Things Only a Human Translator Can Do for Your Project
As a professional translator, it’s easy for me to say “human translation is better than machine translation”. I would say 8 times out of 10 it is. But in many cases, machine translation is just great – in fact, I love that I rarely have to translate standard T&Cs for contracts these days, thanks to MT. However, there are some things that a human can do for your translation project that MT and AI simply can’t.
Reordering information.
Machine translation will correctly translate your sentence/segment, but it will do so in isolation and then move along to the next. A human will look at the full text, re-order information to make it logical or more appealing, merge things together and switch things around until the text sounds like it was written in our language.
Precis.
Simply – making your text more snappy, concise and accurate. Often, the person who created your text for translation (maybe you), isn’t a copywriter or marketer. They may add too much information, repeat things a lot or generally ‘waffle’. A human translator will trim and prune your piece to perfection.
Spotting inconsistencies and inaccuracies.
One thing human translators are fabulous at is fact checking. Check everything, assume nothing – that’s our motto. We’ll cross-reference your text to be translated with your existing website or other materials, for example, as well as with wider information. And we’ll let you know if spot something that doesn’t match up.
Checking wider context.
Similarly, we’ll check and notice where external circumstances like laws and policies have updated and it affects your copy. E.g. data protection in the UK since Brexit, or perhaps an update to EU legislation. If we spot an out-of-date date in your text – “We plan to open our new accommodation in December 2023” – we’ll ask you for an updated text now that date has passed.
Doing the cultural work.
Doing cultural work to make sure your text resonates with the right audience. Sometimes translators have huge cultural gaps to bridge for accurate communication, other times the differences are more nuanced. But don’t underestimate the power of talking to a British audience about a ‘chippy’ and an American audience about a ‘ball game’ – that’s human detail.
We also notice when certain phrasing/sections are a ‘given’ in the specific culture/country of reception, so they can be removed. For example, many German texts reference that they’ll be using the feminine ending with an asterisk, or they’ll be using just the masculine but assuming gender-neutral. A machine will just translate these, a translator will let you know these can be removed from the English (we don’t have that kind of grammatical gender).
Eliminating ‘isms’. We can also help spot where your text could be more accessible or inclusive (possibly by replacing ageist, sexist, ableist, etc. phrasing) and ask you if you’d like that working in.
Spotting UX issues.
Identifying elements of the UX that might need work. Not always, but often, if I’m working on a website or app I’ll notice where the UX doesn’t go as smoothly as it might. I’ll let the client know in case they want to change it.
I could go on and on about thing human translators can bring to the party that a machine can’t yet. Bottom line: if you want to get a decent understanding of something, ask AI/MT, if you want a publishable, people-facing translation, ask a human. We add a lot of value.
If I translate your German or Dutch website, advertising material or even B2B copy – you get way more than you would from a machine. Want to find out just how much? Get in touch!
