Why Not Use Machine Translations to Translate Web Pages
Machine translations have become very popular over the past few years. It is of course the cheapest way to translate anything simply because most of the machine translators are free to use. However, do they always offer the best?
How to Translate Web Pages Accurately? Machine translations are not the answer!
Although technology has evolved over the past years, machines have yet to reach a level when they could provide accurate translations.
Improper Usage of Words
Firstly, when it comes to translating web pages successfully, it can be a big challenge for anyone because a lot of work goes into this. However, using a machine to translate can be a bad idea simply because computers don’t realize some words have been translated into literal meanings and it isn’t always right. Some words cannot be translated into another language because the meanings can be offensive or used incorrectly in a sentence which means it doesn’t make sense. You cannot have this when you translate web pages.
Incorrect or Missed Translations
Another big issue must be that machine translations can often miss out key words. Some words can be missed in sentences simply because the machine doesn’t understand the words and cannot find a translation. This presents a huge amount of problems and it means there is no correct translation. It can cause several problems for customers and web owners alike.
Not All Titles Are Translated Correctly
The title of the web page is an important feature to have and if it isn’t translated, the entire point of the page is lost. Anyone who wants to get an accurate translation absolutely needs to look away from machine translations. It does not work for entire pages; it can help for one or two words to be translated but not entire web pages.
SEO Keywords Can Be Lost
When someone wants to translate web pages, it means everything is translated. This can have a massive effect on SEO keywords for web owners because the key phrases are technically lost. In another language those key phrases might not be recognized or used which means the site is harder to find and may have low search engine rankings also.
Translating Web Pages via Machines Can Lose Quality
Quality is a big factor for most and when machine translation is used, it can lose some of that much needed quality. Even some of the biggest online MTs have issues with being perfect and offering perfect quality in their translations too. It’s something to seriously consider.
The translation done by the computer without any kind of involvement by the humans is known as MT. This type of translation is long being used for quick translations and simple translations of words and phrases. The most famous applications being used are Google Translate, Microsoft Translator, Canopy Speak, Facebook Translate, The Ili, Pilot and many more. All these provide the best machine translations, but even though these are some of the best, they cannot match the efficiency of a human brain that can accurately translate a document. For proper translation of documents, the human brain is required as there is some emotional as well as cultural aspect that has to be taken into account as well. A computer does not understand that, which is why machine translations must not be preferred for personal and legal document translation. As compared to human translation, MT is not at all reliable.
Machines Aren’t Humans
The bottom line is that a machine can do only so much of the work properly. A human translator can review the work and once they have made a translation, can read over it and fix any potential errors. Computers cannot simply because they offer instant translation. The translation done by machines isn’t perfect, is it worth the risk?
Why would you translate your website? Reasons are many, but the most important one is to reach a larger audience, to break language barriers. Low quality translations are simply out of the question. The best you can do is hire a professional translation service to do it for you.
