{"id":3142,"date":"2023-04-21T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-21T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phrase.com\/?p=3142"},"modified":"2023-10-11T14:57:19","modified_gmt":"2023-10-11T12:57:19","slug":"machine-translation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation\/","title":{"rendered":"Machine Translation Explained: Types, Use Cases, and Best Practices"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div id=\"acf\/text-block_880e53dc5d1a5e248d9720806c0bc254\" class=\"pxblock pxblock--text alignfull spacing--default bg--white\">\n\n\t\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wysiwyg animate-in\">\n\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The use of computers to translate text from one language to another has long been a dream of computer science. Nevertheless, it\u2019s only in the past decade that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/solutions\/machine-translation\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">machine translation<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (MT) has become a viable productivity tool in more widespread use. Advances in natural language processing, artificial intelligence (AI), and computing power all contribute to this increasingly useful technology.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To help you better understand its ins and outs, this guide will define machine translation and explain its types and benefits with many examples and tips. You will also learn about how to integrate MT into existing translation and localization workflows. Lastly, it outlines what makes the best machine translation software to support your workflows and help drive growth for your global business.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_69_1 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Overview<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation\/#what-is-machine-translation\" title=\"What is machine translation?\">What is machine translation?<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation\/#the-beginnings-of-machine-translation\" title=\"The beginnings of machine translation\">The beginnings of machine translation<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation\/#machine-translation-today\" title=\"Machine translation today\">Machine translation today<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation\/#how-does-machine-translation-work\" title=\"How does machine translation work?\">How does machine translation work?<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation\/#rule-based-machine-translation-rbmt\" title=\"Rule-based machine translation (RBMT)\">Rule-based machine translation (RBMT)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation\/#statistical-machine-translation-smt\" title=\"Statistical machine translation (SMT)\">Statistical machine translation (SMT)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation\/#neural-machine-translation-nmt\" title=\"Neural machine translation (NMT)\">Neural machine translation (NMT)<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation\/#automated-vs-machine-translation-the-difference-explained\" title=\"Automated vs machine translation: The difference explained\">Automated vs machine translation: The difference explained<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation\/#major-machine-translation-providers\" title=\"Major machine translation providers\">Major machine translation providers<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation\/#generic-machine-translation-engines\" title=\"Generic machine translation engines\">Generic machine translation engines<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation\/#custom-machine-translation-engines\" title=\"Custom machine translation engines\">Custom machine translation engines<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation\/#benefits-of-machine-translation\" title=\"Benefits of machine translation\">Benefits of machine translation<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-13\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation\/#increased-speed-and-volume\" title=\"Increased speed and volume\">Increased speed and volume<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-14\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation\/#improved-accessibility\" title=\"Improved accessibility\">Improved accessibility<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-15\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation\/#reduced-costs\" title=\"Reduced costs\">Reduced costs<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-16\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation\/#a-look-at-the-limitations-of-machine-translation\" title=\"A look at the limitations of machine translation\">A look at the limitations of machine translation<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-17\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation\/#implementing-machine-translation-into-existing-translation-workflows\" title=\"Implementing machine translation into existing translation workflows\">Implementing machine translation into existing translation workflows<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-18\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation\/#machine-translation-vs-human-translation-striking-the-right-balance-for-the-right-use-case\" title=\"Machine translation vs human translation: Striking the right balance for the right use case\">Machine translation vs human translation: Striking the right balance for the right use case<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-19\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation\/#use-raw-machine-translation-for-low-impact-and-unambiguous-content\" title=\"Use raw machine translation for low-impact and unambiguous content\">Use raw machine translation for low-impact and unambiguous content<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-20\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation\/#apply-light-or-full-post-editing-to-more-sensitive-content\" title=\"Apply light or full post-editing to more sensitive content\">Apply light or full post-editing to more sensitive content<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-21\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation\/#stick-to-human-translation-when-branding-and-culture-come-into-play\" title=\"Stick to human translation when branding and culture come into play\">Stick to human translation when branding and culture come into play<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-22\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation\/#what-makes-the-best-machine-translation-software\" title=\"What makes the best machine translation software?\">What makes the best machine translation software?