Usage of TM: Pros and Contras
Translation memory (TM) systems, the most widely used toolkits in the localization of digital information at HQ-translate agency, enable the translation and cultural adaptation of electronic content (e-content) for local markets. The idea behind TM systems is to store in a computer system the original e-content and the translation that has been produced by human translators; the stored translated version of the source text has been broken down into smaller units, generally one sentence long. Today the most popular CAT tools: TRADOS, Déjà vu, Wordfast. The advantages of using translation memory systems are fairly obvious: they increase the translator’s productivity and better translation quality by proving that terms and phrases are used consistently within and across translations. Users in business and cross-border organizations submit a 25–60% rise in efficiency. Yet, it must be stated that the use of TM systems may also have negative effects on translation quality. One of the major discouraging things of TM systems is that they usually perform at sentence level. Thus, there is a serious danger that the translator will focus too much on standalone sentences, possibly disregarding the contexts in which the sentences are introduced. Moreover, the matching algorithms of TM systems are based on very simple formal criteria, such as the similarity of character strings. That’s why, the human translator’s notion of the level of similarity between a segment to be translated and a piece retrieved from the database may differ considerably from the grade of similarity calculated by the TM system. This may follow to situations wherein exact matches imply wrong translations, or one translation of a fuzzy match requires little or no adjustment but another fuzzy match with the same similarity value is not useful at all (for a discussion on the aspects of evaluating the retrieval mechanisms of CAT systems, see Expert Advisory Group on Language Engineering Standards (1996), Whyman and Somers (1999), and Reinke (2000a, 2004). Despite the drawbacks, it should be noted that TM systems generally build into the translation workflow comparatively smoothly. These CATs leave human translators in control of the actual translation work, while free them from routine work and keeping translation as a creative act whenever the linguistic resourcefulness of a human nature is required. For more remarks, visit us at: HQ-translate company
Tags: business services, HQ-translate, language service, quality translation, translate agency, translation