We asked translators and interpreters what tools or technologies they enjoy the most in their professional life. Here's what they had to say.
Read moreWhy I Use A CAT Tool To Translate Books
Computer-Assisted Translation―that's what CAT stands for. If you're not in the translation business, or if you're in the book translation business, odds are you're not familiar with it. (...)
Read moreCAT Tools In Literary Translation: What Are They Good For?
On June 5-7, 2015, I attended the 6th International Conference organized by the Brazilian Translators Association (ABRATES), which took place at the Rebouças Convention Center in São Paulo. On Saturday, June 6th―the first day of presentations―I spent most of my day in Room 5, where several presenters talked about literary translation.
The first presentation I attended was the one by translator Reginaldo Francisco, who talked about the use of CAT tools in literary translations. Reginaldo highlighted the overall benefits offered by CAT tools, such as improved comfort and ergonomics, because translators don't need to use two screens or, worse, read the original straight from a paperback copy.
Another improvement is how previous translations can be leveraged, because your work is recorded in a database and reused at a later time. Glossaries can also be compiled, so that key terms will be suggested automatically whenever they show up in the original. Besides, many of these programs help with typing as well with "auto complete" or "auto suggest" features that guess what you're trying to type based on the first letters being entered and the words most commonly used in the project.
Reginaldo talked a little about some of the most popular tools, such as Trados and Wordfast, and explained that their classic version used to work within Microsoft Word by isolated segments on a document and providing a field where translators could type the respective translation. This combination of original segment and translation are then stored within a database to feed the translation memory.
"These are good starting points, because the learning curve is less steep," he indicated when referring to the fact that many translators are already familiar with the Microsoft Word environment, and they'd only need to get used the additional menus and hotkeys that are particular to each tool. "However, the fact that they work within Word is the best and worst of advantages," he warned. "You may be used to Word, but you also get all the bugs that come with it."
When demonstrating Wordfast Classic, Reginaldo compared it to the rule many of us have already used on top of a sheet of paper to indicate the line we're translating. With a tool of this nature, we benefit from improved ergonomics, because we avoid discomfort and the literal pain in the neck caused by looking from paper to screen.
He then demonstrated Wordfast Pro, which is a stand-alone version of this tool and works within its own window, without resorting to an additional program. Reginaldo talked about looking up previous translations, be them at the sentence or vocabulary level, and how translation memories work.
When talking about literary translation specifically, he recognized that a translator will very rarely find matches and repetitions within a memory database while translating a book. One example he did mention, from an Italian-to-Portuguese book he translated and that was written in a diary-like format, showed similar dates that were identified as matches, and it only takes translating the first date for the tool to understand the syntax and simply replace the number, while keeping the translation for the month.
Still, he says that these tools are useful for consistency and quality assurance purpose, including character names, for example. Translators can also look up terminology by doing a search and finding all segments in which a given word was used, so that they can recall how it was translated throughout the book.
Finally, making it a habit to translate books using CAT tools is something healthy for a translator's production control, because this type of software generates reports that indicate the amount of words translated and what's still left to translate, thus helping professionals organize their schedule.
RAFA LOMBARDINO is a translator and journalist from Brazil who lives in California. She is the author of "Tools and Technology in Translation ― The Profile of Beginning Language Professionals in the Digital Age," which is based on her UCSD Extension class. Rafa has been working as a translator since 1997 and, in 2011, started to join forces with self-published authors to translate their work into Portuguese and English. She also runs Word Awareness, a small network of professional translators.
Why should translators combine skills and technology?
For years now, translators have been worried that they may soon be replaced by computers. Personally, I hardly believe it will happen in our lifetime―or in my kids' lifetime―but that doesn't mean that translators should shun away from technology altogether. Once you see technology as your ally, you'll notice how much easier your job gets. By combining technology and your sharp translation skills, you can become the most efficient translator you could ever be!
For example, I've been using the same computer-assisted translation (CAT) tool since 2008. It's called Swordfish and the reason I migrated to it after using another tool for about four years was the fact that it's a cross platform solution. What does that mean, exactly? Well, it means that regardless of the operating system you use (Windows, Mac OS, or Linux) you can run this tool without the need for any “magic” (i.e. emulators to “trick” your computer into thinking it's something that it is not, just because some software may have been designed with a certain operating system in mind.) We use Linux in our offices by the way, or the Ubuntu distribution to be more precise, and Swordfish has eliminated our need to have a Windows computer, making our company's operations more reliable, virus-free, and with minimal bugs and downtime.
By using the same CAT tool consistently, I'm able to keep my translation memories (TMs) organized. These TMs are databases where you record your work, so you can use it later on―days, weeks, or years down the road―without the need to remember how you've done it before or go through old files to locate that same sentence you feel like you've translated in the past.
I decided to create different TMs, one for each client, in order to keep things separate. Should one of these clients ever request a copy of their dedicated TM, I could send it to them without breaching the non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) we've signed. In other words, I could send Client A a TM containing past translations completed for them without disclosing any confidential information about Client B, because the latter's content won't be mixed up in the same TM.
