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Why has MT largely failed as a production tool with LSPs?
Thread poster: RoyMarie
RoyMarie
RoyMarie
United States
Local time: 22:14
Dec 17, 2021

“A large number of LSPs who currently have MT capacity only use it for less than 15% of their customer workload” according to a survey of "top" 172 LSPs by @CSA_Research, why is production MT deployment so difficult for LSPs?

https://kv-emptypages.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-challenge-of-using-mt-in.html

This digs into this su... See more
“A large number of LSPs who currently have MT capacity only use it for less than 15% of their customer workload” according to a survey of "top" 172 LSPs by @CSA_Research, why is production MT deployment so difficult for LSPs?

https://kv-emptypages.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-challenge-of-using-mt-in.html

This digs into this subject but it would be good to get some other views on this issue. ▲ Collapse
 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 07:14
Spanish to English
+ ...
My two cents Dec 20, 2021

Because many people think machine translation is some kind of panacea, when the truth is that any kind of machine work is only as good as the operator that knows how to use it properly.

RoyMarie
Philip Lees
Christine Andersen
William Yang
 
Peter Motte
Peter Motte  Identity Verified
Belgium
Local time: 07:14
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
+ ...
Not enough Dec 20, 2021

I think because MT only offers a minor improvement on CAT.
However, lot's of CAT programs implement some MT tactics.
So it looks as if people don't rely solely on MT, rather than that they neglect it totally.
 
RoyMarie
RoyMarie
United States
Local time: 22:14
TOPIC STARTER
MT Competence Dec 20, 2021

The CSA research also shows that even within their most representative 191 LSPs the level of competence with MT is very low. As you say the tool is only as good as the user.

MT needs sustained long-term learning to build competence and during this learning period, the MT contribution to translation production ease and efficiency will be low or nonexistent. Most LSPs skip this investment and often strong-arm translators into using/fixing sub-standard MT .

When CSA probe... See more
The CSA research also shows that even within their most representative 191 LSPs the level of competence with MT is very low. As you say the tool is only as good as the user.

MT needs sustained long-term learning to build competence and during this learning period, the MT contribution to translation production ease and efficiency will be low or nonexistent. Most LSPs skip this investment and often strong-arm translators into using/fixing sub-standard MT .

When CSA probed further into the reasons behind the relatively low use of MT in the LSP sector they discovered the following:

72% of LSPs report difficulty in meeting quality expectations with MT
62% of LSPs struggle with estimating effort and cost with MT ▲ Collapse


Jean Dimitriadis
Miranda Drew
 


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Why has MT largely failed as a production tool with LSPs?






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