Instead of opting for human translation, you can use a Machine Translation workflow or AI-powered workflow to translate any content in the Smartling TMS in a timely and cost-effective way.
You can either use one of Smartling’s fully pre-configured MT and AI workflows or create your own custom Machine Translation workflow.
Smartling's pre-configured MT and AI workflows
Your new Smartling account comes with pre-configured Machine Translation and AI-powered workflows that are fully set up and ready to use. These workflows are offered and managed exclusively by Smartling Language Services.
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Machine Translation by Smartling Auto Select:
With this workflow, you are ready to get your content machine translated from day one with the built-in Smartling Auto Select profile. -
Smartling Language Services: AI-Powered Human Translation (AIHT):
Smartling Language Services offers an AI-enhanced alternative to human translation, which intelligently chooses the best available base translation from a selection of NMT engines and combines it with innovative AI features. The translations are then reviewed by expert human linguists to ensure a human-quality output. -
Smartling Language Services: AI Translation (AIT):
This AI-enhanced workflow provides translations at a quality level comparable to MTPE at a much reduced cost. As an automated translation solution, AIT offers faster turnaround times than human-in-the-loop solutions. For lower-resource target locales, a Light Post-Edit step is added to ensure a high-quality translation output.
Tip: Before beginning to use Smartling’s pre-configured workflows, we recommend reaching out to your Customer Success Manager for pricing information. If these ready-to-use workflows are not available in your Smartling account, your Smartling representative will be able to set them up for you.
Creating a custom MT workflow
If you would like to use a specific MT provider or LLM for your translations, you can create a new Machine Translation workflow by following the steps below.
Please note that Smartling's Neural Machine Translation Hub is a paid product. For pricing information, please reach out to your Smartling Customer Success Manager.
Step 1: Create an MT Profile
First, you need to create an MT Profile. This is where you can select your preferred MT provider.
You can use any of the MT providers and LLMs supported by Smartling, our intelligent Smartling Auto Select service or even a custom trained MT engine.
Info: For more information on how to create an MT Profile, visit this article.
[Optional] Enable TM Match Insertion
To achieve a higher level of consistency with previous translations, you can enable the insertion of Translation Memory matches for your MT Profile. This is fully optional.
Tip: We recommend setting a very high threshold (99-100%) for TM match insertion if no Post-Edit step is used.
Step 2: Create a workflow
Once the MT Profile has been set up, you can then create a new workflow:
- Click into any of the Smartling projects that you want to use a Machine Translation workflow for. From the Settings tab of the project, navigate to the Workflows.
- Then click Create Workflow.
- Create an account-level workflow if you would like to use it across multiple projects.
- If the workflow will only be used for the project you are currently in, you can create a project-level workflow instead.
- Please enter a name for the new workflow. We would recommend choosing a workflow name that clearly indicates that this is a Machine Translation workflow.
- Select the content type. In most cases, the options "General" (for raw Machine Translations) or "MTPE" (for workflows with a Post-Edit step) are the most suitable content types.
- Select the target language(s) or language pair(s) that you want to use the new workflow for.
- Choose the workflow template Translation.
- Click Create to confirm.
Step 3: Select your preferred MT Profile as the Translation Provider
By default, new workflows are set up for human translation. To convert the new workflow into a Machine Translation workflow, you will need to edit the Translation step:
- Click on the Translation step and select Manage Step.
- Under Translation Provider, choose the MT Profile that you created in step 1.
Step 4: Specify an Alternate MT Profile & Fallback Method
To prevent translation disruptions, specify an alternative MT profile and fallback method in case of MT engine outages or processing failures.
If your preferred MT provider returns an error, the content will automatically be sent to the alternate MT profile instead.
Similarly, specifying a Fallback Method allows you to automatically move the content to a different workflow step if your preferred MT provider returns an error. For example, any problematic strings could be re-routed to a human translation workflow.
Info: If you are using Smartling Auto Select as your preferred MT profile, your workflow already comes pre-configured with an alternate MT profile. If, for any reason, the MT engine chosen by Smartling Auto Select cannot provide a quality translation, the content will automatically be routed to the next best suited engine.
Step 5: Test the MT Profile
Once you have entered all relevant information, we recommend clicking the button "Test MT Profile".
