Machine translation post-editing
Machine translation post-editing services: AI speed, human judgment
MTPE services for high-volume content, run by an ISO 17100 certified team. Machine translation drafts it, and professional linguists correct meaning, terminology, and tone, so you publish more content in more languages without publishing machine mistakes.
- Professional post-editorsLinguists who know your subject, not crowd reviewers
- Light or full post-editingMatched to how visible and how risky the content is
- Your terminology enforcedApproved glossaries and translation memory on every job
- ISO/IEC 27001 securityNo confidential content pasted into free online tools
The problem
Raw machine translation sounds right. That’s the risk.
Machine output is fluent enough to pass a quick glance, which is exactly why its errors slip through. These are the mistakes our post-editors catch every day.
Raw machine outputEnglish to Spanish · 6 segments · not yet reviewed
1 critical 2 major 3 minor
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Raw machine translation: Exceda 2 comprimidos en 24 horas.
EN Do not exceed 2 tablets in 24 hours.
AccuracyCritical
Post-edited: No exceda 2 comprimidos en 24 horas.
The engine dropped the negation and reversed the instruction.
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Raw machine translation: Libere el candado de seguridad antes de abrir la cubierta.
EN Release the safety lock before opening the cover.
TerminologyMajor
Post-edited: Suelte el bloqueo de seguridad antes de abrir la tapa.
A padlock is not a safety lock. Your approved glossary decides.
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Raw machine translation: Los reembolsos se procesan en un plazo de 5 días hábiles, sin excepciones.
EN Refunds are processed within 5 business days.
AdditionMajor
Post-edited: Los reembolsos se procesan en un plazo de 5 días hábiles.
An AI model added a promise your source never made.
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Raw machine translation: El enfermero dijo que lo llamaría.
EN The nurse said she would call you.
GenderMinor
Post-edited: La enfermera dijo que lo llamaría.
The engine defaulted to the masculine form.
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Raw machine translation: Gracias por contactarte con nosotros.
EN Thanks for contacting us.
RegisterMinor
Post-edited: Gracias por comunicarse con nosotros.
Informal tú where your brand speaks formally.
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Raw machine translation: Almacenar por debajo de 77 °F.
EN Store below 77°F.
LocaleMinor
Post-edited: Conservar por debajo de 25 °C.
Spanish-speaking markets outside the U.S. read Celsius.
Illustrative examples.
Post-editing levels
Light or full post-editing: match the effort to the risk
More human effort means higher quality and a higher price. We recommend the lowest level that still protects you, content type by content type.
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Raw machine translation
Gist only. No human review.
- Best for
- Understanding incoming content, such as triaging foreign-language emails or research
- Not for
- Anything you publish, sign, or send to a customer
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Light post-editing
Accurate and understandable. Style is not polished.
- Best for
- Internal knowledge bases, support tickets, large archives, eDiscovery review sets
- Not for
- Customer-facing, branded, or regulated content
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Full post-editing
Accurate, fluent, and on-terminology, comparable to human translation.
- Best for
- Technical documentation, product catalogs, help centers, e-learning, policies
- Not for
- Creative campaigns and legally binding documents
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Human translation and revision
Translated and revised by two professional linguists under ISO 17100.
- Best for
- Contracts, regulated and certified documents, marketing, anything high-risk
- Not for
- Very high volumes with tight budgets, where MTPE fits better
Content fit
Is your content right for machine translation?
MTPE is the right answer for a lot of content, and the wrong answer for some. We will tell you which is which, even when the answer is human translation.
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Will a customer, regulator, or court read it?
No:Machine first, light post-edit
Internal content, archives, and research you only need to understand.
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Is it legally binding, regulated, or certified?
Yes:Human first
Translation and independent revision by two professional linguists.
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Is it creative or brand-led?
Yes: -
Is it high-volume and structured?
Yes:Machine first, full post-edit
Knowledge bases, help centers, product catalogs, technical manuals, and internal policies.
Not sure:Case by case
Run a pilot first. Quality depends on the language pair and the source text.
Our process
Machines draft. People decide.
Every MTPE project runs through the same six steps. The machine handles volume and consistency, and professional linguists make every decision that matters.
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Human step:
Content analysis and pilot
We test your content and languages, compare engines, and recommend a post-editing level.
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Machine step:
Engine and glossary setup
The chosen engine is configured with your glossary and translation memory.
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Machine step:
Machine translation
Your translation memory is applied first. The engine drafts only what is new.
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Human step:
Post-editing
Professional linguists correct meaning, terminology, and style to the agreed level.
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Machine step:
Automated QA
Checks for terminology, numbers, tags, and consistency across every segment.
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Human step:
Quality sampling and feedback
Reviewers score samples and feed corrections back into your glossary and memory.
Quality you can measure
See how much the machine got right, language by language
We track how much of the machine draft our linguists had to change and how many errors reviewers find in samples. You see where MT performs well, where it struggles, and where human translation is the better investment.
- Edit distance: the share of the machine draft that post-editors changed.