<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-23\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation\/#selecting-the-optimal-mt-engine-for-your-content-type%e2%80%94automatically\" title=\"Selecting the optimal MT engine for your content type\u2014automatically\">Selecting the optimal MT engine for your content type\u2014automatically<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-24\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation\/#quality-estimation-for-improved-post-editing-efficiency\" title=\"Quality estimation for improved post-editing efficiency\">Quality estimation for improved post-editing efficiency<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-25\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation\/#tracking-key-metrics-to-optimize-productivity-turnaround-times-and-cost-savings\" title=\"Tracking key metrics to optimize productivity, turnaround times, and cost savings\">Tracking key metrics to optimize productivity, turnaround times, and cost savings<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-26\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation\/#make-the-most-of-machine-translation-with-phrase-tms\" title=\"Make the most of machine translation with Phrase TMS\">Make the most of machine translation with Phrase TMS<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"what-is-machine-translation\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is machine translation?<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><b>Machine translation is the process of automatically translating text from one natural language to another using a computer application. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This means you add text to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation-tools\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">machine translation software<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the source language and let the tool automatically transfer the text to the selected target language.<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"acf\/blog-cta-block_640cf203ca17b\" class=\"pxblock pxblock--blog-cta bg--green image--orientation-square\">\n\t<div class=\"block-container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"content\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"h4\" style=\"text-align: center;\">Unlock the power of machine translation<\/p>\n<p class=\"small\" style=\"text-align: center;\">Discover advanced machine translation management features within our enterprise-ready TMS <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and create new business opportunities worldwide more quickly and efficiently.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a class=\"btn btn--outline\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/solutions\/machine-translation\/\">Explore solutions<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"acf\/text-block_a734e83e0bd899dceb2e8a57ccc8fd55\" class=\"pxblock pxblock--text alignfull spacing--default bg--white\">\n\n\t\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wysiwyg animate-in\">\n\t\t\t<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"the-beginnings-of-machine-translation\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The beginnings of machine translation<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Translation was one of the first applications of computing power, starting in the 1950s with the famous <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Georgtown-IBM<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> experiment<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Still, the complexity of the task was far higher than early computer scientists\u2019 estimates\u2014requiring enormous data processing power and storage far beyond the capabilities of early machines.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was only in the early 2000s that the software, data, and required hardware became capable of doing basic machine language translation. Early developers used statistical databases of languages to \u201cteach\u201d computers to translate text. Training these machines involved a lot of manual labor, and each added language required starting over with the development for that language.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"machine-translation-today\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Machine translation today<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2016, Google implemented a key innovation in MT technology by shifting to a <a href=\"https:\/\/ai.googleblog.com\/2016\/09\/a-neural-network-for-machine.html\">neural learning model<\/a>, which was based on research from 2014. This approach involved training the MT engines using AI and proved to be far more efficient and faster than Google&#8217;s main statistical MT engine. It also exhibited remarkable improvements in translation quality as it was used.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/neural-machine-translation\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Neural machine translation<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> proved so effective that Google changed course and adopted it as its primary development model. Other major providers including Microsoft and Amazon soon followed suit, and the ever-increasing quality boosted the value of MT as an addition to translation technology.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many translation and localization technology solutions now have integrated capabilities for machine language translation to help businesses meet the ever-growing need to overcome language barriers in the global marketplace. More on that later in this guide.<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"acf\/blog-cta-block_5ebeea707000186e5ff8dcc7265d5b0c\" class=\"pxblock pxblock--blog-cta bg--grey image--orientation-portrait\">\n\t<div class=\"block-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"image image--align-middle\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1811\" height=\"2560\" src=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/present-future-machine-translation-study-cover-scaled.jpg\" class=\"attachment-original size-original\" alt=\"The present and future of machine translation study cover.jpg | Phrase\" srcset=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/present-future-machine-translation-study-cover-scaled.jpg 1811w, https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/present-future-machine-translation-study-cover-212x300.jpg 212w, https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/present-future-machine-translation-study-cover-724x1024.jpg 724w, https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/present-future-machine-translation-study-cover-768x1086.jpg 768w, https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/present-future-machine-translation-study-cover-1086x1536.jpg 1086w, https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/present-future-machine-translation-study-cover-1448x2048.jpg 1448w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1811px) 100vw, 1811px\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"content\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"subhead\">Download for free<\/p>\n<p class=\"h6\">Your up-to-the-minute guide to machine translation<\/p>\n<p class=\"small\">Learn about new technologies to improve machine translation output quality, the latest on MT post-editing pricing models, and how to best shop for machine translation.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn--outline\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/resources\/the-present-and-future-of-machine-translation\/\">Download guide<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"acf\/text-block_27057f8fc89da1a61ff771dfe52b555f\" class=\"pxblock pxblock--text alignfull spacing--default bg--white\">\n\n\t\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wysiwyg animate-in\">\n\t\t\t<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"how-does-machine-translation-work\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How does machine translation work?