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.