The quality of machine translation (MT) depends on many factors, which together determine the final result. Free online translation tools like Google Translate or ChatGPT may offer quick and convenient solutions, but they often fall short when it comes to using the correct technical terminology, taking context into account, and ensuring consistency. As a result, they are unsuitable for professional use. Many people believe that this is all machine translation is capable of, but in reality, with the right settings, a customized term base and proper pre-processing, the technology could achieve much better results. With advanced translation engines and tailored solutions, translation quality can be significantly improved, so machine translation actually offers much broader possibilities than what free versions show. It is excellently suited for translating, among others, professional documents, legal texts, technical descriptions or corporate communications—even in domains and for materials where free solutions often produce inaccurate or poor results.
What factors determine the quality of machine translation?
Prompt quality
With solutions like ChatGPT, the quality of machine translation largely depends on the prompts used. Our specialized team crafts these prompts based on strict professional standards and industry best practices to ensure optimal results.
The model/engine used
The quality of the raw machine translation also depends on the technology of the translation engine. The models we use are based on the most advanced AI solutions. It is important to understand, however, that while a given translation engine or language model may be excellent for processing certain types of texts, it may be less effective in other cases. What delivers accurate and reliable results in one domain may perform less well in another, and vice versa. Choosing the right solution is only possible with the help of an expert.
Context
How much text is translated at once has a significant impact on overall translation quality. Free online translation tools typically process only single sentences or shorter segments at a time, which often leads to completely misinterpreted results, especially with short, one- or two-word sentences. More advanced solutions are able to take broader textual context into account, thus providing more accurate and natural translations.
Terminology
The use of precise technical terms is essential in professional texts. Our service allows for the integration of terminology databases.
Translation memory
Consistent translation of repeated or similar text segments is ensured by client- or project-specific translation memories.
Settings
We apply custom MT configurations to each project so that the machine translation is optimally aligned with your specific requirements. For example, you can specify how creative you want the translation to be, and whether it should use a broader or more specialized vocabulary. It is also possible to control the length of the generated text. If the model is given more freedom, it may offer more colourful and varied solutions, which may be more suitable for marketing texts, while stricter settings result in more predictable and consistent translations—this is the best choice, for example, when translating technical texts.
Text preparation
How much text is translated at once has a significant impact on overall translation quality. Proper preparation of the source text helps avoid misinterpretations and improves translation quality. This includes correct segmentation of the text, preparation of graphical elements, and applying necessary formatting to ensure the translation is accurate and well-structured.
Try it for free!
Would you like to try our machine translation solution? Request a free raw machine translation sample to see the effectiveness of the technology for yourself!
Professional consultation
If you need precise, customized machine translation or a solution tailored to your unique requirements, contact us for a professional consultation!
Post-editing
Depending on the intended use of the texts, general internal quality control should be supplemented with a human post-editing step. In terms of post-editing workflows, we distinguish between so-called minimal and full post-editing.
When should you consider using machine translation and post-editing services?
- when turnaround time is the primary consideration
- when the available budget does not allow for human translation
- when the main goal is to understand the gist of the text
- when a large volume of text needs to be translated
- when you need to translate documents containing repetitive elements
Minimal post-editing
The aim of minimal post-editing (light post-editing) is to produce a grammatically and contextually correct, error-free, and easily understandable translation from machine translation with as little human intervention as possible, in a short time.
Full post-editing
With full post-editing, the final text meets all the criteria of human translation in every respect.
