Can You Rely on DeepL for Document Translation? Our Experiment

First, we do not criticize or vilify AI or online translators. They’re just tools created for specific tasks, and most of the time, they do those tasks well enough. In 2017, TechCrunch reviewed DeepL and quickly recognized it as a reliable and high-quality AI translator.

DeepL: an AI Translator and Document Editor

DeepL has many strong points: it is fast, user-friendly, and performs well with chat messages and short, simple sentences. If you need to quickly understand a WhatsApp reply and send a brief message back, an AI text translator like DeepL is a good option. But when it comes to translating official documents, SEO content, or app-ready text, an AI translators can produce some unexpected results.

Using DeepL as an AI document translator is much more complicated.  If you’re dealing with legal documents, we highly recommend consulting a professional legal translator (such as our specialists) before sending them to your lawyer. For example, here’s how the AI-powered translator DeepL translates the legal term “lease agreement.” For the U.S. market the suggested version might work, but in the U.K. the proper term is “Rental Agreement,” which DeepL didn’t provide.

And that’s just one phrase. Imagine what could happen to the rest of the document. You can only hope the remaining terms don’t turn “rights” into “obligations.”

DeepL vs. Humor

If everyone in the chat uses clear and simple language, DeepL will usually translate correctly. If someone enjoys jokes, metaphors, or cultural references, the situation can become quite complicated very quickly.

We conducted an experiment in which we attempted to translate a few expressions — the screenshots below are real.

Here’s how the AI translator interprets a simple request to “like” content sent by an English-speaking colleague.

Your German friends write, “Das Leben ist kein Ponyhof.”

Here’s what DeepL thinks it means:

In reality, it’s a lighthearted idiom meaning “you can’t always get what you want.”

When translating from Ukrainian, AI tools can create humorous or risky mistakes. Here’s how the AI text translator DeepL interprets a popular Ukrainian saying.

A message like that could easily lead to you being reported to the police.

AI Translation in IT

What about IT translations? You might hope for better results since the field is very technical, and AI translators should, in theory, perform well there, but the results are mixed.

Here are a few real examples from DeepL.

DeepL can sometimes provide good translations, but relying on it for important reports is unwise. It’s more effective to contact human translators and provide them with a glossary of necessary terms.

In conclusion

So, When Is DeepL Actually Useful?

• Texting: good for quick communication — just avoid jokes and idioms.
• Websites and landing pages: only with human post-editing.
• Official documents: not recommended at all.

Use AI translation wisely. It’s perfectly fine for simple messages that avoid technical terminology or figurative language. Always double-check the results with native speakers. When translating complex material, be sure to review it yourself or consult a professional editor to ensure accuracy. And remember: DeepL is an assistant, not a substitute for a professional LSP translator.