Comment by crote
6 days ago
> it’s still leaps and bounds ahead of traditional translators already
Traditional machine translators, perhaps. Human translation is still miles ahead when you actually care about the quality of the output. But for getting a general overview of a foreign-language website, translating a menu in a restaurant, or communicating with a taxi driver? Sure, LLMs would be a great fit!
I should’ve been more clear that this is basically what I meant! The availability of the LLM is the real killer because yeah - most translation jobs are needed for like 15 minutes in a relatively low-stakes environment. Perfect for LLMs. That complex stuff will come later when verifiability is possible and fast.
Modern machine translators have been good enough for a few years now, to do business far more complicated than ordering food. I do business every day with people in foreign languages, using these tools. They are reliable.
>Human translation is still miles ahead when you actually care about the quality of the output.
The current SOTA LLMs are better than Traditional machine translators (there is no perhaps) and most human translators.
If a 'general overview' is all you think they're good for, then you've clearly not seriously used them.
Reference?
(Not saying I don't believe you - it would be fascinating if true).