Usage of TM: Virtues and Vices
Translation memory (TM) equipment, the most widely used toolkits in the localization of digital information at HQ-translate agency, enable the proofreading and transnational 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 document has been broken down into smaller bits, generally one sentence long. Today the most popular CAT tools: TRADOS, Déjà vu, Wordfast. The pros of using TM systems are fairly obvious: they increase the translator’s productivity and enhance translation quality by providing that terms and phrases are used consistently within and across translation works. Users in business and cross-border agencies report a 25–60% rise in performance. Yet, it must be stated that the use of TM systems may also have negative effects on translation quality. One of the major contras of TM systems is that they usually work at sentence level. Therefore, there is a severe danger that the translator will focus too much on standalone sentences, possibly disregarding the contexts in which the sentences are incorporated. Moreover, the matching algorithms of TM systems are based on very ordinary formal criteria, such as the similarity of character strings. Thus, the human translator’s notion of the grade of similarity between a segment to be translated and a segment retrieved from the database may differ considerably from the level of similarity calculated by the TM system. This may cause situations wherein exact matches produce 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 drawbacks, it should be noted that TM systems generally integrate into the translation workflow comparatively smoothly. These CATs leave human translators in control of the actual translation process, while free them from routine work and keeping translation as a creative act whenever the linguistic resourcefulness of a human translator is required. For more remarks, visit us at: HQ-translate company