Community Expert

Question

Translation in InDesign

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
November 7, 2023
4 replies
3266 views

Note: Cross-posting for better user feedback and visibility.

Adobe Express now has built-in AI translation services for their product. Why is this not available in InDesign?

I'm not expecting 100% accuracy, we have translators to proof results, but this would be so much more efficient as a first-pass instead of exporting IDML to send to a service or through Trados software.

https://indesign.uservoice.com/forums/601021-adobe-indesign-feature-requests/suggestions/47440610-ai-translation-in-future-indesign

Type

Joel Cherney

Community Expert

I promise you, it would not be more efficient as a first pass.

MT connectors already exist for Trados. Those MT engines use last-gen neural AI translation tech. You could first-pass your translation through Trados, without a problem. And I can understand the desirability of having that within one's layout app, which we can't really do with InDesign today.

But the main reason you're not seeing generative AI connectors for brand new MT engines to plug into your Trados or your memoQ or whatever is quite simple: genAI is absolute trash for comprehensible, meaningful translation. Worse than the last-gen MT tech. Worse than the statistical garbage we lived with before neural nets became the latest greatest AI craze. You'll see in-language chatbots using genAI, of course (at least in some easy languages), but for straight translation? Like, "here's the instructions for taking this medication in English; I need 'em in Spanish, Russian, and Vietnamese"? Last-gen AI tech still does a much, much better job at the actual job of translation. It also doesn't expose you to lawsuits the way that genAI would cause your readership to e.g. accidentally fatally overdose themselves.

When you see the big MT vendors offering MT engines based on The Latest Greatest AI, that's when you know that it's safe to migrate. If e.g. Systran's MT engine is still based off of neural AI, there's a very good reason for that.

I've lived through two AI winters already (I learned Prolog in the 1980s, if that is meaningful to you) and to be perfectly direct, I cannot wait until it's time to hunker down in front of the fire for my third AI winter.

Kevin Stohlmeyer

Author

Community Expert

@Joel Cherney we already use Trados in our translation dept. but there is a cost associated with that. Having it in InDesign natively could be a like-for-like but less expensive option for a first pass if using the proper translation engine.

I also understand that while this cant be done in InDesign today I have submitted to user voice for possible future enhancement.

To your second point, if AI generated translation is such "trash" - why did Adobe put it front and center in Express? If this utterly fails with the results, users will obviously off-ramp to another solution, again like Trados.

James Gifford—NitroPress

Legend

You get what you pay for, especially in subtle, complex services like translation. I have lost count of the times I was given some cheap "My uncle speaks German" translations to work with, that ended up getting hoots from the target audience. I'll be leery of AI translations that are not reviewed by a fully fluent, topic-competent human for a very, very long time. (I mean, we all have stories of a wetware translator who made some idiotic mistake, especially to/from Asian languages!)

As for why Adobe shoehorned it into AX... well, gosh, let's think. Why does GM chrome bumpers and Kellogg's offer 20% more Sugar Bombs for free?

James Gifford—NitroPress

Legend

Because AX is a bleeding-edge cloud-based integrated app, and ID is a twenty-year-old standalone platform that is not handling cloud features very well.

No question it would be useful, but so would all-wheel drive in a '65 Volkswagen bug. 🙂

The solution is obvious but I see no sign of it being considered.

Kevin Stohlmeyer

Author

Community Expert

@James Gifford—NitroPress but yet lets throw Generative AI image generation into a document layout program. Cause that makes sense for any managed workflow. (kidding/sarcasm)

James Gifford—NitroPress

Legend

One of my colleagues is a noted expert on the social/implemenation/use aspects of AI. He is exasperated beyond words at how every company on earth is getting Friggin' Ay-Eye into every facet of every product, whether it makes the slightest bit of sense or not.

Anyone remember the brief era when it was possible to make any item with a power source "talk"? Until everything with a power source did?

J

Jemmarie Bocalbos

Community Expert

+1 need please

E

Eugene Tyson

Community Expert

Hopefully, if it's in 1 thing it will be pushed to other apps - I think AI image creation was one of those things pushed to Express first then pushed to the apps next. Maybe wrong on that.

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