Hybrid (machine + human) translation

Our customers need quality translations fast and for a reasonable price. To meet this demand, InText employs a wide range of software tools including ones that perform machine translation (MT).

Machine translation is the process of automatically generating text in a target language based on text in a source language. In recent years, machine translation technology has made significant progress due to the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and neural networks. Neural machine translation (NMT) is the latest MT technology, providing good enough results for some business situations.

Machine translation has two main advantages: high speed and low cost.

If necessary, hundreds or even thousands of pages can be machine translated in a single day for a fraction of the cost of a full human translation. But this technology, like any other, should be used with knowledge and caution. Even the most sophisticated algorithms do not guarantee 100% accuracy in the target language, so qualified linguists are vital for achieving the desired quality.

The feasibility of using machine translation depends on three major factors:

• The nature of the source text. Easy-to-read and well-structured descriptive texts are best suited to machine translation.
• Fluency requirements for the translated text. When speed of communication is more important than style, machine translation can often provide a good enough result.
• The possible risks of miscommunication. Machine translation is suitable for situations where the possible consequences of a misunderstanding are negligible. But when information is crucial — such as for making business or healthcare decisions — you need to perform a careful quality check of machine translated texts or opt for a full human translation.

MT-related services

You can use our expertise in different scenarios, choosing one which best suits your needs. Our range of machine translation services includes:

• Assessing your translation project. We always strive to provide our clients with optimal solutions. To do this, we analyze your source files and requirements and recommend the most efficient translation process.
• Preparing source files for machine translation. It’s not always possible to simply upload files into a machine translation system. For example, scanned copies or files with sophisticated layouts may be challenging. We can preprocess your files to remove stumbling blocks for MT software.
• Machine translation with light post-editing. Depending on your requirements, a fast check of machine-generated text by a human linguist might be enough to ensure your message is clearly delivered to your audience.
• Machine translation with medium post-editing. This type of service is best suited when you want to ensure both the semantic and grammatical correctness of the translated text. With medium post-editing, you’ll be sure your text is free of errors in spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
• Machine translation with full post-editing. Comprehensive checks and corrections of machine-generated output will give you quality similar or equivalent to that of a professional translation by a human translator.

MT engines training

The core set of algorithms within the specific machine translation system is called the machine translation engine. Like human translators, different MT engines provide different results depending of subject area (domain) of source texts. Our specialists have being evaluating the MT engines for several years, and you can rely on their expertise to select the MT engine best suitable for your purposes. Moreover, precision of many algorithms might be improved by so called training. In this case “training” means the fine-tuning of MT system on the basis of your existing source and target texts. We can train the engine, which will deliver the best possible results for your specific texts and requirements.

The more detailed description of our services is provided in the Machine translation menu, which is available here:
 

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