How MT translated the German term for Heberden nodes into “liver arthritis”
After the holidays (happy New Year everyone!) it’s time to share with you another example that yet again sheds light on the fact that while AI tools are useful, powerful tools, they cannot be trusted blindly.
🩺 It was another a medical translation a few weeks ago, German into French – and the term in question was ‘Heberden’s nodes’ (a nasty symptom of osteoarthritis of the fingers and hands). This is called ‘Heberden-Arthrose’ in German, but there was a typo in the German text I had to translate, that read ‘Heperten-Arthrose’ instead of ‘Heberden’.
I honestly do not remember which of my AI-powered MT plugins was responsible, but this is what they spat out: ‘hepatic arthritis’.
Multiple problems here:
➡️ There was a typo in the German original, and I suppose the AI saw the suffix ‘hep-‘ and deducted it was ‘hepatic’ – fair enough, I suppose, even though I find that sort of guesswork rather worrisome from LLMs that claim to be the best thing since sliced bread.
➡️ But why translate German arthrosis into French arthritis? How? What happened?
⁉️ And above all: can we please discuss the fact that the AI reckons that hepatic arthritis is a thing? LIVER ARTHRITIS, people. Hello?
Again this was a German into French translation – not into English. German “Arthrose” = French “arthrose” and German “Arthritis” = French “arthrite”
But I find this a really good illustration of how and why human translators must absolutely be in the captain’s seat and the AI in the co-pilot’s chair. Specialised human translators will immediately spot the typo, identify the correct original term and immediately react at how bizarre the concept of ‘liver arthritis’ would be. This expertise is exactly why humans have to be in charge.
Imagine, for example, you are a company specialised in the field of rheumatology – you translate your fancy corporate website using AI and you publish the term ‘hepatic arthritis’. Ouch. Just because you couldn’t be bothered to have the raw AI output reviewed and checked. Just because you cut corners to save on translation costs. And the result? potentially massive reputational damage within your industry simply because your website states ‘hepatic arthritis’.
🎯 I rest my case once more yet tirelessly: please, never trust the output of AI translation BLINDLY. Use it for your texts and communications if you so desire and if you must, but please do at least have the raw output reviewed. Internally, or externally through a professional, or, at the very least, do it yourself. But DO review the output and stop believing that AI can perform miracles and replace humans.
At the end of the day, you are playing with fire, and it may eventually cost you far more than if you had hired a language professional in the first place.
We are the professionals. We know how to work with these tools, how to train and curate them, we know how to best use them.
Don’t cut corners, and trust humans who use AI with intelligence instead of trusting AI *blindly*.
Discover our smart solutions for the medical and healthcare sector >>
Image credits: license purchased on iStock
No responses yet