Two years after I bought Rapport International, Google launched their machine translation platform, and people immediately assumed companies like mine would go out of business. While there are clear conveniences and benefits to using online translation services to capture single words or key phrases in another language, you definitely should not expect to get the quality, accuracy, and cultural appropriateness that you would get from a human translator.
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Machine translation looks at one word at a time. It basically recognizes a word and spits back the translation. It works well for simple words like dog, hello, or chair.
Neural Machine Translation (also known as AI) takes it one step further, looking at phrases and sentences to predict the translation. NMT/AI applications have deeper programming and “learn” as they are utilized more and more. Yet their learning does not extend beyond capturing phrases and usage of phrases in sentences. This works well for straightforward content like “what’s the weather today?” or “may I have a drink?” What the technology lacks, however, is the ability to understand and learn meaning, emotion, and cultural differences of words.
Before relying solely Google Translate or NMT to convert important content into other languages to promote your product, service, or company messages, consider these five risks:
This is not an all-inclusive list. There are many more potential issues that you will encounter when you rely on machine translation and AI over human translators for your professional translation needs. Check out our other content about Google Translate and website translation in our Learning Center, and schedule your free consultation today to discuss your translation questions with one of our experts.
Rapport International specializes in multilingual communications, providing language translation and interpretation services that are accurate and culturally appropriate. We use the right voice, correct terminology to avoid liability, customize services to your needs, and deliver on time and within your budget. And with our 100% satisfaction guarantee, you can trust that it’s done right. Contact us today if you would like more information or to get a free quote.