Translation is one of the works that needs accuracy and focus and develops with experience, skills and a lot of work, check everything you do and do not depend on Google translation

Google Translate is a takeaway compared to the job of a professional translator. Professional translation services give a superior result but you may accept the disappointing product as fast food lovers know it.

Christian Bernier, operations manager at Lionbridge for global translation services based in Montreal, admits that Google has made great strides in the quality of its translations, and that this - of course - has some benefits. Even in such cases, there are limitations; If you do not speak the language you are translating into, you will not know the essentials that you could not discover.

But if your translation requires any level of development, or if it involves convincing someone to purchase your services or a description of product details, you will need more than one machine; You will need a professional human translator and the translation tools he uses, in order to achieve these higher language goals.

Four machine translation loopholes:

1. Translation errors

Google Translate struggles with those words and terms that have more than one meaning. Yolanda Del Coso, Technical Director of Language Excellence in Lyonbridge, Madrid, says that customers can lose confidence in the products or services offered if they see that your company does not take into account the nuances of the intended word, and the image of your company may be distorted.

As Yolanda says, with legal and technical texts the user could be at risk, as in the warning section of an electrical or medical device manual. The most common field of translation errors is for words with multiple meanings (which have more than one meaning). Another area more popular is the literal translation of sentences, due to the failure to take context into account.

“ If you rely only on simple statistical choices, inappropriate comments might appear in your translations, ” says Yolanda .

2. Political and social transactions

Machine translation cannot interpret the connotation in local languages. The phrase “the old and wise man” is translated from English to Spanish often into “el viejo y sabio” which in Spanish means disrespectful. When referring to elderly persons, it is appropriate to use the term “anciano”. The term "Viejo" is a better equivalent of the word "codger".

Machine translation doesn't do well with the tone of speech either, Christian says. For example, you will not distinguish the nuances of how you talk to someone you know versus someone you have never met.

As Christian noted, “ In English, we tend to be very spontaneous. “We were closely related to the beginning. In certain languages, there are greater levels of formalities and communication, depending on how well you know the person and whether the communication is written or spoken.

“ Those are the things that machine translation cannot handle. These are the decision points that a professional translator will make, based on a specific situation ”.

3. Privacy

Google Translate does not provide a nondisclosure agreement. Indeed, Google's terms of service make it clear that the company has the right “to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, and manufacture derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, quotes, or other changes that we make so that your content better aligns with our services), transmission, publishing, public performance, public display and publishing content. Similar ”.

This is particularly problematic for translating legal documents, and for many others as well. If you want to protect your intellectual property, deal with a professional translator / translation company.

4. Lots of differences

Shariq Mirza, CEO of Ariba Investments, a real estate development company based in Fremont, California, used professional translators for ten years for documents he shares with investors around the world. And he confirms that these shortcomings of machine translation, by saying that services such as Google Translate produce a literal translation that sometimes confuses the reader and "often misunderstands the intended meaning."

While admitting that professional translators are more expensive, Shariq says he has received “a huge amount of comments” on the difference between documents translated by Google and those created through a professional human translation service. And the verdict: a vast difference between the two.

Clients appreciate that you “took the time to get the documents translated in a professional and proper way,” says Shariq. As is generally the case, he adds, " you get what you pay for ."

What's Next? Do you think that it is time to start assigning translation work to a professional translator who will preserve it for you and produce it with the most beautiful and sweetest sentences? We are happy to serve you! You can talk to us on “ Twitter ” and you will always find us near you. We have translators who are ready to work as freelancers and as employees as you find convenient.