Security of the channel
Translation tools differ widely in retention and training use. For internal documents, prefer organisational contracts and regional controls. Never paste confidential text into anonymous free websites. A free translation of a restricted memo is still a data transfer.
Human review tiers
- Gist translation for internal orientation—still careful with secrets
- Publication — professional human translation
- Juridical or liturgical official texts — competent human authority
Terminology management
Maintain glossaries for diocesan terms so models and humans stay consistent. Inconsistent titles and office names confuse governance and embarrass correspondence. Store language versions with clear status labels (draft vs approved).
Workflow
Classify document → choose tool → machine draft → human edit → record final. For archives and knowledge systems, pair translation with digitisation standards so you do not create beautiful, ungoverned parallel corpora.
When not to machine-translate at all
Do not machine-translate sealed materials, active legal strategy, or anything whose leak would harm persons. Do not publish machine output as official liturgical or doctrinal text without competent human authority. Speed is not a virtue when error desecrates meaning or endangers people.
For everyday internal gist work on non-sensitive material, machine draft plus human edit is often enough—and still requires an approved channel.