Machine Translation (AI) vs. Professional Translation – When Are You Overpaying, and When Are You Risking It?

As a manager, regardless of your industry, you constantly look for a balance between cost optimization and the highest quality when executing subsequent projects. In international matters, this hesitation often concerns translations. What should you choose: automatic translation or partnering with a translation agency? One does not exclude the other – today, translation agencies leverage new technologies, including AI solutions. In today’s business (and translation) world, the question is no longer “whether to use AI,” but “how to do it smartly?”

How do we do it smartly? When do you and your company benefit from automated solutions, and when do you stand to lose more than just linguistic precision?

Machine translation can be synonymous with professional translation. Here is our recipe for success.

Why Can AI Translations Be Bad?

Before we dive into the success that artificial intelligence has achieved in business translation, here are a few drawbacks of this solution.

The main problem with AI is not that it translates poorly. The problem is that it translates convincingly even when it is wrong. We call this “hallucinations.”

Hallucinations in the Automated Translation Process – 3 Examples for the Legal, Financial, and Technical Sectors

Let’s take a look at hallucinations in three industries we work with on a daily basis:

Legal Industry – AI frequently confuses modal verbs. Swapping the English “shall” (legal obligation) for “may” (possibility) in a contract completely shifts the balance of power in court – and by then, it is too late for a translator with years of experience to intervene.

Financial Industry – AI-powered translators can make mistakes in number formatting (dot vs. comma in decimal notation), which is a critical error in commercial offers worth millions of euros.

Technical Industry – Take the word “valve” as an example. Depending on the context, it could mean zawór, klapa, or wentyl. For the medical industry, however, it means… zastawka (heart valve). AI selects the statistically most frequent match, not the one that fits your technical specification. The algorithm loses the context and, consequently, the proper meaning.

Controlled Translation – Data (In)security in AI Translation Tools

Linguistic errors or lost context are not the only risks companies face when using DeepL or Google Translate.

Have you ever wondered what happens to the data you upload to online translation services? Data is nothing less than a form of payment for the algorithms. Confidential agreements, marketing strategies, or financial data are indexed and used to train future versions of the algorithms.

There are documented cases where corporate employees pasted confidential data into AI, which meant making it public within the technology provider’s structures.

Errors and Consequences – When Are You Risking It by Using AI?

Machine translation tools are used to translate various types of content. Depending on the purpose of the text, AI can make different errors that carry concrete business consequences.

No more errors, no more risk. Now, let’s introduce machine translation that can become professional translation.

When Are AI Translations a Good Alternative?

At our online translation agency, we know perfectly well that business needs hybrid solutions. We have stopped asking whether to use artificial intelligence; instead, we strive to improve AI-related processes. That is why our offer includes AI translation with proofreading, otherwise known as Machine Translation Post-Editing (MTPE). This is a process where the baseline translation is performed by neural networks, and then a professional translator (a linguist with several years of experience) reviews and corrects it.

MTPE – What Does Post-Editing Involve?

Professional translation – or rather, professional post-editing – consists of comparing the source text with the machine-translated one, catching omissions, logical flaws, or terminological errors. Proofreading ensures that the text does not sound like it was “translated by a robot.” It becomes natural, tailored to the target audience, and consistent with your tone of voice.

Don’t Overpay, Don’t Take Risks – Choose Machine Translation with Proofreading

Do you care about translation quality while wanting to avoid excessive costs? Choose our online translation agency – a place where machine translation is kept under human control. An experienced translator proofreads the text suggested by neural networks. They ensure linguistic correctness, terminology consistency, and the appropriate context for the content type and its audience’s expectations.

AI translations with proofreading allow you to maintain text quality while saving up to 70% on costs. Delivery speed and the security of confidential data are further advantages of proofread translations on our website.

Free Quote – Professional Translations at an Online Agency

Quotes at our translation agency are free of charge. Fill out the form – if your file is editable, you will find out the translation cost instantly. Enter the source and target languages, attach the file, and provide your phone number. No risk, no overpaying. With lingy.uk, machine translations can become professional translations.