Machine translation (MT), as the name suggests, refers to translations performed by a computer program, specifically a neural network. MT is an excellent tool for translating simple texts or pre-translating your strings before further refinement.
Supported providers
Currently Lokalise supports three MT providers:
Provider | ||||
Google Translate | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
DeepL | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
Microsoft Translator | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
Please note that Lokalise does not alter source translations; they are sent directly to the MT providers, and the results are fetched back. Be aware that after translation, your HTML tags and placeholders may have corrupted or misplaced brackets. In rare cases, these corrupted placeholders could potentially break your code. Therefore, exercise caution when translating texts that contain HTML markup and placeholders.
Google Translate
Find the list of all languages supported by Google Translate in the official doc.
Google Translate is likely the most popular machine translation provider, supporting dozens of languages with the ability to translate from any language to any other.
On Lokalise, Google Translate can be used:
As an inline MT
As a method to pre-translate empty values
As a MT provider for translation orders
As a MT provider for automation actions
DeepL
Find the list of all languages supported by DeepL in the official doc.
DeepL is a company specializing in deep learning and develops advanced AI systems for language translation.
On Lokalise, DeepL can be used:
As an inline MT
As a MT provider for translation orders
As a MT provider for automation actions
Microsoft Translator
Find the list of all languages supported by Microsoft Translator in the official doc.
Microsoft Translator, part of Azure AI Services, supports dozens of languages.
On Lokalise, Microsoft Translator can be used:
As an inline MT
Machine translations pricing
Feature | Price | Supported payment plans |
Inline machine translation (MT) | Free | Essential and above |
Pre-translate empty values | Free | Essential and above |
Translation orders | $0.001 per word | Start and above |
Automation actions | Please check the information on subscription plan quotas to learn more. | Start and above |
Using machine translations
There are multiple ways to use machine translations on Lokalise.
Inline MT
This feature is available starting from the Essential plan and above.
The inline machine translation feature provides suggestions from MT engines as you edit your translations in the Lokalise graphical user interface. These suggestions are displayed in the right pane under the Suggestions tab:
In the screenshot above, the user is presented with suggestions from Google Translate, DeepL, and Microsoft Translator. To choose one, simply click on it, or press Alt+N, where N is the suggestion number. You can enable or disable inline MT providers in your personal profile under the General tab.
If you can't see these suggestions, go to Project settings (or ask your project admin to do so) and enable the Inline machine translations option under Miscellaneous:
Note that the chosen MT values will also be saved to your translation memory for future use.
Pre-translating empty values
This feature is available starting from the Essential plan and above.
To populate all empty values for a given key with machine translations, click on the Google-translate empty values button under the key name.
As the name implies, this feature always uses Google Translate. If some languages aren't supported by this provider, the corresponding empty values will remain unaltered. To provide machine translations for multiple keys simultaneously, create a new translation order.
You can't Google-translate empty values for all keys within the project at once. To do that, create a new translation order and choose Google as the provider. Alternatively, create a new Automation with the Use machine translation action and apply it on demand by clicking Save and apply.
Translation orders
This feature is available from the Start plan and above.
Translation orders allow you to request translations or reviews from professional linguists or neural networks (note: neural networks can only perform translations, not reviews).
To create a new translation order, click on the Orders button in the left menu:
Then click New order and choose a translation provider:
If you want a machine translation, choose either Google Translate or DeepL (the last two icons). MT services are cheaper ($0.001 per word) but might not always be as accurate.
Choose your project, the source and target languages (note that certain languages might not be supported by the chosen provider), and which keys to include in the order. You’ll see the order summary and total price.
It's recommended to enable the Mark target translations as unverified option so your linguists can double-check the translations generated by the neural network.
Automations
This feature is available from the Start plan and above.
Automations allow you to set up custom actions on the per-project basis that execute automatically whenever the translation value for a selected language changes.
To create a new automation rule, open your Lokalise project, click on the More button and choose Automations.
Automations offer a variety of actions, including Use machine translation. The available providers are Google Translate and DeepL. This action is particularly useful for automatically translating a string whenever it’s modified.
Notice on language mapping
Many languages have regional variations, such as English, which is spoken in Great Britain, the US, Australia, and other countries. How are these specifics handled by machine translation (MT)?
Languages are mapped progressively, starting with the base language and then moving to the region if the MT provider supports these more specific variants.
For example, with DeepL:
If DeepL doesn't have a specific engine for Austrian German (de_AT), it defaults to the general German (de) machine translation engine.
However, for Brazilian Portuguese (pt_BR), DeepL has a specific engine and will use it by default. Similarly, a separate engine is utilized for general Portuguese (pt).
Frequently asked questions
I cannot see inline machine translation suggestions. Why?
Inline machine translation suggestions are available from the Essential plan and above. If you don't see any suggestions from machine translations, there could be a few potential causes:
Ensure you’ve switched to the Suggestions tab in the right-side panel:
Check which target language you're translating into as machine translations do not support custom languages.
Verify that the Inline machine translations option is enabled in the project settings (or ask your project administrator to enable it).
Make sure that machine translations are enabled in your personal profile settings. To do this, click on your avatar in the bottom left corner, go to Personal profile, and check the Machine translations setting under the General tab:
If you can't access the translation editor at all, please refer to the troubleshooting section in the Translation editor article.
Will machine translation engines use terms from my glossary or TM entries?
No, machine translation engines do not use glossary terms or translation memory entries. However, Lokalise AI supports working with glossary terms.
My source text contains many placeholders and inline tags. Should I use MT in this case?
We recommend to use MT with caution when translating texts that contain HTML markup and placeholders. After translation, your HTML tags and placeholders may have corrupted or misplaced brackets.
Can I use my custom trained translation engines with Lokalise?
No, currently this is not possible.