<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over time, machine translation development has yielded several types of machine translation systems, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. <strong>The 3 most common types of machine translation include rule-based, statistical, and neural machine translation.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"rule-based-machine-translation-rbmt\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rule-based machine translation (RBMT)<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The earliest form of machine translation, rule-based MT, relied on a large, predefined set of linguistic rules that helped the software transfer the meaning of text between languages. Overall, it had low quality translation, and it required adding languages manually as well as a significant amount of human post-editing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rule-based MT is rarely used today.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"statistical-machine-translation-smt\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Statistical machine translation (SMT)<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Statistical MT builds a statistical model of the relationships between words, phrases, and sentences in a given text. It applies the model to a second language to convert those elements to the new language. Thereby, it improves on rule-based MT but shares many of the same issues.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Statistical MT is mostly replaced by neural MT and is sometimes used for legacy machine translation systems.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"neural-machine-translation-nmt\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Neural machine translation (NMT)<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Neural MT uses AI to \u201clearn\u201d languages and constantly improve its knowledge, much like the neural networks in the human brain. As opposed to running a set of predefined rules, an MT engine\u2019s neural network is responsible for encoding and decoding the source text.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Neural MT is more accurate, allows for adding more languages, and works much more quickly once trained\u2014making it today\u2019s standard in MT technology development.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-52468\" src=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/machine-translation-history-timeline.png\" alt=\"Timeline of machine translation history timeline | Phrase\" width=\"1200\" height=\"298\" srcset=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/machine-translation-history-timeline.png 1200w, https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/machine-translation-history-timeline-300x75.png 300w, https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/machine-translation-history-timeline-1024x254.png 1024w, https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/machine-translation-history-timeline-768x191.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"utility\" style=\"text-align: center;\">Timeline of machine translation development history<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"automated-vs-machine-translation-the-difference-explained\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Automated vs machine translation: The difference explained<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Automated translation and machine translation are often confused to be the same, but they aren\u2019t interchangeable terms as they serve entirely different functions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Automated translation<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> refers to any triggers built into a traditional computer-assisted translation tool (CAT tool) or cloud translation management system (TMS) to execute manual or repetitive tasks related to translation. It aims to make the overall translation process more efficient.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, automated translation may be used to trigger the machine translation of text as one of the many tasks in a translation workflow.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Machine translation<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is about converting text from one natural language to another using software. In other words, there\u2019s no human input involved as in traditional translation. That\u2019s why machine translation is also known as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/automated-automatic-translation\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">automatic translation<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"major-machine-translation-providers\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Major machine translation providers<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Leading developers of <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">machine translation technology<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, like Google, Microsoft, or Amazon, currently use a type of neural MT as their preferred methodology\u2014since it allows for both more nuanced translation and the constant adding of language pairs. This growth capability is made possible by the fact that machine translation engines can learn and improve as they are used more.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Machine translation engines work based on training data. Depending on your needs, the data can be generic or custom:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Generic data <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is simply the total of all the data learned from all the translations performed over time by the machine translation engine. It enables a generalized translation tool for all kinds of applications, including text, voice, and full documents\u2014including formatting.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Custom data<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is data fed to an MT engine to build a specialization in a subject matter area like engineering or any other discipline with its own terminology.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"generic-machine-translation-engines\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Generic machine translation engines<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The biggest machine translation providers have all moved towards NMT\u2014each in its own way. On one hand, there\u2019s the approach to reach a more general audience through a free, user-friendly tool. On the other hand, some engines also make it possible to tailor the tool to more specific business needs. Let\u2019s have a look at the most popular, general-purpose MT engines:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google Translate<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google Translate is considered one of the leading MT engines, based on usage, number of languages, and integration with search. Google Translate was one of the first mainstream providers to adopt NMT. The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/is-google-translate-accurate\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">accuracy of Google Translate<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has been a point of both interest and contention for business owners and language industry experts alike.