- Error rate: errors per 1,000 words in reviewer samples, by category and severity.
- Feedback: recurring corrections go into your glossary and translation memory.
- Spanish0.8
- French1.1
- German1.3
- Japanese1.6
- Vietnamese1.4
Security and accountability
Free AI tools are fast. They’re not a workflow.
Pasting content into a free translator or chatbot is quick. It also sends your data outside your control and leaves no one accountable for the result.
Your data
Free online tool: Pasted into a website outside your control
Translation Excellence MTPE: Enterprise engines used under our ISO/IEC 27001 controls
Terminology
Free online tool: Whatever the engine guesses
Translation Excellence MTPE: Your approved glossary and translation memory, enforced
Accuracy
Free online tool: No one checks before it ships
Translation Excellence MTPE: Professional linguists post-edit every segment
Accountability
Free online tool: No reviewer, no record
Translation Excellence MTPE: Quality scores, reviewer records, and one accountable partner
Client results
High-volume programs that can’t slow down
Global companies trust us with large, fast-moving translation programs across dozens of languages.
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Engineering and manufacturing Trimble
We provided comprehensive translation and localization services. Read the case study -
Finance and insurance Western Union
We provided specialized translation services, ensuring that the financial and legal documents were translated accurately and culturally appropriately. Read the case study -
Engineering and manufacturing ITT, Inc.
We provided professional translation services to translate employee safety training materials into multiple languages, including technical manuals, safety procedures, and emergency response plans. Read the case study
Start with a pilot
Prove it on your content before you commit
Send a representative sample. We run it through machine translation and post-editing, measure the results, and recommend the right level for each content type and language, with a fixed price.
- You sendA sample of real content, your languages, and any glossary or prior translations.
- We runMachine translation, then light or full post-editing, or both, side by side.
- We measureEdit distance, reviewer error rates, and turnaround for each language.
- You receiveThe translated sample, a quality report, and a recommendation with pricing.
Related services
Often paired with MTPE
Most programs mix approaches. One team handles all of them.
FAQ
Machine translation post-editing questions, answered
Don’t see your question? A language specialist can answer it in one call.
Talk to a specialist
Get a straight answer
Tell us what you need translated or interpreted, and we’ll scope it with you.
Meet one-on-one with a language services expert, at a time that suits you.
What is machine translation post-editing (MTPE)?
Machine translation post-editing is a workflow in which a machine translation engine produces a first draft and a professional linguist reviews and corrects it. The post-editor fixes errors in meaning, terminology, grammar, and style to an agreed quality level. It lets you translate large volumes faster than human translation alone without publishing raw machine output.
What is the difference between light and full post-editing?
Light post-editing makes the machine output accurate and understandable. It corrects errors in meaning, omissions, and key terminology, but does not polish style, so it suits internal or short-lived content. Full post-editing corrects accuracy, terminology, grammar, style, and consistency so the result is comparable to human translation and ready to publish.
Is MTPE as good as human translation?
Full post-editing aims for quality comparable to human translation, and for well-suited content it gets there. Results depend on the language pair, the subject, and how clean the source text is. For legal, regulated, certified, and creative content, we recommend human translation with independent revision.
How much does MTPE cost compared with human translation?
MTPE usually costs less than human translation because post-editors start from a draft, but the difference depends on how good the machine output is for your content and languages. Poor output can take as long to fix as translating from scratch. A pilot on your own content gives you real numbers before you commit.
What content is suitable for machine translation?
Machine translation works best on high-volume, repetitive, and structured content, such as knowledge bases, help centers, product catalogs, technical documentation, and internal communications. It is a poor fit for contracts, regulated and clinical content, certified documents, marketing slogans, and many low-resource languages.
Is it safe to use free tools such as Google Translate, DeepL, or ChatGPT for confidential documents?
Pasting confidential content into a free online tool sends it outside your control, and the provider’s terms decide what happens to it. There have been public cases of sensitive documents becoming searchable after staff used free translation sites. We use machine translation only within our ISO/IEC 27001 certified information security management system.
Which machine translation engines do you use?
We choose the engine for each project based on your languages, content, and security requirements, and we test candidates in a pilot. Your approved glossary and translation memory are applied so the engine follows your terminology and reuses your existing translations.
How do you measure post-editing quality?
We track edit distance, which shows how much of the machine draft post-editors changed, and reviewers score samples for errors by category and severity. Recurring corrections go back into your glossary and translation memory so quality improves over time.
Can you post-edit translations we already produced with AI?
Yes. We can review and post-edit machine or AI-generated translations you already have, to light or full post-editing level. We first assess a sample to confirm the output is worth editing rather than retranslating.
What standards apply to post-editing?
ISO 18587 is the international standard for full post-editing of machine translation output and for post-editor competences. Our translation services are certified to ISO 17100 and our information security to ISO/IEC 27001, and our post-editors are professional linguists who work into their native language.
Tell us what’s at stake. We’ll show you how we’d handle it.
Send your files or describe your event. A language specialist replies with a fixed quote and a delivery date, with no obligation.
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