Source text pre-editing versus target text post-editing in using Google Translate to provide health services to culturally and linguistically diverse clients

The study reports early-stage research on the efficacy of using the source text pre-editing (STPE) method to improve translation accuracy and cost-efficiency in conjunction with Google Translate as compared to the traditional target text post-editing (TTPE) method. Based on fluency, accuracy, cultural appropriateness and error severity, preliminary results show that STPE significantly increased the meaning adequacy and accuracy in translation as compared to TTPE. STPE also saved significant time, and, therefore, was more cost-efficient, as compared to TTPE. The results suggested a fundamentally new and more efficient method to the better employment of machine translation that differed from existing approaches. Governments and health providers may use the STPE plus Google Translate method more widely to reduce translation inaccuracy as well as to increase cost-efficiency, and provide more accessible information to culturally and linguistically diverse clients.