WHAT IS COMPUTER-AIDED TRANSLATION?

Computer-aided translation (CAT) tools can be just what you need to move forward in your work. Here are some of their advantages:

• Quantity: accept more work. Localization normally requires speed in the delivery of large volumes of material while adhering to strict terminological and stylistic consistency. CAT tools, especially the most advanced one such as TRADOS, allow you to meet these requirements. During this process it is essential to rely on translators able to transfer translation memories (TM), update them while working and return them.
• Quantity: produce more. Once incorporated into the day-to-day environment, CAT tools can increase production. Using this tool to pretranslate your work based on a previously populated TM can finish double the work done over the same period of time. Of course, this will depend on the similarity of the new material to content already in the TM. Data on my actual job indicates an increase of 50% to 100%.
• Quality of life: replace writing with translating. Although the results of pretranslation are very limited (for example, if the topic is new and has no relationship to the previous one), it is certain that CAT tools make my work more convenient. With segments aligned on screen, I write only what is necessary. The tool saves the options that I select while working so that if the same terms or segments reappear in another part of the document I do not need to rewrite them or cut and paste. Of course, I create and populate the TM while working so that the next document similar to this one will have a better pretranslation.
• Quality of the job: consistency. Consistency in terminology within one document and over an entire project is especially important in technical translation. This applies to legal and financial jobs as well as scientific and technical documentation. We work with different cultures where synonyms and "linguistic turns of phrases" overwhelm readers. CAT tools allow us to standardize project glossaries and facilitate terminological consistency among translators.
• Quality of the job: Editing. The most effective way of editing documents is to use a couple of rules for comparing source and target text on the printed page. However, some technical documents do not print well or are intended to be read on all types of screens (for example, Internet pages). Segment alignment done by the CAT tool makes editing on screen easier and more efficient. I continue to follow the rules on paper whenever it is possible but I see that translations done with the tool CAT have much less errors in the printed version. This speeds up the final comparison on paper.
• Quality and quantity: analysis and management. Translators need to know how to analyze the job in order to charge the right price for the different tasks involved in the translation of new material, the editing of a finished document, the updating of glossaries and TM, etc. The most advanced CAT tools count words, segments and units; analyze texts; compare parts of new material with pretranslated parts, etc. In sharing a CAT tool such as TRADOS, a freelance translator and the project manager or a customer can agree in advance which part of the document is new translation, how much editing is needed, etc.