Step 1. Open a document in Microsoft Word.

Step 2. Click on the SYSTRAN Tab on the Ribbon at the top.

Step 3. Select the Language Pair

Step 4. Click Translate

Below is the original document in French that we have opened in MS Word.

Original Word Document in French (our source language)

After performing the steps above, here is our result. The Word document was converted to English.

Word document translated to English (target language)

You will notice that the formatting is retained, tables, bolding, bullets, paragraph indentions and colors are all the same. There will be some differences in the layout because the translated text will contract or expand depending upon the language. For example it takes less English words to say the same thing as it did in French. This is commonly referred to in the industry as the contraction or expansion factor.

The internet has made it possible for companies worldwide to work together, without having to worry about distance or communication barriers. Although the different communication languages have often been considered a barrier, more and more companies are using translation software to do business.

Yes, computer translation has its flaws and human translators are often required to revise the final content to make sure it’s relevant and accurate, but with the newest software there is less and less need for a human input. The latest translation programs have improved consistently, have enormous dictionaries of specialized words and phrased that can easily be customized, and the process is faster and more accurate, compared to previous versions.

Nowadays, businesses find it a lot easier to understand website content, reports and technical documents even if they’re not originally written in their native language. Translation software (also known as machine translation) has come a long way in helping companies do business and reach clients globally in whatever language, as well as communicate with their foreign employees.

“Machine translation just makes the process more efficient”
Ford Motor Co. is a successful example of a powerful company that uses translation software from Systran Software to translate vehicle-assembly instructions from English into Spanish, Portuguese, German and Dutch. It also uses human translators to ensure it’s completely accurate. Although translation software isn’t 100%, it has significantly improved and is becoming more reliable every year for communicating assembly instructions to foreign employees, says Nestor Rychtyckyj, one of the technical specialists in artificial intelligence at Ford.

“Machine translation just makes the process more efficient” compared to a human translator, says Rychtyckyj . “We’re saving a lot of time and effort.”

At Ford, a translation software is a must-have since they are not only writing assembly instructions for new models, but they are also modifying instructions for current models three to four times a year, every time a part or a tool for the building of a car changes. In most cases, the instructions are written in English and then Ford’s translation systems are in change of converting them into the other five languages. Ford’s assembly instructions can include up to 300,000 sentences that need to be translated and distributed to employees as fast as possible.

Customizing Dictionaries
Ford has made its life easier by customizing its dictionary from the translation program, which consists of about 5,000 specialized terms, and each term is programmed to be automatically translated in Spanish, Portuguese, German and Dutch. If a term or a phrase doesn’t match the terms included in the Ford dictionary, then the software is programmed to search for a match within a more general dictionary. The accuracy of the instructions is double-checked by Ford’s human translators.

The multilingual instructions are ready to be distributed to workers by the following day and foreign employees can use them right away. The translation software is fast and efficient, and the final content is not too far from being totally accurate. For instance, translations from English into German are 94% accurate, reveals Rychtyckyj. Furthermore, he says that the minor translation errors are often detected by employees, so these are usually not a problem in the process of building a car.

Communicating with Employees
Foreign employees that work at Ford but speak a different language other than the five included in Ford’s system can get oral or written assistance on the assembly instructions from other engineers. Ford plans to further remove language barriers among workers by adding other languages to its system. Rychtyckyj reveals that the sixth to join the list is Russian.

The need for Human Translator Input
Translation software is not only used to facilitate communication between employees. It is also very efficient when website content or product descriptions need to be translated for worldwide customers to understand it. Minor translation errors may be permitted when it comes to internal communication within a company, but when it comes to customers, these are unacceptable. Not only can the inaccuracy make a company look unreliable, but it can also cost them clients. To stop this from happening, industry experts strongly recommend using a human input to verify the accuracy of a translation.

“No one thinks you can depend solely upon a machine,” states Chris Boorman, chief marketing officer for SDL PLC, a British creator of a translation software. “I do not believe you can ever take the human out of language when it comes to publishable” content.

Although translation software doesn’t yet deliver 100% accurate results, when it comes to solving a large-scale translation problem, this is a cost, time and manpower saving solution. For Ford’s massive volume of assembly instructions, translation software has successfully risen up to the challenge, proving its efficiency and delivering an accuracy of over 90% for all Ford’s five language translations.

Software can translate documents faster than a human but the accuracy can vary depending on the type of documents and the subject.  The human cannot physically translate at the speed of translation software can but it will be more accurate.

Blended Translation

The best solution is to blend human translation with translation software.  The blended translation method is not new to the industry but recent advances in Systran technology are delivering higher accuracy that makes it easier for translators to work with the translated results.

With software a translator can create a rough draft of a document and then work with the software to train it to understand specific phrase and terminology control the output, and then do a final edit to create a publishable document.

Professional Translators

Translators are getting more and more requests to “blend” or mix their by-hand translations with translation software due to the increase in the accuracy with some of the latest developments. This way companies not only save money, but also time by having a lot of content translated faster.  

Translation agencies are adopting the use of software at a much faster rate than in the past because it can save them time and increase productivity but also help them to gain clients. 

