Is generative AI a disruptive force or an opportunity for those who work with languages? As genAI and machine learning technologies remake the translation industry, what does it mean for the career prospects of professional translators? And can AI be harnessed to preserve and revitalize the world's linguistic diversity?

In this episode of The Secret Life of Language, we look at the impact of genAI in a domain close to our hearts: languages and linguistics. First up, hosts Prof John Hajek and Dr Yu Hao are joined by translators and translation studies researchers Prof Anthony Pym and Elise Qing to look at how both the practice and the business of translation and interpretation have been upended by AI, and what we can expect next. John and Yu then have a couple of encounters with recent generative AI products demonstrating the cutting edge of real-time spoken conversation and instant voice translation. Finally, we speak with indigenous languages researcher and computer scientist Prof Steven Bird about what role, if any, large language model-based tools could have in sustaining the world's minority languages.

Guests for this episode (in order of appearance):

• Professor Anthony Pym, School of Languages and Linguistics, The University of Melbourne
• Elise Qing, PhD candidate, Asia Institute, The University of Melbourne
• Dr Lea Frermann, School of Computing and Information Systems, The University of Melbourne
• Professor Steven Bird, Northern Institute, Charles Darwin University

The Secret Life of Language is a podcast from the University of Melbourne’s School of Languages and Linguistics. This episode was produced by Eric van Bemmel and Kelvin Param of Profactual, and Gavin Nebauer. Recorded and mixed by Gavin Nebauer at the Horwood Recording Studio, the University of Melbourne.

The Secret Life of Language is licensed under Creative Commons.