Technology Meets Translation
The link between digital technologies and translation
The translation industry isn’t known for being one of the most technologically advanced industries in the world. But that might be about to change. ? In order to stay ahead, translation agencies are having to invest in technology. Let’s take CAT tools, for example. They were once seen as a nuisance and translators were very reluctant to use them. Back in 2013, 24.2% of all translators only used one CAT tool. Fast forward to 2017, that number is down to less than 1%. Nowadays CAT tools are more of an ecosystem. Translators and clients can work together, translators can reach out to agencies and vice versa. Their advanced features are also making an impact on different industries too, for example e-commerce.
How translation technology has helped the e-commerce industry
Translation is a vital part of every marketer’s toolbox. It’s been proven that over 72% of consumers spend most, if not all, of their time on websites in their native language. 72% of consumers are more likely to buy if content is in their own language. And 50% of people even say that language is more important than price. So, with this in mind, CAT tool features like API integration have revolutionized the way e-commerce companies translate their content. Anyone who works with e-commerce companies will know that they’re known for having very tight deadlines for translating millions of words. And this could only really be done with the help of machine translation. However, if you take a look at this case study by Memsource, you can see that being able to translate content as soon as it comes online rather than having to do everything in batches has actually managed to increase translation speeds by 30%. It has also managed to reduce content work by 130 days a year.
Machine translation and e-commerce
If we go back in time, before the days of API integration, MT was the way to go for many e-commerce companies. And still is to an extent. By taking a look at the solutions that companies like KantanMT have to offer, you can see that they managed to help their e-commerce client to translate 780k words in just 17 days. This would have taken a single translator 520 days, and helped their client save 62% on production costs in the process.
