Professional translation is necessary for brands with diverse audiences to connect with customers and increase brand engagement. Google recently launched its Google Translation Hub, which can translate full documents electronically.

Google may claim that machine translation is more efficient, consistent, and good enough to replace human translation services, but this isn’t the case. AI-driven translations cannot act as a stand-in for all of a business’s translation needs.

Machine translation has been around for a while, and though services like Google’s can be good secondary tools, they don’t match the skill and attention of a professional translator.

There is a range of benefits to both Google’s Translation Hub and professional translation services. Which is best for your business? Keep reading to learn more about the key features of each and which option you should invest in for your specific translation needs.

Why Do You Need Translation Services?

Translation services involve translating documents or other content from one language to another to better appeal to customers who speak different languages and are parts of different cultures.

Sometimes, translation is 100% required. For companies in medical or government industries, distributed information must be translated into relevant languages so it is accessible to the people who need to read it. In other contexts, translation is not necessarily required. Still, it is an integral part of making a business accessible to customers, avoiding risk in the workplace, or even increasing the commercial reach of a product.

Investing in translation services shows customers that you appreciate their support of your brand. This is especially true if your business has a diverse customer base—translating your documents and other content helps make customers feel included and a part of your community.

Translating documents can also increase engagement for your brand. It’s hard for your audience to interact with your content if they can’t understand it. If large parts of your audience speak different languages, translation services are essential to your marketing strategy.

You may need to translate content into multiple other languages, and it’s crucial to invest in quality translations that will reflect well on your business.

Google Translation Hub vs. Professional Translation

There are some significant differences between machine translation and human translation. Understanding the unique features and benefits of Google Translation Hub and professional human translation services is important to determine which is better for your situation.

Google Translation Hub

In early October, Google launched a new tool called Google Translation Hub. This online service uses machine translation to translate documents, emails, and other content into different languages. Google advertises the translation hub as a self-serve service with the capability to translate a large number of documents for organizations or businesses.

Users can choose between a basic and premium plan, which differ in pricing and features:

• The basic plan offers translation templates for PDF and DOCX documents and supports over 100 languages for translation.
• The advanced plan includes these features and offers assistance with translation memory, post-editing, and other advanced features.

Users pay $0.15 per page translated with the basic plan and $0.50 with the advanced plan.

While the Google Translation Hub is an impressive development from their previous translation services, machine translation is not new. Here are some of the benefits and drawbacks of using Google Translation Hub for your document translation needs:

Benefit: Faster and Cheaper Translations

Machine translation tools, like Google Translate Hub, tend to be quicker and cheaper than a human translator. Machines can translate content much faster than humans, which is a big part of machine translation’s appeal for many people. However, it’s important to remember that a quicker translation does not necessarily mean it will have the same standards of accuracy, creativity, or nuance as a translation that takes longer to complete.

Additionally, without hiring translators for any extra editing help, machine translation is usually significantly cheaper than human translation. Machine translation is often cheaper because you’re paying to use software and not for a real person’s time.

However, machine translation may require hiring a human translator to organize and optimize the final content, depending on its use. This can make machine translation just as—if not more—expensive, depending on the original quality of the translation and your final quality requirements.

Benefit: Translation Memory Logs

Translation memory is tracked differently when using machine translation than when working with a human translator. Translation memory refers to the “storage” of commonly used words and phrases that have been translated in the past for reuse in current documents.

Google promotes its translation memory as a benefit because it is stored within the cloud. Human translators must often internalize translation memory or keep a database updated to track it. This can be problematic if key translators leave their company or stop working with an organization.

Arguably, Google Translation Hub makes it easier to keep track of translation memory by having a record of translation memory stored in the cloud. However, it does require a premium plan to use.

Drawback: Over-Simplified Translations

One of the most significant downsides to Google Translation Hub is that the translation is inherently oversimplified, as one might expect from machine translation. Though accurate, specific, and to the point, machine translation is naturally robotic and doesn’t allow much creativity.

This could be a problem, especially if an organization needs to ensure its tone and message will carry over to its translated documents (for example, when a company is trying to localize its content).

Furthermore, Google Translation Hub provides only a basic translation of words from one language to another. The machine behind this translation does not have the same editing and composition skills that a trained professional translator will have. Even if you use this service, you may need a translator to organize, review, and personalize the final content for your brand’s use. This can impact the overall price of your translation.

Professional Translation Services

When you think of translation, professional translation services usually come to mind. This is when human translators work to manually translate documents for the audience of an organization or business. Rather than using a machine, translators use their language knowledge and translation skills to translate content into different languages.

In some ways, it may seem like professional translation is less convenient than machine translation. While this may be true in some situations, there are also significant differences in quality between these two types of translation that can make it easy to determine the better choice.

Benefit: Higher-Quality Translations

The most significant benefit of using human translation services is the quality; human translation is unparalleled by machine translation. While technology can do amazing things today, it still makes mistakes and can’t understand nuance, tone, and intention the way humans do.

