Open Translation Tools

Translation Processes

It is always worth realising that the basic translation process is as simple as a piece of paper containing your source text, a pencil and a piece of paper on which to write your translation.  You read the source text and write your translation on the blank piece of paper.  Everything else that we discuss about the process and tools centres around enhancing this simple act of translation.  More advanced processes enhance that simple translation process to increase speed, quality, collaboration and resource sharing.

The translation process can be improved with simple tools.  The first resources are dictionaries, whether this being hardcopy dictionaries, electronic or online glossaries, that then allow translators to ensure that they can obtain correct word equivalents. Moreover, monolingual dictionaries provide the corresponding definitions.  Previous translations of the work can be as simple as a collection of alternative translations produced by other translators.  Both dictionaries and previous translations can easily be stored as books on a shelf.

Aiding the translator

The first technical enhancement to aid the translator are tools that automate the roles of paper-based dictionaries and previous translations.  We can use terminology lists and electronic dictionaries as equivalents to paper-based dictionaries.  Previous translations collected in a translation memory are now databases of all previous translations that the translators and their respective teams have carried out.  These tools can all be used to aid our paper based translation process.

Translators can enhance their paper-based mode of translation by using a word processor.  Now they have access to tools like spell checkers and grammar checkers.

Taking the word processing idea one step further results in a computer aided (or assisted) translation (CAT) tool which creates an environment which appears similar to the word processing environment with integrated electronic terminology lists cooperating with a translation memory.  This eliminates the effort of running different applications and results in a workbench like environment optimized for translation.

Extending the workflow of the translations process

Translations are often performed by a team. This implies that various tasks including terminology research, pre-translation, translation, review and proof reading are carried out by different team members.  When applying our simple paper and pencil process, this simply means handling stacks of paper from one person to the next as we move through the various stages of the translation process.

The workflow is one area in which extending of electronic tools has clear benefits.  This can be as simple as using email to move the document from stage to stage in the process.  It is quickly evident that email is not ideal when automating this process. This requires a large amount of communication overhead, different document versions can be mixed up and it is difficult to track the current stage of the process.  However, email remains a perfectly valid tool to enhance the process of moving translation work from stage to stage.

However, there are more sophisticated tools available to manage the workflow of a project within a team from stage to stage. This can be a translation workbench, a globalisation server, a translation management server (TMS) or a specific project management tool for translation projects.  These tools are purpose built for the translation workflow and include features that you would find in general project management and workflow tools.

A TMS ensures that the correct work is done by the correct person by means of the corresponding resources.  As an example, if a team was translating 3 medical brochures then a TMS would assist in the following ways :

  • The project manager would define the project, upload the three documents, define the required stages of the process, assign the different tasks to the corresponding persons, and last but not least define resources such as terminology and translation memory. 
  • The TMS then manages the flow of data, ensuring that the respective translators only uses the correct resources. 
  • When all tasks are finished it manages the handover of work from user to user.

During all these tasks the TMS's role is to optimise the flow of data to ensure that work is completed quickly without any errors induced by mistakes in the process.

Bringing a Community into the Localisation Process

The translation process can be further extended by allowing communities to participate in the process. This could be to perform the full translation process or to add value to the translation process by assigning texts, reviewing texts or performing translations into languages not included in the core set of languages.

Eventually, community involvement is an extension of the TMS workflow.  It involves other issues brought about with the sheer number of people involved, the number of tasks being carried out and the volume of resources.  It introduces new concepts derived from crowd sourcing and social network fields such as reputation scoring and community building. 

Referring to web-based tools for community translation, they are to be seen just as extensions of the CAT tool used to enhance the translators access to resources.