Weekly sessions | 2pm - 3:30pm | 10 May - 12 July 2024
A ten-part course presented by The University of Surrey, Centre for Translation Studies.
Cut through the hype and counter the pessimism. Develop a fresh perspective on the use of AI in translation, and learn strategies to manage its impact on translation business models.
Following their recent AI webinars, The University of Surrey, Centre for Translation Studies is now offering this in-depth course, addressing the key themes that translators need to understand in order to make AI a powerful tool in their work.
It aims to provide answers to common questions about AI in translation, empower translators to find their own answers to questions, and enable you to use AI proficiently and effectively.
The course has five modules, each comprising two, ninety-minute sessions.
Module 1
10 & 17 May 2024 | 2pm - 3:30pm BST
Introduction to AI and LLMs
- Introduction to the main concepts in AI
- Explanation of what LLMs are and how they can be used
- Demonstration of using LLMs to prepare translation assignments, by extracting terms from source texts and translating them into the target language
- Discussion on how to optimise LLM prompting as support for translators.
Module 2
24 & 31 May 2024 | 2pm - 3:30pm BST
Management of risk of AI in translation
- Professional translation as risk management
- Risk in the use of AI by clients and professional translators
- Presentation of use cases that highlight difficult-to-identify risks
- Presentation of strategies to minimise and control risk for professional translators
- Discussion on ways of adapting AI to the purposes of translators.
Module 3
07 & 14 June 2024 | 2pm - 3:30pm BST
Creativity and AI
- Presentation of creativity as a fundamental competence for translators
- Discussion on the presence of creativity in AI outputs
- Test and demonstration of applications of AI writing tools
- Suggestions for using AI to support the work of translators.
Module 4
21 & 28 June 2024 | 2pm - 3:30pm BST
Neural Machine Translation
- Opening the black box of NMT as the main AI tool used by translators
- Explaining NMT as a mathematical process applied to language data
- Demonstration of methods for using NMT as a tool for translators
- Discussion of methods for, and alternatives to, using NMT in translation.
Module 5
05 & 12 July 2024 | 2pm - 3:30pm BST
Impact of AI on translation as a profession
- Critical appreciation of the influence of AI on the translation business
- Discussion of the reliability of AI-related sources of information in translation
- Discussion of different business models in translation and their resilience to AI
- Discussion of strategies to offer translation services as management of risk in the use of AI
- Presentation of strategies for translators to work and communicate as AI experts.
At the end of each session there will be a short quiz to help you assess your understanding, plus suggested reading materials, to complement the session and deepen your knowledge.
There will also be a post-course assignment based on a translation task involving AI tools. This is designed to help you analyse the usefulness of AI translation tools and to reflect on how your view of AI in translation alters over the duration of the course. The assignment will be marked by the tutors and individual feedback provided.
By completing the course, you will be able to:
- Understand the main concepts related to AI, Large Language Models (LLMs) and Neural Machine Translation
- Recognise different applications and uses of AI tools in translation
- Identify processes that reduce the risk of using language AI
- Acknowledge the role that creativity plays in AI and translation
- Understand the impact of AI on translation business models
- Develop strategies to manage the impact of AI on translation business models, reducing risk and promoting value for clients
- Develop a fresh perspective on the use of AI in translation.
Read about the speakers
