Machine Translation

What Is Machine Translation?

Machine translation, also known as automated translation, is a service in which a computer translates between two languages. In the past, the technology was notoriously poor quality, only translating from one language to another in a very literal sense, and going word for word through the input text.

In recent years, however, machine translation has been improving exponentially, through the rising use of statistical systems and neural networks, which are not only translating individual words themselves, but understanding the grammar, syntax and context in which words are used within sentences and paragraphs. Even more impressively, as these systems of machine translation “read” more documents and texts, they then “learn” the rules of grammar which goes on to improve the quality of their work over time.

Online services such as Google Translate are the most widely-known machine translation services, providing quick and easy translations which are available to anyone who needs them for free. This allows companies who require ad hoc translation work to get it at their convenience, but does not guarantee a business-quality translation.

Machine translation is speedy and increasingly effective, and London Translations can offer sophisticated software which does not suffer from the same limitations as free online services. Some of our customers request machine translations of very lengthy documents, allowing them to determine which parts are of interest to them before commissioning a Standard Business or Business Critical translation of just the parts which are relevant.

The short answer is that it depends on what you need them for. Free online machine translation services have some serious limitations. For example, the length of the translation is limited and, as one can’t apply specialist terminology dictionaries, the resulting translation can be incomplete or of very low quality. In fact, where sector-specific language related to the medical, legal or military fields is required, for instance, poor quality translations can have some dangerous ramifications. However, for a quick way to get a basic translation of a document, it is an easy and efficient method of getting the job done.

Just because machines can’t compete on quality does not mean they don’t have a place. Consider this. Let’s say you are sent a hundred-page document, which needs to be translated from Japanese to English today in order to assess the threat from a competitor. Assuming there are 500 Japanese characters per page, a conservative estimate puts this document at around 50,000 characters in length, which would take a human approximately one month to translate. Even with a team of people on the job, there’s no way it would be completed on the same day, and at today’s prices, would cost somewhere in the region of £5000.

This is where machine translation comes in. If your translations are time sensitive, asking for machine translation will give you the quickest service possible, and at a reasonable cost. However, although the quality is often good enough for a tight deadline, be aware that it will never be up to the same standards as a human translation, considering the language and sector-specific knowledge that our team can offer.