Ibrahim

Evaluating accuracy of Machine Translation of Iraqi Satirical Political Discourse: A Case Study of Faiq Al-Sheikh Ali’s Twitter Page

This study investigates the accuracy of machine translation (MT) when processing Iraqi satirical political discourse, using Faiq Al-Sheikh Ali's Twitter page as a case study. By comparing automated translations with expert human translations, the research evaluates MT's ability to handle meaning, sarcasm, and political references. The findings reveal that while MT successfully transfers literal meanings, it consistently fails to translate humor, irony, local idioms, and culturally coded political metaphors. Ultimately, the study concludes that current MT algorithms cannot grasp the "high-context" nuances of Iraqi Arabic, proving that human review remains essential for culturally and politically sensitive texts.