Machine Translation (MT) can be a powerful tool, but you should never trust it blindly. A thorough read-through of the generated target text is always a must, especially for legal texts. Usually, some changes or reformulations are necessary (so-called “post-editing”). However, there are some steps you can take to improve the results of MT before having your text translated to lessen the post-editing workload. Take a look at some of the following options to get the best out of your machine translation.
Choosing the right MT engine (for you)
~ There is no one-size-fits-all solution. ~
Assess your needs and choose the MT engine that best suits them. Here are some aspects to consider:
• Confidentiality & data protection (especially for legal translation)
• Regional language variants (especially for a Swiss target audience)
• Technicality of the texts you want to translate (especially for legal & financial translation):
specialised MT engine <=> technical documents
general MT engine <=> everyday texts
Writing the source text
If you know that your text will need to be translated (e.g., multilingual directives, general terms & conditions, other client information), keep these points in mind during the initial writing process:
• Avoid any ambiguities
• Try to keep the layout and formatting of your text simple (e.g., no unnecessary sentence breaks, no column text, etc.)
• Make sure your text does not contain any spelling or grammar mistakes
• Do not write in convoluted sentences
• Be consistent with your terminology
text as clear and “clean” as possible = higher quality MT output = less post-editing necessary
Pre-editing existing source texts
Pre-editing: the act of adjusting an existing text (e.g., a court decision, a contract, articles of incorporation) before having it translated by MT, following the same principles mentioned above (See: Writing the source text). Pre-editing may include (depending on the quality of the original source text):
• Correcting:
– Spelling mistakes/typos
– Grammar errors
– Missed punctuation marks
• Rewriting:
– Ambiguous passages
– Entire paragraphs in order to simplify sentence structure
A careful preparation of the source text produces better MT results. Therefore, it significantly reduces the post-editing workload.