Machine Translation (MT) can be your best friend in translating content quickly, cost-effectively, and efficiently. You won’t be surprised that it is essentially taking text from one language, putting it into a machine (AI-driven digital technology), and having the text come out in another language.
It can translate large volumes of content that would take a human translator days or months at a cost that would often be business-prohibitive. So, is machine translation the magic bullet?
No. But it is a fantastic tool. As with all tools, someone still needs to choose the right one and keep an eye on things. As a Language Services Provider (LSP), our clients often come to us with a small understanding of MT and feel like it’s the best route for them. We then take over and put a framework in place. We consider what type of machine translation they need, which engine is best positioned to accomplish their goals, and what the workflow should be.
In this article, we’ll look at the considerations you should go through to make MT work for you.
Let’s just get this question out of the way - is MT Google Translate? Yes. In the same way a World War 1 era biplane is a plane. Would you want to defend your country today with a biplane or take your family on holiday in one? Probably not.
There’s no hard and fast rule, just guidelines that we suggest to our clients. Usually, it comes down to factors like volume and visibility of content, source and target language, timescales, and budget. Machine translation usually needs a human touch to make sure nothing has linguistically slipped through the net.
MT is great for large volumes of internal comms, things that aren’t public facing, content that needs to be archived, technical texts (instruction manuals), product reviews, or user-generated content where consumers are only expecting to get a flavor of the text.
MT might also be great to get chatbots rolling in opening conversations with customers (we know they’re chatbots, and no one even tries to hide it anymore), but there’ll probably come a point where a human needs to step in. Still, MT’s done a lot of the groundwork.
Machine translation can do huge amounts fast and inexpensively. It can work for you 24/7 without needing colleague support or an HR department.
It’ll greatly reduce the time you need human translators, who are still important to the process but more expensive. Now, they’ll only need to double-check and clean up the translations. This is called review and post-editing.
MT tends to need the human review and post-editing we just mentioned. Maybe not always, but most of the time. There are different levels of machine translation review:
Machine translation can have a place in marketing, advertising, or public facing content that can affect your brand image, however, it’s recommended to proceed with caution and expert guidance. A significant amount of setup, testing, and even machine translation testing is often required to ensure that a brand isn’t negatively affected.
We all hear about the advancements in AI in several industries, and it’s no different with language services and MT. It’s getting better and better all the time. The algorithms, the software, and the data being fed into the engines all adds up to saving human resources for where they’re needed.
At LinguaLinx, our AI-enabled MT is constantly being trained and updated to deliver the best quality and most accurate translations. It’s an ongoing process with obvious benefits, and we’re committed to it.
That depends on your translation needs. It is, however, likely that it can help in some form. As always, partner with a good LSP, and they’ll take you through the type of MT that’s best for you, how much post-editing (if any) is required, and help work with you to maximize current time for future requirements as well.
MT, used correctly, can help you quickly localize into different marketplaces and do a lot of the hard work for you without needing the complexities of a team of linguists.
If you're seeking assistance with MT, we're eager to discuss your needs. Our consultations come at no cost and with zero commitment.
With LinguaLinx by your side, you can be confident that your message remains intact throughout translation. Trust in our ISO 17100 and ISO 9001 accreditations, two decades of translation expertise, and the trust we've garnered from various esteemed organizations.