If you work in the language industry, you’ll have heard of MTPE or “machine translation post editing”. If you haven’t, MTPE is using a machine or AI to translate your text then sending it out to a human translator to proofread or “post edit” to ensure it’s correct and fluent. Translators know all about the pros and cons of working with MTPE but as a client, you may not see the big picture when cost is such a big factor. Let’s open your eyes to MTPE and how it affects you, your translation and your translators.
The Good
MTPE is less expensive than human translation because you only have to pay a translator to review and edit the machine translation, meaning you pay a lower rate than you would if you had a human translator working on it from scratch. If the AI translation is good quality, MTPE can be faster since the translation itself is instant and you only have to wait as long as it takes for the translator to review the text. But…
The Bad
If your AI translation is poor quality, it can take far longer than if you choose to have a 100% human translation. Why? Because the translator has to constantly refer back to the source material, cross-check any references and query anything which is unclear in the original text. If the text is trying to sell a concept or product to an audience, a machine translation won’t grasp the nuance or hidden meaning behind it. That means that no matter what your machine translation has come up with, the translator will still have to take the time to craft specific content tailored to your needs. As we all know, time is money… if your AI translation is painfully poor then a lot of translators won’t accept a proofreading fee to work on it purely for the amount of time they need to spend on it. To be blunt, for some translators it just isn’t worth it.
The Ugly
We mentioned nuance and emotion being lost on a machine translation, but there’s so much more that a machine can’t pick up on. If there’s a typo in your source material, a machine will either enter the misspelt word (maybe it assumes it’s a name) in the original language or it will make something up based on the letters in the word. Similarly, idiomatic expressions tend to be lost on a machine translation, sometimes with disastrous results if they go unchecked i.e. “être aux petits soins de vos clients” was translated by AI as “to pay little heed to your clients” when it means “to pamper your clients”… now that could have a serious impact on your business.
AI will also just go with the most common term when faced with a word that has several different meanings. For example, in a recent translation about zoo animals we worked on, the machine had translated “tortue” solely as “tortoise” when it also means “turtle”. All it took was someone to double check the species in question, but the translation would have been wrong if a human hadn’t been involved.
Machine translation aside, unfortunately there are some unscrupulous translation agencies out there who won’t take the time to review and post edit for MPTE: they’ll just cut out the human translator all together and work on it themselves, whether or not they’re fluent in the source language. Again, any inaccuracies won’t be picked up on and the impact it could have on your business and customer relationships could be devastating.
Your Best option: Active Languages
Active Languages Translation Agency only works with human translators. Most of the translators we’ve been working with have been loyal to us for over 20 years and we know their skillsets. Whilst we don’t provide machine translation as a matter of principle, if you can provide the source material and your machine translation, we would be very happy to have our human translators proofread and post edit it for you.
We can also give you feedback on the quality of your machine translation, so you can use an alternative MT solution if the standard is too low or stick with the software you’ve found. The main takeaway is don’t rely on machine translation alone; always have a human translator with fluency in both languages review it before you post it online, send it to your clients or publish it.
Contact info@activelanguages.co.uk for peace of mind.
