WE DON'T UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER, BUT WE ARE FRIENDS

"We don't understand each other, but we are friends."


As a translator, I am committed to finding the right words every day, be it in my native language or in the languages I use to communicate with my clients and fellow translators.

That being said, I think there's a kind of human communication that transcends words and languages. Sometimes we can understand each other even if we don't speak the same language. 

I know this may sound like the ramblings of a madwoman, but please try to follow me for a while.

We live in strange days when AI seems to be the solution to everything. AI can write, translate, play music, draw, and do many other things that once belonged only to human minds. Well, I still believe all those things belong only to human minds.

AI doesn't create. It just assembles data coming from many sources. Creating, shaping words, and choosing the right things to say depending on the context and sensitivity of the audience are human prerogatives and something AI can't do.

As for translators, they invent, play with words and choose them wisely. They know what words to use and what to discard, just like a sculptor knows what materials to mould.

The sentence I opened my post with comes from real life. It was said some years ago during a beautiful holiday in Turkey. There were two men speaking different languages and coming from different cultures; They could barely understand each other with words, but they somehow managed to get along.

AI can copy and paste things it finds somewhere on the Internet, but it will never replace the ability of human minds to read between the lines and, when needed, to go beyond words.