Many people, when they imagine a translator´s job, they imagine a person surrounded by dictionaries writing with a quill and paper under candlelight. “Oh, you´re a translator, how many books have you translated?” This is a common question many translators have been asked.

While it is true that some translators dedicate themselves exclusively to editorial translation (although no one translates with paper and pen anymore), the reality of many others (and the market) is quite different. In the day to day work of a translator, he/she may have to translate instruction manuals, press releases, court sentences, company balance sheets, emails, adverts, software manuals, etc.

Although each professional has their own areas of specialization, whatever their chosen field may be, almost all translators share something specific: the use of computer-assisted translation programmes, better known as “CAT tools”. The majority of these programmes work through licences (SDL Trados, memoQ, Memsource) whilst others are free (such as OmegaT).

These are computer programmes that, as their name indicates, facilitate translation work, since they speed up the process. This type of tool is extremely useful for repetitive texts, such as instruction manuals. Read on to find out why.

How do they work?

After receiving the document for translation, the translator creates a project in their CAT tool, which automatically divides the text into “segments”. As mentioned, some types of texts stand out as having a lot of repetition, and fortunately, CAT tools detect them automatically and prepare the corresponding file. This means that the translator only has to work through each repeated segment once and then the translation will appear throughout the text saving a considerable amount of time.

Another advantage of using this type of tool is the possibility to create translation memories; this is a space that stores all previous translations of a certain linguistic combination. Each time a project is finished, it is possible to save all of the segments into a translation memory that can be consulted and updated in future projects, and which allows us to use the content to our advantage. The best way to do this is to organise such memories by client or by theme. For example, if we often translate automotive texts, it is best to have a memory where all the translations on this topic are stored. In this way, we will obtain a large corpus of translated texts, which will allow us to pre-translate some segments that have already appeared in other projects, as well as consulting previous translations to guarantee maximum coherence in our projects.

To ensure and maintain this coherence, in addition to translation memories, we can create and incorporate glossaries into our projects by topic area. This will save time spent searching in paper dictionaries or online, and at the same time, we will put together a solid database that we can add to, project after project. With the help of translation memories and glossaries, we can make sure that we translate terminology consistently and without discrepancies.

Even more advantages!

As well as all these advantages, many of these tools allow cloud-based work, which enables two or more people to work on a document at the same time. If, for example, a translator has finished their work, the proofreader can access the text directly without any extra steps. The latter can make the changes and comments that they deem appropriate so that the translator can check them and give their approval. This way of structuring the workflow online allows collaboration and communication between translators, proofreaders and project managers. Talking of project managers, we should highlight that CAT tools make their job so much easier allowing them to manage all the aspects of the project with ease (texts, memories, glossaries, original files and references) as well as enabling them to extract work performance statistics quickly and precisely. This all goes toward being able to issue quotes more quickly and making the process more automatic, hence providing a service with greater guarantees.

As you see, technology and translating are not completely incompatible; even Saint Jerome would have succumbed to the advantages of these tools had they existed at the time.

What is your experience with CAT tools? Do you have any preference? Or are you one of those who prefer to translate “the old-fashioned way”?

 

Header image: Mikael Kristenson on Unsplash