by Marian Gomez | 13 Feb, 2023 | Human translation, Machine Translation, Translation tools
Will machine translation replace humans in the translation industry?
Let’s take a look at the translation trends for 2024 and see if we can answer this question.
Translation is becoming increasingly important in today’s social and economic climate. While countries have established trading routes between their settlements for centuries, the world has only moved towards globalisation relatively recently.
Companies have now extended their reach beyond the country where they established their headquarters, making communication in different languages a legitimate necessity.
The world’s governments also have an obligation to communicate effectively with one another, and doing so implies not only grammatical and lexical correctness, but also looking closely at the nuances of words and phrases alongside awareness regarding the cultural aspects of language.
As such, the need for high-quality translations has increased over the years and shows no signs of decreasing in importance.
Moreover, much like other industries, technology has a vital role to play.
Tech innovation is also on a continuously ascending path. There is no way to accurately predict its exact direction, only that it continues to evolve and shape the landscape of the industries associated with it.
However, failing to keep up with technological change is a drawback for companies as it means that you can fall behind your competitors.
And while there are some unfortunate events, such as infringements, that make you eligible for data breach compensation, there’s no denying the importance of technology.
Here are the latest trends in the translation industry to be aware of, as well as the ways in which their application will change the translation ecosystem.
Machine translation
It comes as no surprise that machine translation has gradually increased in importance and is currently one of the most prominent trends in the translation industry.
Machine translation is a rapidly growing field that uses computer algorithms and software to translate text from one language to another.
With the advent of advanced technologies and machine learning techniques, machine translation has come a long way since its inception and has revolutionised the way we communicate with people who speak different languages.
It is an automatic process that uses artificial intelligence to translate text automatically. The process is entirely digital and can operate without human intervention.
It is complex and there are several different aspects to it which include:
- RBMT: Rule-based machine translation is perhaps the most classical approach to the process. The translation is conducted based on grammatical rules and syntactic, morphological and semantic characteristics.
- SMT: Statistical machine translation focuses on statistical models created following the analysis of both mono- and bilingual data. After the patterns are completed, the system uses statistical distribution to determine the most probable translation.
- Neural Machine Translation: This process uses AI to learn languages and translate texts. This approach uses neural network tools to estimate the likelihood of a set of words in a given sequence.
- Hybrid Machine Translation: HMT integrates multiple techniques within a single system. Translators choose this method because, on its own, no paradigm can achieve optimal accuracy.
While AI-powered translations have been continuously developing and will continue to do so, the process is still not sufficiently attuned to the particularities and intricacies of language to provide perfect translations on its own.
However, it can help speed up the process for professional translators.
In the current economic environment, after businesses suffered significantly as a result of the pandemic, company owners aim to achieve optimal business turnaround and recover from this period of poor performance.
High-quality translations are an essential part of the process.
Pre-editing and post-editing in the translation industry
Just as machine translation software can help professional translators achieve a higher standard, human translators can also improve the tech-based process.
The process of pre-editing involves correcting any mistakes, whether in grammar, spelling or punctuation.
Removing any ambiguities and simplifying structures can also help the programs operate more efficiently.
In the case of post-editing, the machine translation output is reviewed in order to remove linguistic or semantic errors.
First, light editing is focused solely on the correct meaning. The second step, full post-edit, emphasises stylistic issues and aims to achieve a high-quality level comparable to human translation.
Specialised translations
Across all business sectors and industries, the demand for personalised experiences has constantly been growing.
Companies are no longer localised to a single area, as even small businesses aim to extend their area and reach a global audience.
However, to do this, correct translation solutions are needed to help you adapt and localise your content to new cultures and audiences.
Target consumers cannot be reached with the same strategy across the globe.
The process of transcreation is one of the most important factors here. The translator is tasked with conveying a business’s original marketing to a new audience, which means that virtually anything can change, including product names and labels.
The only thing that must remain intact is the original intent.
Choosing this marketing approach is beneficial for businesses, and those that acknowledge it will have an edge over their competitors.
Growing demand
One of the most critical trends in the translation industry this year is that the field itself continues to grow. This trend is due to increases in both international trades and the world population.
These societal changes have considerable implications for global issues such as climate change, environmentalism, discrimination, food insecurity, medical concerns, and economic vulnerabilities.
As governments and companies reach out to one another to create solutions to these challenges, translations are becoming more important than ever.
However, it is more appropriate to say that the demand is for high-quality, specialised translations.
Nowadays, anything that falls short of expectations is likely not going to stand a chance against its competitors.
SEO
Good translations are one of the building blocks of a strong business. Since marketing is essential, SEO has become increasingly valuable.
Multilingual SEO is even more sought after by business owners for its potential to expand a company’s international online presence.
This includes on- and off-page strategies and technical SEO tools to optimise the process.
Translations have existed for the better part of written history.
Rather than decreasing in importance, they are becoming more and more valuable, with technology helping make the process faster and more efficient.
by Marian Gomez | 12 Jul, 2022 | Translation services, VPNs
Securing data using a virtual private network (VPN), is important in the translation industry.
Digital technology has made communication services easier to provide and access on a global scale.
For translators, these tools have allowed language and interpretation experts to localise messages, media and content for business people and media audiences in their home language, sometimes in real time.
As beneficial as this can be, one of the drawbacks is that supplying services using the internet can be fraught with security risks.
It can be a major disadvantage for translators, handling private data and even processing online payments for their services.
Fortunately, VPNs were created as a solution to address many of these concerns.
Thus, if you work in translation and interpretation, here’s how VPNs can be an advantage to your service.
Network Security
Privacy and anonymity are key factors in why working professionals choose to use VPNs. They are also crucial for translators involved in exchanging crucial language information during international conflicts and civil unrest with the outside world.
