Automatic Translation vs. Machine Translation: Insights from ConveyThis

Sometimes when ConveyThis is mentioned as a translation solution, many would likely want to know if the translation work is done with human translation or automatic translation. The truth remains that at ConveyThis we employ both human translation and automatic translation. Whenever automatic translation is mentioned, many tends to water down its effectiveness but the truth remains that automatic translation is not a bad translation approach as some might have reasoned.

The fact that many misconstrue automatic translation had brought up the idea of writing this article to explain vividly what automatic translation is and why it should not be undervalued. This will enlighten many and help clear that automatic translation is a very good way to go about website translation.

What do we refer to as automatic translation?

First of all, many assume that the term automatic translation can be used as a substitute for machine translation. In other words, they assume machine translation is the same thing as automatic translation. If we are to define machine translation according to Globalization and Localization Authority, we would say machine translation is that software that is fully automated that can therefore translate source content into language of target. This means that any software that is fully automated for translation of content from one language to another is known as machine translation software. Translation platforms like DeepL, Google Translate, Microsoft Translate, Yandex, etc. are typical examples of platforms that incorporate machine translations. That is machine translation. What about automatic translation?

Automatic translation on the other way round is that kind of translation that includes machine translation but not limited to it. For example when automatic translation is mentioned, it involves translation of all your content, managing those contents, optimizing web content for SEO, localization of content, and finally, making sure that all contents available on your website are published. This kind of automatic translation is what ConveyThis does. It handles translation in such a way that everything is fully automated and ready for use with little or no stress for the one using it.

Using ConveyThis for your automatic translation

The concern of many when choosing translation solutions is that they don’t know whether the translation solution they are about to use is compatible with their Content Management System or not. But the good news is that you can use ConveyThis with any of the CMS out there without having to be overly concerned. As if that is not enough, you can translate your content into some whooping 90 different languages and more. The automatic translation process of ConveyThis can further be categorized under the following headings:

1. Automatic content detection and translation: after downloading, installing and integration of ConveyThis on your website, ConveyThis automatic translation process have the capability to without delay detect contents of you website. The interesting part of this is that it will not leave certain parts untouched, rather it automatically detects all. On detection, you will have to select what language you want to render all these contents in and the source language. Once you do that, you will get an output of translated content automatically done by machine translation. This is possible because ConveyThis uses the combination of the different translation solution available and then provide the best as an output. It could be a combination of all or any of DeepL, Google Translate, Microsoft Translate, and/or Yandex. The translation software or tool that will be used for your website now depends on what your source language and targeted languages are. When these combinations are made, you can be assured of the best translation output.2.

2. Automatic SEO for your multilingual website: what is the essence of translating a website if the website will not be readily available any time there is a search for it from anywhere with one of the languages of the website? It is definitely of no use. That is why when you use ConveyThis for as your translation solution, it automatically index the content of your website in the different languages for SEO automatically. This is automatically done after the automatic detection and translation of your website contents.

When many people are able to find your website ay time there is a search for it will definitely increase the traffic of your website visitors. The benefits of this is that with an increased traffic, you can expect increase in sales of products and services. All depending on indexing your website for Google multilingual SEO.

Also remember that to be able to do this, the parts of the websites such as hreflang tags and metadata must be duly translated. On doing this, your website will be among the ones ranked higher on search results. Easily, customers and potential clients looking for products and services you offer will be able to get on your page because it will be rightly available there among the first listed results after their searches.

3. Automatic content publishing: some may wonder what happens after automatic indexing of your multilingual website for multilingual SEO. Well, there is no any need waiting any longer. Your translated website gets automatically published on the internet. Yes, any visitors using the targeted language can now have access to your website in the language of their heart. Another interesting part of it is that visitors can have access to the language switcher button which allows them to switch from the original language of you website to their preferred language.

You don’t need special skills trying to incorporate this button on your website as ConveyThis will automatically integrate the button on your website for you.

Reasons you should machine translation

What many points to as the downside of machine translation is the accuracy level of such translation process. With that people tends to admit quickly that using professional translators for translation assignment is the best. The truth remains that the concerns of accuracy is there when it comes to machine translation but over the years machine translation has evolved such that it is improving through what is known as machine learning. But what are other reasons why you should consider machine translation? Find them below.

A major reason you should consider machine translation is the fact that it can be very fast. This means it will save you a whole lots of time that can be used for other things. Sometimes, the accuracy of what is translated may be dependent on the languages used as well as the software tools involved in the translation process. Whichever on it is, the problem of accuracy for machine translation is not left without remedy. You can first translate your contents with the aid of machine translation and afterwards hire a human translator to read through the contents of the translation result and make needed adjustment where necessary.  You will agree that machine translation can be a time saver if you are trying to translate contents of large organizations. Handling such huge project with human translators can be very tiring, exhaustive, and cost consuming. But when you kick-start such project with machine translation, you will have a speedy translation process.

Another reason you should try to consider machine translation is the huge cost that goes with hiring professional translators to translate numerous contents for you. Like the example of a large firm or organization that was mentioned earlier, imagine the cost of hiring the human translators that will handle the translation process from scratch to the end. This can be avoided if you use machine translation to handle the translation first and then hire a professional translator to make needed adjustment where there is a need for such.

Creating the best from machine translation

You must have noticed that in this article that we have tried to strike a balance between machine translation and human translation. While it is quite good to have your website translated with machine translation, it is very well advisable to verify the quality of what has been translated by hiring a professional to do that or you do it yourself. It is actually because sometimes it might be difficult to get professional translators you can employ their services that ConveyThis have a pool of professional translators that you can collaborate with.

As if that is not enough, you can always take control of the management of your translation project from your dashboard. With ConveyThis, you will be able to have your translated website gets updated at any time.

Using ConveyThis, you can set rules such as ensuring that specific names or terms are not translated. Example of this is your brand name. You can also design your language switcher button to fit with the outlook of your website.

From the beginning of this article to this point, you have come to know that machine translation is an aspect of automatic translation. And that automatic translation, when it comes to ConveyThis, concerns automatic handling of your website translation, SEO, and publishing. This is what ConveyThis offers you. Take up your website translation toady with a translation solution that strike a meaningful balance between machine translation and human transltion, ConveyThis.