AI-driven translation machines such as Google Translate, Deepl, Microsoft Translator, and so on have revolutionized the translation industry, making it possible to translate text from one language to another with ease. But how accurate are these translation machines compared to human translators? And how can Clonable help Web site owners?
Accuracy of AI translation machines: How accurate is Google Translate?
Google Translate and Deepl are the most widely used AI translation engines today. Although both tools are highly advanced, they still have limitations in terms of accuracy. AI translation machines rely on algorithms to translate text, so they are unable to understand the nuances of human language. This can lead to errors in translation, especially when it comes to idiomatic expressions, cultural references and technical jargon.
For example, until recently, if you entered the English phrase "I'm feeling blue" into Google Translate, it would be translated with "Estoy sintiendo azul" in Spanish. However, this translation is incorrect because "I'm feeling blue" is an idiomatic phrase that means "I feel sad," which should be translated with "Estoy sintiendo triste" in Spanish.
Despite such limitations, AI translation machines are still very useful. They can quickly translate large amounts of text, making them a valuable tool for businesses and individuals who need to communicate in different languages. And because they are constantly being improved thanks to advances in AI technology, their accuracy will continue to increase over time.
How qualitative is Google Translate in percentages:
Smaller languages: 50%
Larger languages: 75-85%
Accuracy human translation versus AI translation
When it comes to accuracy, human translation is still the gold standard. A human translator understands the nuances of human language, including cultural references, idiomatic expressions and technical jargon. He can also accurately convey the intended tone and emotion of the original text.
However, human translation can be time-consuming and expensive. The cost of a human translator can range from €0.08 to €0.50 per word, which can add up quickly on larger projects, such as a website translation. A human translation also takes time, especially if the translator is working on a long document or a larger website. That time is not always there and/or is not always desired.
How qualitative is a human translator in percentages:
99-99,9%
Clonable Use to improve accuracy
One way to get the best of both worlds is to use clonable. Clonable combines the power of multiple AI translation engines with an additional feature so that website administrators can easily make adjustments to the translated domain. This allows the website owner to leverage the expertise of native proofreaders. Clonable provides a highly accurate base translation that can be checked and improved by native proofreaders to achieve near-perfect accuracy.
How can you address this?
- First, check the header and footer, with all the menu items. Why? Because these appear on all pages and because they are often 1-3 word translations, where there is less context and the chance of errors becomes a bit higher.
- Check your important pages, such as a home page
- Look in your Google Analytics and make a printout of the 10, 50 or 100 most visited urls of the original website. If you check those you will have the site in perfect order for the majority of visitors.
From our experience, we find that about 4-8 hours of proofreading for a 250-page site makes a world of difference.
How qualitative is Clonable in percentages:
Latin languages without additional proofreading: 98%
Cyrillic languages without additional proofreading: 95%
Other languages such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean: 90%
Clonable With proofreading (several hours per 250 pages): 99%