Creative Approaches to Translation for Language Learning in the Age of AI

A spate of recent articles (e.g. Sparkes, 2025; Ramirez, 2024) have focused on the idea that learning another language is pointless in the age of AI, often countered by reports of the cognitive benefits and employability advantages of language-learning and plurilingualism (Guest, 2024). Concomitantly, the role of translation in language teaching has come under increasing scrutiny given the challenges raised by AI and perceptions of its widespread and ‘inappropriate’ usage by students. Previous discussion regarding the use of translation as a language-teaching tool has been on the need to focus on translation as a communicative and task-based activity (see Fraser, 1996; Hurtado Albir, 1999; González Davies, 2004; Balboni, 2017). That is, process- rather than product-oriented, so learners learn by doing and in so doing solve communicative problems, apply critical thinking and problem-solving strategies, while becoming aware of (inter)cultural context alongside lexical, grammatical and syntactical forms and functions.
This focus on developing communicative competence (linguistic, extra-linguistic and contextual) chimes with the reported benefits of learning a language and the continuing need for the human translator, who can navigate cultural nuances, complex contexts, polysemy, idioms and other textual intricacies – areas where machine translation can fall short, generating inaccuracies and misinterpretations. This paper will showcase approaches that the AU Modern Languages Department have developed in our translation teaching and assessment practice to promote communicative competence, creative thinking and AI awareness for employability future-proofing, in addition to exploring the student viewpoint on AI, incorporating ethical and ecological concerns.