When should we use translation environment tools?

If you ask professionals, the answer would surely be ‘always.’ Translation environment tools are now an integral part of the translation process, their use is virtually unavoidable. However, it is worth discussing this issue in more

detail, as we can often encounter the argument that there are text types that are

‘recommended’ to use in a translation environment tool and text types that are ‘not recommended’.

Basically, the more repetitions that texts to be translated contain, the simpler and more consistent the sentence structure and the style is with regards to terminology, phraseology (choice of words), and grammar, while the more we work in a particular field of expertise, the more profitable it is to use a translation environment tool (Feder 2002). In this case, the translation environment tool speeds up the translation process, as the translator can avoid the very time-consuming process of looking up previously translated parts and searched terms repeatedly. Furthermore, its use results in a better quality and a more consistent translation. However, it should be noted here that using a translation environment tool is not only ‘profitable’ in this case but virtually mandatory, as translators often do not have time to carry out all the tasks manually.

The most recommended texts are therefore those, (1) the content of which is modified during the translation process, for example, the translator is working on a draft, while the final version is still being created (update); or those (2) where the new version of a previous text is translated, that is, the older version is improved (revision).

Such text types are, for example, manuals, instructions for use, product information, documentations (Feder 2002), but legal texts and texts relating to business activity may be recommended as well (Webb 2000). In contrast, literary texts, newspaper articles, marketing materials, or advertisements are not recommended to be translated in a translation environment tool (Bowker &

Fischer 2010).

These criteria may suggest that if a translator works in a variety of fields and with different text types, or they mainly translate ‘not recommended’ texts, the use of a translation environment tool is not really of use for them. In my opinion, however, it is not as clear-cut as it seems. As Feder (2002) points out, the text type or topic alone is not enough to determine whether to use a translation environment tool, because the above mentioned criteria all refer to the surface and the structure of the text. Furthermore, if we take another look at the criteria, we can see that most of them focus on the reusability of stored segments in a translation memory, but translation environment tools may be beneficial in many other cases. Due to space limitations, I discuss three components below with the aim of pointing out how a  translation environment tool may be beneficial in cases other than the ‘ideal’.

4.1. Terminology

Most translation tasks require terminology work, even when dealing with general texts. Although terminology databases usually contain terms relating to a specific field of expertise (i.e. expressions defining a particular concept and thus having a specific meaning in a specific field of expertise), we can also create ‘colloquial’

databases containing any words/expressions that we often encounter. However, a ‘bulk’ terminology, consisting of entries on different topics, is not necessary because we can group our entries in different topics. In most of today’s translation environment tools, we can assign more than one terminology database to a single project, that way, if we translate a geography-related text where also historical expressions occur, we do not need to search for terms we have already added to another database. In addition to all this, definition, source, example, context, or even a picture can be added to the entries, helping the translator decide whether a given expression is appropriate for the context. All this speeds up the translation process, as we do not have to look for the same expression twice, it allows for a more consistent translation at the level of words, both terminologically and phraseologically. Furthermore, even quality is improved, since we are more likely to use the correct expressions.

Let us take a look at a rather extreme example: the translation of literary texts. Basically, according to the academic literature and the profession, there is no point in using a translation environment tool for the translation of literary texts, as the probability of encountering any reusable items is low. In my opinion, however, these tools may be of use even here: suppose that the book to be translated is full of ‘speaking’ names that are translated with a similar method (i.e. using

‘speaking’ names in the target text as well). In the case of a long book containing many different names to remember, we can build a ‘dictionary-like’ terminology database, thus avoiding constant searching.

4.2. Alignment

As we have seen above, alignment is especially useful in those cases where we would like to use previous translations, available electronically but created without translation tools, within the translation environment. Although we primarily need this function if there are many repetitions, today’s tools offer more.

Let us assume that we translate a general text and we find or get a reference file that has a translated version. In this case, we can align the document pair in a translation environment, store their segments in a translation memory, and use it in different ways. In some of the most recent translation tools, we can add terms directly from the aligned material and search for words, expressions, clauses, and even whole sentences, though the chances are rather slim, with the concordance search feature. In one of the most common translation environment tools, we now have the opportunity to store monolingual texts besides aligned documents and use them for reference. We can also use these to add expressions to the terminology database or search with concordance. Thus, everything relating to a  specific translation task can be stored in one place, within the same program.

Similarly to terminology, this function may speed up the translation process, contribute to a more consistent text (e.g. in terms of style) and, if authentic target language texts are added to the corpus, it may help translators distance themselves better from the original text, thus avoiding the creation of a text that reads like a translation. Although translators around the world usually translate only into their native language, in Hungary this is usually not the case, as many translators have to translate into their first (or even second) foreign language. The above function is therefore even more useful because, as a non-native speaker, it is very difficult to create a text that sounds authentic to the target reader.

4.3. Sub-segment matching

A further useful function is the so-called sub-segment matching. Basically, it means that the translation environment tool monitors the selected resources (e.g.

translation memory, terminology database, corpora, or dictionaries) and provides the translator with suggestions, while they are typing. Suggestions may include words, expressions, or clauses.

Thus, even smaller units that otherwise would not appear among translation memory (too low percentage) and terminology (larger unit) results can be reused.

This is yet another function that speeds up the translation process as (1) translators do not have to type each character and (2) even those elements appear that would be otherwise ‘lost’ using only the other two features and meaning long hours searching. It also contributes to consistency as suggestions are provided based on previous work.

As we could see above, translation environment tools are especially useful (and indeed essential) if we work in the same field of expertise, we mainly deal with specialised texts that, due to their nature, consist of many repetitions. It is also important that these texts use a rather ‘limited’ language, meaning a simple and consistent style, grammar, and sentence structure, as well as a unified terminology.

Furthermore, we could also see that if we go beyond the emphasis on translation memory and reusability, there are many other arguments for the use of translation environment tools, even in those cases where a  translator works in different fields of expertise or works mainly with texts ‘not recommended’ for the use of translation tools.