Machine Translation: An Objective Look and Primer  

Machine Translation is a wonderful technology partner for the technical communicator, saving, under the right circumstances, time and money. As with any partnership, roles, responsibilities, and accountability must be clearly defined. In this human-machine partnership, the technical communicator shoulders most of the responsibility. There are many translation systems available, and the one that is best for you can be identified by considering, among other things, the purpose of the translation, its audience, the document’s size, and the desired quality. Despite the sophistication of the systems currently on the market, a human translator is a requirement for most post-translation editing!

Luttrell, Carol. STC Proceedings (2001). Presentations>Language>Localization>Machine Translation