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Amazon Translate<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Amazon Translate is also neural-based and closely integrated with Amazon Web Services (AWS). It may not be unexpected for many that Amazon Translate has accomplished impressive results in just a short time since its launch in 2017, given the power of its parent company.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Microsoft Translator<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another cloud-based neural engine, Microsoft Translator is closely integrated with MS Office and other Microsoft products, providing instant access to translation capabilities within a document or other software.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">DeepL<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/deepl\/\">DeepL<\/a> is the product of a German-based company that is exclusively devoted to the development of a machine translation engine. It claims to have a more nuanced and natural output based on its proprietary neural AI.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Systran Translate<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Systran was the first company ever to offer machine translation for commercial purposes. Founded in 1968, it keeps following the latest technologies and introducing some interesting innovations itself\u2014the latest being pure neural machine translation (PNMT).<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"custom-machine-translation-engines\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Custom machine translation engines<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Custom machine translation engines are trained to perform better for specific content types\u2014also known as domains, e.g., technical or legal translations\u2014or according to specific company guidelines. Key to this is relevant and high-quality training data in the respective domain, which can be used to \u201cteach\u201d the MT engine to perform similar translations for that specific use case in the future. One of the simplest ways to customize MT engines is using <a href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation-glossaries\/\">machine translation glossaries<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google AutoML and Microsoft Custom Translator are 2 commonly used solutions for custom machine translation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If implemented well, custom MT can deliver output with notably higher quality than generic MT. Nevertheless, <a href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation-customization\/\">machine translation customization<\/a> requires a certain skill and effort. Fully customizing an MT engine can be a complex task, and each customization will be unique.<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"acf\/blog-cta-block_89f435de4792092e166836e0a83b2f2b\" class=\"pxblock pxblock--blog-cta bg--grey image--orientation-square\">\n\t<div class=\"block-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"image image--align-middle\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1204\" height=\"1204\" src=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/machine-transtion-report-key-visual.png\" class=\"attachment-original size-original\" alt=\"Machine transtion report key visual | Phrase\" srcset=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/machine-transtion-report-key-visual.png 1204w, https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/machine-transtion-report-key-visual-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/machine-transtion-report-key-visual-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/machine-transtion-report-key-visual-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/machine-transtion-report-key-visual-768x768.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1204px) 100vw, 1204px\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"content\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"h4\">Interactive MT report: Uncover top performers<\/p>\n<p class=\"small\">Find out how leading machine translation engines perform for different content types using the latest data in our quarterly machine translation report.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn--outline\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/resources\/machine-translation-report\/\">Get MT insights<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"acf\/text-block_42c1e87bef9200ee710e964f7d616848\" class=\"pxblock pxblock--text alignfull spacing--default bg--white\">\n\n\t\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wysiwyg animate-in\">\n\t\t\t<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"benefits-of-machine-translation\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Benefits of machine translation<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before neural learning was introduced, MT was still very much a niche product generating translations of varying quality\u2014sometimes bordering on unreadable or humorous. Modern machine translation tools have largely changed all of that and are increasingly becoming indispensable in business translation.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"increased-speed-and-volume\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Increased speed and volume<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With ongoing improvements in machine learning algorithms and hardware technology, MT is becoming even faster and more efficient. Not only is it capable of translating millions of words almost instantaneously, it\u2019s also continually improving as more content is translated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For high-volume projects, MT not handles volume at speed, it can also integrate with other software platforms such as content or translation management systems to organize that content. This makes it possible to retain organization and context as the content is translated into multiple languages.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"improved-accessibility\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Improved accessibility<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With the major MT providers offering up to 100 languages\u2014and some of them even more\u2014translations can be delivered simultaneously to multiple target markets. This creates a win-win situation for both businesses and customers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By eliminating language barriers and improving the customer experience, MT has boosted the accessibility of content, products, and services for potential buyers worldwide. At the same time, by reaching a wider audience, businesses can significantly expand their market share and improve their bottom line.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"reduced-costs\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reduced costs<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The combination of high-speed throughput and the ability to select from existing language pairs covering dozens of combinations means the use of machine translation services can cut costs and time for delivery, even when human translators are still post-editing the work.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Basically, MT does the initial heavy lifting by providing basic but useful translations. Human translators then refine these basic versions to more closely reflect the original intent of the content and ensure proper localization per region.