A critical analysis of Igbo-English translations in social media posts: A study of Twitter and Facebook

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to conduct a critical analysis of posts and comments written in Igbo language on Facebook and Twitter, which are automatically translated into English upon user request. The main focus is to examine the accuracy of the translations provided by these social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, for posts written in Igbo. Additionally, the study aims to understand the challenges presented by language barriers in communication, shedding light on the linguistic and cultural differences between Igbo and English. Furthermore, the research aims to highlight the difficulties encountered by machine translation systems employed by these social media platforms and language learners when translating between Igbo and English. It also aims to identify areas that require improvement for future reference. Following Anthony Pym's proposed method of error analysis for translation analysis, the study endeavours to identify and rectify inconsistencies in automatic translations, enabling readers to grasp the intended message and contribute to the improvement of machine translation applications. Qualitative data was collected over a specific period from posts written in Igbo and automatically translated into English on Facebook and Twitter. The collected data was subjected to analysis. Results from the analysis show that these platforms need to make significant improvements in order to achieve better translation output.