Top Website Translation Trends of 2023

The technological landscape of the 21st century is almost unpredictable, considering how far we've come within the first 20 years. And this is highlighted by the mass adoption of AI in the past 6 months.  

The best website translation services do not just rely on humans anymore, and we have tools that are making the process faster and less costly without sacrificing quality. If you're managing or planning a website translation project, these are the top trends and services available to you.  

Trend #1: AI is Here and It’s Here to Stay

There's no question that artificial intelligence has changed the landscape of business and technology forever. More companies are using it, and the most successful companies in the translation industry are going to be the ones that leverage artificial intelligence to reduce translation costs at scale without sacrificing translation quality.  

Let’s look at today’s trendy AI website translation tools: Google Translate and ChatGPT. As an LLM, ChatGPT can assist with website translation in several ways. 

• Providing Machine Translation: ChatGPT can be used to provide machine translation of website content in various languages. By inputting text from the website into the model, it can generate a rough translation that can be used as a starting point for further editing by a human translator. 

• Answering Language Questions: ChatGPT can be used to answer language questions related to the website's content or translation. For example, if there is a word or phrase that needs clarification, the model can provide additional context and explain its meaning. 
• Proofreading and Editing: ChatGPT can be used to proofread and edit translations to ensure accuracy and consistency across the entire website. The model can identify errors, suggest corrections, and provide alternative phrasing for translations. 

Google Translate goes slightly beyond ChatGPT. It's a Neural Machine Translation (NMT) service that offers a website interface, a phone app for Apple and Android, and an API that allows websites to feature browser extensions. Google Translate has been used since 2006 primarily as a real-time translation tool but does have functions as a website translation service. However, it doesn't do anything beyond word-for-word translation. Without human editing or algorithmic review, it can't learn and improve its outcomes. It also can't provide website localisation or personalization depending on region or business. 

Trend #2: Adaptive Translation™

AI Translation is not limited to Google Translate and ChatGPT. But what is Adaptive Translation™? The new addition to the MotionPoint Platform consists of three components: 

• Translation Memory 

Translation memory (TM) is a type of software tool used by professional translators to assist in the translation process. A translation memory is a database that stores segments of previously translated text (such as sentences or paragraphs) alongside their corresponding translations. With MotionPoint's Adaptive Translation™ your translation memory database helps you localize your web content by providing recommended translations for words or phrases that have already been translated. 

• Artificial Intelligence 

Artificial Intelligence detects word use, sentence structure, and intent using an artificial neural network called Neural Machine Translation (NMT), which enables deep-learning and translation quality benefits. There are two distinct types of NMTs, both useful in different cases. 

• Generic NMT 

• A Generic NMT is what we know Google Translate to be. It is an AI tool that can produce accurate, word-for-word translations in real time. Though the translations may be correct, it is not capable of localizing or customizing based on brand guides or local aspects. 

• Brand-Adaptive NMT 

• Brand Adapted NMT is trained and tuned to each customer's vernacular and preferences. It uses existing translation memory data, domain-relevant datasets, and MotionPoint's proprietary data processing pipeline to provide businesses with custom NMT translations that better match their brand voice in other languages. 

• Algorithmic Translation 

Algorithmic Translation identifies and provides human quality translations for repetitive patterns and terms such as those commonly found on websites with dynamically generated content, such as personalization or product catalogs. This helps you deliver faster, more accurate human quality translations across your website while reducing costs.  

For some customers, Algorithmic Translation alone handles over 80% of the ongoing translations required to maintain localized websites. These translations would otherwise be assigned for costlier human translation or machine translation with post edit workflows. 

• Post-Editing 

AI Translation has come a long way, but with optional post-human editing, companies can ensure the best translation quality. The first three layers of translation should produce high-quality work, but an expert linguist can ensure the best outcome as well as provide localization efforts. 

• What Makes Adaptive Translation™ a Top Choice? 

Adaptive Translation reduces the cost of human translation without sacrificing quality. Connect to MotionPoint's Platform or BYO technology. Click here to learn more about our Adaptive Translation ™ 

Trend #3: Translation Quality Scoring

Translation quality scoring helps you know how good your translation output is and where you can improve. This is useful in many ways, primarily to help you understand if a given translation is good enough to publish or if it needs human in the loop post-editing.  

As mentioned above, a combination of machine translation tools should produce high quality work, but human intervention is always an option for sensitive content. Scoring quality can help companies save money because it can prevent unnecessary human translation costs, reduce editing by ensuring accuracy, and help build a more efficient data bank. 

