ChatGPT is a revolutionary new tool that is causing quite a stir. As the use of AI tools can bring several benefits to different professions, we have looked at some of the ways in which ChatGPT can be used in the translation industry.  

Why is ChatGPT different? 

ChatGPT is trained on a large dataset of text, including books, articles and websites, and uses a type of deep learning algorithm called a transformer to learn the patterns and structure of human language. Thus, one of the key features of ChatGPT is its ability to carry on a conversation with a user.  

How can ChatGPT be used in the translation industry? 

Here are seven ways ChatGPT can be used to accelerate and improve workflows in the translation industry: 

1. Machine translation: 

ChatGPT can be used to generate machine translations of text. You can enter a source text in one language and ChatGPT can generate a translation in another language. But be careful: machine translation is not perfect and may require post-editing by a human translator. 

2. Assessing translation quality: 

ChatGPT can be used to check the quality of translations. You can enter a translation and ChatGPT can compare it with the source text and suggest corrections or improvements. This can help to ensure that the translation is accurate and of high quality.  

3. Terminology management: 

ChatGPT can be used to manage the terminology in a translation project. You can enter a term and ChatGPT can suggest translations or provide definitions and usage examples.  

4. Content creation: 

Perhaps the most revolutionary use of ChatGPT is for content creation. ChatGPT can help write entire blog posts on a given topic, assist with keyword research and SEO optimisation, generate captions, tweets and other social media posts. 

5. Help with communication: 

ChatGPT can generate the body of emails. If you need to write a polite but pointed email to a translator who is running late, you can ask ChatGPT for help. 

6. Language identification:  

ChatGPT can identify the language of a given text, which can be helpful when working with multilingual content. 

7. Workflow assistance: 

ChatGPT can help with memoQ workflows. If you have forgotten how to import JSON files into memoQ, you can ask ChatGPT and it will write the whole process for you. 

As you can see, ChatGPT can be a valuable tool for translators. However, it is important to remember that it is not a substitute for human translators and its output should always be carefully reviewed and edited if necessary. This is especially true now, in the early stages, when we are all still testing it and assessing its reliability. Thus, until we are completely sure of its reliability, we should use it with some caution.