Machine Translation Examples

I recently finished a novel called Butter, which was written in Japanese by Asako Yuzuki and translated by Polly Barton. Since I have access to an English copy, I thought it would be interesting to compare the differences in translation between an AI model and a human translator. This exercise provided more insight into my stance on AI in translation, especially since many of the criticisms against AI in the article I read was that AI could not make the "artistic" choices that are necessary in translating literature. The following text is the opening lines of the novel. 

Original text: 

生成り色の細長い建売住宅が、なだらかな丘に沿う形でどこでも連なっている。よく整備された町並みはどこに居ても均一な印象しか受けとることが出来ず、りかはさっきから同じ場所をずっとぐるぐる回っているような気がする。

ChatGPT's translation: 

Long, narrow, off-white tract houses stretch one after another everywhere, following the gentle slopes of the hills. The meticulously maintained streets all have the same uniform appearance no matter where she is, and Rika has begun to feel as though she has been going around in circles in the same place this whole time.

Polly Barton's translation: 

The row of tall, narrow houses all in the same shade of ecru trailed up the gently sloping hill, with no end in sight. Everywhere in this well-kept neighbourhood left a seamlessly uniform impression, and Rika Machida had begun to feel as if she were circling round and round a single spot. 

My initial assessment was that Polly Barton's translation has a much more poetic, rhythmic flow. Although, that could definitely be bias against AI. To me, ChatGPT's translation read more as informational with more brevity; whereas, Barton's translation definitely read more as an actual story. Barton's translation is slightly longer as well, adding more details to the setting like "trailing up the gently sloping hill" and "with no end in sight." Another difference I noticed is that Barton included the main character's last name, which is not written in the original text. Given this is the opening line of the novel, maybe English-speaking audiences prefer to be introduced by the character's entire name? 

Kenna Ward