Post-Edited Machine Translation (PEMT) is a powerful hybrid solution that combines the efficiency of machine translation with the human touch for professional post-editing. As the demand for multilingual content continues to grow, machine translation has become an indispensable tool for many businesses and organizations. The machine translation market is even predicted to hit $1.5 billion by 2024 with steady growth every year.

However, machine translation is not without its limitations. The result leads to an awkward translation and a lack of nuances or cultural sensitivity, resulting in a poor-quality translation. This is where PEMT comes to the rescue to help boost productivity while delivering a high-maintained translation. In this article, we will discuss what PEMT is, its applications, and best practices for achieving the best results.

What is PEMT?

Post-Edited Machine Translation or PEMT is a process that involves the use of machine translation (MT) followed by human post-editing. It consists of editing, reviewing, and correcting the result of machine translation for better output. It's a versatile approach that bridges the gap between fully automated translation and traditional human translation, making it ideal for various scenarios.

Despite increasing the speed, the result of machine translation is often awkward as it lacks cultural sensitivity. Therefore, it requires a human touch to make the flow better and sound accurate.

Translators need to compare the result of machine translation with the source text for clarity and accuracy before improving the text. The post-editor ensures that the translation is not only accurate but also contextually appropriate, fluent, and culturally sensitive.

Advantages of Post-Edited Machine Translation

Post-Edited Machine Translation offers several advantages that include the following points:

Efficiency

The consistency offered by PEMT is another dimension of its efficiency. Machine translation, when used as a base, ensures that terminology and style remain uniform across all translated content. This is especially important for businesses that need to maintain a consistent brand image and message globally. Speed Machine translation, as the initial phase, provides instantaneous results. When coupled with a talented team of post-editors, PEMT ensures that these initial translations are rapidly refined and improved. As a result, businesses can keep pace with the constant demand for fresh content and updates.

For news outlets and media companies that need to publish breaking stories in multiple languages simultaneously, PEMT is a game-changer. It allows them to provide their global readership with the latest news as it unfolds, maintaining their position at the forefront of the industry.

Cost-Effective

PEMT stands out as a cost-effective solution for organizations looking to manage their translation budget efficiently. It can reduce the cost of the translation process when compared to traditional human translation.

This is especially advantageous for companies with extensive translation requirements, such as e-commerce platforms that need to translate many product descriptions, customer reviews, and support documents.

The cost-effectiveness of PEMT is further accentuated by the ability to customize machine translation engines. Many businesses operate within niche industries with specialized terminology and context-specific language requirements.

PEMT allows them to fine-tune the machine translation system to suit these unique needs. This customization not only enhances the quality of the initial machine-generated translations but also streamlines the post-editing process. As a result, the cost per word for post-editing can be significantly lower compared to general-purpose machine translation engines.

Types of Texts that Make the Best Candidate for PEMT

Post-Edited Machine Translation (PEMT) is well-suited for a wide range of texts and content types, but certain categories of texts are particularly well-suited to this translation approach. In some cases, machine translation only can be enough, like in instructions or manuals that try to reach a common understanding.

Generally, PEMT works best for high-volume content as it helps speed things up. Here are some examples of text types that are the best candidates for PEMT:

Blog posts
News articles
Technical documents
Informal documents
Email correspondence and customer support
E-commerce product description
Internal documents

However, it’s worth noting that you must be extremely careful when using PEMT for the following documents:

Marketing content or campaign copy, because they usually consist of wordplay and wits to attract readers.
Texts that need extensive background knowledge, such as law, science, and engineering.
UI/UX copy, because they usually come in small segments and are highly dependent on the context.

Finally, there are texts that are inherently unsuitable for both machine translation and PEMT, such as literary works and imaginative ideas.

Steps to Do Post-Edited Machine Translation

Starting a Post-Edited Machine Translation (PEMT), a structured approach is crucial to ensure the quality, accuracy, and efficiency of the translation process. This involves breaking down the process into distinct steps, each serving a specific purpose. Here are the key steps to follow when performing Post-Edited Machine Translation:

1. Preparation

This phase involves setting the stage for a successful translation project. It's important to establish clear guidelines, define project goals, and gather the necessary resources. Here's what you should consider during the preparation phase:

Content Selection

Determine the content that needs to be translated and categorize it based on priority, audience, and purpose. Some content may require a full human translation, while others are suitable for PEMT.

Develop a Guideline

Create comprehensive guidelines that outline the tone, style, terminology, and any specific instructions for the translation. These guidelines ensure consistency across all translations and align the content with your brand or communication objectives.

