AI Translation Accuracy
Can you trust AI for translations?
There’s a range of AI translation tools on the market these days. Many of them offer free options, and even the paid for services often work out substantially cheaper than a human interpreter or translator – but can you trust AI translation accuracy?
A speedy human translator can translate between 2,000 and 3,000 words a day. Something like ChatGPT can do that while you brew your morning cuppa. For a quick message, or to understand the basic meaning of something, AI language translation (also known as machine translation) sounds like a time and money-saving option.
But can (and should) you trust AI with all your accurate translations needs?
We recently asked the question Can AI translate better than humans – Language Link
This month, we wanted to know more about what Rob really thinks about how things are changing regarding AI translation accuracy. Over a cup of coffee, we asked him to spill the beans.
Are AI translation models accurate?
Not always. As you know, I like to share the occasional funny translation ‘fail’ in our newsletters and social media accounts. Everyone needs a giggle from time to time, and those errors aren’t necessarily down to AI.
But while a risqué product name translation might entertain you and liven up an otherwise dull afternoon, inaccurate translation can be a major problem.
Artificial intelligence translation isn’t too bad if you need a quick, rough translation of some information. But it tends to be a bit clunky, and most professional translators can spot an automated translation within a few sentences.
Rather like humans, different AI translation systems have different styles – but what they have in common is that they (currently) have little grasp of nuance, humour or language localisation.
AI technology won’t pick up on local cultural norms, and it won’t ‘know’ whether a particular phrase is inappropriate or offensive. It won’t spot turns of phrase or metaphors that don’t translate directly, or highlight cultural references that won’t mean anything to your target audience in another country.
Most importantly, if you are translating anything complex for businesses, with industry-specific technical terms or jargon, you can’t rely on AI for accuracy.
For anything important – like a legal, medical, insurance, financial document, it’s essential to use a professional, human translation services. And not just any translator, either. 100% accuracy is vital, so you need an experienced, mother-tongue speaker with specific industry expertise who can ensure that not only are technical terms translated correctly, but also that texts like witness statements or medical reports are water-tight.
So AI translation software might be good enough for non-technical texts?
Again, it depends. Word-for-word, you may get an OK basic translation from AI, but will it replicate good-quality, well-crafted writing when going from source to target language? Almost certainly not.
If you’ve put time, effort and money into a well-written marketing campaign, relying on AI won’t deliver the results you want.
AI translation technology might be fast. But one of the things it won’t do is spend time thinking about the best words to use to translate and localise your attention-grabbing headline. It won’t consider small differences in the meanings of words, and choose the best.
One of the things that I (in common with professional translators) have is a love of the richness of language. Consider the subtle differences between ‘think about’, ‘ponder’ and ‘ruminate’, for example. An AI or machine translation tool won’t do any of those things. It doesn’t care about your message, or the nuanced idea you’re trying to communicate. Its algorithms will simply detect the closest match, and that’s what you’ll get.
For something purely information-based, and in commonly used languages, you might be able to combine an AI translation with a human reviewer, to check for any errors.
But for nuanced writing like marketing campaigns, where you’re trying to make an emotional connection with your reader, or be particularly persuasive, you again need an experienced professional translator who can understand your market and craft an appropriate and accurate version in the target language.
Commonly used languages? Isn’t AI available for every language?
Good question. Some AI tools claim to be able to translate 100, 200…ANY language. But beware. AI typically ‘learns’ from use, so the less commonly used the language, the less data will be available and the less accurate the translated text will be.
So AI might be OK for certain basic translations, but can you really trust it?
I think you have to be specific about what you are trusting it to do. Some clients, for instance, worry about their confidential information getting uploaded to AI platforms which will then store their text. Most paid for services are quite clear about their confidentiality clauses, but with free services you may have to be careful.
In sectors dealing with people’s personal information – legal, medical, insurance, financial, for example, or where confidential product information is at stake – you need to be certain that your information remains secure from beginning to end of the translation process. We work for several clients in the military, for example, where information is sometimes not just confidential, but also covered by the Official Secrets Act.
If you’re translating medical or legal documents, there could be some highly personal information included, and a data breach could impact on a case and open you up to some serious legal consequences yourself.
That’s why professional translation services, like us at Language Link UK, use secure portals and reliable, professional translators, to ensure not only translation quality but also security.
What else can’t AI translation tools do?
As I said earlier, AI doesn’t (and can’t) care. Many of our clients come back to us time and again, not only because of the quality of our service, but because they have built a good relationship with us and with a translator who understands their needs, has expert knowledge of their sector, and knows the right questions to ask.
This gives you both consistency and continuity, and because our translators genuinely care about outcomes for our clients, there have been numerous occasions where a translator has flagged up a concern – whether it’s about accuracy of information, version control on source language documents or something else. Dealing with these questions isn’t necessarily an official part of their role, but because they know the clients, there’s a valuable level of continuity and consistency.
AI can only do what it’s programmed to do. People are problem-solvers, and our translators are expert professionals who genuinely care about our clients’ needs. It’s going to be a long time before AI can lay claim to that!