Translation Memories – Improving Productivity & Reducing Costs
photo credit: Konstantin Dratch at Memsource
Recently, the cloud-based translation tool Memsource carried out research on the benefits that Translation Memories can bring to the translation process.
A translation memory, or TM as it’s known in the industry, acts as a database that breaks down text into smaller segments, before saving the translation in each segment. It also has the ability to identify whether new content submitted for translation has already been translated, before categorising this content as either an exact match or a fuzzy match. Client preferences on vocabulary, style and tone are therefore stored for future reference, significantly improving consistency.
In short, their findings illustrate that these useful tools are not only incredibly beneficial for translators and agencies alike, but can also reduce costs of translation for buyers too. Using a sample of over 500 million words, Memsource’s study had some interesting findings:
- Using a Translation Memory increases translator productivity by over 36%.
It’s not unusual for a company’s motto to repeatedly appear in marketing material, or for Terms & Conditions to be revised yearly, and this is where a TM shines. If you’ve already had key company documents translated, this content will be saved in the TM and accessible to the translator. This feature not only makes it much easier to ensure consistency and translate repeated content, but also reduces turnaround times.
- Using a Translation Memory can save your company money
We know that TMs act as a database for your translated content, keeping track of all your commonly-used phrases and terms, but what do they do with this data? This clever software can analyse files submitted for translation against all previously translated content, calculating the exact number or repetitions and partially repeated content. We then use this data to discount final costs accordingly. Simply put, this means that the more content you send for translation, the cheaper the costs become.
If you’d like to read the full findings of the Memsource survey, head to their website here.