How to use ChatGPT for translation? Introducing usage and utilization methods

2. How to Utilize Translation Unique to ChatGPT

 

General translation tools can only translate, but ChatGPT has a versatile language ability, making it useful in various situations related to translation.

2-1. Summary of the Article

Not only can you translate text, but you can also summarize it at the same time. This is useful when you want to efficiently gather information in a language other than your native language, such as foreign news or papers. For example, you can command ChatGPT to "summarize in Japanese" and give it a long text, and it will summarize the content in Japanese. Additionally, Microsoft's Edge browser has AI similar to ChatGPT built in. By commanding "summarize in Japanese" in the "Chat" panel on the right while browsing a webpage, you can quickly understand the content of foreign language pages.

ChatGPT and Medical TranslationIn the article titled "ChatGPT and Medical Translation," we tested whether ChatGPT could be used to create summaries of medical papers, but the conclusion was that it could not generate the expected summaries. For more details, please see ChatGPT and Medical Translation.

2-2. Improvement of Translated Text

You can use ChatGPT to rewrite words and expressions in translated text. For example, in English manuals, it may be required not to use "You" as the subject. If the output of machine translation services such as DeepL or Google Translate does not follow such rules, you can use ChatGPT to rewrite the translated text to follow the rules as shown below.

 

In addition, depending on the purpose and target audience of the translated document, it is also possible to rewrite expressions and terms to make them more appealing for marketing purposes or easier to understand for general consumers.

Post-edit refers to correcting machine-translated text, and using ChatGPT can automate part of the post-editing process. It is important to note that the rewritten text may differ in meaning from the original, so it is necessary for a person to confirm it.

For more information on common ways to improve machine-translated text, please see Tips for Machine Translation Trends and Common Errors and Fixes (Post-editing) ① - Avoiding Errors and Redundancy with Pronouns.

2-3. Extract only the elements you want to know

ChatGPT can extract only the desired elements from a long text in response to a question. After reading a text such as a paper, manual, or webpage, you can ask ChatGPT questions about that text. For example, after reading a software manual, you can ask about how to use a certain function and ChatGPT will explain it to you. This behavior may seem similar to traditional chatbots from the user's perspective, but it is significantly different from the perspective of those preparing the chatbot.
With traditional chatbots, it is necessary to prepare a large number of questions and answers in advance, but with ChatGPT, such preparation is not necessary and having the manual file or webpage is sufficient. Additionally, ChatGPT has a character limit, but this can be bypassed by using a ChatGPT plugin such as WebPilot.

2-4. Creating a Glossary

You can extract terms that can be candidates for a glossary by passing the original text. Although there have been tools for creating glossaries, they extracted terms based on their frequency of appearance, resulting in many terms that did not need to be registered in the glossary. Therefore, it was necessary to manually extract important terms from the list of extracted terms. With ChatGPT, only important terms that are keywords can be extracted, so manual confirmation is still necessary, but it greatly reduces the workload.
Additionally, it is also possible to perform machine translation at the same time as term extraction.
For more information on how to create a glossary, please refer to the following blog post.

What is the translation ability of ChatGPT? Thorough verification at each stage of translation

3. Comparison between ChatGPT and other machine translation services

 

In addition to ChatGPT, there are many other machine translation services available. Here, we will compare ChatGPT with two representative services, DeepL and Google Translate.

3-1. Comparison with DeepL

DeepL supports both text translation and file translation. It also has a glossary function, allowing you to specify translations for specific words. Additionally, when translating from a foreign language to Japanese, you can specify whether the translation should be in plain form or polite form. For languages that distinguish between formal and informal forms of address, you can also specify the formality level.
On the mobile app, you can translate text, files, images taken with the camera, as well as images and files saved on your smartphone. You can also transcribe audio into text for translation.
Furthermore, while not a translation service, DeepL's website also offers a proofreading support service called DeepL Write, which uses AI to help improve your writing. As of October 2023, it is available for English and German.

When it comes to translation accuracy, DeepL's translations are often more natural and fluent. However, DeepL tends to omit some words or phrases from the original text more frequently. On the other hand, ChatGPT tends to translate more literally and with fewer omissions compared to DeepL.
For more information about DeepL, please refer to the following blog post.

What is DeepL? Comparison with ChatGPT also verified

3-2. Comparison with Google Translate

Google Translate not only supports text translation, but also image, document (file), and website translation. In addition, by using the mobile app for smartphones, you can translate images captured by the camera in real time, as well as convert speech to text for translation. It is also possible to recognize and translate handwritten characters.

When it comes to translation accuracy, both Google Translate and ChatGPT tend to translate relatively literally and word-for-word, with Google Translate having a tendency for fewer mistranslations and omissions.

