Deciding between generic or customized MT engines

What should you consider before deciding?

Choosing the right MT engine can be challenging, especially if you don’t know which engine has the best features and customizations for your project. 

Implementing the wrong MT engine, whether generic or customized, can lead to poor results and higher costs, resulting in linguistic mistakes that are out of context and lack any specific writing style. 

When translating a text with a professional translator specialized in, for example, Banking or Marketing, the final result can lead to higher accuracy in the text. The same will happen if we work with a customized MT engine trained in a specific domain with additional contextual information to increase accuracy in the final project. 

There are different levels of performance in a customized MT engine. So here are some things to consider when choosing the correct MT.

Choosing the right MT engine can take time. Therefore, getting feedback from the translators and post-editors working on the project is essential. 

In Episode 5, our expert Laura Casanellas tells us more about the different types of MT engines you can find and tips for choosing the right MT and what to consider.

In this episode, Patricia Freitag, our expert in translation and post-editing, also shares her experience and gives some examples of common mistakes when translating with a generic or customized engine. 

“There are many common errors, some are bigger, and some are easier to spot,” says Patricia Freitag. 

That is why the post-editor must work as part of the process to detect any issues in the translation. 

Some examples of issues our expert Patrica shared are:  

  • Words that can be used in many industries like “chip.” Depending on the context, the meaning can change. 
  • Punctuation issues like .pdf – some MT would put a space after the period
  • Product names – e.g., YouTube
  • Association between segments can be an issue when translating from ENG to POR, for example.

You can watch more common errors and examples to consider when choosing an MT engine for your projects in Episode 6 – Usual and unusual errors in Portuguese- The TextTrans experience.

In most cases and projects, a machine translation post-editing expert will be required to eliminate issues and provide better quality for the project. 

In conclusion, choosing the best MT engine will depend on the project. 

We encourage you to watch our video series ‘Adventures in Machine Translation’ to help you choose the right generic or customized MT engine and the things you should consider before making the final decision. 

You can also contact us at TextTrans; we will be happy to provide you with more information.

And if you want to know more about our experts, you can watch Episode 1 of our adventure series.

What is the secret to high-quality post-editing?

What is the secret to high-quality post-editing? Are quality expectations different for post-edited content than for translated content?

Machine translation post-editing (MTPE) is the process where pre-translated text by a machine translation (MT) engine is then reviewed by a specialized post-editor meeting the specific project needs and the quality standards required. 

MT can enhance and facilitate the translator’s work by making the process faster and increasing their speed to be able to translate large quantities of texts in a shorter space of time.

MTPE also involves providing the desired level of output quality depending on the client requirements.  In the industry, there are two types of post-editing:

  • Light post-editing (LPE) – the text is modified by the post-editor to make sure the text is legible and accurately conveys the meaning of the source document, ensuring that the main ideas are clear in the target language. 
  • Full post-editing (FPE) – the text is thoroughly reviewed and edited to ensure that there are no errors, focusing on accuracy and legibility. This can also include stylistic factors.

Assuring high-quality results from MTPE requires many steps, not only the actual post-editing but also reviewing source texts, creating a termbase, research, and more.

In the 3rd episode of our Adventure in Machine Translation Series, our experts talk about the differences between post-editing and translation, the importance of providing post-editing services with trained translators, the secret to high-quality post-editing, and other topics. 

You can watch the video here: 

Episode 3 – What is the secret to high-quality post-editing

But let’s not stop there…

These days it is not only important to provide translation and MT services, but to have trained and specialized translators in MTPE. It is important that language specialists and the client share information in order to meet the quality expectations. This makes sure that the quality and accuracy of the text are met, as well as the client’s expectations. 

In Episode 4, Patricia Freitag and Laura Casanellas talk about the essential elements for post-editing, some of the common errors, and what to expect when we use MT as a tool. Additionally, they address topics like skills translator specialists should have, preparing and empowering professionals in the translation industry, and how to get the most out of MT services.

As many questions about MT and MTPE appear, you can learn more about the answers by watching the video here:

Episode 4 – Errors, expectations and editing? What do you need to know?

If you want to see more of our episodes, we invite you to visit our YouTube channel and our LinkedIn profile for more updates.

Is my content suitable for Machine Translation?

The demand for content is constantly increasing, and users expect this content to be available in their language almost immediately. 

Being able to communicate with customers in their language shows them respect and care. This adds value to your company and your loyal customers. But translating large amounts of content can take a long time and can be expensive. 

Recent developments in technology have enabled massive improvements in Machine Translation (MT). Large amounts of content can be translated quickly with the aid of MT, maintaining high-quality levels and reducing costs. 

In this second episode of our series, our experts Laura Casanellas, from MagicBeans Agency, and Patricia Freitag, our Linguistic Lead at TextTrans, provide a deeper understanding of which content works best with MT. 

Our experts discuss topics like content types, syntax, creative language, the difference between European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese when using MT, and much more. 

Click on the video below to watch their conversation!


If you want to watch the first episode and get to know more about our experts, please click in the link below.

Adventures in Machine Translation Series

As you know MT is becoming more important in our industry and is here to stay. 

We thought it might be interesting for you to learn about some of the specificities of Machine Translation at TextTrans. So we have created a short series of videos to dig deeper on the topic providing you with two different perspectives in MT from two experts in the area.

Our experts are Laura Casanellas from MagicBeans Agency and Patricia Freitag, our Linguistic Lead at TextTrans.

Laura Casanellas has 20 years of experience in the localization industry and 10 years as an MT consultant. She currently works assisting companies with Machine Translation, Technology, and Language Quality implementations.

Laura Casanellas Luri
Machine Translation Expert
Magic Beans Agency

Patricia has over 10 years of experience in translation and reviewing and is specialized in English to Portuguese post-editing and in translator training. Additionally, she is currently completing her PhD research in the use of natural language in translation.

Patricia Freitag
Linguistic Lead at TextTrans

In the series Laura and Patricia will discuss many topics related to MT like:

  • Which Content is suitable
  • Post-editing best practices
  • Common errors to avoid
  • MT implementation success stories
  • MT providers and CAT tools
  • and many more…

Get to know these two experts and their experience in the first short video here!