and where to pick up medicine, are easier and more convenient through machine translation.

Leaders of some countries bring interpreters with them when they meet to discuss politics, which highlights the importance of human translation. People have brains that can think, and they use some professional translation skills to make the leaders fully understand each other’s words. Similarly, the translation of poems and songs will not read or sound catchy if used by machine translation. Although people can understand the meaning, some of them may not even make a coherent sentence. In this case, the interpreter’s translation skills are needed to translate into sentences that are smooth and beautiful.

I read this article about a tragic case of a nine-year-old Vietnamese girl who died due to a drug reaction because her parents primarily spoke Vietnamese, and no competent interpreter was provided during her medical encounters in the US. Consequently, the article introduces Stratus Video Interpreting which is a provider of Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) services, dedicated to breaking down language barriers in healthcare and other industries. Their advanced technology allows healthcare facilities to connect with a network of certified interpreters proficient in over 175 spoken and sign languages. The company’s commitment is mentioned to improve patient safety and the quality of service in the face of linguistic diversity as a vital resource in bridging communication gaps and ultimately saving lives. So maybe we could use technology to find a faster way to an interpreter but not rely on AI fully to break the linguistic barrier in medical situations which can be extremely sensitive.

https://www.healthitoutcomes.com/doc/nine-year-girl-dies-language-hospital-video-healthcare-hazard-0001

Thanks, Chloe, for sharing! I really like your idea of making sure health professionals have bilingual skills. It won’t remove language barriers for everyone (e.g., there are lots of Vietnamese dentists around, in my experience, but few Arabic dentists, another community language of similar size) but it’s definitely an important step in the right direction.

Thanks, Jung Ung! I agree that machines will never be able to replace human interaction. At the same time we can overlook the fact that this is precisely what is already happening. The result is a loss of quality and ultimately a degradation of human interaction …
If you are interested in legal interpreting, you will enjoy this post: https://www.languageonthemove.com/refugee-credibility-assessment-and-the-vanishing-interpreter/

Thanks, Jaehoon! Interesting comparison with music. My view is darker: the business model of platforms like Spotify has essentially killed independent music and lead to an incredible concentration (e.g., here or here). Artists and music lovers have lost; and I fear that the same will happen with machine translation – language workers such as interpreters and those who need their services lose 🙁

Thanks, Brownie! So glad that your relative can get by in Vietnamese – I take my hat off to her because living without English in Australia, even in a Vietnamese-dominated suburb, takes a lot of courage.

Thanks, Abed! Good point that even highly proficient English speakers may need an interpreter or other form of language support when they are feeling unwell and are in distress. Hope your injury healed well!