Machine translation has a number of limitations, as it is based on algorithms. Translations often need to be made more natural: the important cultural factor of language gives rise to double meanings, nuances, images or linguistic expressions that do not work in the same way in one language community as in another. The human revision of a text translated by artificial intelligence ensures that the original character and tone of the text is maintained; in other words, that it sounds more natural, that it has a soul, that it is more human.

Furthermore, in the correct translation – term by term – of some documents, many interests and large sums of money are at stake, which should not be put at risk by relying on a rough and approximate machine translation.

At Tradandgo we do not recommend machine translations of legal, financial, medical or literary documents. The latter requires creativity that machines cannot provide. In medical translation, the physical integrity of patients or recipients of information is at stake, so artificial intelligence should be ruled out. As for legal and financial texts, the interests and rights they often reflect are of high value and are often subject to subsequent interpretation, which should not be subject to prior automatic translation. 

 A text translated by a machine translation engine has very different errors from those made by humans, as artificial intelligence often abuses literal translations, false friends and equivocal or incoherent expressions. Proofreaders who post-edit a machine translation have the same qualifications as professionals who carry out a 100% human translation. Our proofreaders cross-check the original reference text and compare the equivalence of meanings between the two versions. Finally, our human proofreaders apply their critical thinking, so that the text is localised in the relevant language and context, which artificial intelligence cannot do.

Translation is language, and language is always thought, culture and interpretation. These elements cannot be reproduced by artificial intelligence because they contain an apparent text and an underlying subtext that machines cannot distinguish. In other words, language contains intentions that only the sender and receiver can agree on and understand, hence the need for the human factor in translation. On the other hand, our clients must ensure the security and confidentiality of their documents and communications and avoid sharing them with machine translation and artificial intelligence engines whose ownership could lead to conflicts of interest or the trafficking of confidential information. At Tradandgo we guarantee the complete confidentiality of the documents transmitted to us by our clients.