NLG is a type of AI and language translation technology that is becoming more prominent in business platforms.
NLG standards for Natural Language Generation and it is changing the way we interact with machines and the way businesses gather data. What is NLG exactly, and what makes it different from other technologies? With the compound annual growth rate of the NLG market expected to reach 1.6 billion dollars by 2027, you need to know about NLG.
A chatbot, which is often used for FAQ portions of websites and customer support, is one type of NLG. – Photo by mohamed_hassan on Pixabay
NLG is a type of AI that automatically processes data into sentences and stories, in either written or narrative form, in a way that’s easy for us humans to understand. The NLG can take massive amounts of data from pre-set templates to form a sentence, reply, or inquiry that reads like a natural human conversation. This data and our inputted responses to this data create and add to a database of information that businesses and researchers can use to improve a process or product.
Any time you beckon Alexa or Siri, an NLG has been used to create that product and experience – Photo by Anete Lusina from Pexels
NLG is being used for a vast array of applications, and chances are that you’re already encountering and engaging with this technology daily. Here are a few broad ways that both businesses and consumers use NLG,
NLG has become one of the translation solutions used by global businesses as part of their website localization, eLearning translation and more. NLG is used as part of the machine translation post-editing process used by international translation companies and translation agencies online.
NLP is a series of Ais that work in a relationship with a user to create and exchange of information that benefits the user and the business.. – Photo by geralt on Pixabay
NLP is a blanket term that refers to NLG and Natural Language Understanding (NLU). NLP is a framework that converts unstructured data to structured data. NLU is the ability of a machine to use syntactic and semantic analysis to gather meaning from a piece of text or speech. It is the NLG that allows devices to create content from the NLU data content. In short, NLU lets a computer understand what data the user is giving it. At the same time, NLG provides data back to the user from the computer in a way the user can understand, thus the Natural Language Process.
Making an NLG requires several steps and a substantial amount of NLU data to create content that resonates and sounds natural. Whether it’s a chatbot or a machine translation tool, these are some of the steps and considerations that go into making an NLG,
NLG is used in a variety of apps and processes on our phones. – Photo by Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels
NLG has created ways for businesses to communicate data efficiently and effectively, which increases productivity and reduces business costs. It presents data and information in an accessible manner while collecting big data that will lead to specific insights into a business. NLG has been used in different business industries, from insurance, retail, finance, media, eLearning platforms, eCommerce and eCommerce translation, manufacturing, translation management and more.
While technology has come a long way, NLG is still limited compared to real human writing and semantics. NLG can only act on the NLU data, which, currently, doesn’t stack up to the ingenuity of human writing and content, which makes the quality of NLG content one of its biggest weak points. NLG, however, is not without its merit as the NLP is superb at generating human insights from big data, especially at a volume that we, as humans, are not capable of producing. As NLG can be used in various markets, it is a valuable tool that can be used in many ways for any business. Take translation and localization, for example.
For businesses that want translation and localization services to expand into other global markets, NLG is an important part of a quality translation. Translators use machines to help expedite the translation process and fine-tune it with their human expertise. This process is called machine translation post-editing.
Related: Machine, mind, or machine and mind: how to best deploy today’s machine translation solutions
Into23 provides translation management and translation solutions that cater to your business. Into23 can help you use an NLG in multiple languages for your business; whether it’s a customer support chatbot or transcription services for a voice assistant, Into23 can help your customers interact with your business better.
If you have any international business, the resounding answer is yes.
It’s nearly impossible to get recognised as a business today without an online presence, so it would be neglectful not to have one as part of a marketing strategy. So when do you start to consider website translation? And more importantly, what about website localization?
Localization is the process of having your website be international but sound local. It means adapting your website so that your brand is approachable in a target language. That means not just translating the words from one language to another but also considering the cultural context of the target language you’re translating to and the currency. A plain translation will not be sufficient enough to win over your new audience, as what’s said in one language may not translate so well to another. That’s where localization steps in.
Related: Words that altered history – translation blunders in international relations
International translation companies specialise in website localization and translation management for businesses to ensure that a company and their brand are understood and received well in a new target language and area.
It is no longer viable to have a website with an international reach available in only one language. – Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
Website translation or any localization and translation is often seen as a burden, and its necessity is sometimes questioned. Why not just leave the website in English? If you have any international customers, you not only owe these customers the diligence of having the content properly translated into their native language, but you are missing out on revenue by not doing so.
It’s no longer acceptable to have a monolingual website when you have an international base of customers. English may still be dominant, but this landscape is quickly changing. Estimates find that English makes up for around 60% of the content on the internet, yet native English speakers only make up around 5% of the global population.
Still not sure if you’re ready? Ask yourself the following.
