By Carlos de Paula, top syllabus translator for FCCPT use
A while ago I was editing Financial Statements for a client, which was translated from Portuguese into English using AI. I was surprised when the first three lines of the Balance Sheet were totally incorrect! Rather than using accounting terminology, the AI used other renderings for the terms which had no accounting connotation whatsoever. A major Silicon Valley vendor performed the AI, if you must know.
Just recently, I had the same situation: while editing financial statements in the same language pair, the same embarrassing mistake appeared. Guess what, the work was done using the software from the same Silicon Valley vendor. I evaluated it on my own, using the same software, and got the same (wrong) result. I suppose AI can be a slow learner.
Financial statements are normally used in connection with high level transactions, and the target public for the document are accountants, lawyers, auditors, investors, and executives. When you start the first three lines of a financial statement with wrong terminology, a red flag pops up, and the entire thing may be called into question. Besides the obvious awkwardness of the situation, such shoddy work may result in rejection, fines, cancellation of contracts, loss of interest, in addition to a severe dent to the professional reputation of a company.
That is why AI translation is like a child, should never be left unattended. The least you can do if you want to use it is hire a professional and experienced editor with knowledge of both languages to correct the text. Or face the consequences.
Carlos de Paula is one of the top Brazilian Portuguese translators in the USA since 1982. And now a top Portuguese AI Translation editor as well.
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