Terminology Glossary

Develop a terminology glossary that includes industry-specific or company-specific terms. This glossary serves as a reference for both the machine translation system and the post-editors, maintaining consistency in terminology.

Resource Allocation

Assign roles and responsibilities to the translation team. This includes selecting the machine translation system, engaging professional post-editors, and designating a project manager to oversee the process.

Data Security

Ensure that data security measures are in place to protect sensitive or confidential information throughout the translation process. Implement confidentiality agreements with post-editors and machine translation providers as needed.

2. Quality Assurance and Testing

The next phase of Post-Edited Machine Translation is checking the quality. It helps maintain translation quality and verify that the chosen machine translation system is well-suited to the project. Here's what to focus on during this step:

MT Engine Selection

Validate the choice of the machine translation engine by assessing its performance on sample content. Ensure that it aligns with your project's language pairs, content type, and industry-specific requirements. Customization If necessary, fine-tune the machine translation system by customizing it to match your specific terminology and style preferences. This step improves the initial quality of machine-generated translations.

Quality Control

Implement quality control checks, including automated checks for terminology consistency, grammar, and style. This ensures that the output from the machine translation engine meets predefined quality standards.

Testing

Pilot test the chosen machine translation system and the associated post-editing process on a small sample of content. Gather feedback from post-editors to fine-tune the system and address any potential issues.

Feedback Loop

Establish a feedback loop with post-editors, content creators, and the project manager to address any questions, concerns, or challenges related to the translation process. This ongoing communication helps to improve translation quality and project efficiency.

3. Post-Editing Translation

The third step involves the actual post-editing of machine-generated translations. This is where professional post-editors bring their expertise to refine and enhance the translations. Here's what you should focus on during the post-editing phase:

Collaborate with Experienced Post-Editors

Collaborate with skilled and experienced post-editors fluent in the target language and well-versed in the subject matter. Their role is to review and revise the machine-generated translations to make them accurate, fluent, and contextually appropriate.

Contextual Understanding

Ensure that post-editors have access to any contextual information or reference materials that can aid in the post-editing process. This may include background information about the content, industry-specific knowledge, and any cultural nuances that could impact the translation.

Stylistic Improvements

Post-editors work on improving the overall style and flow of the translation. They focus on making the content read naturally in the target language while adhering to the established style guidelines.

Terminology Adherence

Post-editors also should rigorously adhere to the defined terminology glossary to maintain consistency across all translated content. They correct any terminology inconsistencies and ensure that industry-specific terms are used accurately.

Grammar and Linguistic Checks

Correct any grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and linguistic issues in the machine-generated translation. Post-editors ensure that the translation adheres to the grammatical rules and conventions of the target language.

4. Final Checking

The final step in the PEMT process involves a comprehensive review to ensure that the post-edited translations meet the established quality standards.

That is the last chance to catch any errors or issues before the translated content is finalized and delivered. Here's what to focus on during the final checking phase:

Quality Assessment

Conduct a final quality assessment to verify that the post-edited translations align with the project's quality standards. This assessment includes checks for terminology consistency, style adherence, and linguistic appropriateness.

Feedback

Consider any feedback provided by post-editors during the post-editing phase and address any outstanding issues or questions. Ensure that the feedback loop remains open for collaboration and improvement. Formatting and Layout Review the formatting and layout of the translated content to ensure that it matches the original document's structure and presentation. This step is crucial for materials with specific formatting requirements, such as marketing collateral.

Check the Cultural Sensitivity

Verify that the translated content is culturally sensitive and suitable for the target audience. Ensure that any cultural nuances have been correctly handled in the translation.

Final Review

Engage a final reviewer or proofreader to conduct a final review of the content. This additional layer of review helps catch any remaining errors or inconsistencies.

Delivery

Once the final checking phase is complete and the translations meet the desired quality standards, deliver the translated content to its intended audience through the chosen distribution channels.

Final Thought

The key benefits of Post-Edited Machine Translation (PEMT) are multifaceted and adaptable to a wide range of industries and content types. Efficiency, scalability, cost-effectiveness, and speed are attributes that enable organizations to meet their translation needs efficiently and cost-effectively while keeping pace with the demands of a globalized world.

PEMT offers a dynamic solution to overcome language barriers and enhance global reach. Combining the speed and scalability of machine translation with the expertise of human post-editors, PEMT can deliver high-quality translations that maintain accuracy and cultural sensitivity.

As the demand for multilingual content continues to rise, PEMT is likely to play an increasingly prominent role in overcoming language barriers and expanding global reach.