Translating Queer Identities And Derogatory Epithets: The Impact Of AI On Latin American Asylum Narratives And Proceedings

This capstone project seeks to understand the efficacy of ChatGPT and Google Gemini in translating queer identities and derogatory epithets from Spanish to English that could aid asylum seekers in documenting the persecution they faced in their home countries due to their queerness or perceived queerness. This project employs the use of qualitative content analysis to gather queer terms. These terms were then converted into three question types that were presented to ChatGPT and Google Gemini to translate from Spanish to English. This project showed that although both AI tools seemed to excel at translating queerness from Spanish to English, ChatGPT could effectively translate all ten terms. In comparison, Google Gemini could translate nine out of the ten terms effectively. This project also demonstrates that depending on how a question is asked influences the responses from ChatGPT and Google Gemini, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. This study has the potential to show how AI tools, such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini, can assist asylum seekers when translating their written accounts of the persecution they faced, as hiring interpreters can be extremely expensive.