MT Quality Comparison: Google Translate vs. Microsoft Translator

Recently we published updated machine translation (MT) quality comparison. The comparison was made in late August with our fully-automatic award-winning system called MT-Qualifier. We compared MT quality in two language pairs, English to Spanish and English to Portuguese. The results are quite interesting because they contradict a bit with the common understanding of the best services. “A myth is busted”, so to speak.

The winning solution in August 2014 was Microsoft Translator. When translating from English to Spanish it was the the single best system and with English–Portuguese language pair it came in the second place. And even then Microsoft Translator was only a little bit behind Google Translate. Although Google Translate slightly won the competition in Portuguese, it was only the 4th out of six in Spanish. Commonly Google has been regarded as the best but overall, at least based on the results, Microsoft seems to produce higher quality.

The competition for the third place was tight. We have to call it a tie at this point between Promt Translator and Systran. They are very close to each others. In English–Spanish both actually beat Google Translate with a tiny margin. However, the English–Portuguese language pair is not their strength so overall they are still behind Google’s service.

Here’s the overall ranking based on the quality scores in August 2014:

1. Microsoft Translator
2. Google Translate
3. Promt Translator and Systran

Please note that the scores between these two comparisons aren’t comparable woth each others because they contain a different set of MT services. In addition, the quality results can change all the time as the service providers develop their systems and technologies. We will continue monitoring the progress and report the results to you. Follow us on Twitter and be the first to hear the new results.

©Multilizer

Now you can test MT-Qualifier. See how well machine translators can translate your own material. Or find out how good your machine translation service is as compared to your competitors. Click here to learn more.