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Machine Translation Post-Editing

Machine Translation Post-Editing

What it is, how it works, and why you might need it

Modern neural machine translation engines such as AISA MT enable near-human fluency and accuracy. However, in many cases you don’t want to take chances. This especially relates to fields such as medical or technical translation, where the cost of even the slightest mistake can be critical.

In this case, Machine Translation Post-Editing — also known as post-editing machine translation, MTPE, PEMT, or just post-editing — can be a viable alternative between pricey human translation and pure automatic translation.

Here’s how it works with AISA MT:

Where Can You Apply Machine Translation Post-Editing?

You can utilize MPTE service on Website translations, e-commerce translations, document translations, chatbot translations, and other ERP solutions.

Why Is MTPE Affordable?

As you can see, post-editing a machine translation takes much less time than translating from scratch. For this reason, the rate for machine translation post-editing is also much less.

The below chart shows the difference in rates for translation and post-editing for the English to Simplified Chinese language pair. As you can see, the median rate for post-editing is more than two times lower than for translation.

Difference Between Human Translation and Post-editing

What’s important to know when you’re post-editing machine translation is that you don’t need to expect the same level of quality and diligence on the post-editor’s part as you do with 100% human translation.

The language industry organization TAUS distinguishes between two “levels” of machine translation post-editing: “Good Enough” and “Similar to Human”. The respective guidelines are as follows:

As you can see, the main difference is that with “Good Enough” post-editing you don’t aim for a flawless message. As TAUS puts it, in this case “the text may sound like it was generated by a computer, syntax might be somewhat unusual, grammar may not be perfect but the message is accurate.”

How to Use Machine Translation Post-Editing with AISA MT

If you are by now convinced that machine translation post-editing is something you might benefit from, here is the process to actually use it with AISA MT:

1. You send us a request via the contact form.
2. We review your request and suggest a suitable package.
3. Our project management team works on your project in our cloud-based translation management system.
4. We source post-editors from a large & tested pool to edit the machine-translated output.
5. We deliver your translated content in your preferred file format.

It is also possible to set up an automated translation process so that your manual involvement is as little as possible. Feel free to contact us for more information.