Why Human Translation is better than Machine Translation

With the increasing globalization of economy and the development of new trade relationships between companies, there is a growing need for effective communication between people who speak different languages. For instance, imagine a company based in India that procures raw materials for productions from China. Now, without employing the services of language translation agencies, it would be impossible to have effective communication. Therefore, in order to do business beyond one’s native region, translation is essential.

Now, depending upon the requirement, translation itself can be done in two ways – Machine Translation and Human Translation. Whether you talk about business manuals, websites, promotions, brochures or magazines, Human Translation is the better alternative.

Machine translation is one of the simplest forms of translation. There are plenty of tools available for Machine translation and one of the most popular ones is Google Translate. However, fast and easy as it is, Machine Translation isn’t the most effective way. The reason is that the computer doing the translation cannot take into account the different intricacies of language like metaphors, idioms and proverbs – and as a result, the translated message can often be very different from what was intended by the sender of the message. This is why it is necessary to avail services of translation services in Delhi and other metro cities of the world – depending upon where your business is based.

Here are five differences between human and machine translation that show why you should prefer the former:

Tonality and style

Computers do not have a firm grasp of tonality and style and they are unable to understand the nuances that can lead to disastrous translations. For example: shock and surprise are similar words but depending upon the context, they can have different meanings. While a human translator can recognize this, computers can’t.

Understanding of culture

Every culture has its values and traditions. While translating the content, one has to be careful not to write something that might offend the people. Unlike computers, humans based upon their experience, can exercise their discretion in that regard.

Homonyms

Homonyms – or words with multiple meanings are a big roadblock for computer translators. There are many words in almost every language which can mean different things based upon the context in which they are used. For instance, take the word ‘nail’. It could mean a piece of hardware or the act of hammering that piece of hardware or many other things. What it means would depend upon the context in which it is used. While a human translator can easily identify the context, computers have difficulty in doing so.

Quality

Since computers are unable to identify different contexts, cultural references, idioms and proverbs etc, they can’t very well maintain the quality and a lot is lost in translation. But if you hire translation services in Delhi, you can get a team of dedicated human translators who would make sure that the essence of the message remains intact while translating.

Translation Types

Computer-based translation is always very literal and it can sometimes be very problematic. A word-for-word translation can lead to a lot of misinterpretation – especially in regard to idioms. If you hire a human translator, he/she can interpret the cultural component, a linguistic and semantic factor present in the source text. Thus, the translation would be more accurate.