Abstract
This chapter focuses on the theme of computers in translation practices, including the advent and proliferation of machine translation (MT). The purpose of the chapter is to introduce technical communicators to central concepts that underlie translation, translation practice, and the role translation plays in the global communication business.
The chapter first presents a general overview of how such factors developed over time, then it examines the basic terms and concepts of technology in translation. This includes discussions of cost, finances, and billing considerations as well as the actual benefit technology yields in communication practice.
Reviewing such factors can help technical communicators better understand such procedures and contextualize them in relation to technical communication practices. The chapter also provides technical communicators with practical hints to gain an understanding of translation from the perspective of content creators and/or project managers. (Such information can help contextualize translation within workflow processes and production practices.) The chapter then concludes with a discussion of what the future in the field of technology in translation is likely to hold.
This discussion includes considerations relating to the eventually endangered status of non-professional and non-competitive translators, whose work (in specific situations) might increasingly be substituted by (MT) technology. The examination of these topics in this way can provide technical communicators with key insights that can help guide their current and future practices relating to working with translation and translators.