What about if you have customers that are bilingual or non-native speakers of other languages? Well, a study performed by the European Commission in 2014 surveyed internet users across the EU, of which English is generally well used and received, found that,
The takeaway? If you are getting traction internationally and you’ve not localized your website, it’s time to.
Related: How languages rise and fall & why English’s dominance is waning
Don’t be this guy. Google Translate just doesn’t cut it when it comes to business. – Photo by mohamed_hassan on Pixabay
It’s currently estimated that 66% of users are using a machine translation when making a purchase online. Why is this acceptable when consumers could have a more efficient experience in their native language? Machine translation isn’t enough to guarantee purchase and can still confuse customers since machine translations without human editing often contain errors. If you truly want to be an international company or are thinking of becoming international, then you need a professional website translation service.
Related: Why Google Translate Isn’t Effective Enough for Business
An updated 2020 study by the Common Sense Advisory produced some eye-opening statistics. The study took samples from 29 different countries and asked users about making a purchase online and found the following remarkable results,
What’s more, in the last study performed in 2014, the following results were also found.
As international demand increases, especially with the ongoing pandemic, this need will only continue to increase.
The benefits of localizing a website and using marketing translation services by far outweigh the effort and cost required to do it. – Photo from Pexels
Localizing a website will only benefit your company and open new opportunities that wouldn’t have been present otherwise. Here is what localization and translation can do for you.
Conclusion? Website localization is the way forward for a global-minded website and business.
The only way to ensure a quality translation and localization of your website is to hire and partner with a marketing translation agency. It’s important to find a translation partner that knows your business and the areas that you’re aiming to localize. International translation companies have certified translators at their fingertips and know the ins and outs of translation management no matter what the project. Business translation and localization won’t have to feel overwhelming when you have professionals on your team to get it right.
At Into23, we specialise in high-quality translation services in all languages with an impeccable turnaround so that your business can get global as fast as possible. From website localization services, eCommerce website translation, translation project management and more, Into23 has all of your translation solutions.
Marketing translation and translation, in general, have a long and robust history. How did the modern translation industry become what it is today?
What is translation? In its simple form, it means to turn symbols from one set to another, such as words from a body of text in one language to that of another. Translation and its emergence have played a very important role throughout history in bridging cultural and linguistic divides that have evolved through trade as well as a means of spreading traditions and religious beliefs.
Where and how did translation evolve? How has translation changed today, and how will it be used in the future?
Sumerian bilingual text – Photo from Wikimedia – Caption – “This is the first known Sumerian-Akkadian bilingual tablet which dates back to around 2270 BC. The practice of translation is believed to have begun in Mesopotamia.”
Scholars believe that writing began to emerge in humans some 5,550 years ago. First, with early pictorial signs in early Mesopotamian and Egypt, we have evidence of fully-formed writing platforms as early as 1300 BC in China. With the development of written communication, translation became a necessary means of communication for the growth of populations and trade. While translation started within the trade as a business translation for financial means, translation eventually found its way into culture, art, and religion as it proved to be an effective means of spreading your beliefs, values, and traditions to other people.
The word “translation” and it’s meaning come from two different languages. The word itself comes from Latin and means “to bring or carry across”, but its meaning is also derived from the Ancient Greek word metaphrasis, which means “to speak across”, which then led to the word metaphrase, which means “word for word”. While the meaning of translation comes from these ancient languages, it is believed that those in the Mesopotamian region were the first to practice the art of translation.
One of the earliest known pieces to be translated is the Sumerian poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh, which was translated into Asian languages in 2100 BC. From there, one of the first known significant translations is that of the Old Testament in the 3rd century, as the bible was translated from Hebrew to Greek. Between A.D. 383 and 404, a man named Eusebius Hieronymus, or St. Jerome as he would become known, translated the bible from Greek to Latin. What made St. Jerome’s translation so innovative is that he first translated the text from Greek. Still, he then went back and checked his newly translated Latin text against the original Hebrew version (since he was fluent in all three languages) to increase the translation accuracy. St. Jerome also endorsed the transcreation method rather than the traditional word-for-word translation. In a letter St. Jerome wrote to his friend on the best methods of translation, he said,
“For I myself not only admit but freely proclaim that in translating from the Greek, I render sense for sense and not word for word, except in the case of the Holy Scriptures, where even the order of the words is a mystery.”
With his masterful translation of the bible and the concepts that he created, St. Jerome became one of the most prominent translators in history. St. Jerome died on September 30th, 420, and since then, St. Jerome has become the patron saint of translators. September 30th is also officially recognised as International Translation Day.
The earliest days of translation required the work of educated polyglots or at least bilinguals who would painstakingly translate passages of text by hand. This work would take translators months and sometimes even years to complete. The advent of the printing press made things somewhat easier as the translations became more consistent.
