Anyone who has dabbled in other languages has seen the “free translation” websites where you can type in a phrase or URL and it will magically translate the information into another language.  This is called “machine translation” or “computer translation”.  But, do these work?

The answer is that machine translation is about 80% - 90% accurate.  Is that “good enough” for YOUR international corporate image?  Likely not.

Depending on the type of translation and how it will be used, there are times when machine translation is a good resource.  Other times, especially for external communication, your translation should only be done by a professional, human translator.

• Informal Translation.  If you are casually obtaining information and want to “see” what something says, having a computer do a rough draft of the translation is usually fine.  It’s not perfect, but you would never pay anyone to translate it anyway.  For informal, personal translations like blogs, product reviews, and tweets; machine translation does pretty well.  If there are errors, hopefully your customers will understand.
   
• News / Basic Information Translation.  Because the computer programs are populated with the translations of common phrases and contexts, if the text is basic, plain, and straight to the point; machine translation has a high accuracy rate with only an occasional error.  Use with caution.
   
• Specialized Translation.  If you have a legal, medical, scientific, engineering, or technical document which needs translated; machine translation does a poor job since the text is complicated and many times very unique.  The translation programs have not been programmed with many of the terms and phrases found in these original documents.  The computer does not know how to translate them.  This is especially a concern when translating documents which if there are errors in the translation, it could be a matter of life or death.
   
• Poems, Novels, Stories.  Writing is an art.  Because of that, we like to read the writings of certain authors because they have a unique way of painting us a mental picture through their clever use of the language.  While a machine translation can give you an idea of what the text says, it destroys the beauty and passion which goes along with the words.  A person buying a book translated by a machine wouldn’t get past the first page before wanting to throw it in the trash.  Definitely, true writing can only be done by translators who are experienced in writing words and phrases to accurately convey the emotions and feelings of the original language.
   
• Advertising Text.  I’ve seen copywriters spend days and weeks writing and rewriting text used in a brochure, postcard or television commercial.  Every word and expression is carefully considered for the biggest impact upon their target market.  Advertising text normally includes idioms and cultural references which only a human translator can rewrite into their own culture or for their native country.  No machine could ever earn the trust of a true copywriter.

While machine translation is fine for informal, causal translation, it should NOT be used by businesses and authors when translating their materials into another language for distribution in print or on the web.

You have worked too hard carefully writing and developing your personal and business image for it to be tainted or even destroyed by a machine in order to save a couple of bucks.