The bleeding edge of innovation in the translation space is how translation quality scoring will be implemented at scale in tandem with AI translation. 

Trend #4: Machine Translation Tolerance

From 2016 to 2022, the U.S. machine translation market grew from $400 million to $1.1 billion, and it is still expected to grow to $230.67 million by 2026. A huge market shift is going from investing in human quality translation to machine translation, and this is great for companies. 

And this trend has been accelerated by the explosion of ChatGPT. As more people use LLM, there is now a higher tolerance and a greater expectation of AI and machine translation costs. 

Using AI Translation or machine translation has some particularly important benefits that businesses should take advantage of: 

• It’s fast: Machine translation can produce near human quality work in a fraction of the time, saving you time and money.
• It’s scalable: It can handle vast amounts of content quickly, keeping up with your changing business needs.
• It’s flexible: Using machine translation allows you to translate content from one project into multiple languages without multiple human linguists. 
• It’s automated: Automating the pilot stages of the translation process makes the rest faster and more affordable. 

Trend #5: Translation is More Affordable and Accessible

With the shift to more machine translation usage, translation has become more affordable to millions of smaller companies that previously had no access to translation. Despite the circumstances facing smaller businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, the translation service market size saw a 40% increase during that time.  

The use of translation memory, a vital component of the Adaptive Translation™ suite, certainly has a hand in the increased affordability. Research shows using a TM can lower the overall cost of translation updates by 20-30%. It can also reduce delivery time by 50% on average.

What Are Your Translation Service Options?

Proxy Translation 

Proxies can detect and produce automated translated content which creates a well-rounded localized web experience with little effort. Proxy technology separates written content from the code of your website, creating functioning multilingual webpages with the same look and feel as your flagship website.  

Proxy translation technology acts as an intermediary between a user and a destination server. When a user's computer sends a request to access a website or other online resource, a server-based proxy captures the request and forwards it to the destination server on behalf of the user in their desired language. One common use of a server-based proxy is to provide a way for clients to access the Internet through a centralized gateway. The proxy can then apply various filtering or caching policies to the requests before forwarding them to the Internet. This can help to improve network security, reduce bandwidth usage, and improve performance by caching frequently accessed content. There are two types of, proxy solutions and they are not the same. 

Server Based Proxies vs Browser-Based Proxies:  

A server-based proxy like MP Core, in the MotionPoint Platform are superior automated website translation solutions for fast, and high-quality multilingual websites. Server based proxies are in line with SEO best practices. Server based proxies can also ensure 100% content detection and translation queuing. This is optimal for translating dynamically generated content, product listings, and complex applications within front-end frameworks. 

Browser-based proxies typically operate as browser extensions or add-ons, which go against SEO best practices. Browser-based proxies are good for small projects but are not as robust as server-based proxies and can leave companies vulnerable to partially translated websites.  

Translation Plugins 

Translation plugins are software tools that can be added to a website to provide automatic translation. These plugins work by using machine translation to provide a rough translation of the website's content. While translation plugins are not as accurate as human translation, they can be a good option for smaller websites or for businesses that are just starting to expand into new markets. One of the benefits of translation plugins is that they are easy to install and use.  

Additionally, many translation plugins can be customized to meet the needs of individual websites, including the ability to exclude certain content from translation or to provide translations for specific pages or sections of the website. 

Connectors 

Connectors are valuable because they give you control over how your translations and your branding are presented in different languages and markets. Connecting your Content Management System (CMS) to your translation service can expedite development cycles and help you manage all your translations in one, familiar environment. With connectors that are compatible with CMS systems like Adobe Experience Manager, Drupal Translation, and WordPress, your company can maintain control and visibility of the translation process while saving time and money. 

APIs 

APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) are used in translation to connect different software systems and allow them to exchange information and data related to language translation. APIs can be used to provide translation services to different software applications and websites, enabling them to offer multilingual content and reach a wider audience. 

The Takeaways

The translation industry has shifted dramatically since the launch of ChatGPT. What we’ve learned very quickly is that artificial intelligence is here to stay, and it touts some amazing benefits for anyone looking for fast, accurate, and affordable translations. Companies that leverage AI at scale without sacrificing translation quality will win in the race to satisfy customers. 

The rise of ChatGPT and other AI tools accelerated the demand for Artificial Intelligence in new parts of the translation workflow.