Machine translation post-editing
In our increasingly quickly developing world and an even more quickly developing IT landscape, recent years have brought new and revolutionary winds of change to the translation industry, as well. Computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools, machine translation systems, artificial intelligence – these are the key phrases that every translation agency needs to be aware of and take into account. While we cannot – or rather are not permitted to – use the help of artificial intelligence in translation, CAT tools and machine translation systems are already advanced enough that they can help to cut costs and save the valuable time of people.
Most texts, however, do not consist of simple sentences, but have subtle nuances of meaning and complex grammatical structures. Therefore, all machine-translated texts require the curious and vigilant eye of a human editor to ensure that the translation is 100% faithful to the original text as well as grammatically and stylistically correct. At least for the time being, machine translation systems are not yet capable of producing output equivalent to human translation. This means that the quality of machine translation is still largely dependent on the human who does the post-editing. So, the following maxim applies here: ‘Use it, but check it!’
Avatar Translation Bureau also offers machine translation post-editing services to save our beloved clients time and money and be able to translate even larger volumes for them. We offer machine translation only in combination with the post-editing service. Clients can order both light and full post-editing.
Full post-editing (FPE) – post-editing carried out to obtain a result comparable to that of human translation. The translation must be accurate, comprehensible, and stylistically correct, with proper wording, grammar, and punctuation. However, the aim is not to produce a new human translation, but to make maximum use of the machine translation output in the post-editing process.
Light post-editing (LPE) – post-editing carried out to produce a text that is merely comprehensible, but nowhere close to human translation. We recommend that you use light post-editing only to understand the text and for in-house materials. In the case of LPE, as much of the raw machine-translated text is used as possible. The aim is to convey the content of the original text very accurately, without adding or omitting anything, while ensuring that all sentences are clear, correct, and unambiguous. However, errors in grammar, wording, and style are not corrected as part of LPE.
In the provision of the machine translation post-editing service, we comply with the standard ISO 18587 – Post-editing of machine translation output. Avatar will be audited based on this standard in the spring of 2024, meaning that starting from June, we will have the corresponding certification.
However, the machine translation post-editing service does not mean the loss of the traditional human translation service, which we provide in accordance with the standard ISO 17100 – Requirements for translation services. Not all texts are suitable for machine translation, such as confidential documents, translations containing personal data, or texts that are not suitable for machine translation due to their content or style, i.e. their post-editing takes significantly more time than human translation would have. In such cases, it is wise to choose a human translator to begin with to save time and get the best translation. Trust our project managers – they can help you make the right choice.
