I, translator: rethinking pedagogy in times of gen-AI

This exploratory study investigates the potential of GenAI-based resources in addressing translation challenges in both translation and EFL classrooms (Duarte et al, 2023; Talgatov, Kassymova & Nurtanto, 2024) with a focus on culture-specific items related to food. Culinary practices and the preservation of food traditions are profoundly intertwined with the essence of human culture (Manganas & Duruz, 2024). As such, this study seeks to investigate the translatability and inherent challenges of rendering such cultural references, aiming to assess how nuanced meanings can be effectively conveyed through translation. The study compares the application of the same pedagogical strategies across two distinct student groups: one comprising undergraduates specialising in Translation and the other consisting of students enrolled in a Social and Cultural Communication Studies undergraduate program. In both settings, students are tasked with translating texts related to food and cultural-specific items. They are then requested to integrate AI into the translation and recreation process and carry out a comparative analysis of the outcomes across the two groups. The study highlights not only the limitations of the AI in both the translation and EFL classrooms, but also demonstrates that a deeper student understanding of these limitations along with the intricacies of the translation process, enhances their ability to critically reflect on and envision how GenAI and human translation can effectively coexist in the future. The study shows how Translation students more accurately handled culturally specific content, while Communication students showed creative strengths through transcreation, drawing on their own disciplinary knowledge. The research also highlights students’ over-reliance on generative AI tools like ChatGPT, which often lead to rigid and literal semantic renderings of the text, as well as reduced confidence in personal linguistic choices. Overall, the findings underscore the need for critical engagement with AI in translation education (Pavlik, 2023) as well as a (re)turn of/to translation practice (Carreres, Á & Noriega-Sánchez, M., 2021) into the EFL classroom not only to enhance translation literacy, but also to improve students’ overall linguistic proficiency.