Today, the world is witnessing an ever-increasing demand for translation services due to the seemingly irreversible deepening of globalization. More and more companies are in need of translation and localization services as they expand into foreign markets in the hope of reaping the benefits of this megatrend.
Translation services can be provided in two ways – human translation and machine translation. Each caters to a certain need of the customers. Human translation has always been for projects that emphasize accuracy, impression, and quality. In contrast, machine translation best suits those projects that take into account the cost and speed.
However, the reality and customer feedback often reveal that human translation (usually associated with “translation agency”) is the best option in many circumstances compared to machine translation. After all, can we forget all those funny mistranslations made by machine translation?
Before we delve into why this is so, let’s first clarify the differences between human translation and machine translation. Human translation literally refers to the translation done by a real person, mostly a professional translator or linguist, and oftentimes within a translation agency. Meanwhile, machine translation is done by a machine, usually software
and without human involvement.
Machine translation was first pioneered in the 1950s and has undergone many improvements since then thanks to the advancement of IT technology, particularly AI. Still, it has significant room for improvement, and for the time being, at least, it cannot challenge and take over the role of human translation.
Machine translation’s advantages include lower cost and faster speed. People may opt for it if the content is high in volume, low in priority, such as user reviews, comments, or social posts; the content is basic and repetitive in nature, like guidelines or directions. Nevertheless, the most common rationale which prompts people to choose machine translation is budget constraint. Translation agency generally charges more as the human translators with relevant expertise provide complete care to the content, resulting in a
higher quality outcome.
Therefore, if budget is not a constraint for your company, you should definitely opt for human translation. Here are the reasons why.
1. Humans can do research, while machines generally cannot.
The use of machine translation is rather limited because it has to pair with the appropriate projects. For instance, machine translation can hardly produce an accurate outcome of non-standard speech, such as casual conversation. This is due to the intricacies of linguistics as well as the fact that many words have more than one meaning. In this scenario, human’s ability to do research is utterly essential, and machine lacks it. Humans can conduct in-depth research to comprehend the true meaning of the content as well as distinguish the cultural differences between languages, resulting in a good translation.
2. Humans consider context, while machines do not.
Context is a frame that shapes how information is received and helps in interpretation. It reflects the subtleties of linguistics and languages. Yet, the machine is unable to consider context at the moment, which can lead to embarrassing errors in translation. For example, suppose your company wants to create a good impression in a new market. In that case, you will prevent these unwanted translation errors from making your brand look bad. A human translator can fulfill the task perfectly.
3. Machine translation is inadequate to deal with high-priority content.
Given the inability of machines to do research and contextualize, inaccuracies often occur in machine translation. High-priority content, such as marketing materials and legal documents, can never tolerate these kinds of inaccuracies. The translated texts have to be accurate and contextually clear to convince the customers and readers.
4. Experts in translation and specialists in your industry
Professional translators in translation agencies are well-trained in languages and translation. They are fully aware of the cultural differences between languages and words with multiple meanings. Therefore, they can deal with them professionally. Also, they usually specialize in a couple of areas. They know your industry or business well and can provide customized, high-quality service.
5. More thorough service and consistency
Unlike machine translation, the outcome of human translation has to go through a step called proofreading or revision before handing over to the customers. Proofreading is a process where another linguist examines the source text and the translated content. This is a measure that ensures the quality of the final outcome.
Also, consistency is a priority as well as an advantage of a translation agency. The use of Translation Memory (TM) and Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) tools helps streamline the translation process and maintain the content’s consistency. Consistency in content prevents your customers from getting confused about your company’s information.
Fudea is committed to easing your burden in translation and localization efforts. We are a multilingual translation service provider focusing on professional translation and interpretation services for your business. If you want to learn more about our services, please contact us via our inquiry form.
