Lloyd International makes full use of the latest translation software. We combine dedicated software applications such as Trados Workbench and Star Transit with industrial-strength desktop publishing applications to deliver lower costs and improved consistency to our clients.

Translation Memory

Translation Memory (TM) is a software application used by human translators and should not be confused with Machine Translation, in which the computer software translates using pre-programmed dictionaries, glossaries and grammar rules.

TM takes advantage of the fact that text segments in technical documentation are often repeated. Typically, new documents created from previous documents contain 30% or more of text that has already been translated. Document updates could contain 90% or more.

At Lloyd International, we have invested in Trados Workbench and Star Transit, the industry standards, to automate the re-use of previously translated material.

Benefits of Translation Memory

Translation Memory brings a number of specific advantages to the translation process:

	Enables automatic re-use of existing translation
	Maintains consistency
	Ensures use of your preferred terminology
	Reduces translation costs by as much as 70%
	Minimises DTP costs
	Supports the development of extensive client-specific glossaries

Desktop Publishing

The major TM packages integrate with many desktop publishing packages including FrameMaker, PageMaker, Interleaf, QuarkXPress and Microsoft Word. Supported file formats include SGML, HTML and XML.

The Translation Memory Process

TM significantly reduces post-translation DTP costs and timescales by eliminating the need to copy and paste the translated text into the document. The text is extracted ready to pass on to the translators, enabling the text to be automatically reinserted into the DTP files, in the correct place and with the correct styles. The DTP operator can then adjust the layout.

Our white paper “Creating Documents with Translation in mind” contains more detailed information on how you can get the maximum benefit from Translation Memory when creating your source documents.

Example of Translation Memory in Action

A series of 9 Maintenance Manuals with over 800 pages were translated into 6 languages (French, German, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese and Dutch) for a new client with no existing Memory.

By translating each manual consecutively and developing the Memory with each manual, the final costs were only 50% of the client’s budgeted price and the entire 800-page project was completed in less than 6 weeks.

Software Localization Tools

Standard TM packages such as Trados Workbench can also be used for localising software resource files. In this case, filters are applied to ensure that the translator only translates text strings which can be modified. The same benefits of consistency and reduced costs apply to such files as for document files.

The drawback in working directly on translating strings is that the translator does not see how the strings appear on the screen and therefore cannot easily take account of the differences in text length. For example, an “OK” command button in an English interface would be replaced by a “Valider” button in a French interface, so the button needs to be stretched to accommodate this.

Alchemy Catalyst is a powerful translation tool which visualises dialog boxes, allowing the translator to make modifications to the dimensions of buttons and text boxes, or indeed to change the translation to better fit the available space. Translation of menu strings is also greatly aided by this tool since the translator can see the hierarchy of menu items and can therefore select the appropriate hot key without fear of clashing with another hot key in the same menu. In addition, Catalyst offers its own form of translation memory, referred to as “leveraging”, enabling translations to be recovered from previous translations.

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