The process of translation is notoriously challenging. It requires extensive contextual knowledge of the target language, familiarity with a multitude of topics, and a whole lot of research. For a long time, tools for translators were quite limited. