Custom.MT integrated ChatGPT and made it available through a Trados Plugin. Try it, the first 50,000 characters are on us.

Like all technology teams out there, Custom.MT is experiencing the AI revolution with awe and excitement. As soon as OpenAI made waves, we decided to make it work for localization people. Working on our first commercial evaluation of ChatGPT vs DeepL and Google, we built code that fit the new model into the world of CAT tools and segment-based translations regulated by style guides and glossaries. Here is our first app based on OpenAI’s model – machine translation in Trados.

Our integration puts the linguist in the driver’s seat with machine translation – she may provide specific instructions to the model in natural language and receive the specified output in Trados. The integration supports style prompt engineering, style guides, and glossaries.

For example:

• Tell ChatGPT to use “Toi” instead of “Vous” in French
• Make it translate in a high-flown, or bookish style, or go informal
• Define the target audience, for example, “teenagers” or “bankers and lawyers”
• Add a list of terms in .csv, and ChatGPT will use them

How to use ChatGPT in Trados

• Register an account on Console.custom.mt or login into your existing account
• Navigate to Templates in the left sidebar
• Create a template that uses Open.AI ChatGPT 3.5 Turbo
• This will open text fields to write your prompt and upload the glossary
• Describe the persona and provide further instructions

Example prompt:

You are a helpful translator from English to Italian that takes style guides and terminology into account, you work for the World Health Organization which takes care of training non-medical personnel around the world. You are friendly and caring, yet assertive. You use positive attitudes even referring to the negative consequences. You do not use directive and imperative words. Only translate and do not provide explanations or comments.

You can create multiple ChatGPT templates for different domains and customers, and if you have a group of translators, everyone can use your prompt.

Benefits of Translating with ChatGPT in Trados

Dedicated machine translation brands are faster and more reliable in translations. ChatGPT’s advantage is easy adaptation. Unlike standard machine translation which learns domain knowledge by costly and technically complex training, or adaptive MT that looks at post-editing input, you can steer ChatGPT just by telling it to translate in a specific way.

Working with Microsoft and Google translators, we discovered that custom models sometimes experience exasperating hallucinations not present in the standard stock model. These range from spelled-out numbers (Fourteen instead of 14) and doubled spaces to catastrophically omitted parts of the target sentence. To fix such errors, an engineer needs to reduce the input training data and retrain, often iteratively, incurring computational costs, which may go up to $300 per run. In a scenario with 5-10 languages and multiple iterations, that can run up to an unpleasant bill.

Working with adaptive MT that works from post-editing corrections, we didn’t face the hallucinations problem but instead ran into limitations in how much the model can learn. In one instance we needed adaptive MT to adhere to the customer’s terminology, so we created and uploaded an artificially created dataset that consisted of nothing but corrections of the term we wanted to fix. Unfortunately even that did not solve the problem.

With ChatGPT we see a level of control unprecedented in machine translation – if you tell it to jump, it jumps! It’s enough to add verbal instruction to translate a specific term in a specific way, and the model respects this command. We hope that with this integration, linguists will be able to customize and adapt their models in a natural way.

Pricing

ChatGPT integration is included in our console subscription at no extra cost, so you can use it for 30 euros per month (and per million characters). Larger language teams with heavier usage may opt for the next plan that reduces the price to 20 euros per month in exchange for guaranteed larger consumption.

Data Privacy

Your data flowing to OpenAI is opted out of the optional sharing program. While OpenAI is still your data subprocessor, we believe that your translations and prompts will not be available to any other users. Custom.MT never stores your data and deletes it as soon as the translation is complete.

PS: if you’re looking for a solution for a larger team, prompt engineering, and service around ChatGPT, fill in this form and we will contact you.