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"a-look-at-the-limitations-of-machine-translation\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A look at the limitations of machine translation<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The relatively low cost and minimal latency make MT an attractive option for businesses looking to efficiently expand their global reach. However, like any technology, it&#8217;s important to recognize that MT comes with its set of limitations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most issues can be effectively managed through the integration of human expertise\u2014for example, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation-post-editing-best-practices\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">machine translation post-editing<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (MTPE)\u2014and increasingly through customizing your own machine translation engine.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both approaches can help strike a balance between efficiency and linguistic precision, enabling businesses to leverage the strengths of MT while addressing its inherent constraints. Let&#8217;s take a look at some common issues related to MT.<\/span><\/p>\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; height: 400px;\">\n<thead>\n<tr style=\"height: 50px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 50%; height: 50px;\">Issue to be aware of<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 50%; height: 50px;\">Potential solution<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr style=\"height: 50px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 50%; height: 50px; background-color: #f4f4f4;\"><strong>Accuracy and domain specificity<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 50%; height: 50px;\">By integrating machine translation glossaries, your custom MT model can adapt to evolving language patterns and contexts that matter to your business. Fine-tuning with human feedback also allows it to learn from human translators, correct errors, and improve translation quality over time.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 50px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 50%; height: 50px; background-color: #f4f4f4;\"><strong>Linguistic nuances<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 50%; height: 50px;\">Incorporate cultural knowledge and context-aware algorithms to help your custom MT model understand nuances, idioms, and cultural references in the source language and consider the surrounding text to choose appropriate translations, capturing the intended meaning more effectively.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 50px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 50%; height: 50px; background-color: #f4f4f4;\"><strong>Low-resource languages<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 50%; height: 50px;\">Post-editing is one of the most effective methods to guarantee translation quality in low-resource languages. As your specific requirements evolve, you can explore a range of MT solutions\u2014from learning models and data annotation to community involvement and open-access tools.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 50px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 50%; height: 50px; background-color: #f4f4f4;\"><strong>Bias<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 50%; height: 50px;\">While post-editing and human feedback are crucial for mitigating bias in MT output from generic engines, the optimal long-term solution is to audit and retrain your own custom MT model using diverse, unbiased datasets that don\u2019t favor any particular group, perspective, or demographic.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 50px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 50%; height: 50px; background-color: #f4f4f4;\"><strong>Machine translation post-editing<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 50%; height: 50px;\">Training linguists in MTPE is crucial for unlocking its full potential, as they gain insights into translation quality, accuracy, and cultural sensitivity. Ensure your translation vendor is ISO 18587:2017-certified and conduct periodical quality checks of post-edited content to enhance productivity.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 50px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 50%; height: 50px; background-color: #f4f4f4;\"><strong>Consistency<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 50%; height: 50px;\">Combine MT with your translation memory. Once machine-translated output has been post-edited and approved, make sure to save these translations in your translation memory so linguists can reuse them in upcoming translation projects for improved consistency.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 50px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 50%; height: 50px; background-color: #f4f4f4;\"><strong>Privacy<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 50%; height: 50px;\">Examine your MT provider\u2019s privacy policy and check its implications for your business with your legal department. Linguists working with MT should only access projects they\u2019ve been assigned to\u2014and only on securely hosted servers\u2014to safeguard against potential data loss or privacy issues.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"implementing-machine-translation-into-existing-translation-workflows\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Implementing machine translation into existing translation workflows<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>As mentioned previously, the low cost and lack of latency of MT are compelling reasons for many growing businesses to include machine-translated content in the automation of translation and localization workflows.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Implementing an effective <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/how-to-leverage-machine-translation\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">machine translation strategy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0doesn\u2019t have to be a daunting task when you rely on cutting-edge cloud translation technology, allowing for automation and streamlined translation management.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, translation management systems have built-in settings to automatically run translation and send the output off as part of the human translator hand-off material.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By following a few essential steps and best practices, combined with a reliable translation management system, you can pave the way for a seamless <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/enterprise-machine-translation\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">enterprise machine translation process<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the long run.<\/span><\/p>\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 100%;\">10 best practices for implementing machine translation<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr style=\"border-style: none;\">\n<td style=\"width: 100%; background-color: #f4f4f4; border-style: none;\">\n<p class=\"small\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Define your goals, objectives, and expectations from employing machine translation in your globalization program.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"small\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Audit your existing content and choose the right types of content for machine translation.