At Avantpage, we use glossaries and translation memory to save time in the long run, saving our clients money, as well as provide consistency within a translated document and among all your translated documents.
Custom glossaries are built for each client, so that their preferences are recorded for future use. For example, if a client prefers the word “team member” instead of “employee,” that’s the word that will always be used. Using glossaries, any of our translators will be able to pick up material related to the same client, and have fewer questions about the way certain terms are to be translated.
Working along the same lines, translation memory (TM) software helps us build on the previous work of our translators to save time in the future. Once a document has been completed and reviewed for quality assurance, it is converted to a TM file. When it’s time to complete a new translation for the same client, we can analyze the new document against previously translated documents. The application helps decipher which words and phrases have been repeated and indicates how they were previously translated.
Even though these technologies do not rely on computers to make the translation, they do make the translation process much more efficient by building on existing work. In the end, it’s always an educated human translator that makes the final decision, as we strongly believe it should be.