Human-powered, contextual AI translation
We use machine translation and AI tools where they help, and professional linguists where judgement matters. You get faster delivery for suitable content, with a qualified person reviewing and responsible for the result.
Machine translation has become fast and fluent, but it does not know who your audience is, what your brand sounds like, or which term your industry or your client prefers. It can also produce text that reads well but is wrong. Our approach puts human expertise and contextual understanding at the centre of an AI-assisted workflow.
For suitable content, such as large volumes of product information, knowledge bases and internal documentation, a machine translation engine produces a first draft and a professional linguist then post-edits it. This is machine translation post-editing (MTPE), carried out by a qualified linguist working into their native language. Full post-editing aims for a result comparable to human translation; light post-editing aims for an understandable, accurate text for internal use. We agree the level with you at the start.
MTPE is not suitable for every project. Certified, legal, medical and other high-stakes translations are always carried out by human translators, with technology used only for consistency checks, translation memory and terminology. We will tell you honestly which approach suits your content and its purpose.
Why choose SILA Linguists for ai-assisted
Context first
Linguists receive your brief, glossary and reference material, so the output reflects your audience, terminology and tone rather than a generic engine.
Professional post-editing
Qualified linguists review and correct the machine output for accuracy, meaning, terminology, grammar and style.
Choice of quality level
Light post-editing for internal, understand-only content, or full post-editing for content that will be published.
Translation memory and terminology
Approved translations and terms are reused across projects, improving consistency and reducing repeated work.
Quality assurance
Automated checks for numbers, tags, terminology and omissions are combined with review by a native-speaking professional.
Data protection
Confidential content is processed only with secure tools appropriate to its sensitivity, in line with GDPR and any NDA in place.
Human-powered AI translation from SILA Linguists®: speed with professional judgement
Human-powered AI translation is SILA Linguists®'s answer to large, frequently updated content: machine translation and AI tools produce a first draft, and a professional linguist post-edits, checks terminology and takes responsibility for the result. It suits help centres and knowledge bases in technology; product catalogues in fashion and retail; listings and guest content in travel and hospitality; internal documentation in engineering; and policies and large document sets reviewed during investigations in financial services and insurance.
We decide with you which content suits this approach and which needs full human translation, and we tune the level of post-editing to how the text will be used. Glossaries, style guides and translation memories keep your terminology consistent from one release to the next. The workflow suits widely used language pairs such as French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Korean, and SILA Linguists® can advise when a language among the 350+ we cover is better served by a human translator from the start. Every project ends with a human quality check, and sensitive or creative passages are flagged for full rewriting rather than light correction.
Content that will be relied on officially, such as contracts, medical documents or immigration papers, goes to fully human document translation and certified translation instead. AI-assisted translation also feeds website localisation, technical document localisation and transcription workflows, and our interpreting and language analysis services remain entirely human. Files are processed in secure, confidential environments under NDA and UK GDPR, for clients in the UK, North America, Australia, New Zealand and beyond.
Step by step
Assess the content
We look at your content, its purpose, sensitivity and volume, and recommend MTPE, full human translation or a mix of the two.
Prepare the workflow
We set up translation memory, terminology and style guidance, and agree the post-editing level.
Translate and post-edit
The draft is produced and then edited by a professional linguist working into their native language.
Check and deliver
Quality assurance checks and native-speaker review are completed before delivery, and your feedback updates the memory and glossary for next time.
Frequently asked questions
Is all your translation done by machine now?
No. We use machine translation only where it suits the content and the client agrees. Certified, legal, medical and other high-stakes translations are always carried out by human translators.
What is MTPE?
Machine translation post-editing: a machine translation engine produces a draft, and a professional linguist edits it to the agreed standard. Our post-editors are qualified translators trained in this specific task.
What is the difference between light and full post-editing?
Light post-editing corrects errors of meaning so the text is accurate and understandable, without polishing style. Full post-editing produces text that is accurate, fluent and consistent, comparable to human translation.
Is my content safe with AI tools?
We choose tools according to the sensitivity of your content and our data protection obligations. Tell us about any restrictions, and confidential material can be translated without external machine translation services.
Tell us the language, the format and the date
Our bookings team will confirm the details with you and arrange the right linguist. Have the language (and dialect, if you know it), the type of assignment and the date ready.