Arose Jeddah Book Fair 2025 A workshop entitled “Smart Translation Mechanisms and Their Technical Dilemmas” was organized, presented by Dr. Abeer Al-Qahtani. It addressed the concept of smart translation and its historical development, its importance in the digital age, as well as its working mechanisms and the challenges it faces, especially with regard to the Arabic language.
Workshop at the Jeddah Book Fair
Al-Qahtani explained that the first attempts at machine translation date back to the 1940s, nearly 80 years ago, before the field witnessed rapid development with technological advancements and the increasing reliance on smart solutions across various sectors. She emphasized that modern smart translation relies on extensive probabilistic models that aim to predict the most appropriate translation based on the overall context of the text. These models utilize artificial intelligence and deep learning to simulate linguistic and contextual understanding, rather than simply translating words verbatim.
Challenges of smart translation with the Arabic language
Al-Qahtani pointed out that the challenges are compounded when dealing with the Arabic language because:
Lack of formation
The complexity of parsing
The abundance of attached pronouns
She also pointed out that these difficulties might lead to translations that are formally correct but lack semantic accuracy. She added that intelligent translation struggles to convey Arabic terms and words with precise meaning, making complete reliance on machine translation unfeasible.
technical dilemmas
The workshop addressed the most prominent technical problems facing intelligent translation systems, including:
Privacy and security issues on some platforms
High subscription costs
Relying on a constant internet connection
Difficulty in dealing with context, semantic ambiguity, figurative and idiomatic language
Challenges of translating specialized texts
Smart translation and the role of the translator
Al-Qahtani concluded the workshop by emphasizing that smart translation remains a supportive tool that highlights the limitations of the machine, and confirms the importance of the translator’s awareness, cultural sense, and human role in making the right translation decision.
This workshop comes in the context of efforts to introduce those interested to the latest technological developments in the field of translation, and to clarify the differences between the capabilities and limitations of artificial intelligence, especially with complex languages such as Arabic.