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"small\">Determine your languages pairs\u2014different MT engines are more suitable for certain language pairs than others.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"small\">Develop a timeline and financial plan\u2014how much money and time you can spend on MT will determine how much you can accomplish.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"small\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Choose a machine translation service based on your content types and language pairs\u2014and check their privacy policy.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"small\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Train your preferred MT engine with your language data if possible to increase the output quality in the long run.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"small\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you go for MT post-editing, it&#8217;s important to ensure that your in-house translators or LSP are either trained in post-editing or at least open to the idea.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"small\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Agree on a pricing model for MT post-editing and be sure to involve all stakeholders, including your LSP, in the decision-making process.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"small\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Run samples before deployment to get an idea of the quality of machine-translated output or identify areas for improvement.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"small\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deploy and keep improving: Bear in mind that the initial results may not meet your expectations, but the quality of the output will improve over time.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"machine-translation-vs-human-translation-striking-the-right-balance-for-the-right-use-case\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Machine translation vs human translation: Striking the right balance for the right use case<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As machine language translation evolves, the decision between utilizing machine or human translation at the outset of a localization project is becoming less relevant. More and more businesses, language service providers (LSP), and translators are recognizing the benefits of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/machine-translation-post-editing-best-practices\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">machine translation post-editing<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (MTPE), which involves human linguists editing machine-translated content.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Machine translation post-editing is now largely considered a viable alternative to translating text from scratch.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When deciding on the appropriate translation method, it&#8217;s helpful to consider your content type and language pairs. Generally speaking, MT is well-suited for more structured content such as technical, legal, and intellectual property documentation, as well as internal communications. In contrast, marketing materials and other customer-facing content would benefit from a more human touch.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-52480 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/translation-methods.png\" alt=\"Overview of translation methods: raw MT, post-editing, human translation | Phrase\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" srcset=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/translation-methods.png 1200w, https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/translation-methods-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/translation-methods-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/translation-methods-768x432.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let&#8217;s explore 3 key content types to determine the most effective translation method for the best results.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"use-raw-machine-translation-for-low-impact-and-unambiguous-content\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Use raw machine translation for low-impact and unambiguous content<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Machine translation is said to be \u201craw\u201d when the output doesn\u2019t undergo human revision. In general terms, it\u2019s best to keep raw machine translation for anything that won\u2019t make or break your brand:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Low-visibility or low-traffic content, such as internal documentation, website footers, social media posts for sentiment analysis, etc.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Repetitive technical content that doesn\u2019t need to be 100% accurate, just actionable, like instruction manuals<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">User-generated content like product reviews, for which consumers generally expect low quality<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Quickly perishable content, like chat or email support messages, customer inquiries, etc.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Large bulks of content with a short turn-around, such as hundreds of product descriptions that need to go live quickly<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Frequently amended content like feature and information updates<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you decide in favor of raw machine translation, it\u2019s vital to ensure that you use the best-performing machine translation engine for your language pair and content. This requires significant testing or the use of an integrated auto-selection functionality.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"apply-light-or-full-post-editing-to-more-sensitive-content\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Apply light or full post-editing to more sensitive content<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For quality purposes, some content types and situations require post-editing of machine translation output by a human translator. This editing can be either light (LPE) or full (FPE).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Good news: You can aid the work of post-editors with traditional translation technology such as glossaries, termbases, and translation memories, as well as brand books and style guides. This will keep the brand voice and key messaging consistent across cultures and languages and is very feasible with MTPE.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Modern translation technology also makes it possible to identify and estimate the quality of machine translation output to concentrate post-editing resources where they\u2019re most needed. Nevertheless, as a general guideline, the below cases require MTPE:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Product titles:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> They are highly informative and concise, they tend to contain proper names and polysemous words, and their word order is usually relatively free, which can cause ambiguity.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Translations between language pairs of dissimilar syntax<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, like Japanese and Spanish, because the reordering of words and phrases to well-formed sentences becomes more challenging for machine translation engines.