Usage of TM: Pros and Cons
Translation memory (TM) techniques, the most widely used toolkits in the localization of digital information at HQ-translate agency, enable the proofreading 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 file has been broken down into short bits, generally one sentence long. Today the most popular CAT tools: TRADOS, Déjà vu, Wordfast. The preferences of using translation memory systems are fairly obvious: they increase the translator’s productivity and increase translation quality by providing that terms and expressions are used consistently within and across translation works. Users in business and cross-border companies submit a 25–60% rise in work throughput. Yet, it must be stated that the use of TM systems may also have negative effects on translation quality. One of the major minuses of TM systems is that they usually work at sentence level. That’s why, there is a serious danger that the translator will focus too much on isolated sentences, possibly disregarding the contexts in which the sentences are built-in. Moreover, the matching algorithms of TM systems are based on very simple formal criteria, such as the similarity of character strings. Thus, the human translator’s notion of the grade of similarity between a part to be translated and a part retrieved from the database may differ considerably from the degree of similarity calculated by the TM system. This may lead to situations wherein exact matches result in 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 incorporate into the translation performance relatively smoothly. These CATs leave human translators in control of the real translation work, while liberating them from routine work and maintaining translation as a creative job whenever the linguistic resourcefulness of a human being is required. For more info, visit us at: HQ-translate company
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