Machine translation (MT) is slower and less accurate than human translation and there is no immediate or predictable likelihood of machines taking over this role from humans. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Sample Response
Inaccuracy and lagging in performing the translation by machines, even though the technology is well advanced in the recent decades, making it difficult for them compete with the human. I completely agree that machineMachine translation will not supplant human translators inthe Human translators in the near future. In today’s globalised world there are about several hundreds of languages, even though most of the languages is having antecedents to Sanskrit, each is having different grammatical structure and the word meaning tends to change based on the context making it difficult for Machine translation software to attain preciseness in the translated text. As a result of tackling the difficulties in the languages, the software program has becomesoftware programme had become more complexheavier which in turn slowed the translation ofcaused slowness in translating the text from one language to another. Even theour latest supercomputers are not able to translate and compete with humans in terms of translation speed and accuracyspeed of translation and accuracy. Humankind had built the effective tool "language" to communicate, express, and share the feelings with each other and practising it for last several 1000 years. Human brains are highly efficient processorsOur brains are super-machines and have been trained rigorouslywere being taught and practised rigorously to read, understand, and translate one language into anotherthe language from one to another in a fraction of a second. Even todayEven by today, neither computer scientists nor software companiesno computer scientists or any software making giants have succeededdid not succeed in making a machine capable of competing with the human brain in performing computations. Unless any scientist succeeds in attaining the speed of communication across the computer components similar to that between brain cellssimilar the brain cells, it will be difficultit is found to be difficult to achievein achieving human speed and accuracy with machine-translation software programsthe speed and accuracy of humans by Machine translation software programmes. As a result of the hurdles in the current technology to attain the speed of the human translators by machines, we can safely conjecture that machines are incapable of supplanting human translators in the near futurein near future.
Why this response received Band 5.5
The essay maintains a clear position and identifies relevant barriers to machine translation, especially contextual meaning and computational limitations. Its strongest feature is the attempt to explain why human language processing remains superior; the main limitation is that several factual claims are inaccurate or oversimplified, and the entire response is one dense paragraph with frequent language errors. The priority is to organize two evidence-based reasons in separate paragraphs and express them through shorter, grammatically controlled sentences.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The position is clear and supported by relevant discussion of context and processing, but inaccurate linguistic and technological claims weaken the argument’s credibility.
Use accurate examples of ambiguity, idiom, cultural context, and current machine limitations rather than broad claims about Sanskrit or computer speed.
Coherence and Cohesion
The reasoning follows a recognizable path from linguistic complexity to human processing and a conclusion, but the single paragraph and overloaded sentences weaken progression.
Use an introduction, one paragraph on contextual accuracy, one on speed and human judgment, and a concise conclusion.
Lexical Resource
The response attempts a substantial range of technical and linguistic vocabulary, but frequent awkward collocations and imprecise wording reduce clarity.
Prefer precise phrases such as “translation errors,” “context-dependent meaning,” “computational demands,” “human translators,” and “replace human expertise.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Frequent errors in sentence formation, agreement, tense, articles, comparisons, and double negatives occur throughout and sometimes obstruct meaning.
Build shorter complete sentences and check forms such as “machines compete,” “languages have,” “humans have developed,” and “scientists have not succeeded.”
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Machine translation (MT) is slower and less accurate than human translation and there is no immediate or predictable likelihood of machines taking over this role from humans. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.