Today, not a single industry can afford to ignore artificial intelligence (AI). This includes language service providers in the fields of translation and interpreting. We do not want to ignore these new developments either as they can bring many benefits to our customers and our working processes.
Artificial intelligence and machine translation have revolutionised the way in which we deal with languages and communication.
Advantages of AI-generated machine translation
In our view, the integration of artificial intelligence and machine translation creates a significant opportunity but does present a clear challenge. The rapid development of these technologies has transformed the translation industry, offering both efficiency gains and the emergence of new business models.
AI-powered machine translation provides significant benefits in terms of speed and cost efficiency. Popular tools like Systran and DeepL can translate vast amounts of text in a matter seconds, often delivering satisfactory quality. These tools are best suited to translating general texts or documents without sensitive information, as they can be translated faster and more cost effectively.
But not all that glitters is gold
A crucial factor is delivering quality when it comes to more complex texts, where subtle meanings or cultural nuances are key. Translations of technical texts involving specific terminology often fall short of expectations. This also applies to languages that are rarely localised, such as Urdu, Kurmanji or Maltese, as comparatively few materials exist to train the machine.
This is where the expertise of human translators comes in. As an innovative, customer-centric translation agency, we don’t replace human translators with AI-based systems. Instead, we leverage them as a valuable tool to enhance and streamline the translation process. An AI tool can generate an initial draft, for instance, which is then fine-tuned by our skilled teams of translators. This step guarantees that the text has precisely the right style, idiomatic expressions, and overall content.
With our AI-supported systems, we can cross-check the translation using databases and previous projects to pinpoint inconsistencies and improve quality.
Our takeaway
Ultimately, the combination of AI and human expertise is unlocking new opportunities for the translation industry. We are able to provide our services more efficiently and cost-effectively, while upholding the high quality standards our customers rightly expect. Through this approach, we are bridging the gap between traditional business models and the digital landscape.
