AI Translation for Universities & Research
Translate scientific texts —
precise, field-specific, secure
PONS Translate is the AI translation solution for universities, research institutions and academic publishers. From grant applications to peer-reviewed publications: terminologically precise translations built on academic research — developed by Laniqo, a joint venture of PONS Langenscheidt and Adam Mickiewicz University Poznań, validated at the WMT25 global benchmark.
The challenge
Why translation in academia demands more than a generic tool
Universities and research institutions translate scientific content every day — under tight grant deadlines, with uncompromising terminology standards for publications, and with strict data protection obligations around unpublished findings.
Field-specific terminology
Scientific language differs fundamentally from general language — and varies significantly across disciplines. The word "resolution" means something entirely different in optics, biology and political science. Generic AI translation tools have no awareness of disciplinary context; specialist academic translation agencies are correspondingly expensive.
Grant deadlines & submission pressure
ERC grants, DFG projects, Horizon Europe consortia: funding applications have fixed, non-negotiable deadlines. At the same time, applications, progress reports and financial statements must often be translated into the funder's language within days. Translation bottlenecks put projects — and funding — at risk.
IP protection before publication
Unpublished research findings, draft patent applications and results from ongoing studies must not be transferred to external cloud services. Using unapproved AI tools for pre-publication data violates publishing contracts, consortium agreements and institutional data protection policies.
Academic origins
Built by researchers — for researchers
The technology behind PONS Translate did not emerge from a marketing lab — but from peer-reviewed research.
University spin-off
The underlying AI technology was developed by Laniqo — a joint venture of Adam Mickiewicz University Poznań (one of Poland's leading NLP research institutions) and PONS Langenscheidt, one of Europe's most established language brands. Academic rigour meets decades of language expertise.
Peer-reviewed publications
The research team actively publishes at the leading scientific conferences and journals for natural language processing and machine translation: ACL, WMT, MT Summit and EAMT — the who's who of international MT research.
WMT25 — scientifically validated
The WMT (Workshop on Machine Translation) is the most prestigious scientific evaluation for machine translation globally. At the WMT25 Terminology Translation Task, the system achieved >99% terminology accuracy — published in a peer-reviewed paper at WMT 2025, outperforming 16 leading competitors.
"Laniqo at WMT25 Terminology Translation Task: A Multi-Objective Reranking Strategy for Terminology-Aware Translation via Pareto-Optimal Decoding" — Kamil Guttmann, Adrian Charkiewicz, Zofia Rostek, Mikołaj Pokrywka, Artur Nowakowski
📄 WMT 2025 — Workshop on Machine Translation, peer-reviewed
Use cases
What universities and research institutions translate with PONS Translate
Grant applications & project reports
DFG projects, ERC grants, Horizon Europe consortium applications, BMBF proposals and international funding bids often need to be translated into the funder's language within days. PONS Translate applies the specific terminology of each funding organisation and ensures consistency across entire application dossiers.
Scientific publications & abstracts
Journal articles, conference papers, book chapters and extended abstracts for international submission. PONS Translate applies discipline-specific terminology and ensures consistent use of defined technical terms throughout entire manuscripts — as a high-quality first draft for final editing by the authors.
International university communications
Student recruitment for international markets, Erasmus+ communications, multilingual university websites, accreditation reports for international agencies, and cooperation agreements with partner institutions abroad. International offices benefit from consistent institutional terminology across all communication channels.
Technology transfer & patent filings
Patent applications, licence agreements, technical disclosure documents and spin-off documentation for international markets. Pre-publication data demands the highest data protection standards — PONS Translate processes unpublished research data exclusively on EU servers with no external model training.
Why PONS Translate
Built for the requirements of universities and research institutions
Discipline-specific terminology database
Central management of field-specific terminology: your institutional vocabulary, discipline-specific terms, project-specific definitions and funding-body formulations. Once defined, all terms are automatically applied consistently in every target language — across all documents, institutes and research groups.
IP protection for pre-publication data
Unpublished research findings, draft patents and study data remain exclusively on EU servers in Germany. No use for external model training — full GDPR compliance. An on-premises installation in your university data centre or research network is available on request.
