Hiring professional translation services make sense when your business or organization is seeking to expand internationally. That way, you can get accurate and high-quality translations that can enable effective communication, without language barriers. While professional translators guarantee accuracy and delivery within an agreed time frame, there may be projects that require machine translation, which is automated but does not guarantee precision. That does not stop there, as translators will still review the machine translated text. The service is known as machine translation post editing, which represents a perfect combination of a translator’s competence and advanced technology.

Machine translation technologies contributed to the growing need for applications and software that can minimize processing times and translation costs. Machine translation post editing is the answer to that requirement, as it applies the expertise and skills of a professional translator to the machine-translated process. The goal of the service is to provide the highest possible quality on the translated text before it is delivered to you.

That said, not every text is ideal for machine translation post editing. The starting point, which is automatic translation, still needs human editing. The process is also more practical with some combinations of languages and some kinds of texts, such as repetitive and technical texts. It is not advisable for translating advertising and creative materials, which require human translation as they are intended for publication.

When you hire a professional translation team, they can conduct a preliminary assessment of the text and advise you on whether machine translation post editing is accurate. They will define the rest of the process for post-editing. With your agreement, they may conduct a simple grammar and spelling check on the machine translated text, or they may do comprehensive changes to the style and terminology to ensure better consistency, flow, and readability.

Until machine translation technologies become sophisticated and capable of working like the human brain, professional translators will still be needed to go over the machine-translated texts. Machine translation post editing offers the ability and speed of automated translators for handling large amounts of text, and the sensitivity and skill of professional linguists.