A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats? Quality Correlation between Human Translation and Machine Assisted Translation

Does the human who produces the best translation without Machine Translation (MT) also produce the best translation with the assistance of MT? Our empirical study has found a strong correlation between the quality of pure human translation (HT) and that of machine-assisted translation (MAT) produced by the same translator (Pearson correlation coefficient 0.85, p=0.007). Data from the study also indicates a more concentrated distribution of the MAT quality scores than that of the HT scores. Additional insights will also be discussed during the presentation. This study has two prominent features: the participation of professional translators (mostly ATA members, English-into-Chinese) as subjects, and the rigorous quality evaluation by multiple professional translators (all ATA certified) using ATA’s time-tested certification exam grading metrics. Despite a major limitation in sample size, our findings provide a strong indication of correlation between HT and MAT quality, adding to the body of evidence in support of further studies on larger scales.