Machine Translation - Strengths, Limitations

Owned by Laura White (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Feb 27, 2024 by Kenny Teves
2 min read

Machine translation is an excellent option if you're on a tight budget, looking for near-instant results, and are okay with less-than-perfect quality. See here for a list of MT Engines integrated with Enterprise .

100,000 Characters

Enterprise provides free machine translation for the first 100,000 characters.

MT Pros and Cons

Machine translation (MT) uses software to translate text or speech from one language to another; however, machine translation is not perfect. Use discretion and judgment when using machine translation only.

MT Pros

MT Cons

  • It’s the fastest way to translate your content into a new language.

  • It’s less expensive.

  • You can add a human review of MT to improve the quality.

  • You can use translation memories (TM) to remember your key terms.

  • The Enterprise - Inside Connector Suite integrates MT with our cloud-based TMS.

  • It’s good for translating web content and web pages.

  • Depending on the language pairs, it has a 60 - 80% accuracy rate.

  • Some content translates better with MT than others.

  • Different languages work better with different MT engines.

  • Some MT engines perform better with different subjects.

  • It is difficult to translate technical terms, slang, or nuanced meanings.

  • It can lack flow and sound stilted.

Content Value Index

The Content Value Index can help you determine if your content requires good, better, or best translation quality.

Since machine translation is lower quality than professional translation, the decision to include MT in a translation workflow largely depends on needed quality.

  • For low priority content, use machine translation by itself.

  • For medium priority content, use machine translation followed by review by a professional translator.

  • For high value content, consider professional translation only.

Machine Translation

Sometimes the general meaning of a text is all you need from your translation. Machine translation in addition to TM provides the perfect combination of rapid, trusted and cost-effective translations when getting the general meaning across is sufficient.

Community Translation

Translating with community users provides colloquial and subject matter accuracy for lower cost and reasonable speed. Community translation is less expensive, but may not provide the level of quality and consistency offered by professional translators. Use Community Translation for knowledge base articles, video subtitles, simple web pages, podcast transcripts, Wiki entries, and online newspapers.

Professional Translation

Professional translation offers the highest quality and includes additional levels of review to ensure accuracy. Use Professional Translation for very important content like press releases, brochures, and white papers.

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