Amazon announced on Thursday the launch of Kindle Translate. This new AI-powered translation service is designed for authors using Kindle Direct Publishing to help them reach a wider audience. The service is currently in a beta phase and initially translates text between English and Spanish, as well as from German to English. Amazon plans to support more languages over time.
The retail giant pointed out that less than five percent of titles on Amazon are available in more than one language. This statistic suggests there is a significant opportunity for AI translations to make more books accessible.
Since AI is not perfect, it can sometimes introduce errors into the text. To address this concern, Amazon allows authors to preview their translations before publishing. If an author does not speak the target language, this preview feature may not be very helpful on its own. For the best accuracy, a human translator would still be needed to review the AI’s work. Amazon states that its AI translations are automatically evaluated for accuracy before publication, but the company does not detail the specific steps involved in this part of the process.
Authors can manage and access their translations from the Kindle Direct Publishing portal. There, they can select languages, set prices, and publish their translated work. For readers, AI-translated books will be clearly labeled as Kindle Translate titles. Readers will also have the ability to preview samples of the translation.
Kindle Translate enters a market with many other AI-powered translation services and tools. These competing services have varying prices and often offer support for a wider range of languages. There are also open source tools available. Some people in the publishing industry criticize the use of AI for translation, arguing that human translators are better at capturing nuance, especially in fiction and other literary works. However, AI translation technology is improving and will likely continue to get better over time.
According to Amazon’s announcement, the Kindle translation service is currently being offered for free. An early tester praised this aspect, noting that independent authors have historically struggled to find a cost-effective and trustworthy translation solution.
Amazon also states that translated books are eligible to be enrolled in other programs, such as KDP Select. These translations are also included in the Kindle Unlimited subscription service.