Tips for using AI/machine translation

First ask yourself if the document you need to translate is suitable for AI or if it should be sent to a professional translator.

1. Will the translation be published or highly visible?
2. Could errors or poor quality in the translation have a negative impact on Lund University’s reputation or international standing?
3. Does the document contain information that, if inaccurate, could have legal consequences?
4. Is the document an official regulatory document (strategies, policies, plans, regulations, general recommendations or guidelines), a decision, an annual report, or similar?
5. If the quality of the Swedish text needs to meet the expectations of native Swedish speakers, the quality of the English text needs to meet the same standard for native English speakers. In other words, does the translation need to be better than “good enough” given the intended audience?

If you answer "yes" to any of these questions, it might be a good idea to consider sending the material to Lund University’s in-house translation team or another professional translator that has a framework agreement with Lund University.

If you decide that your material is suitable for AI translation, there are a few important things to bear in mind.

1. Each text needs to be very carefully proofread and edited by someone who knows the topic and both languages very well to ensure that the issues outlined in points 2-6 below are addressed. This stage of the process is time-consuming, but crucial and must never be skipped.
2. The tools available today generally handle grammar quite well, but not perfectly.
3. They tend to translate terminology inconsistently, which can lead to reader confusion if the same concept is translated differently within the same text, or if it does not match previously published material.
4. The tools tend not to handle aspects such as cultural norms, humour, puns, irony, nuance, or style very well.
5. Chunks of text and even negatives are sometimes ignored by the tools.
6. Because of the way they are trained, the tools can introduce bias into the translation.
7. Whenever possible, translate short sections or even individual sentences one at a time rather than translating the entire document all at once. This will help you to stay in control of the process and ensure that everything is translated correctly.

Remember to consider GDPR implications and never use AI to translate material that contains sensitive information.