Google Translate - and all the other translation engines bar some experimental ones - are a step in the right direction. No, they do not translate like a human

Google Translate - and all the other translation engines bar some experimental ones - are a step in the right direction. No, they do not translate like a human translator does as they are better compared to transpilers than translators. Be that as it may the emergence of the likes of Google Translate has made it possible for just about anyone who can read and write to get the gist of what is written in another language without needing to get outside help. While the translation might be rickety it generally is possible to get what was written. The next step will be taken when the technology is ready for it, no sooner. Giving the rate at which machine learning or 'AI' is being pushed it won't be that long before human translators are taken out of the loop for most tasks. They'll still have a job translating literature and some legal texts [1] but most business communications will be translated by machine. [1] even though legal texts should be a prime candidate for machine translation as they are written in something resembling human byte code to start with.