How are translations prepared today?

Contrary to what many people think, nowadays no one translates using text editors (such as ”Microsoft Word”).

Most translators and translation agencies use software designed specifically for the purposes of this industry (CAT tools). Such programs facilitate their work, make it much easier.

The main idea behind these tools is to ensure highest quality.

How does translation memory (TM) work?

Translation memory (TM) is the “brain“ of programs supporting translation processes. TM allows to store all previous translations (e.g. for a particular client) as entries in the form of a pair of the source text and the target text.

In some cases one source text can have several equivalents in many target languages.

Software such as CAT tools compares each new fragment of text (unit such as a sentence) with the existing entries in the data base.

It is done by calculating the degree of similarity between units of new text and previously stored entries.

Sometimes a certain amount of new content is similar to previously translated texts or exactly the same. Thus, such fragments are not in fact new and don’t have to be translated from scratch.

Advantages for translation agencies and customers

It’s pretty clear how both translation agencies and clients benefit. If there is less new content, translation takes less time, depending on the degree of similarity to previous texts.

Shorter delivery times make for lower costs: the more entries are added to the translation memory (TM), the less one has to pay for translation.

Therefore, if you order all your translations at one place instead of dividing them between several agencies or translators, you can achieve real financial benefits and reduce costs of managing translation projects.

And as we can tell from our experience, it often happens that in large companies different departments order translations at different agencies.

If you are interested in services of Berlineo translation agency, contact us by e-mail or phone. We will answer all you questions and dispel all your doubts.