How One Can Get Better Results With Manual Translation Than the Machine Translation

From businesses to educational institutions, who wish to have an international presence are finding translation necessary. The demand for translation services in India is thus growing. Crystal Hues is one such translation agency in India, offering the best translation services.

Often, while going for translation, people face the dilemma of choosing between manual translation and machine translation.

Technological advancements in the 21st century led to the development of sophisticated software. They automate the translation process and offers the convenience of fast translation. Also, they are cost-effective. It appears that machine translation is the right choice.

But, better results are possible only with manual translation. Let us know why.

1.Handling Uncertainty

Machine translation cannot handle textual uncertainty. Humor, sarcasm, idioms, and nuances are part of any text. While machine translation is good at the word to word translation, it cannot understand the context for the usage of a particular term. It results in poor quality translation.

Here is where a manual translator or a human translator is better. A human translator understands clearly the context and the various nuances in the text. It helps in the exact replication of the context in the target language.  

2.Localization

Knowledge of a culture is the most important aspect of translation projects. A particular phrase in the source text needs appropriate cultural connotations in the target text. Through machine translation, this is not possible. The software follows specific grammar rules for translation. But, it cannot understand the cultural contexts.

On the other hand, a manual translator can localize the text according to the local cultural aspects. It helps in providing the most accurate translation of the source text.

3.The Tone of The Text

For better communication, an author writes a text with a specific tone. Replicating this tone is important while translating. As machine translation can only translate words, it cannot replicate the tone, thereby making the text erroneous.

But a human translator can easily pick the tone and translate the text with better results.

4. Language Evolution

Language is not static. It evolves with time. From generation to generation, cultural changes take place, and language evolves with it. A human translator can easily update his/her skills to match the evolving language. But, this is not possible with machine translation.

Conclusion

With advancements in the field of Artificial Intelligence and neural networks, the ability of a machine to provide natural language translation is gaining pace. But, it is still a long way for a machine to beat a human in providing better results.