Should there be any issues with the API key or profile setup, you will see an error message. This helps avoid any issues before you actually begin authorizing content into this new workflow.
Step 6: Save all settings
Once you are happy with all settings, please save the configuration of the Machine Translation step. The new MT workflow will now appear in your Workflows list with the "MT" label.
If desired, the MT step can be customized with your Linguistic Assets and Smartling's AI features for a more tailored translation output.
Of course, MT can also be combined with a human Post-Edit step ("MTPE").
Info: Even if you are using just a one-step workflow for Machine Translation, the translation output gets post-processed and optimized automatically. Smartling’s intelligent post-processing solution helps restore HTML tags and reduce any incorrect spacing. This can help significantly increase the usability of Machine Translations, even without any human editing.
[Optional] Customization with your Glossary or AI Toolkit features
Once the MT step has been configured and saved, you now have the option to customize the workflow with your Glossary or with Smartling's innovative AI Toolkit features for a more tailored and optimized translation output.
To enable any of these features, click Manage Step on the Translation step of your workflow.
[Optional] Configure Glossary Term Insertion
For a Machine Translation output that is in line with your preferred terminology, enable the insertion of Glossary terms as described here.
If you are using Smartling’s AI Toolkit, you can choose between two insertion types: Standard or AI-Enhanced. By adjusting the inflection of inserted glossary terms to the surrounding sentence structure, AI-Enhanced Glossary Term Insertion significantly improves the probability of a correct translation output which adheres to your preferred terminology.
[Optional] Configure AI Toolkit features
If you are using Smartling’s AI Toolkit, you can enable any of the AI-powered features that you would like to use for this workflow:
- AI Formality Adjustment,
- Edit Effort Estimation,
- AI Fuzzy Match Repair, and
- AI-Enhanced Glossary Term Insertion (as mentioned above).
All AI Toolkit features are labeled as Toolkit settings. Each of these features can be enabled or disabled individually, as required.
Info: Please note that all features which are part of Smartling's AI Toolkit are paid features and typically more suitable for MTPE workflows. For more information, please reach out to your Smartling Customer Success Manager.
MTPE: Adding a workflow step for human post-editing
Machine Translation can be used in combination with a post-translation step for human editing. This type of workflow is often referred to as MTPE (Machine Translation Post-Editing). Human linguists are able to ensure that the translation output sounds idiomatic and natural in the target language and follows any specific preferences that you may have.
Add a Post-Edit workflow step
To configure MTPE, simply add a new workflow step after the Machine Translation step.
The most common step type used for MTPE is Post-Edit. With this step type, translations will only be saved to your Translation Memory if the human editor actually makes any changes to the machine translations. Alternatively, if you prefer for all published translations to be saved to your Translation Memory, even if the human editor made no changes, you can choose an Edit or Review step instead.
Tip: For more information, visit our article on Machine Translation in the Translation Memory.
Configure workflow step settings
Depending on your preferences and your translation vendor’s requirements, you can configure additional settings for the Post-Edit step, such as content assignment or claiming.
To do so, click Manage Step:
Once all settings have been configured, please click Save.
Assign your translation vendor to the post-editing step
You will now need to assign your translation vendor to this post-translation step. From the Team hub, please give all relevant agencies or users access to the workflow step, so they will be able to edit Machine Translations for their language pair.
[Optional] Add a rate card for the Post-Edit step
If you are using a Post-Edit step in your workflow, you may want to add the pricing rate for this editing service to your vendor’s rate card. This ensures that cost estimates for any translation Jobs using an MTPE workflow will include the cost for human editing.
When creating the rate card, make sure to select the same content type that you set up for your workflow in step 2.
Tip: If you would like the rate for the Machine Translation step to be included in your cost estimates, please reach out to your Smartling Customer Success Manager, who will be able to set up the relevant card card for you.
[Optional] Apply fuzzy discounts to the Post-Edit step
Depending on your vendor agreement, rate discounts for content with Translation Memory matches may also apply to the Post-Edit step. In Smartling, you have the option to configure your Fuzzy Match Profile to apply rate discounts for content with fuzzy matches to the Post-Edit step or to all post-translation steps.
Info: For more information, please visit this article.