Even if they’ve never actually read Kafka’s Die Verwandlung (The Metamorphosis), everyone in the translation industry is by now familiar with its famous first sentence. It must be the most translated sentence in world literature.

I have always been sceptical of translation quality assessments based on tiny samples such as one sentence, or 300 words. This is especially true for literature, where so much depends on how the author draws in the reader, sets the mood, creates atmosphere, provokes emotions, and uses back-references, allusions, metaphors and the full range of literary devices. For a meaningful evaluation you clearly need a substantial sample.

Imagine my delight, then, when a few days ago I received a 36,000 word file: a translation from English into German produced by our Athens AI team. It turned out to be a significant portion of Henry James’ gothic horror novella The Turn of the Screw – not exactly what you would call an ‘easy’ text (picked precisely because of that by our business developer in Germany). Henry James was a master of complex sentences and elaborate style. And this novella (written toward the end of the 19^th century) is particularly challenging, with its stream-of-consciousness narrative and clever buildup of suspense, ambiguity and mystery. It invites multiple interpretations, adding to the suspense. James’ sentences might be described as quirky (and jerky at times), meandering and rambling  – just as well he uses a generous sprinkling of commas.

This text is certainly a far cry from the texts we typically deal with in the localization industry.

First impressions: AI’s triumph

At first glance, we were genuinely impressed by the results. The AI had handled the task remarkably well (with considerable human prompting, I hasten to add). The text was fluent and pleasant to read, it did not feel awkward, or clumsy.

Consider the opening paragraph, which sets the mood for the horror story to unfold:

The story had held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless, but except the obvious remark that it was gruesome, as, on Christmas Eve in an old house, a strange tale should essentially be, I remember no comment uttered till somebody happened to say that it was the only case he had met in which such a visitation had fallen on a child.

And its rendering in German:

Die Geschichte hatte uns, um das Feuer herum, ziemlich atemlos gemacht, aber außer der offensichtlichen Bemerkung, dass sie grausig war, wie eine seltsame Geschichte an Heiligabend in einem alten Haus es im Wesentlichen sein sollte, erinnere ich mich an keinen Kommentar, bis jemand zufällig sagte, es sei der einzige Fall, den er kenne, bei dem eine solche Heimsuchung ein Kind betroffen habe.

Clearly, the AI had unravelled this rather idiosyncratic monster of a sentence quite successfully. The same was true of the next one, even more intricate:

The case, I may mention, was that of an apparition in just such an old house as had gathered us for the occasion – an appearance, of a dreadful kind, to a little boy sleeping in the room with his mother and waking her up in the terror of it; waking her not to dissipate his dread and soothe him to sleep again, but to encounter also, herself, before she had succeeded in doing so, the same sight that had shaken him.

Der Fall, wie ich erwähnen darf, handelte von einer Erscheinung in genau solch einem alten Haus, wie es uns für diesen Anlass versammelt hatte – eine Erscheinung schrecklicher Art, die sich einem kleinen Jungen zeigte, der mit seiner Mutter im Zimmer schlief und sie in seinem Schrecken aufweckte; er weckte sie nicht, um seine Angst zu zerstreuen und ihn wieder in den Schlaf zu wiegen, sondern damit sie selbst, noch bevor sie dies tun konnte, denselben Anblick erlebte, der ihn erschüttert hatte.

Was this proof that AI had finally conquered the last, treasured niche of human endeavour, the sphere of literary translation? We were keen to explore further.

Some cracks appear

As we delved deeper into the text, some cracks in the AI’s performance began to show. On the lexical level we noticed a certain lack of variety. For example, the AI repeatedly used the word ‘schrecklich’, and its related forms ‘Schrecken’, ‘erschreckend’, ‘Schrecklichkeit’. In stark contrast, the original offered a rich repertoire, including ‘horrible’, ‘awful’, ‘terror’, ‘dreadful’, ‘scare’. This monotony dulled the emotional impact of the German translation.

More perturbingly, there were sentences that left us bewildered. For instance:

Ich könnte meinem Mann schreiben und den Schlüssel beilegen …

Given that the narrator is Douglas (male) and that same-sex marriages did not exist at the time, it seemed highly unlikely that he would have talked about ‘my husband’. Clearly, the term ‘my man’ at the time referred to a footman, valet, or manservant – and this would need to be reflected in the translation (Diener, Hausdienster, Kammerdiener, Gehilfe, Bediensteter …).

If the child gives the effect another turn of the screw, what do you say to two children?

Which was translated pretty much 1:1:

Wenn das Kind der Geschichte eine weitere Drehung der Schraube gibt, was sagen Sie zu zwei Kindern?

While technically accurate, the German rendering feels awkward and fails to capture the nuance of the original.(1)

There were also issues that have to do with ‘knowledge of the world’:

I was at Trinity, and I found her at home on my coming down the second summer.

Became:

Ich war in Trinity, und ich fand sie zu Hause, als ich im zweiten Sommer herunterkam.

„In Trinity“ makes it look as if Trinity was a country, or a city, whereas of course it refers to “Trinity College” (Cambridge or possibly Dublin). A good translator would clarify this for the reader.  Also, ‘on my coming down in the second summer’ was translated literally, when a paraphrase like ‘als ich im zweiten Sommer/in den zweiten Sommerferien nach Hause kam‘ would be required in the German translation. Similarly, when there is a reference to “send to the city”, a good translation would say “nach London senden” to clarify this for the reader.

An unresolved anaphoric reference also caused considerable bewilderment. The governess is reported to have said:

I had no drop again till the next day, for I was carried triumphantly through the following hours by my introduction to the younger of my pupils.

