As a translation buyer/client, you should know there are various levels of service offered by language service providers:
- Machine translation (MT) – straight machine translation is where content is translated using MT technology to create the translation without human review.
- Machine translation plus post-editing (MTPE) – translation created by machine and is reviewed for errors by a human editor (i.e. MT-boosted).
- Human translation – translation is completed by a human translator who reviews their work.
- Human translation plus independent editing – translation is completed by a human translator and then reviewed by an independent editor.
Communication is critical to a productive relationship with your translation service provider. You should know precisely what you are paying for, and the workflow to assign the appropriate amount of risk to the project. If you choose to use an AI -boosted workflow, you might transfer additional internal QA or even place a waiver. AI works well for specific use cases, but transparency should be required for handling the associated risks.