How to Benefit AI in the Translation and Localization Industry

Translating with artificial intelligence is nothing more than translating with automatic learning systems of neural networks, refined over time. For this reason, the solutions provided by these tools are much more natural than those of machine translation, although a large part of their basis lies in it.

And speaking of machine translation, it is the undisputed predecessor of the automation of tasks or translations in particular. This is the case of post-editing; however, a post-editing job without human revision is nothing more than a text that can be understood, but would hardly be defined as a translation in its own right. If equivalents of the original text have been translated literally into the target text, without taking into account its idiosyncrasies, culture and context, how can it be included in the category of a human translation?

It is another matter if we as professionals make use of software programmes that allow us to carry out our work in a practical and enjoyable way, but without the end result suffering. Why can’t we follow the same train of thought for artificial intelligence applied to translation, then?

Moreover, AI has long been used not only in translation and localization, but also in copywriting or marketing tasks, either for inspiration or as a resource to be used for a professional assignment. Be that as it may, one thing is clear: however much artificial intelligence helps us (which it does quite well), AI translation technology is no match for the human brain. And we doubt that it will be in the near future.

How Sawatech Integrates AI Solutions

Artificial intelligence is at the forefront of the industry, as well as Sawatech. So you would expect us to use AI to improve everything we can in terms of our work. And we always say that we prefer to try and make mistakes, as it is never too late to learn from them, rather than to be left with the doubt of improving results for our clients.

The use of artificial intelligence provides advantages in different areas, such as translations based on machine translation, quality assurance assignments, content management and localization and workflow’s automation, among others. Let’s take a look at them!

Quality Assurance

Part of our process is that, in translation and localization, the result is as polished as possible. However, errors do exist, and some of them are easily correctable if it were not for absent-mindedness. For that, artificial intelligence gives us a hand: it takes care of avoiding that number of errors (coherence, syntactic and typos everywhere).

It is true that we as translators, thanks to our training and experience, are more than capable of dealing with this problem. However, a little help never hurts.

Terminology Management

Similarly, artificial intelligence has an advantage in one aspect: maintaining the internal coherence of a text, because our human memory is finite and limited, i.e. it can remember certain data, but perhaps not the huge amount that an AI can handle in a matter of seconds.

The same goes for glossaries, because if we use a specific glossary for a client, it is easy for them to implement guidelines.

Content Management and Localization

Translation and localization are not only used to give a text a natural flair so that people receive the same message as in the original, but also to win customers in the business world. Artificial intelligence is therefore very useful for building a brand’s digital reputation, as well as for translating into different languages in less time without losing as much quality as we might think in the process.

What’s more, it can even serve as a source of inspiration through tools like ChatGPT. It is not the same to start a copywriting or content localization job from scratch as it is to start with a base, even if you use only a small percentage of it at the end. The important thing is that it has awakened the muse that governs our thinking and in that it works one hundred percent.

Workflow Automation

The icing on the cake is, without a doubt, that artificial intelligence saves not only time on certain tasks, but also costs for the client and for us as a translation company.

Moreover, the use of AI is especially noticeable in large or multinational companies that need their texts to be understood in different markets as quickly as possible, which is why they are turning to this hybrid automation between machine translation and futuristic robotics.

Challenges and Limitations of AI in Translation

But what glitters may not be gold, indeed. The human factor is still essential for artificial intelligence, as well as machine translation, to produce acceptable or quality results. Without it, as we have already mentioned, translations should not be classified as such.

On the other hand, creativity, critical sense and processing of both language and information is diametrically opposed: to begin with, an artificial intelligence has no creative mechanisms per se. It only relies on data that has been put into its mind and which, at best, it will associate appropriately. Nor does it know how to give personal responses (in any case, “artificial ones”) or learn new information except in rare cases. It is therefore adaptive and functional, but depending on the case.

Another element that should be highlighted is to what extent it could be used with regard to data protection or confidentiality, and how sensitive it is on a cultural level to avoid misunderstandings or problems with translation and localization of content.