Full-Human Translation
Machine Translation with Post-Editing
Editing
Proofreading
Alboum offers a variety of translation approaches to meet different and evolving language access needs. We work with organizations to determine the best approach for each document or project. Our goal is always to deliver optimal quality to meet an organization’s needs, considering timeline and budget.
No matter the approach, Alboum leverages translation memory, glossaries, and style guides to support consistency and quality of each document and across materials.
Importantly, Alboum is always transparent about the service being delivered. We do not offer any automated tools or unedited AI output.
Full-Human Translation
What is it?
The traditional approach to translation, Full-Human Translation, is also often referred to as “TEP” which stands for translation, editing, and proofreading. Professional, full-time linguists complete every step of the process.
Cost & Timing
- Priced per word; varies by language.
- Each linguist can handle approximately 2,500 words/day.
Pros
- Full-Human Translation is a must when quality is paramount.
- It is most appropriate for marketing materials, advertising, and social media when content often contains significant cultural nuance, subtle intonations, plays on words, creative language, or conversation.
- Complex, medical, or scientific texts also often benefit from a full-human approach given the specifics of their terminology.
Cons
Full-Human Translation will always be the most costly and time-intensive approach.
Machine Translation with Post-Editing (MTPE)
What is it?
Machine Translation with Post-Editing (MTPE) uses large language models to get the translation process started. Then human translators and editors review the machine output for completion, consistency, and cohesion, as well as correcting for mistranslations, literal translations, grammatical errors, and misspellings.
The result is a natural-sounding overall tone of the text and accurate meaning of each phrase.
Cost & Timing
- Priced per word; varies by language.
- Each linguist can handle approximately 4,000 words/day.
Pros
- MTPE combines the reduced cost and increased speed of large language models (not AI, but automated like Google Translate) with the nuance and quality control only possible with humans.
- MTPE works great when translating long documents that require a quick turnaround or documents of any length with a lot of repetitive text or straightforward content.
- MTPE reduces cost and production time by approximately 30% as compared to Full-Human Translation.
Cons
- Machine translation quality varies widely based on language. The more widely spoken (and published) a language is, the better the quality of the output.
- The quality of machine translation is also lower with right-to-left, character-based languages.
- MTPE is not available for all languages.
Editing
What is it?
Editing a translation includes a linguistic review of a translation already completed by a human being (not Google Translate or other machine translation tools).
This review considers accuracy and faithfulness to the source text by comparing both the original and translated files, as well as includes proofreading for grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
Cost & Timing
- Priced per hour; varies by language.
- Number of hours estimated based on expected review time required considering the translation.
Pros
Editing is a good approach for situations when a translation was completed by a bilingual individual who is not a linguist by training or might not have insights into organizational standards, preferred terms, or industry nuances.
Cons
Sometimes, translations are determined to be too regionally specific or needing more work than an organization anticipates. In this case, Alboum will recommend either Full-Human Translation or MTPE as is most appropriate given the timeline and budget.
Proofreading
What is it?
Proofreading provides a quick review of a translation for grammar, punctuation, and simple changes.
The source text is consulted only for questions about accuracy of a specific word choice.
Cost & Timing
- Priced per word; varies by language.
- Each linguist can handle approximately 1,000 words/hour.
Pros
Proofreading is great for situations when there is high confidence in the quality, integrity, and accuracy of a translation. It’s a great second set of eyes to provide a final check.
Cons
Proofreading is truly a final quality check. More often than not, Alboum clients need the level of detail provided by editing.
A note on speed
The pace at which a linguist can work and a translation can be completed depends on:
- Complexity of content
- Number of preferential terms/style requirements to be reviewed and confirmed
- For editing or proofreading, the quality of the existing translation
No matter the service, Alboum can always assemble teams of translators and editors working together to speed things up to meet pressing deadlines.
“Alboum does great work and is always willing to accommodate tight deadlines. They have never let us down in terms of quality or speed. In addition, they give great customer service regardless of the size of the job – they provide us with a quality product.”
Spring ISD
