Post-editing service
What is our post-editing service?
Post-editing involves reviewing a text that has been pre-translated using a neural machine translation (NMT) engine to make it intelligible with a human feel. The post-editing is done by a human translator, whose role is to edit, correct, rework, revise and proofread the raw, pre-translated text.
NMT works thanks to artificial intelligence, and is now able to put words in context. Like the human brain, it learns: the more the machine is fed with texts and writings produced in all languages, the more accurate its translation will be.
However, machine translation generally does not provide sufficiently satisfactory results and always requires input from a human translator.
The experts who provide post-editing services are called “post-editors”, and they are generally the same linguists we turn to for our standard translations.
Why use our post-editing service?
One could easily think that thanks to artificial intelligence, neural machine translation engines have become so effective as to require no additional input. For some internal documents, for certain reports, and/or to enable rapid understanding of documents that will not be distributed, these tools can be a great help, and also offer the advantage of speed.
However, how can you be sure the translation is accurate if no one is able to verify it?
Furthermore, the self-service machine translation engines available on the Internet are not secure; there is no guarantee that information transmitted to them will remain confidential.
That’s why our post-editing service uses state-of-the-art professional tools to ensure the quality and confidentiality of the documents entrusted to us.
How our post-editing service works
When our post-editing service receives a document to be post-edited:
1 • Our project managers evaluate the feasibility of the project with the client and make sure that the type of document, the subject matter, the translation style and the desired deadline are compatible with a post-editing service.
2 • If all those lights are green, the pre-translation work can begin. It takes place in-house, thanks to our CAT tools, translation memories and glossaries, which we use in conjunction with a professional machine translation engine that is a world away from the free machine translation tools found on the Internet.
3 • Next, the source document and the pre-translation are compared, checked and corrected by one or more native-speaker translators specialized in the relevant language, field or type of document.
4 • As with a standard translation, additional quality checks are performed by our project managers before final delivery. The objective is to ensure that the content is consistent, that the glossary and translation memories have been followed and that spelling and syntax errors have not crept into the final output.
Our post-editing service guarantees the confidentiality of your documents, a result that faithfully adheres to the specific terminology of your field and your company, and consistency with all the documents and media translated for your company by our services. Plus, it is faster and less expensive than a standard translation.
Which types of content suit a post-editing service?
Post-editing lends itself rather well to practical documents such as technical and legal texts, informal documents for internal use (circulars, e-mails or reports), lists, product information sheets, specifications, invitations to tender, etc.
It is not recommended for literary, marketing and editorial texts, for which a human translation is preferred from the start. Pre-translated documents effectively call for a lot of editing; their style is usually quite flat. For texts that need flair and flourish, post-editing should therefore be avoided, as it will ultimately prove more time-consuming and yield lower quality than a translation created from scratch by a human linguist.
At Birdwell Translation & Technologies, we follow these technological developments with interest, and adapt our services to meet our clients’ needs effectively. When deadlines are short, budgets are tight and source documents are suitable, a post-editing service can be the most efficient response to a translation request. Feel free to contact our project managers, as they will be able to guide you towards the best solution for your translation project.