Category Archives: CAT tools

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Quality assurance is absolutely essential when working as a professional translator. Naturally, the best method is to have your translation reviewed by another professional. However, even in this case or even when you’re working with agencies that take care of the review themselves, you should make sure that the quality of the work you deliver is as high as possible. Here are some simple ways to avoid mistakes that can hurt your reputation and even cost you clients or collaborators.

  1. Re-read your translation

Although this is generally performed at the end of the translation process, we put it first because of its enormous importance. For seasoned professionals, it’s probably unnecessary to even mention this step, but new translators often underestimate its importance or just skip it because they’re overwhelmed with work. We cannot stress enough how important it is to re-read your work (by the way, you should apply this principle to anything you write, be it an essay, an article or even a two-line email). Re-reading our translations has saved us from embarrassing mistakes and omissions throughout the years, so please please please take the time to do this before you deliver your final translation.

  1. Doubt yourself and research all terms or phrases that you’re not certain about

Research is an integral part of translation. Nobody knows everything, and even if you’re fairly specialized in the subject-matter, you’re bound to find new terms or phrases in the texts you translate. Although it goes without saying that you should research every new term you come across, it’s also important you look into phrases or terms that you think you know but are not 100% certain of. Over-confidence is the culprit here; false friends or expressions that do not mean the first thing that comes to mind when reading them are well-known traps for translators. So, even if you think you know what the original says, when you’re even in a little bit of doubt, just google it or open a dictionary. It can’t hurt.

  1. Use monolingual dictionaries in your source and target language

Not that many years ago, translators used to rely on dictionaries, specialized books and libraries for their work. Today we have the Internet. There are many traps you can fall into when using the internet to translate: websites with low credentials, unreliable web dictionaries or glossaries and machine-translated published material come to mind. It goes without saying that specialized bilingual dictionaries are a valuable tool for professional translators. However, you shouldn’t overlook the importance of using general dictionaries as well. Words have multiple meanings, and you may not know all of them. And even if you’re a native speaker, your first instinct about the correct use of a word or phrase in your target language could be wrong. An added bonus is that dictionaries often include synonyms which can help you come up with the word that’s just right for your sentence.

  1. Ensure terminology consistency

After you have finished your translation, you should always ensure you have used consistent terminology throughout your text. Translating the same term in two or more ways in the target language can create confusion, affect the flow and readability of the text and even lead to accidents or legal uncertainty, depending on the sector. Most CAT tools have features that can help you make sure you used the same translation for the same term; however, even if you’re translating without a CAT tool, make a point of checking for terminology consistency. It goes a long way in ensuring the high quality of your deliverables.

  1. Run a spell-check and verify numbers

This is another aspect of translation that should be self-evident. However, we often come across translations with spelling mistakes or where numbers have been transferred incorrectly from the original. Again, if you’re using a CAT tool —and you should if you’re taking this work seriously— there should be a verification feature that helps you make sure that the numbers coincide. If you’re not using CAT tools, always run a spell-check in the target file and check the numbers one by one. You will be surprised by how many things can escape your attention.

How about you? Are there any other steps you consider vital in quality assurance and what are they? Feel free to share with us in the comments below.

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SDL Studio is unquestionably one of the most popular CAT tools in the market. Unfortunately, though, being such an extensive, all-encompassing tool, it can often intimidate users, many of whom end up using it only to edit and translate files and to save their work in translation memories. This is a waste of potential (and money not-so-well spent). This is why we’ve assembled four of Studio’s most useful but lesser known features; if you haven’t heard of them before, go ahead and give them a try the next time you’re using the tool.

  1. Display filter

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Found in the Editor view, under the Review tab, Display Filter allows you to filter segments according to a set of criteria (e.g. only unconfirmed, reviewed, locked or unlocked segments). Just click on All segments and select the option that best suits your purposes. Another useful function of the display filter is that it allows you to search for a certain word or phrase in the source or target and view only the segments containing that phrase. This way, you can make batch corrections of your translation choices in one go or verify you’ve used the same terminology in the entire text without having to use Find & Replace.

  1. QA Checker

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Any translator or writer who wants to be taken seriously is familiar with Spellchecker and the embarrassment it can save users by spotting typos and basic spelling mistakes. However, a feature less used by translators is Studio’s QA Checker, which in our opinion should be an indispensable companion to any translator using Studio. By clicking Project Settings->Verification, you can access the QA Checker menu and select the types of errors you would like Studio to spot for you (i.e. Inconsistencies, Numbers, Punctuation etc.). If you would like these settings to be the same for all your projects, access the same menu from File->Options. We especially recommend using it to verify numbers and punctuation!

  1. Update from reviewed target file

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This is a particularly useful feature if you often have your translations reviewed by another colleague or if your client sends you a reviewed version of your translation in the target format. This way, you can import the changes in your translation memory and have the segments in their final form stored for future projects. Using it is very easy: In Files view, just select Batch tasks->Update from reviewed target file (Retrofit) and follow the steps of the pop-up menu.

  1. Autosuggest Dictionary

Autosuggest’s main role is to save you time from typing and to ensure consistent use of terminology. When you have an Autosuggest Dictionary activated in your project, by typing the first three letters of a word contained therein, you get a pop-up menu with suggestions and you can select the word you were going for. It works wonders when you have to translate texts with the same terminology or when the same words or phrases are repeated several times in your text. To do this, just go to Translation Memories view and select “Create Auto-suggest Dictionary” from the Home tab.

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In the pop-up window that will appear, you can select the TM or .tmx file you wish to create your dictionary from. Just beware that you can only create a Dictionary from memories containing a minimum of 10,000 translation units.

To use the Dictionary you created in your projects, don’t forget to enable the use of Autosuggest through the File-> Options menu and to add your Autosuggest Dictionary in the Project settings->Language Pairs menu or in the same menu under File->Options if you wish to use it for all your projects.

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* Autosuggest can also be used with Translation Memories, termbases and AutoText. You can use any combination of these resources for your own needs. However, do bear in mind that too many resources can create “noise” that will probably hinder rather than enhance your productivity!

And a tip:

If you have more than one translation memories activated in a given project, you can select the order in which the results are displayed by using the two blue arrows right above their names in the Project settings->Translation Memory and Automated Translation view. You can also penalise results from a specific translation memory (ie give them a lower priority than other results) by inserting a number in the respective box under the Penalty column.

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