Recently updated on January 12th, 2024 at 09:12 am
Table of Contents
- What Is Machine Translation?
- Machine Translation vs. Human Translation: What Are the Differences?
- Machine Translation vs. Human Translation: Which Should I Choose?
- Frequent Questions About Human Translation Services
- Professional Human Translation Services by Chinese Copywriter
When you think about your website localization needs, you often consider your human translation services provider. But the secret member of your localization team? Machine translation software.
What Is Machine Translation?
Machine translation (MT) is a software-based process that translates content from one language to another without human intervention. MT is a form of artificial intelligence using a combination of algorithms, statistical methods, and rules to translate one language to another. It is the simplest form of translation, allowing users to choose the base and target languages.
Machine Translation vs. Human Translation: What Are the Differences?
Machines are faster, but the output is unreliable. In certain domains, with high volume, if you use a customized machine translation engine with human post-editors, then you can get satisfactory results for less than working with humans alone. The importance of machine translator is obvious but if you take speed away in the battle of machine vs human translation, we still kick artificial ass.
The Benefits of Machine Translation
Machine translation is the fastest and cheapest method of translation available today. Rather than waiting weeks for a human translator to complete an order, you can have a translation in minutes or even seconds. Machine translation is also consistent.
The Pitfalls of Machine Translation
MT won’t be able to give you a specific tone of voice or tell you how to phrase a given paragraph so it’s persuasive and authoritative in the eyes of your audience. If your brand has a specific style of writing, the machine translations may feel jarring to a reader.
The Benefits of Human Translation
Can you achieve the accuracy and excellence of professional translation using a machine? Well, the answer is an unambiguous ‘NO’. The most significant benefit of human translation services is the accuracy of the content they can churn out. They can access and break down a language and can use their creativity to inject excitement into your content. When you go with human translation services, you are more likely to see your conversions climb. If your project targets a high conversion rate, go with human translators.
- Better Quality – Human translation builds on creating an artistic interpretation of the original content, with words and phrases that are rewritten and re-arranged to appeal and suit the target audience.
- Language Expertise – When it comes to native Chinese translators, their expertise in both languages helps them translate the content to suit the needs of the audience. Although MT is economical and quicker than human translation, they can’t grasp the connotation of a document.
- Cultural Sensitivities – An important aspect to be kept in mind while translating content is the cultural sensitivities that are followed the world over. Each culture has its values woven into the language.
The Pitfalls of Human Translation
This is a real drawback for some companies. Human translation projects are not as fast to complete as MT, and it is more expensive of a process.
Machine Translation vs. Human Translation: Which Should I Choose?
Choosing between machine translation and professional human translation services depends on what kind of text you need to translate, and for what audience.
When Should I Use Machine Translation?
* You are looking to translate content for a section of your business that is not yet bringing in significant revenue.
* You are dipping a toe into an expansion or testing a market and are not yet ready for the more complex project of human translation.
* The content you are looking to translate is not very creative in nature, it is more basic.
When Should I Use Human Translation Services?
* The project prioritizes accuracy over a quick turnover.
* The idea of being able to communicate with a live human being is alluring and/or important to you.
* Quality content is your biggest priority (this includes localization and context).
Frequent Questions About Human Translation Services
Do I Really Need a Human Translation Services Provider?
Ask yourself if you can afford inaccuracies in your translation. Let’s say you just want to read a sales letter from a company abroad. In this case, a Google machine translation could give you a very good idea of the letter’s original meaning. And, if you need a better understanding of some passages in particular, you can always hire a human translator to handle that specific passage. This would save you money since you wouldn’t need to translate the whole document.
On the other hand, if you need your brochures translation for the Chinese market, you wouldn’t take the chance of providing less than accurate documents, right? It is all about the accuracy tolerance you are willing to assume.
What Translation Software Do Human Translators Use During Their Work?
The main tools used by translators in the human translation services are:
* CAT-Tools: these ‘computer-assisted translation tools’ focus on keeping a translation memory with the work being done by the translators for future use
* Text Editors: usually already built-in the CAT-Tools
* Electronic glossaries: they can check the best terms for terminology or keep their work consistent with what was done previously
* Others
Are There Pure Human Translations Being Provided Out There?
It is very rare to find a translator who doesn’t use some technology when translating documents. Because of the competition in the translation services industry, we would say only amateur translators would work without some level of translation software to help them along the way.
Professional Human Translation Services by Chinese Copywriter
Chinese Copywriter provides professional human translation services for business customers and individuals around the world. We are committed to always providing human translation services, as machine translation is not yet sufficiently sophisticated to translate documents with the understanding and nuance that human translators provide.
Digital Entrepreneur and Co-Founder of Chinese Copywriter
Having lived and worked in Europe for 6 years, Ting returned to her hometown Guangzhou with the mission to help international businesses succeed in the Chinese market. With 15 years of marketing / web design background, Ting has proven records of digital marketing successes in China. Ting has been featured on diverse mainstream medias in China, including Southern TV, Sina News, Toutiao News, GRT News, etc.