Students perceive GenAI-assisted translation as challenged by inadequate outputs, limited prompt engineering, and risks to creativity and employment¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (3 entries) · qualitative r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2025 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Many students report redundancy, omission and mistranslation in GenAI-generated translations. → Wenkang Zhang 2025 q2 i? Students attribute unsatisfactory GenAI responses to their limited prompt engineering skills. → Wenkang Zhang 2025 (2) q2 i? Students express concern that over-reliance on GenAI tools may harm their creativity and future employment as translators. → Wenkang Zhang 2025 (3)

Evidence¶

Wenkang Zhang 2025¶

Wenkang Zhang, Albert W. Li, Chenze Wu. (2025). University students' perceptions of using generative AI in translation practices. Instructional Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-025-09705-y

q2 · i? · qualitative · r3

Thematic analysis of questionnaire and interview responses: 37 of 63 participants reported inadequacies — "redundancy," "omission," and/or "mistranslation" — in GenAI translations, especially of complex content.

"37 out of 63 participants mentioned that "redundancy," "omission," and/or "mistranslation" could be found in some of the translations generated by GenAI tools."

Wenkang Zhang 2025 (2)¶

Wenkang Zhang, Albert W. Li, Chenze Wu. (2025). University students' perceptions of using generative AI in translation practices. Instructional Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-025-09705-y

q2 · i? · qualitative · r3

Students who could not obtain desired responses from GenAI tools (34 of 63) attributed this to "their limited prompt engineering skills", e.g. having to revise prompts several times.

"34 out of 63 students attributed this to their limited prompt engineering skills."

Wenkang Zhang 2025 (3)¶

Wenkang Zhang, Albert W. Li, Chenze Wu. (2025). University students' perceptions of using generative AI in translation practices. Instructional Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-025-09705-y

q2 · i? · qualitative · r3

In the qualitative dataset, 18 of 63 participants voiced concerns that "the over-reliance on GenAI tools" could restrict their thoughts and ideas and lead to job losses for translators.

"18 out of 63 participants are also concerned that the over-reliance on GenAI tools may have significant impacts on their creativity and future employment as translators."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Translation students perceive GenAI tools as improving translation efficiency and translated-text quality
• Students use self-initiated strategies of verification, skill improvement, post-editing, pre-editing and reliance management to cope with GenAI challenges
• GenAI use involves substantial hidden labor of prompting, verification, and correction that remains invisible in productivity evaluation
• Participants' prompting was often limited, with poorly formulated prompts leading to vague or unhelpful outputs
• AI-assisted outputs are more similar to each other than purely human-authored ones, indicating a homogenization risk — related