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Product descriptions:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> They need to be well-crafted and clearly state the product\u2019s features or benefits without room for ambiguity.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Content of medium visibility that needs to be as accurate as possible:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> knowledge base, FAQs, alerts, etc.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Back-end meta information such as image alt texts and captions:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> While their visibility is low, a human needs to ensure that the target-language keywords are present.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"stick-to-human-translation-when-branding-and-culture-come-into-play\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stick to human translation when branding and culture come into play<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Brand-sensitive, high-traffic, and durable assets are best left in the hands of human experts. In other words, it&#8217;s generally advisable to avoid machine translation when the goal is to engage, entertain, or reassure the audience.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In such cases, a more human touch is your best bet, meaning a human translator will need to recreate the message in the target language in a non-literal way\u2014you may have heard of this as \u201ctranscreation.\u201d It\u2019s the case of:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Homepages<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Advertising landing pages<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Blog posts<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Newsletter campaigns<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Press releases<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SEO content<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Print advertising, etc.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"acf\/blog-cta-block_a357aa0b682990e54b3daacb13dfff12\" class=\"pxblock pxblock--blog-cta bg--grey image--orientation-square\">\n\t<div class=\"block-container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"content\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"subhead\" style=\"text-align: center;\">Dive deeper<\/p>\n<p class=\"h5\" style=\"text-align: center;\">10 key steps to creating a machine translation strategy<\/p>\n<p class=\"small\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Learn how to design a machine translation strategy that can help your brand connect with international customers at full speed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a class=\"btn btn--outline\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/how-to-leverage-machine-translation\/\">Discover steps<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"acf\/text-block_2970e257098a337ee11d2bbce1f18b0b\" class=\"pxblock pxblock--text alignfull spacing--default bg--white\">\n\n\t\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wysiwyg animate-in\">\n\t\t\t<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"what-makes-the-best-machine-translation-software\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What makes the best machine translation software?<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Choosing the best tool for machine translation can be complex as both general-purpose and specialized MT engines have unique advantages and limitations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That\u2019s why, regardless of whether you own the MT process or rely on an external machine translation service, <strong>you should ideally have access to different MT engines in one place<\/strong> to make the most of machine translation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Utilizing a translation management system as the source of truth for all translation activities enables 3 key elements of successful MT deployment:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Automatically selecting the optimal MT engine for your content type<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Quality estimation for improved post-editing efficiency<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tracking key metrics to optimize productivity, turnaround times, and cost savings<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"selecting-the-optimal-mt-engine-for-your-content-type%e2%80%94automatically\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Selecting the optimal MT engine for your content type\u2014automatically<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Different translation projects may require different levels and types of sophistication. This is one of the reasons why utilizing MT as part of a translation management system is so beneficial.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To get the best out of MT, you need to be able to assign the right engine for each type of content\u2014and the most robust translation management systems have plugins or application programming interfaces (API) that connect them to different MT engines.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The most advanced systems even offer the ability to automate the selection process based on <a href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/blog\/posts\/artificial-intelligence\/\">artificial intelligence<\/a> or algorithms that scan the content and match it to the optimal MT engine.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"quality-estimation-for-improved-post-editing-efficiency\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Quality estimation for improved post-editing efficiency<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An essential part of successful MT implementation is knowing where to direct post-editing efforts. When you\u2019re able to measure the quality of MT output automatically, you can focus on the right segments instead of wasting time and resources where raw output is already of good quality.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This removes the guesswork from MT and improves post-editing efficiency, and it constitutes yet another reason why using MT integrated into a TMS is advantageous: The most sophisticated systems include automatic machine translation quality estimation capabilities that can identify which segments need more attention than others.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"tracking-key-metrics-to-optimize-productivity-turnaround-times-and-cost-savings\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tracking key metrics to optimize productivity, turnaround times, and cost savings<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As mentioned above, <strong>MT is attractive to many organizations because it offers the potential for increased productivity, faster turnaround times, and ultimately, cost savings.<\/strong> However, not all MT engines deliver on this promise equally, so having the means to compare how different engines can affect the process is key.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A strong TMS lets you track the time and expenses of any translation project where MT is applied. With multiple MT engines in use, these metrics can be a strong indicator of an engine\u2019s value: Is it increasing or slowing translator productivity? Does it indicate improved efficiencies over other engines over time? The answers to these questions will give you a better sense of its capabilities.