The Increasing Impact of Technology on Translation

 

The Increasing Impact of Technology on Translation

The long-expected technical revolution is here. Electronic translation is no longer just a free sample on the internet. It is now entering the ‘real’ economy of the translation industry and it changes everything.

The translation and localization industry is changing quickly. This annual snapshot of the future emphasises on three main areas: technology, translation and localization services and languages.

A Short History of the Translation Industry

Over a period of four decades, the translation industry has gone through efficient shifts of transformation, instigated by changes in the business and technological environment.

Quality analysis tools, enhanced connectivity and improved translation memories are all playing a vital role in this.

A lot of people automatically portray machine translation – Google Translate, when you mention the impact of technology on translation. Artificial intelligence (AI) in the translation industry is certainly something that needs to be inspected. But that’s far from the only way in which advancing tech is affecting industry translations.

Individual translators are using a variety of technological innovations to ramp up both the speed at which they work and the quality. This means that they can produce better translations in less time, leading to the potential to earn more or to enjoy more free time, depending on the individual translator’s priorities.

 

We’ve already seen AI in use in different ways within the translation and localization industry and this is certainly going to continue. The probability is simply huge. Its usage for natural language processing (NLP) is a good instance of this.

Improved Quality

Good translation jobs urge the highest quality output. When technology is used to enhance output quality, the improved results are always a great thing. Today, there are modern tools that can be used in quality analysis and documentation, to ensure that everything is of the highest achievable quality. They can even be working during the translation process to enhance accuracy and consistency.

Improved Productivity

Technology can be employed to help accelerate the overall translation process. This reduces work hours and allows for better quality control while giving translation companies the capacity to take up more work. Simple approach like being able to translate content immediately it comes online as against to doing everything in batches have remarkable impacts on the overall turn around times and speeds. Eventually, this time saved adds up, and the translation companies will be able to have less content work. This means quicker turn around times for customers.

Better Connectivity

Since modern translation methods demand the utilisation of several different tools, it is necessary to make sure that all these tools communicate with each other. Compatibility is a must because files need to be moved from one source to another. Having a network of interconnected tools saves a lot of time, effort and money in the long run, easing the translation process as a whole. Additionally, translation services can be very useful for many industries, mainly for customer service. The technological improvements in translation have enhanced the quality of customer service as they have to constantly interact with people from different countries and who speak different languages. This makes up their work easy and decreases their working hours trying to translate themselves or seeking help from professional translators.

E-commerce

Translation automation has changed the e-commerce industry. Researches have shown that 72% of consumers spend all their time on websites in their native languages. This shows that if you are an e-commerce business, you have access to 72% of an opportunity by simply listing in that particular language. When 50% of people believe products in languages that they speak, and 54% of consumers trust language is more crucial than price, the importance of good, high-quality translation in the e-commerce industry becomes more and more evident. Furthermore, many e-commerce shops now use this technology to  personalise coupons for particular countries and tailor them for their language, making the clients feel valued and cared for.

High Tech Trends

The use of technology in translation has brought with it vital trends that are fastly changing the translation industry landscape. Some of these trends include:

Machine Translation

The use of machine translation and AI helps to get increasingly more accurate and natural results. Presently, deep learning algorithms are setting the momentum when it comes to the realms of possibility. Machine learning technologies can study material that is fed into it and produce similar results when new material or challenges are established. There are several solutions that can produce professional level translation results especially for repetitive translation projects with no cultural factors. However, machines are getting smarter, and they will soon be able to handle everything that is thrown at them regardless of complications.

Computer Aided Translation Tools

More and more free translation tools are being introduced every day. Each of these tools have their own distinctive sets of features, which make them possible to achieve a large variety of tasks right from your computer. This has made the everyday translation task much easier and more systematic. The current style is the simplification of most of these tools.

Paying For Customized Data

This is another style in the translation industry. AI requires the collection and storage of large amounts of data that are then kept and utilised at a later stage. In the translation industry, this can be of crucial importance, since machine memory is basically the pillar of the technology. The ease and comfort of personalised services is also an added advantage. However, some privacy responsibilities come with this approach. In the end, however, most people are willing to surrender a little bit of their privacy to take advantage of the perks that come with customisation. Luckily, with the leaps and bounds being made in technological inventions, robust privacy solutions are increasingly more achievable and accessible to the average user.