Does Automatic Arabic Translation Ever Work?

Google Translate is supposedly one of the best—if not the best—free Arabic translation software on the web, deriving its juice and power from Google’s incredibly massive database of information. A simple translation of a phrase from English to Arabic and vice versa might prove its prowess: one can even “listen to” the translated phrase spoken aloud by a machine voice.

Many Arabic translation agencies also offer simple machine translation on their websites, and personally, I wonder about the wisdom behind such an implementation. Because such free machine translation, intended to serve as some sort of “gateway” to the translation agency’s paid services conducted by professional human translators, often produces clumsy, mangled output that might actually scare away potential clients.

However, for more serious Arabic translation jobs, machines or software programs may be clumsy and poor “stand ins” for humans. Currently, programmers are still unable to incorporate in their machine translators the countless unspoken subtleties of culture and language. Such cultural subtleties, from a human standpoint, are usually learned only through living everyday amid members of a particular culture.

Depending on the importance of your document, many Arabic translation agencies offer their services on a “by tier” basis. If you have mission critical documents for translation, they will charge you their premium fees in exchange for what seems to be an “elite” team handling your work. If you only have somewhat “informal” documents—an email, perhaps, from an Arabic speaking friend, and you want to get the nuances of the language that no machine could capture—the translation agency charge relatively lower, your project probably handled by translators with “not enough experience.”

Many Arabic translation agencies—at least the very good ones—implement their own quality control system regarding their translators. They set stringent criteria regarding credentials and experience (at least a master or PhD degree, and at least a year of full-time Arabic translation experience), and educational background in a field related to the document to be translated.

Often, translators in such agencies are graded or ranked depending on each and every output. Every job is reviewed and evaluated, and a translator can rise up the ranks if he or she consistently produces high quality output. Of course, eventually, the poor performers are removed from the translator pool and the higher-ranked translators get the premium jobs that pay more—hence, the “per tier” basis of fees.

One important factor here that is absent in machines is motivation—getting rewards for quality output encourages better and better performance. And the more skillful a translator becomes, the more he or she is assigned with important, highly critical jobs, which in turn further increases proficiency and enriches the job experience and portfolio. And forming such high-ranking translators into a team, managed by an equally seasoned project manager, and you understand how a good translation agency can guarantee nothing but the highest quality output.

In a nutshell, no machine translator can match the qualities, credentials and experience of human Arabic translation professionals. Well, at least, not yet.

By: clacandazo

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Charlene Lacandazo works for Rosetta Translation, one of the best known translation agencies in Paris. Rosetta has particular strengths in Arabic translation and Arabic interpreting services.