4. How to use ChatGPT's translation feature more easily

If you want to use ChatGPT directly to translate office documents such as Word and Excel, it is convenient to use an add-in with translation function. Our company offers "MTrans for Office" add-in for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, which adds translation function. With this add-in installed, you can translate documents and email texts with just one click. Various prompts that can be used for translation-related tasks are built in, and you can select and execute them from a list. There is no need to enter prompts every time. You can choose from four translation engines, "DeepL", "Google", "Microsoft", and "ChatGPT", and compare translations by running multiple translation engines at the same time.

MTrans for Office is an easy-to-use translation software for Office.

5. Translation efficiency improves when used with CAT tools.

 

Translators and reviewers can greatly improve translation efficiency by using ChatGPT and CAT tools together.

5-1. What is a CAT tool?

A CAT tool, short for Computer-Assisted Translation tool, is called a translation support tool in Japanese. It mainly supports the work of translators and reviewers, improving the efficiency and quality of translation work. Representative products include Phrase TMS from Phrase and Trados Studio from RWS. Similar products include translation management systems, which are systems that support project managers and have functions such as schedule management, centralized management of work data, and process automation.
For more information about CAT tools, please see the following blog post.

What is a CAT tool? Explanation of benefits and drawbacks
What is Memsource (now known as Phrase TMS)? What is the difference between a translation support tool (CAT) and a translation management system (TMS)?
What is Trados? How does it help with translation? Introduction of features and benefits

5-2. Benefits of Using CAT Tools

The main features are translation memory, machine translation, terminology database, and quality check. Translation memory is a database that stores the original text and translated text from past translations. Once translated, the translated text can be retrieved from the database, eliminating the need to translate again.
Additionally, if a part of the new text to be translated matches with a past original text, the corresponding past translated text can be reused, eliminating the need to translate from scratch (this is called "fuzzy match").
By referencing the translation memory, it is also possible to unify terminology and expressions in the translated text. For new sentences that do not exist in the translation memory, machine translation can be used to generate a translation. By combining translation memory and machine translation, the translation process can be significantly streamlined.

5-3. Benefits of Combining ChatGPT and CAT Tools

Previously, fixing fuzzy matches could only be done manually, but with ChatGPT, fuzzy matches can be automatically corrected. ChatGPT identifies the differences between past source texts in the translation memory and the new source text to be translated, and reflects those differences in the past translations after machine translation. This automatic correction of fuzzy matches by ChatGPT further streamlines the translation process.

ChatGPT's rewriting function is also useful. Machine translations by DeepL and Google may not always follow style guides or writing rules. Additionally, expressions and terms that are suitable for the purpose and target audience of the translated document may not be used. By having ChatGPT rewrite such translations, post-editing work can be automated.

It is also possible to use machine translation with ChatGPT. By passing the document type beforehand, it is possible to use expressions and terms that are appropriate for that document for machine translation. However, the translation accuracy itself is often better with DeepL or Google, so it is believed that it is more efficient and improves translation efficiency and quality to leave the surrounding work to ChatGPT rather than machine translation itself.

6. Summary

In this article, we introduced how to use and utilize ChatGPT. ChatGPT is an extremely large language model that can be used for various language processing tasks such as translation, summarization, document improvement, extraction of specific information, and creation of terminology glossaries. By combining ChatGPT with CAT tools, you can efficiently support the entire translation process with features such as automatic correction of fuzzy matches, automatic post-editing, and machine translation. Please note that when using ChatGPT, a final check by a human is necessary.

Human Science offers automatic translation software MTrans for Office and MTrans for Trados, which can utilize ChatGPT. ChatGPT can not only be used as a translation engine, but also for transcribing, rewriting, and proofreading sentences depending on the prompt. MTrans for Office and MTrans for Trados also offer a 14-day free trial. Please feel free to contact us.

Features of MTrans for Office

① Unlimited number of files and glossaries that can be translated with a flat rate
② Translate with one click from Office products!
③ Secure with API connection
・For customers who want further enhancement, we also offer SSO, IP restrictions, etc.

④ Japanese language support by Japanese companies
・Possible to respond to security check sheets
・Payment by bank transfer is available

MTrans for Office is an easy-to-use translation software for Office.

Features of MTrans for Trados

1. ① Simultaneous translation using multiple machine translation engines such as DeepL and Google.
2. ② Automatically apply terminology to machine-translated text. Centrally manage terminology glossaries regardless of machine translation engine.
3. ③ String replacement, regular expression replacement, automatic correction of translation style, notation, and expression using ChatGPT
4. ④ Automatic Correction of Fuzzy Matches in Translation Memory
5. ⑤ Maintain original formatting and tags during machine translation

 

What is the machine translation solution MTrans for Trados for Trados?