Most cases where your translated content is received by a consumer audience.To partially translate large chunks of content for a human translator to improve uponĮxamples of when to use human translation.Translating documents for internal use within a company, provided 100% accuracy isn’t needed.you’re translating a resource as research for another piece of content When your translation never reaches the final audience, e.g.When you have a large bulk of content to translate and the general meaning is enough.Examples of when to use machine translation What we should really be talking about is when to use these two different types of translation services, because they both serve a very valid purpose. The truth is, the debate over machine vs human translation is an unnecessary distraction. When to use machine and human translation Other considerations to make are the complexity of your source material and the two languages you’re translating between – both of which can render machines pretty useless. Simply put, human translation is your best option when accuracy is even remotely important. Unless you use a translation agency, with access to thousands of translators, you’re limited to the languages any one translator can work with.Humans can spot pieces of content where literal translation isn’t possible and find the most suitable alternative.
Many free tools are readily available (Google Translate, Skype Translator, etc.).The downside to this is the standard of translation can be anywhere from inaccurate, to incomprehensible, and potentially dangerous (more on that shortly). The advantages of machine translation generally come down to two factors: it’s faster and cheaper.
Today we’ll be looking at the pros and cons of both, as they stand in 2016, as well as in which types of situation you might choose to use each of them.
Now seems like a good time to update our view on the machine vs human translation debate. This is partly because technology improves every year and the quality of translation it offers is constantly rising. The long-running debate of machine vs human translation refuses to go away.