Green Crescent can set up translation memory accounts for participating clients. These accounts are established with long term relationships in mind. If your organization requires frequent translation, you may be interested in considering the benefits of language memory.

What is translation memory?

For long texts, for texts that are translated over time, and especially for texts that were translated by different translators, language memory does what even the best human translation team cannot -recall every word, phrase, sentence and paragraph translated.

Translation memory software does not actually translate anything. Rather, it remembers how previous pieces of text were translated and makes suggestions to human translators as they translate. Translation memory is intended as an aid to human translators rather than a substitute such as language conversion tools employed by many free online translators such as Google and Yahoo.

How does it work?

Translation memory software saves translated text then searches for text strings much in the same way Google searches for keywords. When a "match" is found, the software suggests a translation based on previous translations. The translator can accept it as is, refuse it, or modify the suggested translation and incorporate it into the translation.

As the amount of translated text saved to the memory file grows, so does the probability that increased matches will be found as the translator translates which serves to heighten consistency as well as lowering cost over time.

What are the benefits?

The benefits of using language memory are twofold:

Improved consistency. Even if you don't expect to have a lot of translation work and may not be in a position to take advantage of the long-term cost savings, using language memory has the additional benefit of producing heightened consistency in individual texts by ensuring that text strings are translated the same way each time.

Long-term savings. If you have frequent translation needs, translation memory will lower your translation costs over time.



The graphic above is a visual representation of the long-term savings of creating and maintaining language memory files in a generic case. Red represents the initial investment in translation memory technology which includes additional cost per word, the creation and maintenance of translation memory files and the cost to integrate and align previously translated works. The black area represents the recuperation period. This is the period in which your initial investment is recovered as the cost of a given translation decreases due to the incidence of discounted string matches. The blue area represents savings from the break-even point and into the future.

The actual break-even point and amount of long-term savings cannot be determined beforehand as some texts have more repetitions and commonality (matches) than others and future translation needs may not be foreseeable.. This graphic is to help conceptualize the potential economic benefits of using translation memory over the lifetime of an organization's translation outsourcing needs.

What are the disadvantages?

Professional translators use translation memory and the learning curve is steep. Such skills come at a premium and so the cost per word is greater. Additionally, inputting texts into software can often cause formatting issues requiring additional time and cost to resolve in the target text.

Is translation memory right for my organization's needs?

If your translation needs are minimal, your primary need is the translation of business or other correspondence, or if consistency is not an issue, the answer is that the cost may outweigh the benefits.

If, on the other hand, you have a large project, produce a large body of work with a fair amount of repletion, or consistency of terminology and turn of phrase are critically important then language memory will be of great benefit. A good example would be a manufacturer that needs to produce a lengthy technical manual or an educational services provider that produces a large number of textbooks.

Our project managers can help you assess if establishing a translation memory account is right for your organization. Please contact us if you have any questions or would like further information.