THE CAT BASICS
Actually, let me take a step back to talk about how TMs work. First of all, it's important to say that no, CAT tools don't do the work for you. All a CAT does is separate a file into segments, which can be sentences, titles, headlines, photo captions, or any other complete line of text and have it ready for you to translate it. You basically see the original segment on the left (or on the top, depending on your settings) and then have a blank field on the right (or the bottom) where you'll type the respective translation. Once you're happy with this source + target combination, you save the translation unit (TU) to your TM.
If you work for the same client very often, or translate the same subject time and time again, you can “leverage” your past translations when working on new material. Think about legal translators who work with contracts that have very similar clauses, dispositions and wording. Once they translate a sentence and record it to the TM, they can use that same translation―with some adaptation, when needed―whenever a similar new sentence comes up.
MATCHES AND REPETITIONS
The best part of it is that good CAT tools actually highlight or somehow indicate exactly what needs to be changed while comparing the current segment to your legacy material. Then, all you have to do is use your past translation and change a couple of words to make sure your current translation is faithful to the source text.
When this wonderful thing happens, you have what we call a “match.” Using some complicated computer equations that we don't need to dwell on, these matches can be classified as having a 50-99% similarity between the source and target sentences. When you get a 100% match―jackpot!―that means the sentence you are about to translate is IDENTICAL to a sentence you've translated in the past, and the CAT found it for you.
Just to make it clear, that can only happen if you have been consistently working with the CAT and feeding your TM with your work. As I mentioned before, CATs won't do the work for you, but they'll remind you how you translated something in the past.
CATs will also identify what we call “repetitions,” which are similar to 100% or exact matches. The only difference between them is that repetitions only exist inside the document you're translating. In other words, they don't refer to a TU that has been previously recorded to a TM; they refer to a segment that repeats itself several times throughout your current project.
GLOSSARIES GALORE
Everything I've talked about so far refers to the translation of the source text itself. TMs will recall TUs based on the sentences you've translated in the past, but they'll only be able to provide recommendations at the word level if you create a glossary, or terminology database (TB), and feed it as well. In my particular case, I have a single multilingual glossary to which I can add terminology in all my work languages (English, Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian) and it allows me to cross-reference them in a central location.
Different CATs work differently, but what I do on Swordfish is pretty much highlight the source term, then highlight its counterpart in the target segment, and use a hotkey to record it to my TB. That way, I don't have to research the same terminology several times. When that same term shows up on a different segment, the CAT will display your glossary entry and―if it matches the context―you can use it again.
I don't know about you, but if I translate something during my first shift (let's say, between 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.) then I get up, get lunch ready while watching some T.V., talk to my husband or discipline the kids... Well, my point is, when I go back to my second shift (between 1 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.) I'll most likely have forgotten how I translated a particular term. And, because some expressions can be translated differently―very few translations are absolute!―keeping an updated glossary, sometimes with several options for the same term, saves me a considerable amount of time when it comes to remembering how I've translated it a few hours, weeks, or days ago.
THE CAT IN ACTION
So that these concepts won't be too abstract for people who have never used a CAT before, here's a more practical example. Because I've been using Swordfish for 90% of my translations since 2008, keeping a very organized TM and recording every single sentence I type in the target language, as well as updating my TB with key terminology after proper research and context verification, my CAT helps me reuse my translations whenever needed.
The other day, I was able to complete 9,652 words on an English-to-Portuguese technical manual in only three hours of work―all before lunch time! And how did that happen? Swordfish identified several repetitions inside the same manual, as well as some matches to what I had previously translated in other manuals for the same client.
Besides translating everything that was considered “new” material―segments that I had never translated in the past―my job in this particular translation was to make sure that matches were aligned with what I had translated in the past, given the changes needed, and all repetitions were uniform across the document.
In a different scenario, had I not been using a CAT, I'd have to go back and forth through the pages of this document, and possibly have opened several other documents I previously completed for this client, so that I could cross reference everything and make sure my translation was consistent throughout the document and the length of my collaboration with this client so far. That would have taken me hours (maybe a couple extra days!) were I following a purely manual system.
THE TAKEAWAY MESSAGE
The takeaway message here is: Having sharp translation skills is a given for anyone who intends to become a professional translator. But, if you want to become efficient, effective and accurate, having the ability to improve your average output (how many words you translate per hour, day, week, or month) you must take advantage of the resources that technology makes available to you.
RAFA LOMBARDINO is a translator and journalist from Brazil who lives in California. She is the author of "Tools and Technology in Translation ― The Profile of Beginning Language Professionals in the Digital Age," which is based on her UCSD Extension class. Rafa has been working as a translator since 1997 and, in 2011, started to join forces with self-published authors to translate their work into Portuguese and English. In addition to acting as content curator at eWordNews, a collective blog about translation and literature, she also runs Word Awareness, a small network of professional translators, and coordinates Contemporary Brazilian Short Stories (CBSS), a project to promote Brazilian literature worldwide.*