Thanks to successfully participating in the Azure and Microsoft for Nonprofits grant program, the Doberman Media editorial team received $2,000 in cloud credits. These funds allowed us to achieve a significant milestone: we were able to create a fully multilingual website, making us the first Russian-language LGBTQ+ resource to use artificial intelligence for translation.
However, launching multilingual support is only the first step. The main goal for any media platform is to maintain the natural flow, precision, and deep context of materials when adapting them into other languages.
Why We Are Changing Our Approach to Translation
At the start of the project, standard neural machine translation (Azure Cognitive Services / Translator) was used to automate localization. Despite its high processing speed, this approach revealed systemic limitations:
- Robotic text: Machine translation often produced literal, dry structures typical of classic translators.
- Loss of editorial tone: Complex authorial turns of phrase, media-specific contexts, and stylistic nuances were lost under rigid algorithms.
For a project that deals daily with analytics, opinion pieces, and in-depth content, this quality no longer met our internal standards.
Transition to ChatGPT: A New Level of Localization Starting August 5, 2026
Starting August 5, 2026, Doberman Media’s translation infrastructure is fully transitioning to integration with ChatGPT.
Using OpenAI language models within our cloud grant fundamentally improves the quality of our foreign-language versions:
- Contextual translation: The neural network accounts for the overall topic of the article, narrative style, and specific terminology, making the text lively and natural for native speakers.
- Adaptation of meanings: Instead of word-for-word translation, the system structures sentences the way professional human translators would.
- Preservation of structure: All headings, highlights, and multimedia blocks are seamlessly integrated into the English and German editions.
What This Means for Readers
- From August 5, 2026: All new materials in English and German are published in high quality thanks to generative translation via ChatGPT.
- Archival materials: Articles translated by the standard Azure engine prior to August 5 remain unchanged and are preserved in the website’s archive.
We continue to develop Doberman Media’s digital infrastructure so that quality journalism knows no language barriers.