More than ever before, the need for translation services has become great all around the world. International.com in its article on the demand for translation services said “According to the The Dallas Morning News, in the United States alone over the past decades, the number of employment opportunity for translators is twice the former, and is expected to witness increase by some 46 percent come 2022.” (Source: International.com)
The choice of translation of your business website is a very sensible step as many studies suggest. One of such studies highlights that to reach around eighty percent (80%) of the world’s population, you, as a brand, are expected to communicate in a minimum of twelve (12) different languages. Therefore, an ever increasing numbers of business ventures are subscribing to translation of their business websites such that it will be possible for them to win much more large users who are potential customers. This enormous work, so to say, requires more hands and that is why limiting the job of translation to the services of human translation is not the best. Many of these brands have seek other options other than human translation that will help them achieve a great translation feat.
However, if human translation will not be sufficient for this task, what other viable option is available? The answer is simple, machine translation. One thing that actually limits machine translation when compared to professional human translators is the fact that the output of a machine translation can never be as accurate and quality as the output of a human translator. Reason being that machine is automated and lacks understanding of certain aspect of languages. As an automated system, the machine has to follow outline set of protocols, rules that are given in form of long lines of programmed codes that are susceptible to errors thereby leading to costly and embarrassing mistakes in the text that is been rendered in a targeted language.
Regardless of the downside of machine translation, it has over time shown that it is the only rescuer for such a massive task for businesses that wants to go global. In this article, we will discuss extensively why opting for machine translation is a wise choose to your business growth.
1. When Website Translation Requires Great Speed
There is a greater need for speed when it comes to translation. In today world of business, rapid response is one of the most cherished characteristics of a good business. To be able to respond swiftly, many firms and business have opted in to the use of social media platforms to engage with their customers and prospective buyers. If you want to build a brand i.e. a business image that will be globally respected, you must give responses to inquires of your customers without delay. Also, you will have to proffer a solution, if possible, to what they are seeking in real time.
It is expected that some of your customers or users will send in concerns, comments and messages in their local language and it will be most suitable for you to reply in their understandable language. It may be time consuming looking for a human translator to interpret your client’s messages when they need instant reply. This is where machine translation comes in as a savior. It makes real time translation of your customers’ queries, comments, questions and suggestions possible and you will be able to reply or respond to their concerns with almost immediate effect.
If you are contemplating which of machine translation and human translation you are to employ for a project, ask yourself is there an urgent need for speed in other to deliver the project on time? Is the need for speed greater than the need for accuracy? If you answer yes to any of or both questions, then opting for machine translation is the best decision you can make.
2. When getting the sense of the text is choosing above grammar
Although it is good to have smooth and grammatically correct sentences when communicating via text, yet in some cases it is not a big issue once what is being conveyed is understandable.
When it comes to semantics, it is true that machine translation can sometimes be very bad. However, if reader should follow the contextual meaning of what has been translated, they can get the gist of the information being passed. Hence, you can apply machine translation when you know that grammatical rules are not as important as the sense of the text.
Grammar translation approach where syntax and semantics are expected to be cared for is best left for professional human translators simply because human linguists can easily follow grammatical rules that are associated with each pair of languages when handling translation. Such aspect of language cannot be carefully taken care of by machine translations.
Tasks such as receiving Feedback and reviews from customers, developing documents for circulation, understanding competitors from other parts of the world, preparing terms of use etc. are suitable for machine translation because it will reduce the much money that would have been spent on hiring human translators.
3. When you keep repeating same data or similar information
If you have the same style of communicating with your users and customers, you should go for machine translation. This is especially true when you sometimes repeat data or information that was earlier used.
Also, the machine keeps track and remembers any adjustment made manually in a previous translated text. The software can call back this and next time similar part is been translated there will not be any need for manual adjustments. With time, the machine keep adjusting to manual corrections that is done and has a memory of it all. And since it is the same style of writings that you follow, the machine will not make the usual mistake.
Wikipedia explains further that “Current machine translation software improves output by limiting the scope of allowable substitutions. This method is essentially efficient in domains where formal or formula related language is in use. This is to say that machine translation of legal and government documents more readily produces output that are usable than conversation or text that is less standard. Quality output that is enhanced can also be realized by the help of human translation: for example, it is very possible that some systems can translate with more accuracy if the user has systematically mark out proper names in the text are. With the aid of these methods, Machine Translation has shown that it is useful as a tool to assist even professional human translators…” (Source:Wikipedia)
4. When there is a large volume of work to be translated
It is a fact that the average words a professional human translator can afford to translate is 1500 per day. Now think of it, let us say you are having thousands to millions of words you are planning to translate from one language to another and for about 10 foreign languages, it is going to be some huge work that would be tiring for human to handle. Also, you will be needing several human translators to accomplish such.In such situation, the only feasible option is subscribing to machine translation.
Machine translation as proven that it is the best when it comes handling a huge number of texts waiting to be translated. There is a caution. The caution here is that when thinking of translating with machine select carefully words that you know that will be easy to translate by the machine and identify ones that needs human translation intervention.
Not all pages of your website should be translated with machine. Sensitive parts and parts that are focused on your customers as well as parts related to money and sales can be handled by humans while you use machine i.e. translation software for the remaining parts of the web pages.
It is sometimes good to indicate on your web page that the section been viewed is a machine translated web page.
The fact that machine translation is not as accurate as the translation done by professional human translators does not mean that it should be undervalued. In fact, machine translation is the form of translation many international businesses use today. This is as a result of the fact that it has helped them extend their borders of market to accommodate a wider audience that turns consumers, customers or users. Machine translation has over time shown that it is the only savior for such any massive task for businesses that wants to go global. To have an effective translation of your website and business, you can not only depend on machine translation but also some times, you need to employ human translators’ services. Hence, when you are planning to use machine for your translation, follow a tactics that is well structured and that is strategically in place to achieve maximum success. Without mincing words, you can enjoy an improved growth in business and expand to an international level if you leverage machine translation.