Why should I get a translation memory?
Bilingual text memories allow you to reuse identical and similar text segments in future translation projects. With a translation memory as a base, translation of your documents will go faster, become cheaper and text in your documentation will become more consistent.
What does a translation memory cost?
There is no universal answer to this question. Done correctly, whenever you order translation the translator should work with professional tools, creating a memory on the fly of all translated segments. This is the professional approach, and it usually should be free.
Starting out from scratch and building a memory from old documents is also possible. Viewed in the perspective of its benefits, the cost involved to create a memory is low, typically around 1 or 2 Euro cent per segment.
How long does it take to create a translation memory?
As translation memory creation is based on alignment of two bilingual files, the speed of alignment (and thus the TM creation) depends on the input file format.
For common files such as MS Office, Open Office, FrameMaker (mif), InDesign (idml), Xliff, SDLXliff, TTC, TXT, RTF, and CSV files, computers do most of the job, while a native human translator can review the aligned result at a pace of anywhere from 15,000 to 25,000 words/hour.
Alignment of PDF files is a slower process with approx. 7.000 – 8.000 words/hour.
What files can I create a translation memory from?
The file format doesn't matter too much. The documents can be in Word, Excel, FrameMaker, InDesign, Acrobat PDF, or whatever other format you may have. It is important, though, to have reliable file converters that do not mess up the files or wrongly convert foreign characters.
Can I create a translation memory from DTP files?
Yes, it is possible to extract and align segments also from DTP files, such as InDesign (idml) and FrameMaker (mif).
Can I create a translation memory from PDF files?
If the text in the different languages you want to align only exists in PDF format, this is not a problem as long as the text content has not been scanned. So yes, text in editable PDF files can also be aligned, but the alignment speed is approximately half of that for DTP files.
What is the difference between a translation memory and a glossary?
A translation memory is a databases of complete text segments, whereas a glossary is a database of words and expressions usually of specialized character. A glossary is also sometimes dubbed a term base. While a segment in a translation memory can be short and perfectly match a glossary entry, the reverse is not the case. Usually, you should avoid keeping full text segments as entries in your glossary since this would limit its usefulness.
Who is the legal owner of a translation memory?
Once a translation memory has been created and delivered to you, and payment has been made in full for the translation service, it becomes your legal property, unless otherwise agreed upon. You can then use it in all your internal processes or whenever you outsource translation projects. This is important to remember, and you can always ask your existing or previous suppliers to deliver TMs they have created in projects ordered by you – we then hope you will relocate your projects to us at idioma :)
Why should I get a glossary for translation?
Working with glossaries in your organization creates unified expressions and ensures everyone understand each other. The same applies to translation: to assure we use your preferred terminology in documents we translate for you, it is important to have access to glossaries. While some companies have developed internal glossaries, many still lack them.
How to update a glossary in translation?
If you are not sure about the current state of your glossary and whether terminology is correct, it is recommended to run a check on it to identify potential issues. This check is performed by professional linguists who will correct and update any incorrect entries, clearly indicating what has been changed and why.
How to maintain a glossary in translation?
The end goal of having translation resources of course is to ensure consistent terminology. Once your language services provider has glossaries in place, and translates documents for you, the translation process should always include mandatory glossary checking to make sure preferred terminology is used consistently, exactly the way you prefer it.
Translators and reviewers should be warned by their CAT tools whenever a term is not used or a different one is used; glossary terms should only be ignored by stating a reason and if possible also giving a condition why a given term should not be used. These reasons and conditions should be collected in the form of a report and presented to you in connection with final delivery of projects, in order to keep terminology consistent in future translation projects.
What does a glossary in translation cost?
Done professionally, a glossary should not cost anything extra if it is done on the fly and you have already indicated which terms you want to add to the glossary. If you create a glossary up front before a project, you are likely to pay the standard translation rate for creation of the same, possibly more if the terminology is specialized.
How many expressions should be featured in a glossary?
The size of glossaries vary, but typically a general glossary for a machine manufacturer would have around 500-1,000 entries, while glossaries for standard consumer products should have from 100 to 500 entries. Glossaries for e.g. automobiles, trucks and motorcycles often have more than one thousand entries. In addition, export companies usually should have one general glossary for terms that apply to the various product fields it covers, and it should have specialized glossaries that apply to the different product categories, e.g. power tools, white goods, generators, etc.