Corporate post-editing · MTPE · Tokyo, since 1987
Machine translated it.
A bilingual editor fixes it.
You bring the machine-translation output; a native bilingual reviewer checks it against the source for accuracy, fluency, terminology and style. Faster and cheaper than translating from scratch — and honest about which of the two you are buying.
Naoshi — the correction seal
“Machine translation gets us most of the way. What we needed was someone bilingual to tell us where it had quietly gone wrong.”
Corporate client
As published on fortescience.com
Post-editing and translation are different purchases
Post-editing starts from machine output that you supply. A bilingual reviewer corrects it against your source. Translation starts from your document and is produced by a subject-matter translator; no machine output is involved at any stage of it. Both are on this site, at different prices, and the two should never be confused — least of all by us.
If you are unsure which you need, say what you have — a source document, or a source and a draft translation — and the coordinator will tell you which service that is.
Rates
Two levels: accuracy only,
or accuracy, fluency, terminology and style
Light checks that the meaning survived. Full also checks that it reads naturally, uses your approved terms and sounds like your organisation. Priced per source word, in both directions.
Light
Accuracy only
11.00 円 per source word
- Bilingual check for accuracy
- Bilingual check for fluency
- Bilingual check for terminology
- Bilingual check for style
Full
Accuracy, fluency, terminology and style
16.50 円 per source word
- Bilingual check for accuracy
- Bilingual check for fluency
- Bilingual check for terminology
- Bilingual check for style
No machine output
to start from?
Then this is not the service
Post-editing assumes you already have a machine translation to correct. If you are starting from the source document, you want translation, where a subject-matter translator works from scratch and no machine output is involved at any stage.
Both directions are priced the same; the quote states which one you ordered.
Four checks
What a bilingual reviewer looks for
Machine translation is usually right about the words and unreliable about everything else. These are the four things a person checks, in this order — plus what holds for the service as a whole.
Accuracy
The meaning of the source survives. This is the one check that is in both tiers, because a fluent sentence that says the wrong thing is worse than an awkward one.
Fluency
It reads as though a person wrote it in that language, rather than as though it arrived from another one.
Terminology
Your approved terms and glossaries, applied consistently — including across documents you sent us months apart.
Style
Tone, register and politeness level matched to your organisation. In Japanese this is not decoration: the wrong politeness level reads as rudeness.
Both directions
English into Japanese by native Japanese linguists; Japanese into English by native English editors. Neither is an afterthought.
Confidentiality
Same NDA, same Privacy Mark handling and the same named-access rule as every other Forte service.
Why it matters
Machine translation cannot
carry your brand
MT alone does not guarantee brand integrity or professional nuance. Post-editing is what makes the output reflect your values, your voice and your quality standard — in every market you send it to.
It is also the honest middle option: cheaper than translating from scratch, better than publishing what the engine produced.
Ideal for corporate content such as
Business reports and presentations
Technical documentation and manuals
Marketing and branding materials
HR and training materials
Customer support and website content
Getting the file to us
Send the source and the machine output together.
A reviewer checks the draft against the original, so both files are needed: the quote request form, email attachment, FTP or our secure file delivery system — whichever suits your IT policy.
How it works
Six steps, and an invoice at the end
Submit
Send the manuscript through the quotation form or by email, up to 5 MB.
Set up
First time only: an email arrives to set up My Page and choose a password.
Receive a quote
Your coordinator sends the price and the delivery date, based on the document and what you asked for.
Confirm
Reply to the quotation email to place the order. Nothing starts before that.
Receive
An email when delivery is complete. Download from My Page, or take it as an attachment.
Re-edit, then invoice
Request a re-edit through My Page or email. The invoice follows final delivery, payable by bank transfer or card.
Why organisations choose Forte
Five things you are paying for
Native expertise
Native bilingual reviewers who check the output against your source, not against a style guide.
Ready to circulate
Accuracy, fluency, terminology and style — four checks before the text goes out.
Fast and flexible
Faster and cheaper than translating from scratch, with the date fixed in JST before the work starts.
Certified process
ISO 9001:2015 quality management and Privacy Mark handling of your internal documents.
Tailored support
A coordinator carries your questions to the reviewer and brings back the reasoning.
Frequently asked
Questions procurement asks
Post-editing starts from machine output that you supply and corrects it against your source. Translation starts from your document and is produced by a subject-matter translator, with no machine output at any stage. Different work, different price.
Light checks accuracy only — that the meaning of the source survived. Full also checks fluency, your terminology and the style, so the text reads as though your organisation wrote it.
Both: the source document and the machine translation. The reviewer works by comparing them, so a draft on its own cannot be checked.
Yes. English into Japanese by native Japanese linguists, Japanese into English by native English editors. Neither direction is an afterthought.
Yes, and across jobs: approved terms are kept and reused, including on documents you send months apart.
Yes — the same NDA, the same Privacy Mark handling and the same named-access rule as every other Forte service.
Where we are
Shinjuku, Tokyo,
since 1987
A-Front Shinjuku Green 5F
2-8-6 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku
Tokyo 160-0022, Japan
03-3353-3545 · weekdays 9:00–18:00 JST
inquiry@fortescience.com
品質は、東京で。
Send the source and the draft. A bilingual editor takes it from there.