Human Translation Versus Machine Translation - Dealing with the Complexities of languages

Tomedes translation agency provides professional human translation services for business customers and individuals around the world. We are committed to always providing human translation, as machine translation is not yet sufficiently sophisticated to translate documents with the understanding and nuance that human translators provide.

Computers are extremely fast at translating individual words and even short phrases, but when it comes to translating lengthy passages of text, their abilities are somewhat lacking. That’s why we commit to using professional human translators for every translation job that we undertake.

Human translation includes the ability to translate the meaning of a sentence, rather than just the words and, importantly, it allows for the comprehension of idioms. A machine might translate an expression such as ‘he was known for burning the midnight oil’ literally, whereas a professional human translator would be able to find a similar idiom in the target language, or else translate it as ‘he was known for working late into the night.’ Reading the translation from the machine would be a confusing experience for the reader, while the human translation would make sense.

Humans are also able to identify and deal with typographical errors and abbreviations in a way that machines cannot always match. ‘It was there dog’ would generate a literal (and incorrect) translation from a machine, whereas a professional human translator would (correctly) translate ‘it was their dog.’

The complexities of languages, with their nuances, inflections, double entendres and idioms mean that, until machine translation improves dramatically, the only way to ensure your translation is of decent quality is to use a professional human translation service. That’s why Tomedes only ever uses human translators – machines are not capable of living up to our exacting standards. They may be at some point in the future, but for the moment human translation is absolutely essential.