CAT – Translation assisting programs

We use modern technological advances to support the quality and productivity of translation work

COMPUTER-ASSISTED TRANSLATION tools are software solutions for professional translators, not for machine translation, that create databases of translations and their originals. Although computers are becoming more powerful, they cannot compete with humans in the translation process. However, computers and their software are an integral part of translators’ daily work. The translation time required for CAT translation has decreased. In addition, modern tools ensure consistent use of terminology, help save costs and provide other benefits. The use of translation tools is becoming more and more demanding and in some industries it is even a mandatory requirement, as their effectiveness is appreciated by translators and our clients.

Translation tools are specifically designed for translators who do not perform computerized or automated translation, but the software helps a professional in the translation process. With these tools, you can store all previously translated texts, ensuring that no two identical sentences are ever translated more than once.

THREE ADVANTAGES OF CAT TOOLS:​

  • Translation memory: when sentences are repeated in the text (verbatim or with small differences), the SAT program can recognize them and offer the translator the already existing translation option. In this way, the translation process is shortened and the cost is reduced. Repeat sentences are charged at a significantly lower price.
  • Terminology Database: the program ensures terminological unity, especially in projects with a larger volume, as well as in cases where more than one translator is working on one translation.
  • Faster and cheaper: easy translation of manuals, instructions, web pages, XML and SGML documents, DTP project files (Adobe FrameMaker, Adobe PageMaker, QuakXpress, QuickSilver, etc.). This approach will reduce the cost of transforming text to HTML or DTP processing, especially in the localization process.

We will be happy to create a translation memory for you and glossary of terms. We can also create translation memories from older translations for which no CAT programs were used.

Call us for more information about your project. 

CAT tools can be used in most translation projects because:

  • Help accumulate accurate and client-approved terminology for each client or project;
  • Ensure recurring accrual by offering ever higher quality translations for our clients;
  • They allow you to save translation time and costs.

However, there are cases where CAT tools cannot be used, for example:

  • If the text is in manuscript;
  • If the translation memory program is not compatible with the text file format sent by the customer;
  • If the document to be translated is poorly legible (for example – scanned files in PDF format).
  • When CAT tools are used, translation costs are calculated based on document analysis. Repetitions are found in the text, as well as full or partial matching with the already existing accumulated translation memory.
  • It is important that these matches are not searched for individual words, but at the sentence level, i.e. the entire document is analyzed sentence by sentence and compared with other sentences accumulated in this document as well as in the translation memory.
  • Does it sound complicated? Send us a text asking for an analysis in one of the CAT tools, and the project coordinator will be happy to send you the analysis and answers to your questions. We would be happy to meet in person to select the CAT tool you need.

• Repetitions are sentences that are repeated in the same document two or more times. A sentence translated once does not need to be translated again.
• Experience shows that the most frequently repeated sentences are found in user manuals, legal documents, annual reports, contracts, product descriptions and other standard texts. In addition to repetitions, different matches are also analyzed.

Translation memory programs can simplify work with almost any text, especially if the client is aware that work on this or a similar topic will be necessary in the future. Most often, translation memory programs are used for standard legal, financial texts (annual reports), as well as for technical texts (technical descriptions, instructions, user guides) and pharmaceutical documentation. CAT tools are also effective in translating texts from different web pages as they are well suited to XML, HTML and other web platform formats. For translation with CAT tools, MS Office files and plain text files (* .txt) are also suitable. PDF documents are generally not suitable for CAT translation, but they can be specially processed and prepared for use with these tools.

Automatic translation programs are designed to quickly understand the meaning of the word, sentence or phrase to be translated, which the user finds by entering the text into the program window. The most popular automatic translation programs, also known as automatic translators, are: Google Translate, Bing Translator, Pragma, Promt, etc.

Another thing is machine translation. It has developed very rapidly in recent years, but for the time being, it is not yet able to completely replace human work. However, machine translation has a future for certain industries, which is not denied by translation tool (CAT) developers who create applications to connect machine translation. Machine translation is not yet able to provide a high quality translation completely without human help, so still quality translations can only be obtained by professional translators in a team with proofreaders and other specialists working with the professional language of the industries.

We use the most advanced and popular applications in the world

Memsource;

SDL Trados Studio

Across;

Transit NXT;

Wordfast Pro;

And others.