A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF AI-MEDIATED AND HUMAN LITERARY TRANSLATION BETWEEN ENGLISH AND UZBEK FROM A TRANSCULTURAL PERSPECTIVE
Keywords:
Artificial Intelligence, Literary Translation, English–Uzbek Translation, Transcultural Translation, Comparative Translation Studies, ChatGPT, Neural Machine Translation, Cultural Equivalence.Abstract
Artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly transformed translation practices by introducing neural machine translation systems capable of producing increasingly fluent multilingual texts. While AI-assisted translation demonstrates remarkable efficiency in technical and informational texts, its application to literary translation remains controversial due to the complexity of linguistic creativity, stylistic expression, and cultural specificity. This study investigates the performance of AI-assisted translation systems in comparison with human translatorial practice within the context of English–Uzbek literary translation. Employing a transcultural-contrastive approach, the research analyzes twenty literary excerpts selected from English novels containing metaphors, idiomatic expressions, culture-specific references, symbolism, and stylistic devices. The translations generated by ChatGPT, DeepL, and Google Translate are compared with published or professionally produced human translations. The analysis evaluates semantic accuracy, stylistic equivalence, pragmatic adequacy, and the preservation of cultural meaning. The findings indicate that although AI systems successfully reproduce the denotative meaning of literary texts and significantly improve translation efficiency, they frequently encounter difficulties in preserving figurative language, emotional nuance, and culturally embedded expressions. Human translators demonstrate greater sensitivity to contextual interpretation and aesthetic representation, particularly when translating culturally marked elements. The study concludes that AI should be regarded as a complementary instrument rather than a replacement for literary translators. A collaborative human–AI translation model is proposed to maximize translation quality while benefiting from technological advances.
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