What are the advantages and disadvantages of machine translation versus human translation?

In my experience a combination of MT and HT works best. MT for an initial first draft with HT for the final review. This ensures both efficiency and accuracy. For more sensitive pieces of content, HT should always form part of the process.

In my experience, machine translation excels in speed and cost efficiency, offering instant translations for quick information access. Yet, for nuanced content, human translation remains indispensable, providing accuracy in tone, intent, and context. Companies must weigh quality against speed and cost when deciding between the two.

Let's plunge a bit deeper. While machine translation excels in speed and cost efficiency for typical, everyday language tasks, it often struggles with the intricacies of specialized or nuanced content. Legal jargon, medical terminology, and the subtleties of literary works can elude the grasp of automated systems. Human translators bring cultural awareness, context comprehension, and the ability to navigate complex language constructs. So, the choice between machine and human translation hinges on the nature and importance of the content—balancing the immediacy of machine translation against the precision and reliability of human understanding.

Machines are not humans and sometimes their output demonstrates this in translation and elsewhere. At this stage, it's necessary in most cases to have humans review or even prompt engineer MT-generated content, especially if the text is more nuanced, like literature, or highly technical. There will be some tasks MT does really well, like rapidly translating straightforward language. For example, MT will probably translate basic multiple choice or other item type assessments quite adequately. But I still wouldn't trust providing that translation to a user until it has been reviewed or at the least spot-checked by a bilingual assessor.

Benefits of machine: - automate data tasks - allow experts to remove admin and focus on their field of expertise - scaling potential Benefits of human: - empathy - understanding - connection

I have been translating alot as Vietnamese is my mother tongue, pay attention to: - Specific use languages : I have been using various translation tools, none of them seem to accurately translate terms such as : legal, professional document, technical ... - Slang, idioms and special language usages - Some people names sometimes are also translated which doesnt make sense

MT has improved over time and will continue to do so. In the meantime, to help the audience connect to the content as intended, HT should still be applied throughout the process.

in my experience, if you want to get quality and accuracy, then MT is your best bet. because regardless of how improved HT has gotten over the years, language is best translated by the one who has seen it all, heard it all, and experienced it all, the intricacies and circumstances surrounding a language has not really been captured by HT

There is always a risk with an AI tool or closed caption that will not say or spell a name incorrectly. We’ve all seen the memes with language that was not intended to be read or written due to a technical error.

In my experience, humans are not without their flaws and there still may be ethical concerns with using human translation as opposed to machine translation. In fact, you could even argue that humans are most likely to have their own biases or engage in plagiarism. I would say that a good mix of both is key.

For ethics and privacy, here's what I think; that HT has the advantage, regardless I wont say there are 100% accurate with being ethical and confidential as humans are not perfect either, I have seen a HT use MT to first translate a document before using her knowledge to make some corrections to the final draft, it seems fast and smart, but it defeats the purpose of ethics and privacy. Going forward, i can sign non disclosure agreement with HT if I need the confidentiality of my document preserved, if not, I'll go with a mix of both.

Instead of considering the concept of Machine Translation against Human Translation, a more nuanced approach often involves Human Translation augmented by Machine Translation workflows.This approach is called human in the loop. This hybrid method can involve pre-editing of the source text to enhance the quality of the machine-generated output. A skilled human translator then post-edits this output, which subsequently undergoes review by a second translator for quality assurance. This blended approach enables buyers to strike an optimal balance between cost-effectiveness, speed, and quality.

A common approach is to combine the strengths of both methods: Initial machine translation can provide a quick draft. Human translators can then review and refine the machine-generated content, ensuring accuracy and context. The choice between machine and human translation depends on factors like the quality requirements, budget, time constraints, and the specific content being translated. Many organizations use a combination of both methods to optimize translation processes.

I use machine translation via video-in-video-out tool called Dubverse. Upload a video in Arabic (or other language) to get a video in English (or other language). This is different from tools that transcribe audio to text or generate captions. The output is machine-translated audio dubbed into the video by AI voices. The videos were casual messages by clinical professionals from Egypt. In all instances, machine translation captured the sentiment, colloquial language & technical words accurately, while also pacing the speech to match the lip movements in the original. So, it is important to broaden the view of what machine translation is & isn't. And what it could achieve for humans. Why compare it to human translation? Team up with it.

When deciding between machine translation (MT) and human translation (HT), several critical factors come into play. These include the subject matter and specialization of the content, the language pair involved, and cultural sensitivity required. Consistency in terminology and style, client expectations, and the option for post-editing by humans can influence the choice. Staying informed about machine learning advancements is essential. Deadlines, volume, customization of MT engines, and regulatory compliance in certain industries are also key. In conclusion, the selection between MT and HT should be tailored to the unique demands of each translation project, often benefiting from a combined approach, as mentioned by Costa.

Human and machine translations should always be mixed together. The more we advance into this new AI world, human communication will become a luxury. Because too many people will get used to getting things done with AI - alone. Losing the human touch would be a terrible setback.