Most of the world is by now familiar with Google Translate*. But Computer-Assisted
Translation – or CAT, as its known in the industry – is something you may not
have come across. While engines such as Google Translate are known as ‘machine
translation’ tools, CAT software refers to professional translation tools used
to help linguists translate material more quickly, efficiently and consistently.
While it by no means does their job for them, it does save time and unnecessary
effort, saving on your bottom line in turn.

A CAT tool works by recycling previously translated content, which it stores
in a memory. Whenever the software recognises a term, phrase or string of text,
it will draw on this memory and automatically propose the foreign language equivalent,
as translated previously by the translator.

Indeed, a great help to the translator. But how does this benefit you?

Costing

When you submit a text for translation, the CAT tool scans the document in
order to compare it against the translation memory accumulated to date. Subsequently,
different rates are applied to different memory ‘matches’, based on the word
count. This is a sliding scale, ranging from entirely ‘new’ words (new to the
translation memory, that is) to ‘100% matches’ (exact replicas of text stored
in the memory). The more precise the match, the lower the rate you pay for that
word.

Time

Capitalising on previously translated content speeds up the translation process,
as the translator no longer needs to re-translate the same piece of text multiple
times. This applies especially to new versions of documents that have been updated
or re-issued with few or moderate changes: rather than translate the entire
document again from scratch, the translator need only work on the elements of
text that are new. Further time is saved researching words or terms which, again,
have been used and translated at an earlier date. This ultimately means that
your job will be delivered quicker.

Consistency

This is key in any suite of literature. Monitoring consistency of product names,
abbreviations, job titles etc. in multiple foreign languages is, in many cases,
simply not possible for you to do alone. Because your translation memory will
be updated after each job that is completed, the translator will be able to
consult the translation memory to find out how these words have been translated
historically, and keep things consistent throughout. What’s more, few translation
agencies have in-house translation teams large enough to cover all languages.
Having the possibility to share translation memories with freelance translators,
means that no single individual keeps your preferred terminology ‘in their head’,
and that consistency is guaranteed even when different translators are translating
different pieces of work. The CAT tool in this sense future proofs consistency.

Quality Assurance

Last but not least, most CAT tools have a number of quality check features
built in. Not only will these check for spelling and grammatical errors, they
will also highlight any inconsistency in terminology used, deviations from the
translation memory (either intentional or unintentional: the ‘human’ translator
always has the final word!) and any missing text.

For each of these reasons, Tongue Tied uses CAT tools for the vast majority
of translation work. For more information on our work processes or questions
relating to CAT and your account, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

*Use at your peril! Here’s just one example why.