DeepL is the most accurate translator. That\u2019s its tagline and promise. We could even say that Deepl stole the limelight from us human translators.
\nMany companies wanted to try DeepL, Chat GPT, etc. to translate their content. Some of them just do with it as they only need to make the gross meaning understandable to people speaking a different language. But other companies who really have a clear selling strategy and understand the power of a compelling message decided to come back to human translation.
\nIn this article, I\u2019ll tell you about my clients, of tests they made with our help, freelance translators. We\u2019ll study the different problems and challenges so as the results and reasons of coming back to human translation.<\/p>\n
One of my clients who sends me digital marketing content to translate into French, announced that they wanted to test pretranslation of blogs with DeepL. My role as a linguist would evolve and I would have to correct and edit the pretranslation. Then, the proofreader would take his\/her role and check the text afterwards.
\nSince this client is a regular one, I accept the mission.
\nUnfortunately, results are bad, and in the end, I spend more time editing the content than if I had translated it myself. Here is why.
\nThis client operates in a niche, hospitality tech, and especially hotel tech. Consequently, the vocabulary is specific. DeepL does not know this specialism. So it does translate \u00ab\u00a0guests\u00a0\u00bb by \u00ab\u00a0people invited\u00a0\u00bb, invited suggesting that these people did not pay for their stay, which actually is a mistranslation.. DeepL also translates PMS by \u00ab\u00a0premenstrual syndrome\u00a0\u00bb although in hotel tech, a PMS is an operating system, a property management system. Translating PMS into premenstrual syndrome is a huge error as it\u2019s totally irrelevant to the topic. Such errors could impact brand image, reputation and trust.<\/p>\n
As a professional and skilled translator, I have to be very careful and correct these occurrences and not to forget any of them. This work is additional to a typical translation. Indeed, as I know my client context and specialism, I already know the accurate translations for the above terminology. If I had translated directly myself, I would not have to chase and track these repeated errors. This work is more exhausting on the cognitive plan. If I translate directly, it\u2019s more efficient and my effort makes less effort. It\u2019s a real time saver, opposite to what you would think at first, that machine translation will be faster.<\/p>\n
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\u201cR\u00e9pandre le bouche-\u00e0-oreille\u201d is another example of a translation suggested by DeepL
\nor \u00ab Sweetheart special \u00bb in the context of a special offer for a CRM platform translated by \u00ab sp\u00e9cial c\u0153ur de jeune fille \u00bb \u201cdedicated to young girls heart\u201d in an emailing campaign. L\u2019IA would then be sexist\u00a0? Or Black Friday literally translated \u00ab vendredi noir \u00bb.
\nOn the opposite, these errors have a huge cost and they don\u2019t inspire trust.
\nHere again, machine translation is generic and does not take the context into account. In specialism, AI is inefficient and synonym of time loss and consequently loss of money.
\nA specialized translator knows the terminology associated to his\/her field of expertise. The linguist won\u2019t then do the error and will immediately write the adequate term. It is consequently useless to use pretranslation step which would be counterproductive. Entrusting your projects to a professional translator represents on many aspects a smart investment.<\/p>\n
Back to the tests done for the hotel tech company, but it could be applied to machine translation in general.
\nMachine translation creates an availability and anchoring bias. What are these biases ? Availability bias refers to preferring and overestimating information immediately available to our memory. It\u2019s the same for a pretranslated text displayed to you. It\u2019s more difficult for the human brain to detach, to take some distance with what it\u2019s right under your eyes. It demands extra effort to the brain. On the opposite, if there is no suggestion right from the start, the brain is not biased et can immediately find a better language solution.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Anchoring bias refers to the same concept as a whole. MailChimp<\/a> provides a definition.<\/p>\n Anchoring bias, sometimes called departure point bias describes our tendency to rely too much on the first information we receive. When we take a decision, our first point of reference often acts as an anchor. It\u2019s more or less the same as what happens during a negotiation. The rate given at first is an anchor.<\/p>\n Proofreaders report unpredictability, unreliability and increased attention when they proofread a post-edited text (correction of a machine translation), even if a translator already worked on the text. Anchoring and availability bias really influence the translation and have an impact on the cost of a post-edition service as it increases the time spent on the project.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As we don\u2019t just take your words to transpose them into another language. We take the time to listen to and to understand your message and intent before creating the adequate message in our native language.<\/p>\n You now know three good reasons to be skeptical about DeepL and machine translation in general for your marketing content. After these tests, and in most experiences, linguists and clients realize that in niche or specialised fields, this technology produces unsatisfying output. Worse, it generates more work and consequently more costs. In marketing, translation suggestions of machine translation are too generic. It does not convey the adequate tone nor is able to respect a style guide or a tone.<\/p>\n Using it is tempting, but to correct a machine translation output, ie to post-edit, is an exhausting task, counterproductive because of the mentioned bias. Even proofreaders and reviewers report it. A specialised translator will help you save time as she\/he will be able to find the adequate terminology immediately, and will be more meticulous in producing a excellent result.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That\u2019s why many companies come back to human adaptation, which performs better when you do B2B and talk to skilled professionals.<\/p>\n What about you? What will you choose? After reading this article, does it confirm your trust in human linguists\u00a0? Have you decided to reconsider collaborating with a human translator rather than to use AI? I\u2019m all ears and available for a chat with you <\/a>\u00a0to talk about it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" DeepL is the most accurate translator. That\u2019s its tagline and promise. We could even say that Deepl stole the limelight from us human translators. Many companies wanted to try DeepL, Chat GPT, etc. to translate their content. Some of them just do with it as they only need to make the gross meaning understandable to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-classe","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elowords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elowords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elowords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elowords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elowords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=929"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.elowords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":933,"href":"https:\/\/www.elowords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929\/revisions\/933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elowords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elowords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elowords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Entrust your translations to skilled and experienced professionals and not to DeepL<\/h2>\n