Machine translations of internal news
In order to fulfil the savings targets, Corporate Communications has had internal news articles machine-translated since the beginning of 2024. In addition, internal communication is to be further strengthened via a personalised newsletter.
ETH Zurich must make savings. The savings target for the central bodies for 2024 is five per cent. In order to achieve this goal, the Corporate Communications office has decided, among other things, to break new ground in the translation of internal news articles: In future, the articles will be machine-translated from German into English. This will result in annual savings of around 30,000 francs.
High standard of machine translations
"Machine translations have become better and better in recent years, especially between German and English," says Rainer Borer, Head of Corporate Communications. However, the devil is in the detail. He is referring to specific terminology, such as the names of institutes or initiatives at ETH Zurich. "It is conceivable that ambiguities or minor errors may creep into the translated language version. But the essential information is present in machine-translated texts," explains Borer.
A box at the end of each machine-translated article will inform readers that the translation is a service and that only the original text is binding. Readers are also encouraged to contact the editorial team if they discover a significant error in the translation. "We will then correct these errors as quickly as possible," says Borer.
Articles on particularly important topics where the wording is crucial - such as an interview with the President of ETH Zurich - will continue to be translated by professionals. Professional translators will also continue to be commissioned for the external ETH News.
Internal communication to be further strengthened
It is important for Rainer Borer to emphasise that this measure is not seen as a sign to make general savings in internal communication: "In order to meet the savings targets, we have examined all areas of activity and projects in university communication and looked for ways to reduce costs without cutting essential services," he explains. On the contrary, the importance of internal communication will continue to increase and will be further developed accordingly.
"In a few weeks, we will be launching a personalised newsletter for our internal news. All subscribers will then have the opportunity to choose which topics they would like to be informed about in the future - and which topics they would prefer not to receive news on," says Borer, giving an outlook. Further information on the personalised newsletter will follow shortly.
Note on the translation
This text has been translated for your convenience using a machine translation tool. Although reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate translation, it may not be perfect. If in doubt, please refer to the German version.
Should you come upon significant translation mistakes, please send a short message to so that we can correct them. Thank you very much.
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