Abstract:
Translation is a process to transfer the meaning of the source language to the equivalent of target-language text. The process of translation can be divided into manual translation and machine translation. One of the most commonly known example of machine translation is Google Translate.
Perception is the process of processing and interpreting object. How someone interpret an object will affect their behavior toward it. Based on that theory, Students’ perception of Google Translate will affect their action toward it, and also how they behave in class when presented in situation to use them. Positive perception toward Google Translate can be taken as consideration for class designer to integrate Google Translate to English classes.
The trend of the study involving perception toward Google Translate is often not focused and studied more generally. It is often only limited to students’ awareness of Google Translate and has not yet touched its specific purpose. That is why this study investigates university students’ perception and utilization of Google Translate for academic assignment purpose.
The quantitative descriptive method is used as the research method for this study. Data analysis in this research goes through the process of organizing, calculating, and making inferences from calculated data. The necessary data for this research is taken from students who has been aware of Google Translate.
In conclusion, students of the University of Muhammadiyah Banjarmasin, have an overall positive perception towards Google Translate. They consider Google Translate as a reliable translating tool and have been relying on it for translating English material. While Google has its flaws, they still consider it as a convenient translating tool.
The researcher suggests that students need to familiarize themselves with machine translation, especially Google Translate. Doing that will help them understand the strength and weaknesses of machine translation and help them translate more accurately.
