On March 19, 2020, the automatic translation service provided by the German company DeepL became available for Japanese and Chinese.
What is DeepL
DeepL Translation is an online translation service powered by artificial intelligence using machine learning, provided by DeepL GmbH, which is headquartered in Germany.
In 2020, the neural network integrated into DeepL Translation was significantly improved, allowing for more nuanced expressions compared to other translation services, and DeepL's high translation accuracy has gained a reputation.
DeepL Translation Acquires Japanese and Chinese
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Until now, DeepL's high translation accuracy has been well-regarded overseas, but it was rarely used in Japan because the supported languages were limited to European languages.
With its support for Japanese, more people in Japan are trying DeepL and comparing it with other translation services.
It has been featured in Twitter and online news media, comparing DeepL and Google Translate, and it is reputed that DeepL has higher accuracy.
We have received requests from our clients such as, "I want to try DeepL" and "I want to implement it in my business."
In this article, we will introduce the results of our verification on whether DeepL can be used for translating business emails.
An example of translation that occurs regularly within the company is the emails exchanged with overseas offices and overseas customers.
We automatically translated Japanese emails into English and compared the translation accuracy of DeepL, Google, and Microsoft.
Table of Contents
1. Evaluation Method for DeepL Translation Accuracy
2. Evaluation Results of DeepL Translation Accuracy
1. Evaluation Method for DeepL Translation Accuracy
We extracted 100 sentences from our internal emails and evaluated the translations in the following four stages. This evaluation was done manually.
・Excellent: The meaning of the original text is accurately translated without any excess or deficiency.
・Good: Some words are incorrect or missing, but the overall meaning of the sentence is correctly translated.
・Medium: Partially correct, but the overall meaning of the sentence is incorrect.
・Poor: The entire sentence is incorrectly translated.
2. Evaluation Results of DeepL Translation Accuracy
The first place was DeepL.
Combining Excellent and Good, which can be used almost as is, DeepL scored 96 sentences, Google scored 89 sentences, and Microsoft scored 86 sentences, making DeepL the highest scorer.
A significant portion of the time spent on emails in our daily operations can be greatly optimized by using DeepL for translation tasks.
DeepL Translation Accuracy Verification Report
3. About DeepL's Security
DeepL offers a free version called 'DeepL Translator' and a paid version called 'DeepL Pro'.
The free version of "DeepL Translator" can be easily used from the website, but upon checking the privacy policy of "DeepL Translator," it states that "the input text and its translation are stored for a certain period for the purpose of enhancing the translation algorithm and improving performance," indicating that the original text and the translated text may be repurposed for different purposes.
Translating the contents of emails containing confidential information using "DeepL Translation" poses significant security issues.
The privacy policy of the paid version "DeepL Pro" states that "the input text and translation are not stored on the server and are only used during translation," and the original text and translation are not repurposed for other purposes.
When translating confidential information using DeepL, it is essential to contract with DeepL Inc. and use "DeepL Pro" to ensure security.
Is Automatic Translation Security
Okay?
4. How to use DeepL?
In addition to subscribing to the aforementioned "DeepL Pro", there is the option to use an automatic translation tool that integrates with "DeepL Pro".
With the automatic translation product "MTrans for Office" integrated with DeepL, you can utilize DeepL without the risk of information leakage due to API connections.
You can translate with one click from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, which also leads to a reduction in man-hours.
How about trying our quality and usability with a 14-day free trial?
What is MTrans for Office, the easy translation software for Office?
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MTrans for Office 14-day free trial
MTrans for Office is a plugin for Microsoft Office products, such as Outlook, that provides one-click translations. It currently supports the translation engines DeepL and Google, and even features integration with ChatGPT.
MTrans has an intuitive interface that can be used immediately, without any explanation. As long as there's an internet connection, your staff can easily use MTrans to translate the text of their Office products from anywhere in the country or abroad.
And thanks to the transcription, rewriting, summarization, proofreading, and dictionary functions powered by ChatGPT, it's more convenient than ever.
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Author Information
-
Yuki NakayamaLanguage Solutions Department
Localization Group
Machine Translation Team Leader- ・Over 15 years of experience in translation and review tasks, while also developing and supporting the implementation of machine translation technology.
- ・Technically improve the quality and efficiency of post-editing projects for clients and in-house.
- Numerous presentations at events such as JTF Translation Festival, TC Symposium, AAMT, TAUS, LocWorld, both in Japan and overseas.
- ・Contributed articles on machine translation to 'Interpreting and Translation Journal' and 'Perfect Guide to Industrial Translation' (both published by Ikaros Publishing).
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