When we want to translate a text quickly, we often give in to the temptation of running a machine translation and turning to a translation tool to speed up our work. We have all done it at some point in our lives, yes, you too.
Sometimes it does no harm, because the only aim is to take a quick look at that text to find information and get a rough idea of something. Or even when we are faced with a very large job, it works fine as a preliminary stage of the translation, since it helps us structure the text. The problem is using that machine translator when we have to translate a whole document for a purpose other than the one we have just mentioned, and without a second post-editing stage involving human translation.
Why is that a problem? Because, at the end of the day, as the word itself says, it is automatic. There is no person behind it with the language skills to translate the essence of the document or text. With a machine translation, it is a machine translating word for word and, sometimes, if it is very good, even phrases or expressions. Done this way, texts lose their meaning, sentences are at times unreadable and unintelligible, and the text as a whole does not have the quality it should.
Recurring errors in machine translation
False friends
You have probably heard of them more than once. False friends exist in every language and are words that look very similar but do not mean the same thing.
Proper nouns
Translation tools are unable to recognise proper nouns, which is why it is common to see them translated when the work has been done automatically.
The order of the factors does not change the product.
Or does it? Of course it does. Sentence structure in English, for instance, is quite different from Spanish. That, however, is something the machine translator does not recognise well either, and the meaning of sentences is lost completely. Perhaps in the future AI, artificial intelligence, will surprise us and be able to translate a text as a person would, taking meaning and the frequent errors of machine translation into account. Today, though, we still have a long way to go and a lot to improve in this respect.
Machine translation versus human translation
That is why, if you need a properly done translation, do not turn to the automatic kind. A good professional will adapt to your needs, using your style so that, as far as possible, the translation feels a little more like your own. Bear in mind that first impressions count for a lot. If someone comes to you (whether online, through physical documents or at your workplace) and the first thing they see is a text full of errors and poorly translated, they will assume you lack professionalism. Do not hesitate any longer: call us or get in touch with us. We have a team of professionals who look after every translation down to the last detail. Do not let the language barrier undermine your professionalism. Follow us on social media and keep up with all our news. You will find us on facebook, instagram and Linkedin.