Which in German became:

Ich hatte keinen weiteren Einbruch bis zum nächsten Tag …

This indeed, is a somewhat enigmatic phrase (and no, it does not refer to having another drink), until you realize that it refers back to what was said in an earlier paragraph:

I remember the whole beginning as a succession of flights and drops, a little seesaw of the right throbs and the wrong.

In some cases there are problems with register, too. A well-mannered English gentleman would hardly say “Grinsen Sie nicht” (“Don’t grin”) to his equally well-mannered audience, as this would come across as rude.

The human touch

These flaws were sobering but reassuring at the same time. They reminded me that it was not a good idea to entrust a piece of literature to AI, even with clever prompting. For the casual reader who simply takes pleasure in reading a ghost story it might be perfectly fine, or ‘good enough’. But for those who value the artistry of language, it falls short – in terms of vocabulary, style, emotional richness, syntax and readability.

To truly appreciate what you’re missing with AI, you need to turn to the “real thing”. I compared the AI’s work with a published human translation, the one by Ingrid Rein from 2015, and it was as if a veil had been lifted. Her translation was a revelation: rich in vocabulary, rhythmically varied, and full of imaginative, idiomatic turns of phrase. It vividly captures the late-19th-century atmosphere and the essence of James’s genius, and is a pleasure to read.

From looking at just a few passages I was taken aback by the richness of the vocabulary, the superb choice of synonyms, the change of rhythm to create the mood, the imaginative and idiomatic turns of phrase, and the way the translation captured the late-19th-century atmosphere so vividly. In comparison, the AI-generated translations felt bland and monotonous – functional, yes, but lacking the depth, rhythm, and artistry that make a text truly captivating. It was a stark reminder of just how much skill and creativity a truly excellent human translator brings to the table. And of how the true masters of translation can fully harness the richness of natural language.

Even if you have become somewhat numbed by the flood of AI-created texts (translated or not), once you immerse yourself in the ‘real thing’ you’ll sense the huge difference.

Just read the two introductory paragraphs in Ingrid Rein’s translation, comparing them to the AI text earlier in the blog.

Die Geschichte hatte uns, die wir um das Kaminfeuer versammelt waren, in einigermaßen atemloser Spannung gehalten, doch abgesehen von der naheliegenden Feststellung, sie sei gruselig gewesen, ganz so, wie es sich für eine am Weihnachtsabend in einem alten Haus erzählte merkwürdige Geschichte geziemte, kann ich mich an keinen Kommentar erinnern, der geäußert worden wäre, bis jemand bemerkte, dies sei der einzige ihm bekannte Fall, in dem ein Kind Opfer einer solchen Heimsuchung geworden sei. Dabei handelte es sich, wie ich erwähnen darf, um eine Erscheinung just in einem solch alten Haus wie dem, das uns damals beherbergte – eine Erscheinung grauenvoller Art, die sich einen kleinen Jungen aussuchte, der mit seiner Mutter in einem Zimmer schlief und sie in seinem grenzenlosen Entsetzen weckte – sie weckte, nicht damit sie seine Angst zerstreute und ihn wieder in den Schlaf wiegte, sondern damit sie, noch ehe ihr das gelungen war, selbst dem Anblick ausgesetzt wurde, der ihn so bestürzt hatte.

A hard act to follow

This experiment was fascinating on many levels. It was remarkable to see how far AI has come in tackling even the most challenging texts. But it was also disconcerting to realize how easily we can be lulled into accepting mediocrity. And it was uplifting to rediscover the brilliance of a truly skilled human translator.

AI translations, while technically competent, fail to make full use of a language’s expressive potential. They stick too closely to the source text, resulting in a style that is repetitive, uninspired, and ultimately unengaging. In contrast, a skilled human translator breathes life into a text, capturing not just its meaning but its soul.

Human imagination and creativity reign supreme

In the end, this experiment reaffirmed a simple but important truth: human imagination and creativity reign supreme. While AI tools can be useful for certain tasks – even in a literary environment -, such as offering a suggestion on an obscure sentence in the source, or speeding up the translation of a straightforward passage, it is no match for the resourcefulness, intuition, and cultural sensitivity of a skilled human translator. Translating literature is not just about transferring words from one language to another; it is about capturing the essence of a story, the rhythm of its sentences, and the emotions it evokes. For now, at least, that remains a uniquely human endeavour.

Publishers, please note: A masterful author who cherishes their language deserves a translator of equal skill – one who is fairly compensated for their extraordinary ability to bring such works to life for readers around the world.

AI can mimic and outdo a mediocre translator, and it can be put to excellent use in business or commercial environments. But it cannot compete with the best translators. If we let it lose on the finest works of literature, we are in serious danger of causing irreparable harm to our cultural heritage.

(1) Ingrid Rein’s solution: Und wenn schon das eine Kind die Spannung in die Höhe schraubt, was sagen Sie dann erst zu zwei Kindern?

Related reading:

https://prohelvetia.ch/en/whats-on/artificial-intelligence-in-literary-translation

(On a study looking into the effects of AI on literary translation: “The study has already revealed a clear impoverishment of language, including a potentially significant loss of emotional, empathetic, sarcastic and ironic undertones that can only be recognised by humans.”)

https://www.goethe.de/ins/gb/en/kul/lue/ail.html

“Is Artificial Intelligence advanced enough to grasp and process literary texts in all their linguistic richness, and translate them into another language? Will it ever be advanced enough? Or will it remain “artificial” instead of “artistic”?”

https://syntetica.ai/blog/blog_article/literary-translation-with-ai-innovation-and-future

“Artificial intelligence represents a new horizon for literary expression. With automated mechanisms facilitating certain phases of the process, translators can experiment with novel and cultural approaches. This marks a step forward in translation accuracy and expands global access to literature.”