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Machine translation in language learning and teaching
Machine translation in language learning and teaching

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5 The do’s and don’ts of working with OMT

Making your way through this session, you have learned quite a lot about OMT already, and have had the chance to reflect on how you might use it to support your language learning or teaching.

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Figure 3
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A cartoon lightbulb with a face and hands. One hand is held up with a finger pointing upwards.

Figure 3

Before you move on to Session 2 and some practical activities and suggestions of how you can use OMT as a learning tool, you will briefly consider a few do’s and don’ts for working with it.

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A diagram with ‘do’ and ‘do not’ written in the centre in semi-circles. ‘Do’ is highlighted in green, and ‘do not’ is highlighted in red. These branch off to numerous suggestions which read as follows.

Do: assess OMT results carefully for mistakes and hidden traps (e.g. synonyms, literal translations, level of formality, consistency); check against your own knowledge and other learning materials; cross check with the results of other OMT tools; reflect.

Do not: let OMT replace your own knowledge and common sense; rely blindly on OMT results; replace other learning methods with OMT; replace other sources of knowledge (e.g. dictionaries) with OMT; use OMT as a shortcut to cut out memorisation and practice.

Figure 4

Activity 4

Timing: Allow approximately 10 minutes

Can you think of any other pieces of advice to keep in mind when learning languages with OMT? Add your own ideas to the box below.

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