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Translation Tools
Recently I had yet another request about whether businesses can use free translation software tools. This last inquiry came from an American without any foreign language exposure.
She had always been told to avoid translation software like the plague. And her question was, should she look into translation software despite this.
It Is Time To Question Old Truths
Now this is a very interesting detail:
- Translation software = the plague
A couple of clicks research and I found another detail.
- This reader is also obviously old enough to have at least 15 years professional experience behind her.
Now you may wonder why I note this.
Expectations Too High At The Start
The thing is, when translation software first came out it was far from perfect. Much worse than a Micro Soft new product release. It was hard for most people to imagine actually using it.
The general public quickly labeled translation software as not being worth while. And this was the right thing to do…then.
The problem is that things have changed.
Drive For Progress
While these same people held on tightly to their first judgments, the translation software environment moved further ahead.
Oh, translation software is still far from perfect.
I have written other articles on how you can use them, so I will not go into that today. Have a look at the articles listed below.
Here is the key point…
While the general public abandoned the idea of translation software, there was a significant number of companies that needed this to work. It was vital for them.
You see…
They have massive quantities of information to translate into a large number of languages. Traditional translation costs were prohibitive. And even if they did allocate a sufficient amount of money to this budget, there were still stumped with the manpower requirements. It would take years and years to complete. Business could not wait.
Now you have to realize that this was not just for a couple of books, and not just sales materials. We are talking about very large information libraries. Most companies do not have the same problem.
Luckily, these companies are big enough to have the budget to invest in developing and improving translation software. It also made great business sense. So that is what they did.
That was a few years ago. And is still going on.
Further Along The Road To Perfection
The result for us, is that the translation software available today is much, much better than the first software that influenced the general public’s negative opinion.
Younger people are able to evaluate today’s translation software more accurately.
More experienced professionals who categorically refuse to look at translation software today will probably give up their competitive edge in the near future.
International business professionals with more flexible attitudes are already trying to take advantage of the speed and cost efficiency in international business.
When translation software improves just a notch or two further, it might be too late for the old badgers to catch up.
Tomorrow I will write about how people are already using the translation software available today.
Need a free translation widget to put on your website?
Download this Translation Widget on Get International Clients
More On Translation Tools
- How To Use Online Translation Tools
- Over The Counter Translation Perfection Not Here Yet
- Translate Server Error
- Translation Software – It Is Time To Question Old Truths
- Translation Widgets – A Small Step Towards Website Globalization
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
A quick note on translation software (without reading your other articles on them): The results you get will depend enormously on the language pair. For example, even the free online translators can produce understandable, albeit grammatically awful, results between two Indo-European languages — say, English and German.
But if you try to “machine translate” English into Finnish (a Fenno-Ugric language), the result is often totally incomprehensible. I would, therefore, still recommend the use of a human to polish the results if you intend to publish your translated text. Yes, I know, cost and manpower… but it is unavoidable.
Of course, if you’re using machine translation for your own business intelligence — to find out what a foreign-language website is about, for example — then even the low-end products will do fine.
Kimmo Linkama´s last blog ..Do your documents portray a consistent brand?
Hi Kimmo,
Thanks for your comment and thank you also for being one of the very few people who will write that it is “OK” to use machine translation for certain tasks. I think so many business pounce on this subject to say that machine translations are the worst possible thing, and to be avoided at all costs. Of course you absolutely need a real person to write anything that brings in sales. And I actually prefer not to use translators but the corresponding professionals found locally. The quality is usually worth the effort in finding the right person.
But the reality is that machine translations have evolved dramatically since these arguments were first established. Even translators use machines to help them get the job done faster. Businesses need clear guidelines. It would be great to see some more people actually step up and give these guidelines, instead of the continual bashing of machine translations… This puts people off of going international. It creates all sorts of barriers.
If you are in business and actually selling things to people who speak different languages, you learn pretty fast that you need natives to write all of your sales and marketing copy… and a native who knows what he or she is doing. And don’t forget your legal documents. I have seen so many scholarly translations by “humans” trying to sell, and they were just as bad.
With some international experience, it is fairly easy to know when you can consult a machine translation and when you need a human one… and if a translation agency is or is not the best choice.
When I get emails in foreign languages that I do not speak, I use Google translate – I do not rush to find a cheap translator. And it has worked well all the time.