Practical AI · 3-minute read
Your translated notice reads beautifully. Unfortunately, the entrance has moved to the wrong side of the building. The grammar will not be much comfort to the person standing beside the dumpsters.
AI can produce a useful translation draft. The business still needs to establish that customers receive the same meaning, instructions and limitations in each language.
Fix the original before translating it
Marigold Office Services is a fictional administrator for a clinic building. Its practice task is a public notice about a temporary reception entrance. It contains no patient information or medical instructions.
The original says, ‘Use the back door next Friday.’ That is vague even before translation. The team replaces it with a named entrance, a full calendar date and a clear description of the route. They confirm the details with building staff before creating another version.
Specify the target language and relevant locale, the audience and the purpose. Do not infer someone’s preferred language from their name. Supply a short glossary for building names, service names and terms that must remain consistent.
Make important details easy to check
Draft a translation of this approved public notice into [language and locale] for [audience]. Preserve meaning, names, dates, times, amounts and contact details. Follow this approved terminology list. Do not add promises or remove qualifications. Return the source and translation in matching numbered segments. Separately flag ambiguities and terms needing a qualified reviewer. Text: [approved notice].
Keep reviewer notes separate from the customer-facing draft. If the source contains an ambiguous date or unfamiliar abbreviation, resolve it with the owner rather than asking the model to choose a convenient interpretation.
A second AI pass, including translating the draft back into the original language, can suggest questions. Treat it as another check, not proof that the translation is correct.
Have a qualified person compare both versions
Use a reviewer with appropriate proficiency in both languages and knowledge of the subject. Ask them to check meaning, omissions, tone, terminology and the details someone will act on. Being conversationally bilingual does not automatically qualify someone for every specialized document.
A study by Freitag and colleagues found that professional translators using full document context evaluated machine translations differently from crowd workers. It supports taking reviewer expertise and context seriously; it does not establish the quality of every current AI tool. [1]
For medical, legal, safety or other consequential material, follow the relevant specialist translation process. Keep sensitive records out of a general drafting exercise. This fictional building notice is deliberately a lower-risk example.
Finally, test the published layout, links and reading order. Have someone use the notice to find the entrance. Keep versions linked so a corrected time or location is updated in every language.
Your turn: Which customer instruction would cause the most confusion if a translation changed just one detail?
Source [1]: Freitag et al.: Experts Errors and Context. Research on professional translation evaluation using document context. The administrator, notice and review workflow are original examples, not clinical or legal guidance.
