What exactly can you do as a translator that ChatGPT can’t do just as well? – 9 February 2026 (AI Mastery for Translators Insights)

NAVIGATING THE PARADIGM SHIFT

What exactly can you do that ChatGPT can’t do just as well?

This is the question the market is asking us, isn’t it? Here’s an answer you might consider.

1. Be precise

Because AI is trapped inside its dataset, always aiming for some middling outcome, you can focus in closer, and be more precise, even on the hard stuff. You provide nuance that takes a magnifying glass to the meaning, style that is more situationally appropriate, linguistic elements that match the client’s specifications, and variety that escapes the tsunami of AI slop.

2. Bestow confidence

You take responsibility for your work, can clearly back-up your decisions based on a true understanding of the content and answer questions honestly without sounding like a sycophant. ChatGPT can’t do any of this.

3. Earn attention

You can make you translations stand out. In a world of increasing information overwhelm, content that is precise, varied, interesting, appropriate and on spec earns attention. Translation is valuable only if people actually pay attention and consume it.

4. Connect the pieces

You can connect real-world project elements into workflows, doing so on the fly. This is especially valuable in complex and nuanced scenarios, just the type that will become more common over time. Not only can you connect with the client’s assets (TM, TB, etc.), but also with the formats of the source and target, including any work interfaces along the way, adapting everything to the client’s objectives. And you can curate you references for better work through the AI.

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This article was inspired by my interview last year with Kaloyan Kirilov, a Bulgarian<>English translator. He discusses “what makes a translator a translator” around the 21st minute, but the entire recording is relevant and inspiring.

Here’s the link to the whole video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCMpaP0_1zQ&t=1s

EFFECTIVE PROMPTING

This prompt doesn’t work!

I received this technical support request last year as follows:

User:

I was translating a document with CotranslatorAI. But it got confused and failed over and over. Please fix this bug in the next version if the software.

Me:

What’s your prompt?

User:

You are an expert translator of [language1] to [language2]. Translate the following text from [language1] to [language2]. Do not comment on anything.

Me:

I see the problem!

Immediately after you tell the AI to “Translate the following text from [language1] to [language2].”, next you say “Don’t comment on anything”… The AI is confused about what you want it to do.

Try this prompt in the Instructions field:

You are an expert translator of [language1] to [language2].

I will provide you with [language1] text to translate to [language2]. Correctly translate it, matching the translation as closely as possible to my instructions, without providing any explanations or labels.

Translate the following text from [language1] to [language2]:

I think it will work fine now.

User:

Yes, it’s working perfectly now!

Lesson:

CotranslatorAI is only a conduit between you and the AI models. Always make sure you give the AI clear and adequate instructions when prompting.

COTRANSLATORAI TIP

Get the new Creative-Control Translation Flow workflow.

We just released the new Tab Collections feature in CotranslatorAI Advanced. This lets you save the full state of your workspace, including every open tab, prompts, AI settings, and context. You can even reload these collections later or share them with colleagues.

This can be useful if you often jump between clients or project types, or if you want to pick up exactly where you left off later… even months down the road. Instead of wasting time rebuilding your workflow, you just load a collection and go.

Tab Collections also happen to be a handy way for me to share an entry-level workflow with you, which is called the Creative-Control Translation Flow. This workflow was inspired by tips I got from users of CotranslatorAI who found value quickly from the tool. It’s completely free and comes with a mini-masterclass to take you through the process.

Check it out at https://cotranslatorai.com/creative-control-translation-flow/ and then let me know what you think of it!

What else can I do to help you succeed? Let me know.

Steven (for the CotranslatorAI team)

Steven S. Bammel, PhD

Korean-to-English Translator
Co-Creator of CotranslatorAI

PS: If a human translator can outperform the average, they can outperform the machine. Find out why!