Mechanical Translation vs Computer Aided Translation

Is there a difference between these two? During this past year in which I have been working as a technical document translator I never even gave a thought to this question. I simply assumed that these two phrases were one and the same. After doing some research I have come to the conclusion that there is indeed a difference between the two as will be outlined in this blog post.

Mechanical Translation refers to software that has the ability to translate text from one language to another. Since the translation process means to understand the meaning of the original text and then reiterate the same meaning in the target language. This is difficult to accurately achieve through mechanical translation although different approaches to solving this complication are being developed. Mechanical translations should always be revised by a person who knows the languages that are being translated to ensure the content was correctly translated. Some examples of Mechanical Translation software include: Google Translate, Freetranslation.com, Babylon 10, etc.

Computer Aided Translation is the process where the translator uses a computer software to assist with the translation process. Usually these types of software cannot translate on their own and usually contain helpful tools for translating such as dictionaries, grammar check, and translation memory tools. This type of translation process allows for the interaction between the translator and the software to produce the translation.