Postredaktimin

Postredaktimin is a term used to describe the process of revising and improving text produced by machine translation after its initial output. The goal is to increase accuracy, fluency, and suitability for the target audience while maintaining fidelity to the source. In practice, postredaktimin combines linguistic editing with terminology review and style adaptation, and it is typically performed by a human editor working with MT output.

Postredaktimin can be categorized by scope. Light post-editing aims for content that is understandable and usable, with minimal changes to meaning and style, suitable for internal or draft use and short turnaround times. Full post-editing seeks near-human translation quality, with comprehensive correction of errors in meaning, grammar, terminology, and register, and alignment with the client’s style guide and localization standards. The process may also involve validating format, citations, and metadata.

Industry practice often follows standards such as ISO 18587, which specifies requirements for post-editing of machine translation output, and is integrated into translation workflows that include translation memory and terminology management. Postredaktimin can reduce costs and speed up localization while preserving essential content and tone, but it requires trained editors and clear quality objectives. Challenges include determining the appropriate level of editing, maintaining consistency across large projects, and avoiding over-editing that degrades MT efficiency.