How to Leverage Machine Translations (MT)

CSOFT has always been excited to debate the topic of man vs. machine translations, and to discuss its implications for businesses and translators alike. In today’s global world, machine translations have become a common aspect in both businesses and daily life. For people traveling abroad, for example, translation apps — which are based on machine translation — are the fastest and most cost effective solution for traversing foreign lands. According to the Common Sense Advisory, machine translation usage rates have been increasing, and are now on the path to becoming the mainstream for enterprises and LSPs alike. While we firmly believe that machine translations (MT) will never fully replace human translators, if used correctly, MT will always hold a vast array of benefits to both the end-user and enterprises.

Here are several key steps you can take in order to ensure the quality of machine translation:

1. Source Text

A well written source text is key to quality machine translation. Check your source for spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Also make sure that consistent language has been used throughout the document.

2. TMS

Pair Machine Translation with Terminology Management Software (TMS). This will allow you to ensure that important phrases are being translated uniformly throughout a document, or multiple documents.

3. Glossary

Create a glossary beforehand. Agree upon definitions and translation terms that will be employed throughout the document. A glossary – with regular upkeep – will help guarantee consistency throughout your translations.

4. Post-Editing

Be prepared to use human translators for Post-Editing. To avoid errors it is important to have a document reviewed by a professional linguist before publishing the information, no matter how clear or well written a source document may be.

The human touch is a necessary aspect of any language, and is important in any translation and localization project. Linguists can be used to check translations using terminology management software and can assist with glossary upkeep and creation. They can also provide insight as to what term may be best for particular regions and markets. These are things that MT cannot account for.

For more information about CSOFT’s thoughts on using machine translation, please check out our Whitepaper.

Written by Megan Robinson, PR Manager at CSOFT. Read more of Megan’s blogs.

Learn more about CSOFT’s Machine Translations here.