Usage of TM: Virtues and Vices
Translation memory (TM) arrangements, the most widely used toolkits in the localization of digital information at HQ-translate agency, enable the linguistic transition and cross-border compliance 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 file has been broken down into short bits, 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 improve translation quality by securing that terminology and statements are used consistently within and across translation works. Users in business and cross-border firms state a 25–60% rise in productivity. 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 operate at sentence level. That’s why, there is a serious danger that the translator will focus too much on separated sentences, possibly disregarding the contexts in which the sentences are embedded. Moreover, the matching algorithms of TM systems are based on very plain formal criteria, such as the similarity of character strings. Thus, the human translator’s notion of the degree of similarity between a part to be translated and a piece retrieved from the database may differ considerably from the degree of similarity calculated by the CAT system. This may cause situations wherein exact matches yield wrong translations, or one translation of a fuzzy match requires little or no adjustment but another fuzzy match with the same similarity degree 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 vices, it should be noted that TM systems generally build into the translation routine relatively smoothly. These CATs leave human translators in control of the actual translation process, while liberating them from routine work and supporting translation as a creative job whenever the translation resourcefulness of a human being is required. For more info, visit us at: HQ-translate company
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