The CdL is involved in a four-year project (2021-2024), funded by the P-8 Digital Skills programme - coordinated by swissuniversities - and partner universities (ZHAW, UniNE, BFH and PHZH) on digital literacy in academic contexts. We are interested in how the introduction of technologies such as machine translation affects the academic environment, especially foreign language teaching/learning and academic writing.

Everyone has used Google translate at one point and, let's face it, it is very convenient. In recent years, the quality of machine translators has increased dramatically, thanks to the introduction of new technologies, and their availability and number of users are growing. However, views on automatic translation are contrasted: Some people praise it, while others (especially some language teachers) see it as a tool for lazy and cheating students. Moreover, the use of these tools is rarely discussed and they are not often used in the open. Do you know anyone who leaves the little line "translated by DeepL" when using a translation in an email or document?

Our project aims to develop within Swiss universities an ethical and efficient use of these tools which are becoming more and more available, present, and even indispensable in our globalised world. We want to set up training courses and provide information (flyers and website) that instruct users and allow them to stop burying their heads in the sand and make informed and conscious decisions.

The first step of this project is to collect information in the form of a survey that is sent to all students and staff of the four partner universities. The analysis of the results will enable us to create relevant training modules and tools that meet the needs expressed in the survey. We need your help! Take the survey, tell others about it and you and your friends can win an iPad 😊: https://redcap.link/mtlit