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"make-the-most-of-machine-translation-with-phrase-tms\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make the most of machine translation with Phrase TMS<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When businesses need to utilize machine translation at scale, they need technology that can provide them with the best of both worlds: efficiency and quality.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/platform\/tms\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Phrase TMS<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the enterprise-ready translation management system within the Phrase Localization Platform, makes it effortless for growing companies to leverage machine translation. Organizations achieve an unprecedented ability to enter new markets more quickly and efficiently.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Phrase TMS users can employ a dedicated machine translation add-on,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/platform\/ai\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Phrase Language AI<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, to implement MT into their translation workflow with fast and cost-effective translations that don\u2019t compromise on quality.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_49008\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-49008\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-49008\" src=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/phrase-translate.png\" alt=\"Phrase Language AI add-on UI illustration | Phrase\" width=\"500\" height=\"451\" srcset=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/phrase-translate.png 1034w, https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/phrase-translate-300x271.png 300w, https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/phrase-translate-1024x924.png 1024w, https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/phrase-translate-768x693.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-49008\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Phrase TMS includes MT engines from leading providers and can auto-select the optimal one for your content<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fully embedded into Phrase TMS, the advanced MT management features that come with Phrase Language AI let you:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Start translating immediately with no developer time or effort<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> using <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/platform\/supported-mt-engines\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">fully managed MT engines<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from leading providers like Google, Amazon, DeepL, or Microsoft.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Add any of the 30+ supported generic and custom engines<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> manually if you ever prefer to use a specific MT engine.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Extend high-quality MT to every employee:<\/strong> The powerful <a href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/platform\/ai\/api\/\">Phrase Language AI API<\/a> allows you to scale the value of MT with company-wide access for to secure company-approved machine translation.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Enjoy unlimited machine translation for post-editing workflows<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> so linguists can work more efficiently.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Work with the best engine\u2014auto-selected<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, based on your language pair and content type.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Automatically filter out content<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that shouldn\u2019t be machine-translated.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Delegate quality testing, legal and security evaluation, setup, and payment<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of machine translation engines to dedicated machine translation experts on the Phrase team.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Leverage your translation memories to increase translation quality <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">by up to 50% with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/platform\/nextmt\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Phrase NextMT<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014the first TMS-ready MT engine.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Ensure the MT engines use your preferred terminology <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">with the correct morphological inflection\u2014reducing post-editing effort.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Preserve formatting and placeholder tags<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from source to target content automatically.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Get a score for each machine-translated segment<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, based on past performance data, to post-edit only where needed.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Achieve up to 55% cost savings<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with MTPE compared to human translation.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Discover advanced MT management features within Phrase TMS and push MT technology to the next level with our enterprise-ready solution.<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"acf\/blog-cta-block_cda7c768c217e5b359b3a977b24d56f8\" class=\"pxblock pxblock--blog-cta alignfull bg--green image--orientation-square\">\n\t<div class=\"block-container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"content\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"h4\" style=\"text-align: center;\">Speak with an expert<\/p>\n<p class=\"small\" style=\"text-align: center;\">Want to learn how our solutions can help you unlock global opportunity? We\u2019d be happy to show you around the Phrase Localization Platform and answer any questions you may have.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a class=\"btn btn--outline\" href=\"https:\/\/phrase.com\/demo\/\">Book a call<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More and more businesses leverage machine translation to expand their global footprint more quickly. Learn how you can also make the most of this increasingly useful technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":52489,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_stopmodifiedupdate":true,"_modified_date":"","_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"class_list":["post-3142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-machine-translation"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3142"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3142"}],"version-history":[{"count":150,"href":"https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94521,"href":"https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3142\/revisions\/94521"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phrase.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}