Machine Translation Results

"We had a lot of trouble with machine translation between Japanese and English when we first introduced it, but now it works smoothly and has been a great help."

Customer Requests

Our client, being a foreign company, had already implemented machine translation for European languages from English. However, when they tried to use the same engine for Japanese to English translation, they experienced poor quality and ended up spending more time and money.

Therefore, we proposed a machine translation engine suitable for Japanese to English translation and also provided post-editing services.

As a result, we were able to successfully reduce the translation cost and lead time from Japanese to English by "40%" compared to traditional human translation methods.

Human Science Solutions

At Human Science, we have provided the following consulting services to successfully introduce machine translation in Japanese-English translation.

We supported the introduction of machine translation in this project through the following steps.

①Proposal for a machine translation engine suitable for Japanese-English translation

The preferred languages and fields may vary depending on the machine translation engine. For example, even if the same document is translated, the quality can vary greatly depending on the machine translation engine used.

Therefore, when introducing machine translation, it is extremely important to select a machine translation engine that is suitable for the target document and language.

This time,

・Operating costs for machine translation engines should not be too high
・There is no existing translation data from the past, such as translation memory
・For support content, the quality of the translation can be slightly unnatural as long as the meaning is accurately conveyed

Based on the customer's request, we have proposed multiple machine translation engines that are suitable for Japanese-English translation. We conducted quality verification and cost-effectiveness calculations using the proposed engines in advance, and after confirming the expected effects of introducing machine translation, we officially implemented it.

②Setting Quality Standards

In order to successfully implement machine translation, it is also important to establish quality standards in advance for the post-editing process, which is called "post-edit". By setting quality standards in advance, it is possible to prevent excessive quality or excessive costs in the post-editing process.

The following figure shows the correlation between the target quality standards and the three levels of correction in post-editing.

This time, we received a request from the client that "for support content, the quality of the translation can be slightly unnatural as long as the meaning is accurately conveyed," so we decided to perform post-editing at the "Rapid Edit" level, which has the least amount of machine translation corrections.

In "Rapid Edit," we do not make corrections from the perspective of readability, so as long as the meaning is accurately conveyed, we will not make corrections even if there are slightly unnatural expressions or terms. We confirmed with the client that the results of post-editing performed with this policy met the target quality, and we provided them with a sample for confirmation.

③Post-edit Implementation

Post-editing was carried out by compiling a checklist of correction points at the "Rapid Edit" level, clarifying quality standards and correction points, and then implementing post-editing after sharing them with the responsible party.

Customer Feedback

“

We were able to smoothly implement machine translation between Japanese and English, which we had struggled with in the past, and it was a great help.

We had given up on machine translation for Japanese-English because we had failed using the same engine as European languages, but we found that machine translation can be utilized even for Japanese-English by using an engine suitable for the target language.

We were able to reduce the cost and lead time for translating support content into Japanese and it has also been recognized by our US headquarters.

We are considering introducing machine translation for other content such as internal documents and instruction manuals, in addition to support content.

”

From Human Science representative

This is a case where we supported the introduction of machine translation in Japanese-English translation. By selecting the optimal engine and conducting thorough quality verification and setting quality standards in advance, we were able to achieve cost reduction and lead time reduction even in Japanese-English translation.

We often receive inquiries from those who have participated in our seminars and conferences:

- "Is it possible to introduce machine translation even in Japanese to English translation?"
- "Are there any cases where machine translation has been introduced in Japanese-English translation?"

However, even in Japanese-English translation, it is fully possible to use machine translation to achieve cost reduction and shorten translation period.

In the future, we are considering introducing machine translation in internal documents and instruction manuals, so we would like to continue working together to design processes tailored to each target document.