How machine learning promises to make sportsbook translation easier

Machine learning is powering a new breed of sportsbook translation technology that can learn and improve by itself. Last year, Google made the bold claim that its own AI translation tech was almost as good as human translators and, despite the somewhat comical exaggeration, there’s no denying the technology is rapidly advancing.

We’re not about to see any human translators put out of work by machine learning, but the technology is empowering translators to achieve more complex tasks. Which includes the demanding pace of providing live sportsbook translation for sports betting websites.
 
 

Automating sportsbook translation

One of the biggest developments in online sports betting in recent years has been the emergence of in-play betting. People can place bets on their chosen sporting events as they unfold, which creates a far more engaging experience for sports fans.

Crucial to this experience is the live information updates that sports betting sites are able to provide.

Users need constant updates on the latest goings on and how they affect live odds. It’s challenging enough to provide all this information in one language, but how do you go about translating this info for multilingual audiences?

One option involves an incredibly large team of human translators with quick fingers who can provide all the necessary information in real-time, in the right languages.

The problem with this approach, of course, is the number of translators and editors you need on board. Besides this, the fast pace of live commentary makes it difficult to maintain consistency and rule out human error.

Which is why we turn to automation to help smaller teams of translators make big things happen with sportsbook translation.

Machine learning makes live commentary faster, more accurate

Machine learning involves a set of algorithms that spot patterns in data and then draws conclusions. That might sound simple but involves a tool like Google Translate cross-referencing millions of documents and translations to determine which ones are the most accurate and base its own translations on those findings.

The results aren’t always great – especially for conversational speech. But, when it comes to repetitive translations, this technology is pretty faultless once the correct translations are confirmed. So, for text strings like “Player A just scored a wonder goal against Team B” and “Team B only has X minutes to turn this one around” can be translated, stored and ready to use whenever they’re needed.

This isn’t particularly ground-breaking, though. Automation has been doing the same thing for years already. Where machine learning is getting interesting is its ability to learn how many goals Cristiano Ronaldo has scored so far this season or how many games he’s gone without a goal.

We’re reaching a point now where live sportsbook translation commentary for sports betting websites is largely automated. In this case, the translator’s job is to make sure the algorithms maintain the right level of accuracy. The act of sourcing information and physically typing it out is becoming redundant, which allows translators to focus on what matters most: translation quality.

We can’t expect sportsbook translation technology to match human linguistic skills but we can rely on it to perform repetitive tasks, much faster than we can.

Machine learning is turning automatic sportsbook translation into a more powerful tool for translators. By nature, the technology makes mistakes (and learns from them) so it’s not something we can leave to translate content unattended. However, in situations like sportsbook translation, where the same text strings are used over and again, machine learning has a lot to offer.

As the technology continues to improve, so will the quality of its translations and the workload for human translators will become increasingly less demanding. All of which results in a faster, more engaging kind of sportsbook translation without reducing quality.