A system and method is disclosed for translating closed caption data from a source language to a target language during a broadcast. The system and method are fully automated to provide accurate and timely translations of closed caption data. The system and method include a text flow management process and a pre-editing process that may be used in conjunction with any machine translation system. The text flow management process facilitates the input of closed caption data in a source language from a program source to the output of closed caption data in a target language to a program destination. The pre-editing process improves the quality of translation performed by machine translation software by addressing various problems associated with real-time translation of closed caption data.