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Article published In: Translation Spaces
Vol. 10:2 (2021) ► pp.181–201

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Targeted individuals

Personalised advertising and digital media translation

ORCiD logo with link | Trinity College Dublin | Boğaziçi University
Published online: 27 August 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ts.20048.but
Abstract
This article argues that researchers in Translation Studies may proactively aim to understand the consequences of an envisaged merger between targeted advertising and automated translation. Functional translation software is widely available online, and several platforms now perform instant translation, sometimes without asking the user whether this is required. Indeed, the user’s main language is known to various applications, which keep track of this information along with other settings and preferences. Data tracking is commonly used to produce targeted advertising: people receive commercial information about products they are likely to be interested in. If text can instantly be altered according to a user’s linguistic preferences, it can also be altered according to aesthetic, commercial, or political preferences. The article discusses theoretical and ideological aspects of the sociotechnical evolution towards the production and consumption of personalised content, highlighting the role translation may come to play.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Gratifying machine translation
  • 3.Targeted advertising
  • 4.Product placement
  • 5.Cultural values
  • 6.Futurology?
  • 7.Your orders
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
References (73)
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Cited by (2)

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Nunes Vieira, Lucas
2023. The many guises of machine translation. Digital Translation 10:1 ► pp. 16 ff. DOI logo
Nunes Vieira, Lucas, Carol O’Sullivan, Xiaochun Zhang & Minako O’Hagan
2023. Privacy and everyday users of machine translation. Translation Spaces 12:1 ► pp. 21 ff. DOI logo

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