Italian Translators in Hybrid Workflows: A Qualitative Interview Study

The rapid uptake of machine translation (MT), computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools, and large language models (LLMs) is reshaping how professional translators organize their work, negotiate quality, and imagine their future. While quantitative studies document productivity gains and workflow changes, less is known about how translators themselves interpret these shifts. This chapter presents a qualitative study with five experienced Italian translators who routinely work in hybrid workflows. Through semi-structured interviews and reflexive thematic analysis, it examines: (1) how translators draw, blur, or contest boundaries between human and machine contributions; (2) which ethical criteria they mobilize when deciding whether and how to use AI-based tools; and (3) how they reconfigure their professional identity between “meaning curator” and “technical reviser.” The findings show that hybrid workflows are not a neutral reorganization of tasks, but a site of negotiation over authorship, responsibility, cognitive effort, and emotional investment. Italian translators move between enthusiasm, pragmatism, and concern, portraying themselves neither as passive victims of automation nor as uncritical adopters of new tools.