Back to top image

🦾 Machine Translation & MT Profiles

 

Machine Translation (MT) is a cost-effective way of translating content at a rapid speed. Traditionally, MT has been a mechanical, rule-based substitution of words in a source language to a target, but advances in deep learning and machine learning have yielded more advanced, high-quality translation performance. 

MT Providers and Support Languages

Smartling integrates with the following Machine Translation engines:

(* includes support for custom trained engines)

To connect your Smartling account to an MT engine, you will first need to activate an account with one of the above providers. Please contact your CSM for more details.

MT Profiles

MT Profiles are a method of storing MT credentials in Smartling. Instead of copy-pasting the same keys into numerous workflows, you can create an MT Profile to store a key, then assign that profile to different workflows. You can also use your MT credentials in the CAT Tool by designating an MT Profile.

Smartling Auto Select

Smartling Auto Select is Smartling's-own MT Profile. For information on the Smartling Auto Select MT Profile, read our documentation on Smartling Auto Select.

Creating an MT Profile

  1. In the Account Settings dropdown, click on Integrations
    • Alternatively, you can access the MT Profiles page from the Project Settings > Workflow Configuration > Translation step > Manage Step > Create MT Profile
  2. Click on the MT Profiles tab
  3. Click on Create MT Profile
  4. Define a name and select a provider
    • Alternatively, choose Copy Source to Target to create this translation method as a translation provider option in your workflow configuration.
  5. Enter the credentials. 
  6. (Optional) Click Test Credentials to ensure the credentials are correct. Ensure all fields are complete before testing (including the Profile Name).
  7. (Optional) Define language-specific credentials and rules. This only applies for trained MT engines with different credentials by language, i.e. Amazon Translate, Google AutoML, and Microsoft Translator.

Editing an MT Profile

  1. In the Account Settings dropdown, click on Integrations
  2. Click on the MT Profiles tab
  3. Click on the MT Profile name you want to edit
  4. The Edit MT Profile dialog appears where you can edit and test MT Profile credentials and define new language-specific credentials and rules.

You cannot edit Smartling Auto Select.

Deleting an MT Profile

  1. In the Account Settings dropdown, click on Integrations
  2. Click on the MT Profiles tab
  3. Click the ellipses under Actions > Delete

You cannot delete an MT Profile that is assigned to a workflow. You need to re-assign the workflow step to another translation option. If you unassign an MT Profile while translations are in progress, translation progress will stop. The translations will remain in the translation step until the step is reassigned.

Enabling MT Profiles in the CAT Tool

  1. Go to Integrations > MT Profiles
  2. Click CAT Tool Settings
  3. Toggle the Enable MT in the CAT Tool switch on, and choose a default MT Profile from the dropdown. 
  4. (Optional) Define language-specific rules to use different MT Profiles for different languages in the CAT Tool. For example, you can define "Google MT" as your default MT Profile and "Microsoft MT" for French and Spanish. 

For more information, read MT in the CAT Tool.

Enabling MT Profiles in Workflows

  1. Go to Projects (select a project) > Gear Icon > Project Settings > Workflows
  2. Click on the dropdown caret on a Translation step. Translation steps have purple quotation icons.
  3. In the Translation provider dropdown, select an MT Profile that has been previously created using the steps above.
  4. (Optional) Define Alternate MT Profiles: if a string cannot be translated by the assigned MT Profile, you can choose other MT Profiles to translate the string.
  5. (Optional) Define a Fallback Method: if a string cannot be translated by any MT providers due to an error, you can choose a different workflow step to automatically move these strings to.
    • A translation issue will be raised on the string even if you do not designate a Fallback Method.
    • The Fallback Method workflow step must support the same languages as the current MT step. If there are no options in the Fallback Method dropdown, then that means that there are no other workflows that support the same languages.
    • If a Fallback Method is not defined, the string will stay in the translation step until a user manually changes the workflow.
    • If you want Machine Translations to be processed through an edit step after the initial MT step, you need to understand how Machine Translations are saved to the Translation Memory.

To find out what MT Profiles are in which workflows:

  1. In the Account Settings dropdown, click on Integrations
  2. Click on the MT Profiles tab
  3. Under Workflows, click the number to view a list of active workflows with the MT Profile

Machine Translation in the Translation Memory

For information on machine translation in the translation memory, read Machine Translation in the Translation Memory.

MT Errors

For information on MT errors, read our documentation on Troubleshooting MT Errors.

Table of Contents