THE FUTURE OF TRANSLATION IN THE DIGITAL AGE

The contemporary era has witnessed an unprecedented technological transformation, reshaping almost every aspect of human life. Among the fields most profoundly affected is translation, an ancient human practice now at the intersection of linguistics, artificial intelligence, and digital communication. The evolution of translation in the digital age signifies more than just a shift in methods; it represents a fundamental redefinition of how language, culture, and technology interact. This research paper explores the future of translation in the digital era by examining its historical trajectory, the influence of neural machine translation (NMT), artificial intelligence (AI), cloud-based tools, and multimodal systems. It also analyses the impact of globalization, cultural identity, ethics, and the role of human translators in an increasingly automated environment. While technology has made translation faster and more accessible, it also raises complex challenges concerning accuracy, cultural sensitivity, and authorship. The study argues that the future of translation will be defined by a model of augmented intelligence—where human creativity and machine efficiency work together. Through interdisciplinary insights from linguistics, computer science, and cultural studies, this paper envisions translation not as a disappearing human art but as an evolving hybrid discipline crucial to cross-cultural understanding in the 21st century and beyond.