Additionally, you may be more likely to see mistakes in machine translation than in human translation. Human translators can review their work and identify mistakes a machine may miss.

For instance, professional translators can identify where sentences could make more sense in the target language or where the text has readability issues. AI can do many things, but it can’t make conscious decisions about these things the way humans can.

Overall, human translation creates better-quality translations. While machine translation can be an excellent supporting tool, its quality does not match that of a professional translator’s work.

Drawbacks: Longer Turnaround Times and Increased Costs

Professional translation does require more turnaround time and is typically more expensive than machine translation. Human translators require more time to translate documents and will likely have higher rates as compensation for their time and work. However, this is well worth it in many contexts for a better translation.

These obstacles can also be offset by maintaining a schedule of projects requiring translation and their deadlines. Creating a realistic translation budget can also help your business plan for the costs of quality translation.

Benefit: Skilled Translators at Your Disposal

Trained human translators have skills that machines cannot match. As mentioned before, organizations that use machine translation often have to invest in post-editing services to make the content come together.

Human translators have the editing and proofreading skills to create finalized content without needing additional review. Sometimes, the financial costs of human translation even out with machine translation costs, considering you don’t have to pay for follow-up services with professional translation.

Benefit: Room for Creativity

With human translation, there is more potential for content to be personalized for your organization’s intentions, tone, and messaging. Because of the relative simplicity of machine translation, it can often come off as robotic and impersonal. This can make it difficult for companies to connect with their customers and convey the intended feelings in translated documents.

Professional translators can carry your tone into translated documents so that your marketing materials are more effective and can better engage readers who speak different languages. This is a crucial point when it comes to creative content, like social media content or blog posts.

Creativity in translated documents is also important in industries where tone can influence meaning. Sometimes, translated information is so straightforward in fields like medicine and law that tone and “feeling” aren’t significant factors. However, this is not true in human resources, marketing, gaming, and even tech sectors.

What is the Difference Between Google Translation Hub and Professional Translation Services?

It’s clear that there are different benefits and focuses for Google Translation Hub and professional translation services.

The positive aspects of Google Translation Hub center on convenience. The focus is on getting businesses translated materials quickly and for the cheapest price. It can also make it easier to store a translation memory. However, the quality of translation is lower and often over-simplified to the point that it comes off as robotic.

There are some situations in which using the Translation Hub is perfectly acceptable. Still, human eyes are needed in many cases to prevent workplace hazards, catch legal blindspots, and ensure commercial content is in line with local audiences.

Understanding When Professional Translation is Necessary

Using Google Translation Hub may make sense when translating simple, general content like internal emails with foreign employees or essential communications such as company-wide announcements.

As the readership of a document or piece of content grows and the complexity increases, so does the need for professional translation services. Professional translation is ideal for commercial content, legal paperwork, and vital internal documentation like manuals, training content, etc. These are the kinds of documents in which a translation mistake could create workplace hazards.

Even if you use the Translation Hub to translate work contracts and other legal employee paperwork, you should consider hiring a translation company to check the documents for appropriate legal conformity. Mistakes in legal paperwork can cost businesses a great deal of time and money.

Professional translators also have the skills to ensure that any feeling or creative messaging you want to convey in your materials can be carried over into the target language. This helps you avoid impersonal translation and allows you to connect with everyone who reads your content, including those who speak other languages.

Why Professional Translation Usually Comes Out on Top

While both Google Translation Hub and human translation offer unique benefits, professional translation is the clear choice in most situations. Human translation offers high-quality, personalized services that give you more than basic word-for-word translations.

While Google Translation Hub may be faster and cheaper, the investment in professional translation services is well worth it.

When considering translation services as a part of a company’s marketing plan, it’s crucial that translated materials make an impact and encourage customers to engage. Naturally, humans are better at communicating with and connecting to other humans than machines.

Customers and readers should feel valued and welcome as a part of your organization’s audience, whether they’re reading the original or translated version of something.

Invest in Professional Translation Services

The bottom line is that Google Translation Hub and other machine translation tools can not match the effectiveness of human translators. Professional translation services offer more attention to detail and translation that aligns with the intended tone and purpose of a particular document or piece of content.

While it does take a bit longer and may be more expensive, the investment is well worth it for higher-quality translations.

Google Translation Hub could be a helpful supporting tool depending on your organization’s needs. However, like any machine translation, it is prone to making mistakes of one kind or another since it cannot make conscious human decisions.

Machine translation can also come off as impersonal, making it difficult to convey meaning and connect with readers. Though it may be a less expensive option with quicker turnaround times, this can be counterbalanced with a realistic schedule and budget for human translation services.

Ready to get started on your next translation project? Traduality has everything you need to succeed; create your first project today and find vetted translators, or book a meeting with us to learn more about your specific needs.  

Updated 2/21/2024.