Machine learning: Implications for translator education

Abstract Machines are learning fast, and human translators must keep pace by learning with, from and about them. Deep learning (DL) and neural machine translation (NMT) are set to change the reality of translation and the distributions of tasks. Although theoretical and practical courses on computer-aided and/or machine translation abound, less attention has been paid to DL and NMT in most translation programmes. The challenge for translation education is to give students the knowledge and toolkits to learn when and how to embrace the new technologies, and to exploit how and when the added value of human intuition, creativity and ethics can and should be deployed.