COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF GOOGLE TRANSLATION AND HUMAN TRANSLATION THROUGH THE LENS OF SKOPOS THEORY

Abstract

This research compares human and machine (Google Translator) translations from English to Urdu in Skopos Theory perspective. It takes examples from different genres of texts, online as well as published, to demonstrate how coherence, fidelity, and cultural adaptation can vary between translations done by humans and machines. Machine translations are shown as convenient and time saving but lacking in the ability to capture cultural nuances while maintaining coherence or fidelity that is the main focus of Skopos theory. The study thus highlights the importance of human expertise in translation and how it addresses the target audience and points out where machine systems fall short. It is not enough for machine translators to be linguistically accurate; they should also ensure cultural appropriateness, contextual coherence and fidelity to the source text’s intention as this research has demonstrated through different examples.