Abstract

This treatise explores the philosophical implications of the impact of machine translation on foreign language education. Rather than delving into technical details, it scrutinizes the theoretical ramifications of regarding machine translation as a means of thought. This article aims to articulate the theoretical potential of machine translation and to increase awareness of its significance. It posits that the advent of machine translation has the potential to challenge native linguistic intuition, which traditional corpus linguistics has been unable to achieve. This is attributed to machine translation’s unique features, including (1) its conversion from bad model to good model, (2) its capability for production, and (3) its mediation by the use of the native language. These peculiarities may pose a threat to native speakers’ linguistic intuition and may, in some cases, surpass it. Finally, this article speculates on the possible impact of these theoretical implications on the practice of foreign language education and suggests the potential emergence of a new instructional paradigm characterized by the extensive use of the mother tongue in a backcasting manner.