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Human and machine translation share several features, one of which is actions that are not motivated by meaning. In addition, the human process often consists initially in the semi-conscious production of literal translations that are only weakly motivated by meaning. A definition of the translation process is proposed, based on these features. Since key words in the definition are ‘matter’ and ‘meaning’, I suggest a speculative view of how matter and meaning are connected in the mind. I tentatively conclude that the answer to the title question is yes. The argument is bolstered by textual examples of both human and machine translation.

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/content/journals/10.1075/ts.23016.mos
2024-09-13
2026-07-14
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keywords: matter ; human translation ; meaning ; translation concept ; machine translation
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