On 17 October 2011, I published the first of two posts summarising my general approach to the type of translation/adaptation services I was then offering to my clients. The first was entitled Translation by emulation, take #1. The second, Translation by emulation, take #2, was posted on 12 November 2011.
In ChatGPT is a marvel of multilingualism, Johnson of The Economist writes "It is, in the jargon, a large language model. That means it is very good at predicting what kinds of words tend to follow which others ... (my bold)".
I conclude, though I have yet to conduct any tests, that one way to use ChatGPT before drafting a translation/adaptation by emulation, or using any similar approach, would be to ask ChatGPT a question, in the target language, on the subject addressed by the source text. It should often, I anticipate, come up with a text rich in key expressions and terminology already in use by others who have already published material on the said subject.
Recall too that ChatGPT is perfectly capable of taking into account the education level, among other criteria, of your client's (hence your) target readership and the aim (information, gentle persuasion, etc.).
If you have access to ChatGPT and practise translation/adaptation by emulation, or any similar approach, and would like to report back, please comment.
Other relevant quotes from Johnson's piece:
"It is also able to instantly blurt out text in more than 50 languages—the precise number is apparently unknown to the system itself."
“I don’t translate from any other language; I look in my database for the best words and phrases to answer your questions.”
"This should not overshadow the achievement of a model that can effortlessly mimic so many languages, including those with limited training data. Speakers of smaller languages have worried for years about language technologies passing them by."
If by any chance you have yet to see for yourself ChatGPT's drafting skills, here's one place you could start.
