Machine translation implementation among language service providers in Spain
Marisa Presas, Pilar Cid-Leal, Olga Torres-Hostench · Journal of Research Design and Statistics in Linguistics and Communication Science · 2016
This article presents a mixed methods study on the implementation of machine translation (MT) and post-editing (PE) among Spanish language service providers and the methodology used. In the first phase, questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data about each business’s profile and the proportion of businesses using MT and PE. In the next phase, a focus group session was used to collect qualitative data to complement the quantitative results and understand businesses’ motivations and the procedures followed to adopt (or not adopt) an MT system. The results of the two phases are presented separately and then integrated in the discussion. The quantitative results show that 47.3% of Spanish language service providers use MT and that 45.5% of these use MT in only 10% of their total projects. The qualitative results reveal that the decision to implement an MT system depends on multiple factors: the business’s financial capacity, technological capacity and the knowledge and attitude of the business’s human resources.