They can interpret, translate, dub, and send written accounts to journalists, news media, criminal courts, and military allies that influence political outcomes.
VPNs are also useful for translators who work for international organisations that need real time translation using earpieces and live-streaming media.
In this case, VPNs for Kodi can be used to access and translate across live media without slowing down internet speeds.
Just as important, VPN’s privacy can prevent them from being traced later as it won’t collect and store browsing information.
Thus, VPN obscurity can keep them safe and allow them to continue providing translations.
Bypass Geo-blocking
As a translator, providing services across different cultures and countries, it’s essential for their income to remain accessible to clients around the world.
However, this isn’t always the case, as many find themselves unable to create profiles on freelance job boards because they’re blocked or restricted within a specific region.
Additionally, many websites with language knowledge and online resources that translators need to access for research purposes might also be blocked.
Many companies do this to comply with legal contracts and copyright laws in their country.
This is where VPNs can be beneficial to translators.
These virtual private networks have the ability to mask an IP address and bypass this geo-blocking, as the real location can’t be identified by the website they’re trying to access.
Thus, with the location changed to a permitted region, they’ll be able to advertise their services and reach clients anywhere in the world.
Prevent Data Breaches
Many freelance translators often work with companies that need sensitive and non-disclosed data and information translated for business purposes.
These could be commercial translations for global financial and trade institutions, pre-patented product information or government and diplomatic intelligence that needs translating from one language to another.
For translators to provide their language services, this sensitive information needs to be transferred digitally through file sharing.
However, this poses a big security risk.
For this reason, translators should ideally use a VPN to secure the network and encrypt data.
This is especially necessary if translators send and receive information from unsecured public network access points.
VPNs are therefore a useful protective measure to safeguard against potential cybercriminals who could attempt to hack the network, plant malware or breach data.
The VPN can then scramble the data so that it can’t be decoded, keeping it discrete.
In any case, you can use a data breach tracker and control the information to stay secure.
Accessibility When Travelling
Translators often have to travel abroad to provide in-person services for multilingual people and events.
As such, they need to take digital devices with them to work on, such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops.
The one issue with this is that when translators access accounts from different regions, it could be picked up and flagged by security monitoring software from banks, internet browsers, company websites, and the digital device itself.
This could be marked as suspicious activity and make it difficult and frustrating to access necessary accounts.
Thus, when using a VPN during travel, translators can avoid being locked out of corporate profiles such as cloud storage data that use authorisations necessary for doing their job overseas and any other remote working areas.
The VPN can set your location connection to your regular home address to prevent any security warnings from popping up.
Conclusion
VPNs offer immense benefits for translators who use the internet to provide their service. These private networks are useful for data privacy and encryption, corporate information and network security, anonymity, and easier accessibility when travelling.
Their use to generate a private network connection has assisted workers in the translation and interpretation industry in conducting their work in a safer online environment.
Additionally, they give freelance translators better opportunities to acquire more international clients and cultural insights for language accuracy and knowledge building that would’ve otherwise been restricted to them.
These are the key reasons why VPNs are essential to the translation service industry.
by Marian Gomez | 5 Jun, 2019 | Property Translation, Translation, Travel and Tourism
Property documentation translation is too important to be left to amateurs or to automatic machine translation engines such as Google Translate.
Even the smallest mistake could have disastrous consequences on your estate agency or holiday letting agent, causing a significant drop in your ROI. Find out just how to save your company from falling into this common trap…
The importance of working with professional translators
Your agency has everything it needs to succeed: an attractive website, beautiful photos of your properties, outstanding customer service, and your purchase or rental advertising is bringing in client after client.
Nevertheless, make sure you don’t lose your way when it comes to the translation of property documentation from English into any language your client may require.
Our professional translation agency specialises in the translation of property contracts and knows all the ins and outs of these documents, always making sure to maintain total accuracy.
These documents are the key point of contact between a future buyer or tenant and can make or break a deal.
We understand the importance of a well-translated contract, and we are always sure to provide our customers with a polished final translation.
Hire qualified, native translators
Our team of certified linguists have years of experience in the tourism and property sector and are therefore well-equipped to provide you with a contract in the language of your choice, respecting all the clauses of the original.
Do have a Russian buyer interested in a seaside villa or apartment? No problem!
BeTranslated’s translators based in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg will be assigned the task of translating the contract of sale into Russian.
The same applies to Chinese, Korean, Czech, or Arabic clients: we are happy to translate into any language commonly used in the property sector.
How to stand out in a booming sector
Our online translation agency also provides copywriting and SEO services for your property and tourism blogs in a large variety of languages – the perfect option to attract potential buyers from all around the world.
This customer outreach and marketing will help you stay a cut above the rest.
Our team of certified linguists can give you a helping hand to create quality content to turn even the biggest homebodies into potential international buyers or renters of property in the UK, USA, Spain, or elsewhere!
BeTranslated: your number one agency for property documentation translation
Our translation agency holds a sterling reputation in the property and tourist accommodation sectors and, in addition to legal documents such as contracts, we have an excellent track record providing content for blogs and rental sites all over the world.
This is thanks to the passion and work ethic of our team of language professionals who specialise in the field of property sale and rental in the UK and abroad.
We work with all file formats (even PDF) and on all online platforms such as WordPress or Drupal. Need a translation of a blog piece urgently from English into Spanish? No problem!
Our linguists are ready for anything, true pioneers of the online translation world.
Does your property rental or holiday villa estate agency need a boost to reach new international markets?
A well-executed localisation project might be just the ticket! Get in touch today for a quick, free, no-commitment quote!