Translation Memory for research projects
Previously translated passages — project descriptions, methodology sections, ethics committee standard formulations — are stored in Translation Memory and reused automatically. For follow-on applications, interim reports and updated manuscripts, translation effort is significantly reduced.
AI-powered quality assurance
Automatic Quality Estimation analysis for every translated section with a confidence score. Technically critical passages — quantitative data, definitions, citation contexts, legally binding project conditions — are automatically flagged for review by the authors.
37 languages — all scientific languages
English, German, French, Spanish and all further major scientific languages. Chinese, Japanese and Korean for collaborations with Asian research partners. All 24 official EU languages for Horizon Europe and other EU-funded reporting obligations.
Integration with university IT via API
REST API for connecting to document management systems, current research information systems (CRIS) and university portals. Translation jobs can be initiated directly from within existing workflows. The specific integration is scoped together with your IT department on a project basis.
Implementation
Ready in 4 weeks — without disrupting ongoing research projects
Kick-off & terminology import
Import of your institutional terminology databases and existing glossaries from departments or research groups. Setup of user accounts, permissions and data protection configuration for sensitive research data.
Pilot phase with real documents
Translation of your first reference documents — for example a current grant application, manuscript or cooperation agreement. Fine-tuning of field terminology by your researchers, measured against defined quality criteria.
Review & optimisation
Joint quality evaluation with subject-matter experts from the disciplines involved. Adjustment of glossaries and discipline-specific translation rules based on real feedback from research practice.
Rollout & integration
University-wide or department-specific deployment. Optional: API connection to your research information system, your DMS or your university portal for automated translation workflows.
Comparison
PONS Translate vs. alternatives
| Feature | PONS Translate | Leading European provider | Leading US provider | Academic translation agency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discipline-specific terminology | ✓ Yes — configurable | ✗ No | ✗ No | ⚠ Yes — expensive |
| Academic origins / peer-reviewed | ✓ AMU spin-off / WMT25 | ✗ No | ✗ No | ✗ No |
| GDPR / EU hosting (IP protection) | ✓ GDPR, Germany | ⚠ EU option | ✗ US servers | ⚠ Variable |
| Translation Memory | ✓ Self-learning | ✗ No | ✗ No | ⚠ Yes — variable |
| No external model training | ✓ Guaranteed | ⚠ Limited | ✗ No | ⚠ Variable |
| On-premises option | ✓ Yes | ✗ No | ✗ No | ✗ No |
| Quality assurance (Quality Estimation) | ✓ AI-powered | ✗ No | ✗ No | ⚠ Manual — expensive |
| Cost per word | from €0.01–0.05 | approx. €0.04 | approx. €0.02 | €0.20–0.35 |
Return on investment
Typical savings for universities and research institutions
A mid-sized university or research institution with active EU and international third-party funded projects currently spends around €40,000–120,000 per year on translation services — including grant applications, project reports, publication translations and international university communications.
With PONS Translate Enterprise, this expenditure typically reduces to €15,000–45,000 per year. Translation Memory further reduces costs for follow-on applications and recurring reporting obligations, as previously translated project descriptions and standard passages are reused automatically.
Language support
37 languages — all major scientific and funding languages
From the classic scientific languages English, German and French, through all 24 official EU languages for Horizon Europe reporting, to Chinese, Japanese and Korean for collaborations with Asian research partners.
Proof of quality
Peer-reviewed terminology accuracy
At the WMT25 global machine translation benchmark in November 2025, PONS Translate outperformed 16 leading competitors in terminology accuracy and achieved >99% terminology accuracy in the Terminology Translation Task. This result was not published in a press release — but in a peer-reviewed paper, held to the same scientific standards as your own research.
📊 WMT25 Benchmark — Terminology Accuracy, November 2025 | Peer-reviewed, Workshop on Machine Translation
Frequently asked questions
Questions about PONS Translate for universities & research
Get started
Free pilot — see results in 4 weeks
We walk you through a guided pilot phase to show you exactly how PONS Translate can streamline your translation workflows — GDPR-compliant, with no risk to your research data and no obligation.
Kick-off & setup
Terminology import, data protection configuration, user and permission management
Pilot phase
Translation of your reference documents, quality review by your researchers
Review & evaluation
Quality documentation, cost savings evidence, decision paper for your institution
Rollout
Department-wide or university-wide operation, optional system integration
