AI will make language barriers disappear – and diminish our understanding of other cultures |
One of my earliest assignments as a young interpreter was to provide simultaneous interpretation for the proceedings of an ecumenical council that brought together all Christian denominations. As my homework, I dutifully read scripture, the gospels, papal encyclicals and the conclusion of the first council of Nicaea.
There was, however, one thing I had not foreseen. Mass was held not in the conference hall, but in the church itself, where there were no booths and the interpreter was required to stand discreetly on the altar. Here, translation alone would not suffice – the interpreter had to perform the part of the priest, with his unmistakable clerical timbre, the arms outstretched then folded in prayer, the gaze repeatedly lifted towards heaven.
My childhood experience as an altar boy helped, as did that innate instinct for the theatrical that seems always to come naturally to Italians. My performance was so flawless that when a telegram arrived from Pope John Paul II wishing the council well, I was entrusted with translating his Latin. The temptation to give it a Polish accent was strong, but I restrained myself.
With AI, the process of conquest through knowledge will be lost
Whether the latest developments in artificial intelligence and voice-to-voice interpretation will include a “priestly voice” setting and the whimsical option of a specific accent, I cannot say. Should they do so, future participants in ecumenical councils will be spared a most curious spectacle – and, I venture to think, deprived of a........