Translation is one of those things everyone knows is important, but few people actually do it. This is especially true for companies operating internationally, where the ability to communicate effectively across borders is critical to success.
But even if you don’t speak another language, there are ways to make sure your site is accessible to anyone around the globe. Here are some basic tips to help you start translating your content today.
Machine translation — background, evolution, and types
In the 1950s, IBM developed the first computerized translator called “Project Whirlwind.” This program could translate English into French, Spanish, Italian, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Chinese. In the 1980s, Microsoft introduced a similar product called “Microsoft Translator,” which translated languages like Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish, Hungarian, Thai, Korean, Indonesian, and Mandarin.
Today, most online translations come from automated programs such as Google Translate, Bing Translator, Yandex Translate, WMT, and Baidu. These tools often provide multiple options for each word, depending on context. For example, you might see “the” in some contexts and “a” in others.
Machine translation vs. Human translation
Google Translate is one of the most popular ways to translate text online. Users just type a sentence into Google Translate and hit enter. In seconds, the site returns a translated version of what they typed. But how good is it really?
The truth is, it depends. While some might think that machine translations are perfect, there are times when you just want to speak to someone in person. Or maybe you don’t understand the language well enough to read what the translator wrote down.
In either case, you’ll likely find that machine translations aren’t always great. And that’s because machines aren’t quite smart enough to do everything we humans do. They’re simply programs that take words and phrases and translate them based on rules set up by programmers.
And those rules often come with limitations. For example, they won’t know the context of the conversation, like whether you’re writing something formal or casual, or whether you’re speaking about a topic that’s important to you or not.
That’s why you might see a lot of errors in machine translations. You could end up reading something completely different than what you intended, or worse, you might not even understand what you did read.
But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use machine translations. There are plenty of situations where they work perfectly fine. If you’re trying to write an email in another language, you probably wouldn’t mind having a machine translate it for you.
If you’re looking for a quick way to look up a word or phrase, a machine translation might actually be better than nothing. And if you’re interested in learning a foreign language, you can learn a lot from watching videos.
So, next time you’re searching for information, consider using machine translations. Just make sure you check out the options to ensure that you’re getting the best possible translation.
You may want to implement machine translation if…
If you find yourself in one of these situations, you might consider implementing machine translation. Machine translation is often used to help businesses communicate across languages and cultures. In addition, it allows companies to save money while still providing high quality translations.
Machine translation has been around since the early 1990s. Early systems relied on hand-coded rules, but today there are many different types of algorithms that use statistical methods to determine what words and phrases mean. These algorithms work well because they are able to identify patterns within language.
While machine translation does not provide perfect accuracy, it is good enough to make things easier for people working in certain industries. For example, if you run a restaurant and want to publish menus in multiple languages, you could easily use machine translation.
In fact, some large corporations like Amazon have already adopted machine translation technology. They are using it to improve customer experience and reduce costs.
You May Want to Implement human translation if...
Translation is one of those things that seems like it shouldn’t take long, but it does. You know how some people are really good at math, while others are great at reading comprehension? Well, it turns out that translating text into another language is similar to doing either of those tasks. While there are many different types of translators, each type works differently.
The most common type of translator is a machine translator. Machine translators work by analyzing the source text and attempting to predict what the target text might be based on the analysis. This isn’t always accurate and sometimes even makes mistakes, so you want to make sure that you’re working with a professional.
Another type of translator is a human translator. Unlike machine translators, human translators don’t analyze the source text. Instead, they read the source text and translate it word-by-word. Human translators tend to be much slower than machine translators because they must do research about the topic and determine whether certain words mean the same thing in both languages. However, since they aren’t trying to generate a prediction, they often produce better translations.
Finally, there is a hybrid approach called a machine assisted human translator. These translators use a combination of machine and human techniques to improve upon the speed and quality of the previous approaches.
Machine Translation Pros and Cons
The machine translation industry has been growing rapidly over the past few years. With the rise of deep learning technology, we’re seeing massive improvements in accuracy and speed. These advancements are making it easier for people around the world to communicate with one another. However, while machine translation is improving, it still lacks the human touch. We’ll discuss some of the advantages and disadvantages of machine translation.
Automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to grow and become integral parts of how translation evolves.
Automated translation leans on artificial intelligence (AI) to tackle more of the mundane, repetitive tasks like assigning work, reviewing and revising text and deciding whether content is acceptable or not, according to a report published by market research firm Gartner. These are some of the 101 and basic tasks that account for most of the workload in translation projects.
The report states that automation reduces the amount of time spent on manual processing, such as proofreading and editing, while improving quality control. Translation companies have been investing heavily in automation over the past few years. In 2017, industry revenue grew by 11 percent, reaching $11 billion, and the number of employees employed in the industry rose by 3 percent to 397,500 people.
In 2018, the global market for automated translation solutions grew by 15 percent, reaching $14.4 billion, according to Gartner. By 2020, it is expected that the total volume of translated data will reach around 2.5 zettabytes, up from 0.8 zettabytes in 2016.
Simply put, machine translation costs less.
Machine translation (MT) is often touted as being cheaper than hiring native speakers to write copy. But how much does it really cost? And what are the benefits of using MT over hiring someone else to do it?
The answer to both questions is “it depends”.
If you’re working within a tight budget, there’s no doubt that machine translation could save money. But if you want high quality translations that reflect your brand tone and style, you’ll have to pay for those.
In fact, one study found that even though the average price of a machine translation project is $40 per word, the overall cost of producing a document is actually about three times higher ($120).
So while the initial outlay may seem low, the total cost of having your documents translated can end up costing far more than you’d think.
Automated translation will never be able to fully replace human translators and their ability to investigate.
Machine Translation (MT) is an automated way of translating text into another language. This technology is used by companies like Microsoft, Apple, Facebook and Amazon — among others — to help bridge gaps in communication across cultures and regions. But it does come with some risks.
In a recent study conducted by the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, researchers discovered that MT could lead to errors and omissions in translations. They found that Google Translate, one of the most widely used tools for MT, often produces inaccurate translations because it doesn’t take context into account.
That means it might miss important information about what you are trying to say. For example, the word “I” might be translated as “he/she” or “it” depending on whether there is a gender bias involved. And even though humans are great at understanding context, they aren’t perfect either. So while MT can do amazing things, it cannot always replicate the nuances of a conversation.
The good news is that there are ways to improve MT accuracy. One option is to use machine learning to train computers to recognize patterns in languages. Another is to pair MT with human translators. By having both types of people work together, the chances of getting accurate translations increase exponentially.
