What is Machine Translation?
Machine translation, also known as automatic translation, is a translation process where a computer programme completes the process of translation without any human intervention. The computer system uses algorithms to determine the meaning of the original sentence and then creates a translated sentence in the new language.
What is machine translation post-editing (MTPE)?
Post-editing is the name given to the process whereby a human translator revises and edits a translation done by machine translation, in order to obtain a satisfactory end product. During this process, the translator will make any necessary corrections and adjustments to ensure your quality expectations are met in full.
What are the different service levels offered for machine translation post-editing?
- Raw Machine Translation (MT) is output that is not proofread by human translators at all. Used for low-risk content that needs to be translated for informal purposes only in a short space of time, it’s the lowest level.
- Light MTPE makes the text understandable. Human translators comb the MT output to find the bits that make no sense and revise and edit them, making this a popular choice for documents with high volumes in various sectors.
- Full MTPE workflows try to match “human translation-from scratch” in terms of quality, outperforming the latter in terms of costs and timelines.
There are price and time considerations attached to each of the three options, and the third option is far more human-reliant than the other two.
What is included in the cost of machine translation post-editing?
- A professional, personal approach to your needs
- Dedicated, qualified project managers with a number of years of experience
- Rigorously selected proofreaders with a university degree in translation or a minimum of five years’ experience in translation and post-editing.
- Mastery of the specialist field in question
- Integration of your own terminology
- Use of translation memories to keep costs as low as possible in the long term by reusing earlier translations. All of your preferred terminology is stored in a terminology database which will be used on any future translation jobs we do for you. This ensures the consistent use of terminology throughout the entire translation process.
What is a translation memory and how does it work?
Translation Memory (TM) software is a database of sentences and their respective translations that can be automatically reused when translating similar or identical content in your translation projects. Translation memories can save a lot of time and money when translating technical content with repetitive text and specific terminology.