With the printing press, documents only needed to be translated once before being typeset and then run repeatedly. While this method was more efficient in producing copies, if there were any errors in the translation, they too were also reproduced, and there wasn’t a quick method to fix this. As a result, any translations with errors used as foundational pieces for translation into other languages meant that further errors followed and compounded into the next translation.
It wasn’t until the late 20th century, with the emergence of machine translation and machine translation post-editing, that made the translation process became more consistent.
Machine translation has changed the translation industry forever. Machine translation post-editing has resulted in quality translations that are reliable and accurate.
With the emergence of machine translation and platforms like Google translate, anyone can get a quick and immediate translation of nearly any text. However, just like in the early days of translation, machine translation alone is prone to many translation errors, especially since machines can’t translate the cultural concepts, idioms, etc., that make human language so robust. Machine translations are decent at finding concordances at the sentence level but fall flat when making suggestions at a morphological level. This is why international translation companies now use machine and human translations in a process called machine translation post-editing.
Even with current technology, machine translation doesn’t compare to human translation, which is what makes machine translation post-editing the most effective means of translation. Translators use a machine to translate the text first, a process that helps expedite the translation process, and then once the content has gone through a machine, the translator will then go through it and edit and compare it to the original text. This results in an accurate, reliable, fast, and quality translation for the client or business.
Related: How to be a translator in 2022
Regarding translation management, translators today don’t need to be polyglots anymore. Still, most translation companies want translators who are experts in language pair translation, meaning a translator needs complete mastery of two languages, as well as subject-specific expertise (i.e. English-Chinese legal translation). Language pair translations ensure you get the most accurate and quality translation.
While machines have made things easier in the translation industry, and I’m sure even St. Jerome would be impressed with the progress that has been made, as of yet, machine translation cannot operate alone and still requires the handy work of a professional translator. Using a professional translator is especially important in business as businesses today are not afforded the same luxuries of making translation errors as the early pioneers were. Companies today now use business translation services to ensure that they’re getting the best quality translation possible to represent and expand their brand. These companies use machine translation post-editing with qualified translation professionals to produce consistent results.
Related: Why Google Translate Isn’t Enough for Business
That is not to say that machine-alone translation isn’t being worked on, however. The Semantic Web or Web 3.0 is an extension of our current internet that is being worked on that aims to create instant translations of any language online, which would include any semantic or cultural content, and make the searches and the retrieval of this information universal. Web 3.0 aims to analyze every piece of data that is available on the internet and have it make sense in every language. This would create interactive pages that are no longer just text translations but include audio/voice and all other forms of media. While the Semantic Web sounds impressive, the fact that there are over 6,800 languages worldwide and that we are still confined to our current means of machine translation means that this idea is a very long way from becoming reality.
In the meantime, quality translations are best left to the professionals at international translation companies like Into23. Into23 offers localization and translation services in any language with professional translators from all over the globe. Into23 can help your brand or business reach new markets in other languages and offer translation solutions for every industry. Check out our services today and get a free quote.
The German eCommerce market was worth 99 billion euros in 2021.
German has more than 130 million native speakers and is the most spoken native language within the European Union. As German is so widely spoken, it has become a prominent language for businesses to localize with. So why should you localize in German and what should you consider in your localization strategy?
German is the 7th most used language on the internet and is massive within the mobile and app market. Germany takes the lead in Europe in terms of app store purchases and brought in around 1.8 billion dollars in 2021 alone. Further, there are more than 82 million high-income earners in Germany who like to shop online and expect content to be delivered to them in German, even if they understand English, meaning localizing in this language is very important if you want to reach the European or German market.
German is one of the largest native languages spoken in Europe but where else is it spoken? – Photo by Anthony Beck on Pexels
German is the official language of four counties in Europe: Germany, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg as well as Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Even outside of these countries, it is also spoken as a minority language in 42 countries across the world.
The German language, like English, belongs to the Indo-European language family. German began to take shape when the Romans came to the area in the 1st century BCE. As Christianity began to spread, under the influence of Latin and Greek, the first written Germanic language was created in the 4th century by Bishop Ulfilas.
Around 600 CE, there is a shift between different dialects in the Germanic languages. This is called the Second Germanic Consonant Shift and it was what we now call Old High German. This shift was an important one for the German language as it changed its pronunciation, which, still exists today. For example, Deutsch, meaning German, appeared for the first time during this shift.
Around 1250-1550 CE there were a variety of cultural changes, such as Martin Luther’s translation of the bible, which added a variety of new words to the German vocabulary. It was this translation that also set the tone for what would become a unified German language. From the 16th to 18th centuries various dialects from the southern and central part of German formed the New High German version, which is what is generally spoken today.
