Professional translators are faster via post editing, usually numbers between 10-30% are mentioned: Informatics | Free Full-Text | Quantifying the Effect of Machine Translation in a High-Quality Human Translation Production Process
In broader terms, post editing is what professional translators of high resource languages do, and while Buddhist languages are some 5-10 years behind when it comes to technology, I think its just a matter of time that this field will catch up as well.
It’s not just about speed. One of the consistent feedback that Dharmamitra alpha testers gave us is that the tool gives them the feeling of not being alone, engaging in a dialog with something even if it just a machine, and that sort of ‘pair translation’ mindset means much less fatigue. So its not just about 10% faster, but you might also work on the material for one or two more hours than initially thought of.
I think the fun and playful aspect that interaction with machine learning systems has is easily neglected in these discussions.
A bit parallel to how people in the 2010s told us that growing up with digital dictionaries is inherently bad, and not having experienced the pain of flipping through Monier Williams by hand on a regular basis means you are less of a Sanskritist. Maybe…
I am very intrigued by the parallels that the reactions to the prospect of machine translation and AI technology in general on this forum have with how the catholic church reacted to Martin Luther’s translation of the bible into German. That’s another essay to be written.
In general, I am very positive about the democratization of access to the material via machine translation, especially into new languages. At some point in the not-so-distant future and we will have the Buddhist discourses in all the major languages in the world. Isn’t that wonderful?