IT for Translators

IT for Translators – Computer-Assisted Translation Tools

Like many other professions, translation keeps changing thanks to technological advances, and IT has fully become a key element of a translator’s daily work. In practice, any translator who does not use a neural machine translation (NMT) engine will work very slowly and won’t be able to offer competitive rates. But IT matters go beyond MT and its usefulness for speed.

On the one hand, the latest technologies are a blessing: they save work and improve quality. How much a translator benefits depends mainly on their interest in and knowledge of IT, and to a lesser extent on how much they invest in specific applications.
On the other hand, IT is a necessary evil: clients take it for granted that translators have every program under the sun—from Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint (in their various versions), to CAT tools such as SDL Trados, and even designer software like Acrobat Pro, InDesign and QuarkXPress. A professional translator has no choice but to invest significant sums in software on a regular basis.

Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) tools

CAT tools are ubiquitous in modern professional translation, with a few notable exceptions such as literary translation, where they are of little or no use. Below are some features common to most CAT tools.

Translation memory (TM)
Before you start, the tool splits the text into segments. As the translator works, each source segment and its translation are stored. If the same or a similar segment appears in the future, the tool recognizes it and suggests reusing the existing translation.

Terminology management
This feature stores translations of specific terms/phrases. The tool recognizes them and proposes the stored translation.
In short, the TM stores sentences (e.g., “Tighten the retaining bolt to a torque of 44 N·m → Apriete el tornillo con un par de 44 N·m”), while terminology stores individual words or expressions (e.g., bolt → perno).
To get more from it, don’t just store term A and its B-language equivalent; add the source of the translation, an example sentence, possible exceptions, etc. This is especially useful for polysemous terms such as bolt, which may translate—depending on context—as perno, tornillo, bulón, cerrojo, saeta, and others.

Quality assurance (QA)
Constantly evolving, QA runs automated checks to catch potential errors. A key one for technical translators is verifying that numbers in the translation match the source.
Imagine the source reads “Set the feed pump pressure to 2.25 bar,” but the translator writes “22.5 bar.” A tiny typo that changes everything—potentially triggering relief valves or even causing damage, injuries, or deaths. QA would flag the numeric inconsistency. And this is just a basic example; QA checks can be very advanced.

Preserving the original layout
Complex files are a pain: formatting can change during translation (e.g., opening a Word 2003 file in Word 2010). Text boxes, embedded Excel charts, etc., are frequent headaches. CAT tools extract the text for translation and then reinsert it into the original file while preserving the layout.

Main CAT tools and my take

All the programs below offer trial versions. Test several before buying.
Note: discounts are usually available for most of these products. Don’t buy at full price without first looking for deals online.

• SDL Trados. The world’s best-selling CAT tool. My favorite.

• memoQ. Similar feature set to SDL Trados.

• Wordfast PRO. Recommended for professionals less versed in IT. Has the key features.

• Wordfast Anywhere. Recommended for students or beginners on a tight budget.

• Déjà Vu. Recommended for brand loyalists.
  
  

Summary table

© 2025 Alejandro Moreno Ramos, www.ingenierotraductor.com