In Summary

Companies that want to ensure their important documents are translated quickly and accurately can choose to blend software translation with human translations. The quality of the translation is higher than if only traditional translation software were to be used. In the same time, the cost is lower if the company were to pay exclusively for traditional human translation.

It is important to note that software is not perfect for every situation or type of document but the technology keeps improving and will require less human intervention. 

Recently a professional translator stated in an article that he saw the industry changing, translators of the future would do more editing and proofing than actual translating from scratch.

What is Social Media Monitoring?

From blogs to Facebook to Twitter, social media monitoring makes sense for business.  Since brand monitoring shouldn’t be limited to just one country, using translation in social media is not only helpful, but necessary.  By looking at the global picture when it comes to brand management and brand promotion, businesses are able to see how their brand fits into the marketplace and whether changes are necessary to promote future growth.

Translating Data for Social Media Monitoring

Constant conversations around the world are changing the way that products are born and developed. Since people post on blogs and update their statuses and their profiles daily, these posts can be in foreign languages and require translating to English or another language to understand them.

Social media monitoring is essential for keeping up with the changes in customer tastes and preferences worldwide.  And even more important is finding complaints so as to make sure that crises are managed before they stain a business’ reputation.

Millions of Posts Translated Daily with Systran’s Translation API

The largest Social Media montoring companies use Systran for the searching and translation of the data they pull from social media sites.

With Systran Translation Solutions, companies utilize the API (Application Programing Interface) which allows data that has been mined from blogs, personal pages, forums, Facebook, Twitter or any other social media site, to be searched and then translated into one language.  The language translation API can work with any social media monitoring software to translate information quickly and accurately.  By using translation software, social media becomes another tool for helping to ensure companies are up to date on the latest conversations among target customer and client groups.  Simply ignoring the voices which can not be easily translated on one’s own is not an option.

Translation and Social Media

Many larger companies are already using translation tools to:

• Track social media trends and topics in any language
• Provide brand monitoring reports while maintaining multilingual accuracy
• Reduce the translation costs as only certain passages will require human translation

Experienced in Helping Companes find the Right Solution

We specialize in setting up Social Media Monitoring solutions for companies. The demand for translation has grown dramatically over the past 12 months and seems to keep expanding as more people embrace social media sites.

Systran, the world leader in translation software had been planning to produce a Mac compatible translator but due to developing a new translation engine this last year, the only Mac translator they had time to release was the Systran Widget translator. Apple included the Systran Widget on every new computer, it was great but it only allowed small sections of text to be translated at a time.

One thing was learned from the launch of this new product, even Systran was not prepared for the over whelming response from Apple users, servers were overloaded with the demand. This proved Mac users wanted a translator for the mac.

Systran Translation Software on Mac Computers

Thanks to Apple building the latest Mac computers with the Intel chip, which allows Mac to run Windows applications, Systran can now be installed in a Windows enviroment.  No longer is there a need for a separate translator for the Mac OS X.  You can check to see if your computer has this capability but all computers shipped with Mac OS 10 Snow Leopard includes Boot Camp, a software that lets you dual boot into Microsoft Windows .

Instantly Convert Foreign Languages

Once you have the dual boot system on your computer, you can take full advantage of Systran translation software for Mac computers and laptops.  This will allow you to translate a variety of documents from Microsoft Office.

Translate

• MS Word Documents
• Excel Spreadsheets
• Powerpoint Presentations
• Outlook Emails
• PDF Files
• Web Pages

No longer hindered by the Mac vs. PC question, you can use Systran translation software to help you communicate with people all over the world.

Step 1: Open the document in Excel and go to the Systran tab (older versions will show it on the front of Excel)
Step 2: Choose the Language  (ours is Spanish to English)
Step 3: Click Arrow under the Systran Icon and Choose “Translate Document” from the menu

Original Excel Document in Spanish

A new window will pop up with your document translated into the target language. The software will not overwrite your orignal document so you can easily proof and edit the new document.  Be sure to save your new translation. One feature I really like in Systran is the automatic naming of the files. Everytime you hit ‘save as’ the software prefills the name of the document and adds the language.  Example, if I translate a file named “budget.xls, it will automatically save it as “budget (translated English to Spanish).  This makes it much easier to find later.

Here is the translated result:

You can see that each tab still shows the Spanish lable but each sheet in the Excel file was translated. You do not need to open each sheet, it does the complete file.  The software will retain your formatting. There are times formatting can be an issue and it usually goes back to the original Excel file having characters that are non standard.  I have found the more current the version of Microsoft Office and the most current Operating System , ie Windows 7, the less formatting is an issue.

Stay tuned, we will show you in an upcoming post how to improve the accuracy of your translations.

Why is Systran’s Language Translation Software Superior? Systran’s secret to success is the development of a superior translation engine that combines both Rule Based and Statistical translation techology. This translating software can deliver a higher level of accuracy, recognize tens of thousands of phrases, has extensive language dictionaries (largest in the industry), built in linguistic rules and logic as well as advanced tools for a more productive and seamless work environment.