Nowadays, machine translation is a viable tool with artificial intelligence, language processing, and computing power. Today as you know we live in a world where computer science is working on technology to translate text from one language(source language) to another language (target language), and it is available in the style of machine translation.
The concept of machine translation was first and foremost put forward by Warren Weaver in 1949. Most people must have heard of and perhaps used machine translation, but very few are likely to understand the types of machine translations that are best suited for given tasks.
In today’s post, we will talk about what is machine translation and what are the types of machine translation.
So, let’s get started.
What is a Machine Translation?
Machine Translation, known as automated translation is a process where your computer software translates text from the source language to the target language without human involvement.
As you know, Translations of any type are not just mere word-for-word translations. These translations are usually fast and straightforward to use, machine translation engines represent the machine translation work quickly and easily. It provides you text translation based on computer algorithms, and is the product of the computer.
However, human reviewers might be included for quality control and assurance for some translation projects. By using algorithms, patterns, and a large database of prior existing translations, with machine translation you can quickly produce large quantities of translated text and content with zero human involvement.
Common examples of machine translation that you may have heard are Google translate analyses of existing translations across thousands of languages to learn from. Existing translations are billions in number. Google translate also analyses its results to learn from its mistakes.
How does Machine Translation Work?
As you must be aware that Machine translation works with source language and target language that are matched and compared with each other by a machine translation engine.
Translation software uses different mechanisms to find the perfect matches for source words and phrases to produce comprehensible content and text in the target language. The machine translation engine and the technology powering these tools are immense. All in all their capabilities will only improve further in the coming future.
Types of Machine Translation
The different types of translation methods are as follows-
1. Rule-Based Machine Translation
Language experts developed rule-based machine translation, applying specific language rules and vocabulary. This method uses dictionaries that can be customized to a certain industry or topic.
2. Neural Machine Translation
In this process, large neural networks teach themselves how to translate, utilizing extensive resources such as databases, glossaries, and translations previously approved by translators. This type of translation is gaining popularity as it yields favorable results with various language pairs.
3. Statistical Machine Translation
Statistical machine translation learns how to translate by analyzing large amounts of existing human translations, without relying on linguistic rules and words. It primarily depends on the analysis of existing human translations to identify the closest analog of the target language.
4. Hybrid Machine Translation
It simultaneously employs statistical and neural networks. Most companies adopt this method to ensure accuracy, quality, and control in their translations. Using both statistical and neural networks is considered a fail-safe approach, offering a more robust solution compared to relying on only one method.
Pros and Cons of Machine Translation
Machine translation is one of the most essential tools for language professionals. It can drastically reduce the time and costs which are involved in any translation project.
Like any other tool, we need to know how to use machine translation effectively and the first step towards understanding the process of machine translation is by knowing the pros and cons of machine translation.
Here is the list of pros and cons of machine translation.
Advantages of machine translation
Let’s start with the pros of using machine translation.
1. Scale
It is capable of handling large amounts of content and texts very quickly.
2. Speed
The speed of machine translation is immaculate. Machine translation provides almost instant translations.
3. Usability
Machine translation systems are easy for language professionals and everyday users.
4. Flexible
A machine translation system is capable of translating text into multiple languages.
5. Integration
Language professionals can easily use machine translation systems to speed up their workflow.
6. Automation
Automation is the first stage of translation, and it makes the whole translation process faster and more affordable.
The advantages listed above contribute to creating an efficient translation process. These advantages reduce turnaround times and deliver quality translations.
Disadvantages of Machine Translation
The prominent disadvantages of machine translations are related to the quality of the output.
1. Quality
The quality of professional human translators can not be matched even with the help of AI translation tools.
2. Consistency
Quality and consistency of the translation varies greatly depending on the complexity of the linguistic distance between the source and target languages.
3. Grammar
Grammatical rules remain a challenge for machine translation systems. This grammatical rule specifically applies between languages with significantly different grammar systems.
4. Context
Automated translation systems have improved drastically over the years in terms of contextual understanding but the results are still far from matching the human brain and human capabilities.
5. Nuance
The subtle nuances of human language are not easily replicated by machine translation systems and various algorithms struggle to determine the nuances of the target language.
We may have advanced in artificial intelligence over the past few decades, but the quality of translation by machine translation systems has only marginally improved compared to the capabilities of professional human translators.
Language comprehension is complex and this is why the human brain is still considered the most powerful computer of all time because the human brain can have more nuanced aspects of communication.
Ready to make your translation projects more cost-effective with translation technology, we at Naarg are ready to help you with your translation project.
For more information visit info@naargmedia.com to know more about our services. We are always ready to help you.
