American Research Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

Machine translation (MT) has become increasingly accessible to students of translation, creating new opportunities for academic work while also raising questions about accuracy, contextual interpretation, and the continuing role of human translators. This study investigates how undergraduate translation students use MT tools, the difficulties they experience during their use, and their perceptions of the differences between machine-generated and human-produced translations. The study was conducted among 30 male undergraduate students enrolled in the Department of Translation and English Language at Imam Muhammad Bin Saud Islamic University. A mixed-methods research design was employed, with questionnaire data used to examine students’ patterns of MT use, experiences, and perceptions. The findings indicate that students regularly use MT, particularly Google Translate, to support academic translation tasks involving unfamiliar vocabulary, specialized terminology, and linguistically demanding texts. At the same time, participants reported several weaknesses in MT output, including grammatical and semantic inaccuracies, inadequate treatment of cultural references, limited sensitivity to textual context, and variations in translation quality. Financial considerations, particularly the cost of premium translation services and specialized dictionaries, were also identified as a practical constraint. Despite the usefulness of MT as an academic support tool, students generally regarded human translation as more reliable for tasks requiring contextual interpretation, appropriate tone, cultural understanding, and nuanced meaning. The findings underscore the importance of developing MT literacy within translation education so that students learn not only how to operate digital translation tools but also how to assess, revise, and validate their outputs through informed human judgment.