Does the human who produces the best translation without Machine Translation (MT) also produce the best translation with the assistance of MT? Our empirical study has found a strong correlation between the quality of pure human translation (HT) and that of machine-assisted translation (MAT) produced by the same translator (Pearson correlation coefficient 0.85, p=0.007). Data from the study also indicates a more concentrated distribution of the MAT quality scores than that of the HT scores. Additional insights will also be discussed during the presentation. This study has two prominent features: the participation of professional translators (mostly ATA members, English-into-Chinese) as subjects, and the rigorous quality evaluation by multiple professional translators (all ATA certified) using ATA’s time-tested certification exam grading metrics. Despite a major limitation in sample size, our findings provide a strong indication of correlation between HT and MAT quality, adding to the body of evidence in support of further studies on larger scales.