Yesterday, I was working on my Ukrainian classics in translation project and decided to ask ChatGPT to review a few paragraphs and tell me if it’s any good.
I rarely ask the AI bot to actually write anything for me because I always end up rewriting it to my liking, and it just takes up too much time. The only reason I even started using it was because I was specifically instructed to do so at my old corporate job. Then it kinda stuck with me, but mainly using it as a silly assistant who needs to be corrected all the time.
So anyway, the chat gave me a detailed analysis of what I did right and wrong and then… decided to just go ahead and translate it for me.
To say that I was shocked…
I won’t deny it, this felt humiliating. As if ChatGPT was telling me that I’m not good enough and it can do it better. And to me, as a non-native English speaker, at first glance, it felt better.
Now, before anyone gets on my back for using AI for creative work, I’d like to remind you that machine translation has existed since forever. I’ve used it in high school. There was even a funny episode when my cousin came to ask for help with some translation. He and my sister were using PROMT software on our computer while I was sitting in a chair and translating it aloud. And my cousin said, “Wow, you translate exactly the same way as PROMT”.
Now, back to what happened yesterday.
So, I was feeling bad about myself, but then I remembered that one book written by a Ukrainian who’s lived for many years in the UK and wrote a book in English… and how it wasn’t very good.
And then I remembered that one time when I decided to look up my university teachers and find their published scientific articles. And the ones that I found in English really weren’t that good.
Then I thought of the time when I was reading a book in its original language and randomly decided to look up one passage in English… and how it completely ruined the entire point of the scene to adapt the story for the Western reader, who couldn’t possibly understand the true meaning of the dialogue.
I remember, at the time, I was so utterly disgusted, I even considered starting a series of blog posts comparing these ‘bad’ translations and explaining the cultural significance of sticking to the source material. And I actually posted the first instalment and never continued it because I could tell that no one besides me was interested in talking about it.
In the moment of heat, I told ChatGPT that if its translation is so great, it can publish it as its own work. Here’s what ChatGPT had to say to that.
After giving it some more thought, I’ve decided to continue working on this project and mainly use ChatGPT as an assistant. I made sure it knows very well that I don’t want to see any initiative in doing even an ounce more than what I asked.
You might say… Why don’t you speak to a native, an actual, real person, and ask them for help? Well, I don’t have such a person to help me. I’m all on my own. And I try to do the best with what resources I’ve currently got.
My problem isn’t that I’m not smart enough; it’s that I rush through things. I don’t give myself enough time to revise and polish my work.
It’s hard to go through life without any real support, just because people assume that I’ve already got all the support that I need, because I’ve got good pattern recognition, and it makes me seem smarter than the average Joe, even if I feel so immensely stupid and uneducated.
So, I’ve decided to be more diligent and take time to do the work.
I need to read more.
I need to write more.
I need to treat this as the long-term project that it is.
And even though I felt completely humiliated yesterday, I appreciate the machine brain telling me that maybe I, too, have some potential.
Not all is lost. It just needs a little more work.
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