Those in the translation industry have seen this coming. The rapid globalization of the world thanks to the Internet has driven the demand for translation services to unprecedented levels. As you might expect, people began asking for easy and quick ways to get translation without the use of humans. This led to the rise of machine translation. Machine translation is a rapidly growing field in the translation industry that involves performing translation tasks using machines. The question is; is machine translation superior to human translation?
Advantages of automatic translation
Machine Translation Let’s start by taking a look at the benefits of machine translation. Following are some of the commonly cited advantages of machine translation:-
Saves time - Machine translation is known for its high speed. With machines, you can instantly upload and download multilingual content.
It is emerging and evolving. In the beginning, machine translation benin phone number data was characterized by its abundance of errors. People who resort to using machine translation risk exposing themselves to social faux pas. Today, machine translation has features such as translation memories and glossaries that make it much more effective.
Saves money - Human translators are not cheap. With machine translation, however, you save a lot of money, especially when your translation task involves a lot of work.
Disadvantages of machine translation
Machine translation works by breaking down the source language into different structural components and synthesizing the same components in the target language to deliver the same message. As simple as it sounds, machine translation has its drawbacks. Following are some of the shortcomings of machine translation:-
It rarely works when it comes to marketing. The huge demand for translation services these days is related to the need for marketing in different geographic regions. Unfortunately, machine translation works on logic, as opposed to the creative thinking that underpins most marketing campaigns. As a result, using machine translation for marketing is a recipe for failure for the entire marketing campaign.
It also doesn’t help with search engine optimization. The success of most SEO campaigns is driven by keyword success. Keyword success depends on using the right keywords that are actually being searched for by people out there. While machine translation will provide an accurate translation, it may not necessarily provide the words that are actually being used by your target audience.
It may not get the whole point. Machine translation outperforms other forms of translation in terms of speed and cost-effectiveness. Unfortunately, it may not get the point you are trying to convey because it focuses on specific parts of your document/website rather than the underlying concept.
It cannot be used independently all the time. You cannot use machine translation all the time and be satisfied with what you see. In most cases, you will need human intervention to review the machine translation result and make any necessary changes.
For Human Translation
Human translation will continue to outperform machine translation because of one simple truth: machines, unlike humans, have yet to develop the interpretation skills required for any translation task. Human translators are able to develop carefully crafted, innovative and effective translation solutions because they are able to interpret unique cultural subtexts and understand subtle semantic factors.
Future Trans is an ISO9001:2008 certified language service provider, based in Egypt, with over 17 years of successfully handling large translation projects. Its success depends, among other things, on its team of highly qualified and motivated human translators with in-depth knowledge of the client's needs. To learn more about Future Trans