The long-running debate on human translation versus machine translation refuses to go away. That’s because nowadays technology improves every year and the quality of machine translation is continuously rising.

What is a Machine Translation?

Machine translation (MT) systems are applications that use natural language processing technology to automatically translate a text from one language to another. The machine translation system is therefore the chosen system that will perform a translation.
In Wordbee, you can use one or more systems to accomplish an MT:

• Microsoft Bing
• Google Translate
• Reverso
• Lingua Custodia
• Tauyou

The translations produced by customized MT systems will be markedly better than those of general-purpose engines for the content that they were built to translate.

We help our clients identify which solution is best for them by helping them build customized MT workflows.

Benefits of using Machine translations within Wordbee Translator

• Effective machine translations connectivity. Connect any machine translation technology to Wordbee easily. Out-of-the-box integrations include Microsoft Translator, Reverso by Softissimo, Google Translate, Lingua Custodia, and Tauyou.
• Higher quality and consistency. Machine translation can be done in various stages of the translation workflow, depending on your needs. Your translation memory can be leveraged properly before the application of machine translation.
• Easy post-edit and automated workflows. If you want to machine translate your text and then have a post-edit completed, that’s easy to do and it can be part of your automated workflow.
• Supplier management and supplier prices. Supplier management and pricing makes it easy to store supplier post-editing prices in Wordbee, which allows Wordbee to largely automate the financial side of your agency or department.
• Faster translations. In the CAT interface, machine translation can be used manually at the segment level by the translator according to their access rights or your instructions. Many translators are already using Google Translate, for example, to speed up their work.

How does it work?

First off, usually you will need valid credentials or keys (API) from your chosen MT provider (Google Translate, Microsoft Bing, etc.). The Machine translation system settings may be used to configure which translation systems you want to use within Wordbee Translator.  You can add as many machine translation systems per provider that you’d like. This allows different language configurations to be used if needed. Each machine translation system will have a priority level that Wordbee Translator uses to determine what system will be used for each translation.

Another option is that you can use existing translation memory and resource groups to pre-translate text and then apply machine translation. Basically, the defined resources, translation memories, will be used to initially pre-translate text. Then, the machine translation system will be used to further pre-translate text, which may then be translated by a human or simply a machine translation (MT).

Please make sure to check our User Guide regarding the machine translations feature on Wordbee Translator.

About Wordbee

The Luxembourg-based company Wordbee has developed Wordbee Translator, a Cloud-based collaborative translation and project management platform, and Wordbee Beebox, a CMS connectivity solution. Wordbee helps renowned Language Service Providers, public and educational organisations, and global leading companies to implement high-performance translation technology.