Skip to main content
NEWS

When Basic Machine Translation Fails: Advanced Solutions for Difficult Files

May 31, 2024

In a recent post, we discussed the advantages of our services over DIY machine translation. As with any DIY project, unforeseen challenges often arise. Numerous factors to consider are:

  1. “Free” engines that aren’t indeed free,
  2. Storing client data for system training,
  3. Files too large to process,
  4. Data restrictions,
  5. Bilingual text,
  6. Less common languages and
  7. OCR issues.

Even when overcoming these hurdles and finding the perfect solution, only some things can be machine-translated. We’ve all encountered those problematic files: JPEGs of Russian text, photocopies of photocopies, inactive PDFs of legal excerpts created on an iPhone, handwritten notes, text message screenshots, and more. Discarding a critical document in a foreign language is not an option. So, what can you do? Resorting to human translation is possible, but with the large volumes typically seen in disputes, it quickly becomes cost-prohibitive. Even a small percentage of problematic files can mean dealing with hundreds of documents.

The good news is that there is an effective solution, one that has impressed even the most seasoned eDiscovery professionals. The key to success lies in meticulous work performed by an expert team.

The main difference between Divergent’s basic Machine Translation and Machine Translation with Advanced Formatting is in the pre-processing OCR stage. With our Machine Translation with Advanced Formatting service, we accompany OCR with meticulous human review to ensure the accurate capture of all content.

Following OCR, our team performs a detailed line-by-line review, meticulously checking the accuracy of the OCR, cleaning up formatting irregularities, preparing and fixing segmentation, and manually capturing any missed content. This thorough review process ensures the utmost accuracy in our translations.

The final formatted Word version will accurately reflect the original document’s contents and be editable without formatting concerns. The quality of the source content is the single greatest factor affecting Machine Translation output. With our Advanced Formatting step, as long as the content is legible, it will be accurately captured in pre-processing, ensuring the highest possible Machine Translation output quality. This is the value of our human-reviewed translation service.

Untranslatable files shouldn’t hinder your case’s success. Discover the transformative power of Divergent’s Machine Translation with Advanced Formatting. Our meticulous process ensures that every critical detail is precise, giving you peace of mind and the highest-quality translations. Let us be your partner for your translation challenges and achieving excellence.