Translation, interpreting and language education in an age of AI

Celine Garbutt, a first year PhD student in the School of Education, talks us through the early stages of her research

Thank you for talking to the HASS PGR blog, Celine. What is U-TILE all about?

U-TILE stands for Undergraduate Translation, Interpreting and Language Education. Coincidentally the acronym also means ‘useful’ in French.  Many people know that learning languages, translation and interpreting are important despite progress in AI and technology. But the problem is, how can language, translation or interpreting education be taught in an age of AI? And what for? My project aims to answer these questions. I then plan to look at how a better understanding of these questions could inform university teacher development.

What made you choose this area of research?

Experience, and frustration.

When I was studying language for conference interpreting and translation, it was difficult to find suitable venues for learning in a way that felt connected to what I needed. Then when I began teaching English for translation and interpreting students a couple of decades later, I saw that things had not really changed: an observation later confirmed in the literature. So I felt I needed to investigate why.

Secondly, frustration about AI. Some people think that human translation and interpreting is destined to become obsolete, and that as a result, translation, interpreting and additional language education is a waste of time. This demonstrates the dominance of one perspective on language, translation and interpreting shaping public opinion.

I think the picture is more complex and that fresh perspectives are needed. This research sets out to give one of those fresh perspectives.

What will be the stages of your research?

My research has three broad sequential stages. I chose this design because as sole researcher, I think it will be easier to manage than having multiple data collection phases all happening at once. (This is the idea, but I am learning now how an actual PhD does not go to plan!).

Phase one is a scoping review. This was unplanned, but the lack of conceptual clarity uncovered during the first literature review has made this step inevitable.

The second stage of research – participant recruitment – will begin over the summer, with data collection, and data analysis following in the autumn and early 2026.

In a final phase, while writing up my discussion, I plan to organise an event to share findings with a wider audience once they are ready. This event would also be an opportunity for participants to make new connections and become part of a network of teachers and independent language learners who, like me, are passionate about and understand the importance of translation, interpreting and language education.

How have you found the experience of getting ethics approval for a project like this?

In a word, stimulating.  I received approval for my project in the last week of May: an exciting moment.

For those starting their project, I would recommend the PGR workshops on applying for ethics approval given by a member of the Ethics Committee. In my case, it helped me understand the difference between anonymisation and pseudonymisation, understand what some of the questions were actually asking, and prepared me for a first rejection, since over 90% of first applications are sent back for review.

The actual WorkTribe interface can be quite fiddly too, especially if you don’t have a stable internet connection. To reduce the frustration this can cause, I created an offline table to prepare answers and keep track of modifications following feedback. Once my edits were ready in the table, all I had to do was copy and paste into the online boxes. It made filling in the form less stressful for me.

The impact of AI and machine learning on your area of research will keep changing as your project progresses. How do you respond to working in such a fast-evolving field?

My response is to make sure I am ‘playing’ with these tools, to get a feel for what they can and cannot do. I also attend seminars organised by professional organisations (e.g., ITI, CIOL, or AIIC), read and watch the latest content about large language modelling. To stay in touch with what is happening in higher education, I connect with teacher colleagues. These activities and using AI myself allow me to experience firsthand potential opportunities and problems of using AI for translation, interpreting and language education. Although my research does not focus specifically on AI, its indirect impact is an integral part of the complex picture I am studying.

Fascinating. How can readers take part in your research?

Please get in touch today!Follow this link or scan the QR code below for further details about the study and what is involved. You can:

• Make your voice heard by taking part in my survey for teachers or people who use languages professionally
• Gain valuable academic experience by helping with my scoping review
• Keep up with the latest updates and event news