As neural machine translation becomes a standard component of enterprise localization, ISO 18587 provides the international benchmark for full and light post-editing workflows, defining translator competencies and quality verification standards.

Distinguishing Full Post-Editing from Light Post-Editing under ISO 18587

With neural machine translation (NMT) reaching high baseline fluency across major language pairs, enterprise localization buyers increasingly request Machine Translation Post-Editing (MTPE) to accelerate turnaround times and manage high-volume content. Published by the International Organization for Standardization, ISO 18587 ('Translation services — Post-editing of machine translation output — Requirements') establishes the formal governance framework for human post-editing. The standard clearly distinguishes between 'Light Post-Editing'—aimed solely at making internal or perishable content comprehensible and accurate—and 'Full Post-Editing', which requires output to be stylistically and terminologically indistinguishable from human translation from scratch.

Post-Editor Qualifications and Pre-Translation Risk Assessment

Crucially, ISO 18587 stipulates that post-editors must hold the exact same professional qualifications as human translators under ISO 17100: a recognized degree in translation or linguistics, or equivalent documented domain experience. Because NMT engines produce fluent-sounding sentences that can mask subtle factual omissions, mistranslated negations, or terminology inconsistencies, certified LSPs combine pre-translation termbase injection with rigorous human line-by-line verification against the source text.

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