In 1880 Konrad Duden wrote and published the first edition of the Complete Orthographic Dictionary of the German Language. This book remained in place until the spelling reform of 1996.
While German still exists in many dialects, such as High German or Low German, High German is the official written language.
Map of German language usage. The red line divides Low German and Middle German while the blue line divides Middle German and High German. – Image from deutsch-lernen
What is the difference between these dialects? The connotations of these dialects have nothing to do with social class but rather where they are spoken geographically in Germany. It’s somewhat similar to American English vs. British English and the Germans call these dialectal differences Hochdeutsch. Not sure which dialect to choose for your website localization? You can find translation solutions with international translation companies that specialise in the German language.
High German: Spoken in the mountainous and high-altitude regions of Germany that underwent a consonant shift. Spoken in southern Germany and partially in Central Germany.
Low German: Spoken in the lowlands of Germany. This dialect did not go under the same sound changes as its higher counterpart and has a similar sound to Dutch.
Standard German: An effort started by the Holy Roman Empire to create a lingua franca. German dialects at the time were spread apart and made communication difficult. The consolidation was an attempt to make the bible that could be understood by all Germans. As a result of Martin Luther’s translation and efforts, the bible became a base for the Standard German language. Standard German has many High German features and is a variant of High German.
With German, dialects differ depending on how much the High German consonant shift affected them. The main consonants affected by this shift were p, t, and k. For example, p became a pf sound, ik became ich, or t became s or ts. The Low German areas of the country don’t use these pronunciations as they were unaffected by this shift.
Thinking of localising in Switzerland with German? Swiss German is distinctly different from its Standard German counterpart and is referred to as Helvetisms. Helvetisms are vocabulary, pronunciations, and syntax that are specific and unique to Switzerland. You might not think there would be that much variation, but the distinctions are significant, to the point where those in Germany will need subtitling services to understand a TV show or video that is in Swiss German. Here are some relevant points to consider if you are going to localize here:
What direction should you take for your website localization? – Photo by Sebastian Herrmann on Unsplash
Having a successful localization strategy comes with having proper business translation services that know the German market and can offer translation solutions that suit your business needs. Translation management can be the difference between a successfully localized platform and one that goes bust. Ensure you get the best possible quality translation by using a marketing translation agency like Into23.
Into23 is a group of translation and marketing professionals that can help you create a localization strategy in German or in any other language you require. Make Into23 your localization partner today and contact us for a free quote.
A successful eLearning course is never truly finished.
If your eLearning platform or course isn’t getting the return it normally would, it’s likely overdue for an update. Learning Management Systems (LMS) have changed the way we learn. From work-related training, academia, language learning, hobbies, and beyond. Like any technology though, keeping things up to date is important. If you’ve got eLearning courses set up on an LMS, it’s important to do periodic reviews of your course, not only to ensure that it’s keeping up with today’s technology but also to ensure that your content continues to be relevant.
Did you know that eLearning increases work retention rates by 25% to 60%? – Photo by Tumisu on Pixabay
A successful eLearning course is never truly finished, whether we like it or not. Information, no matter the topic, changes all the time and if you want to stay in business with your eLearning courses it’s necessary to consider all your content as consistently evolving and make changes to it when necessary.
If you showcase an outdated course, whether that’s with technology, outdated practices, images, media, or even outdated cultural norms, you’re going to lose your audience very quickly which will result in poor learning and course retention. Course maintenance ensures a consistent customer base as well as prolonged learning retention. The more engaged your learners are, the more they will retain.
Are your courses made to run on computers as old as these? If so, then your courses are most definitely in need of an update. – Photo by ludi on Pixabay
If you’re looking for some key signs it’s time to update your eLearning courses here are a few good places to start,
It’s important to stay on top of your eLearning courses and localization goals. – Photo by Firmbee.com on Unsplash
eLearning translation is much more than just a literal quality translation, it’s making the course feel like it was made locally for that specific audience. It’s about having the course in the learner’s language, with both text, imagery, and media and ensuring that all that content makes sense to the learner both contextually and culturally with each course they will be accessing. Successful translation and localization is not an easy undertaking which, is why using content translation services is an essential part of localizing and updating a course.
Related: 7 important steps to consider for your eLearning localization
Translation and localization are an essential part of bringing your content to a new language market and region and when it’s done right, it can boost sales, training, and learning retention substantially.
Into23 has all your eLearning translation solutions, no matter what language you need. We can help you with eLearning localization, multimedia translation solutions, audio transcription services, subtitling and more, ensuring that your eLearning courses are effective, efficient, and successful in every market. Contact us today to get started!