FUTURE OF TRANSLATION IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Translation has always played a pivotal role in human civilization, serving as the crucial medium through which knowledge, literature, and cultural values have traveled across boundaries of language, geography, and history. From the rendering of sacred texts in antiquity to the circulation of modern literary masterpieces, translation has functioned not merely as a linguistic exercise but as a central agent of cultural dialogue and intellectual growth. The twenty-first century, however, has redefined translation in unprecedented ways. Digital technologies ranging from artificial intelligence and neural machine translation systems to large-scale collaborative platforms have transformed both the theory and practice of translation, opening new possibilities while simultaneously raising complex challenges.

This article situates the digital turn in translation within a broader historical and theoretical framework, tracing continuities with earlier traditions while highlighting the disruptions and innovations introduced by new technologies. It examines the rise of machine translation, the increasing reliance on algorithmic systems, and the democratization of translation through online communities and crowdsourcing. At the same time, it reflects on issues of ethics, authenticity, translator agency, and the preservation of linguistic diversity in an age of globalization and digitization. The study ultimately argues that the future of translation rests in a hybrid model of collaboration, where technology enhances efficiency and accessibility while human translators safeguard cultural nuance, ethical integrity, and interpretive creativity.