Interacting with AI in Creative Translation Teaching: Exploring Subjectivity and Developing Style

This article presents two experiments with Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the context of creative translation, an English Studies course subject at Aix-Marseille University in France. The use of creative writing and translating exercises (culturally relocated texts, plurilingual writing, self-translation…), aims to enhance students’ subjective appropriation of their second language and to help them develop their own style. The first experiment uses multilingual text embeddings for self-assessment of a translated text. The second uses generative AI, which produces text. Since we are interested in subjective appropriation of a second language, the article reflects on the kind of language AI uses, with reference to psycholinguistic theory. While generative AI produces rapid outcomes, creative translation teaching focuses on process—what if AI were harnessed as part of the process? The article suggests ways of building on current creative practice in translation teaching as we face the challenges of AI.