In Machine Translation Post-editing Quality Can Be Traded for Productivity

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Multilizer / Niko Papula

In association with Kites, Finnish machine translation experts and enthusiasts have formed Special Interest Group for machine translation in Finland. In one meeting we handled a hot subject of post-editing machine translations. Post-editing means that a professional translator checks and edits automatic translations which are made by a machine. The interesting topic with excellent presentations (one made by Jukka Outinen of Lionbridge and another by freelance translator Tommi Nieminen) sparked a lively discussion.

Machine translation post-editing can be efficient.One of the ideas highlighted during the meeting was that in traditional translation by a professional translator, it does not make much sense to lower one’s quality requirements. It does not improve productivity. A professional translator cannot choose to “write bad translations”. With professional translators, the style and fluency of the text come together with the translation. However, the situation is different when post-editing machine translations.

In post-editing machine translations it can make sense to lower quality requirements because that indeed improves productivity. When the task is to post-edit an automatic translation, the translator can choose not to correct those parts of the machine translation that are correct but written in a clumsy language. Thus the translator saves some time at the expense of the quality. Therefore, in post-editing machine translations the quality can indeed be traded for productivity.

This naturally changes the translation market. Clients can now choose between lower and higher quality, depending on his requirements and budget. Affordable, quick and good enough translations made by a machine and a man together are fulfilling the scale of available translation services. An increase in productivity will enlarge the entire translation industry.

 

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A Software Localization Example of Irrational Software User

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Iina on Multilizer Translation Blog

There are several motivators affecting our behavior when we use software. And unlike we want to believe (People must be rational!), rationality is not always the dominant one. Software developers may unintentionally cause confusion and uncertainty among the users.

It was Twitter which made me confused some time ago. At the time they had just updated Twitter’s overall layout and look. It looked nice and I started using it with pleasure. I found out how to tweet, to search, to read and how to do other basic Twitter activities, but then I tried to use the retweet button. Everything looked fine; a pop-up window was opened and I accepted the retweet, but nothing seems to be happening. I did what a normal person would do and tried to do this same single retweet three more times without any success. Only after then I realized what was wrong. I’ve pressed the wrong button all the time.

There were two buttons “Cancel” on the left-hand side and “Retweet” on the right. I clicked “Cancel” four times before I finally read what it said on the button. Software developers have forced me over and over again to press the “OK” button on the left side that I’m acting like a robot whenever I see two buttons in the lower right corner. No matter that the right button was colored with bright blue!

Retweet button is blue and on the wrong side.

The ultimate goal of doing localization is to improve the user experience. Although translating the content to one’s own language is a good way to enhance the user experience, in my Twitter case the text on the buttons had a very small role. My point here is that it is not always the most crucial thing to have the right translation if people don’t read it. The whole system should be localized to match the people’s routines. In addition to written messages, also layout, colors and other visual choices guide the user. So make sure that all these elements lead the users of your software to the wanted direction.

Have you ever experienced similar things when using software?

 

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A Guide to Machine Translation

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Iina on Multilizer Translation Blog

Machine translation is a great tool for right situations. However, it is important to know how to use automatic translation to get the most out of it. This guide explains the essentials of machine translation:

Machine Translation: What it is?

Machine translation can save time and money but it won’t produce perfect translation quality. However, when good enough quality is enough, automatic translation is a real alternative. When do you use machine translation?

 

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How to Use Facebook Translate Button

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Claudia Amendola - Italian Virtual Assistant

Facebook Translate is the translation feature for Facebook to help users communicate with each other in different languages.

In a bid to match the translation facility of Google that gives users the option of translating the sites they visit into 50 different languages, Facebook has followed suit and launched the Facebook Translate button with the help of their search partners at Microsoft Bing.

This all new translation feature gives the user the option of quickly translating comments or content on its pages utilizing Bing Translate.

Before Facebook launched this service, its users relied on other services such as Google Translate to help them understand what other users who speak other languages are saying.

However the launch of the new Facebook translation button means that users no longer have to rely on using other systems such as Google Translate, and they will be able to translate text on a page simply by pressing the Facebook Translate button which is conveniently placed right next to the ‘like’ button.

What they will find when they have clicked on the translate button, in its place will appear an ‘Original’ button that will give the user the option of switching back to the original language. The languages it supports at this time are Korean, Japanese, Russian, Taiwanese, English, and Chinese.

If you want to activate Facebook Translate you will need to take the following steps.

  • Go to the edit page interface and from there select the ‘your settings’ tab.
  • From there select the ‘translations from’ section where users can enable translations by the following selections; machine and community; machine, community, and admin, or they can disable the feature.

Admins of pages will also be able to see a ‘manage translations’ link under their page posts and they can then delete or approve community-submitted translations or even add their own comments. They can also block content that they object to or even spam as a translation and quickly block them from their Page and from submitting translations to other Pages as well.

This is in addition to the language targeting and geographic tool that Facebook offers in the Page post publisher which gives Pages the opportunity to translate their updates annually and then put them out to the corresponding hoard of fans.

There are now also third-party Facebook Page tools that also offer translation services to help manage this process and are very helpful, but even these are now redundant now all Pages have access to a free, easy, and instantaneous translation tool.

 

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Localization Increases Sales with Wider Market Potential

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Iina on Multilizer Translation Blog

Some companies might find it unnecessary to localize their products. They often rely on the idea that everyone (or at least everyone important) knows English or China or Spanish or some other language which have more than 100 million native speakers. While for some firms the strategy to have just one language version of their product can be profitable, some other companies won’t achieve any international success without localization.

It is true that most people can speak some of the major languages as a second language. However, the truth is that these people always know their own, first language the best. This aspect can be forgotten when living under the influence of a dominant language. If your right hand is the stronger one, would you still hold a pencil with your left hand when writing? There are people who have trained their both hands to be equally strong, just like there are people whose second language is as good as the first language. Unfortunately, only a few people have the ability to do this with a reasonable amount of time and effort. This is why most of us prefer staying in our comfort zone by choosing one language over another.

Today, when the developing countries are increasing their purchasing power at an accelerating pace, we can expect the significance of the localization activities to grow. A wider group of potential, international customers usually means a wider range of spoken languages, and vice versa. Localization is a cost-efficient way to ensure that your product has the widest possible audience in this versatile and mixed world.

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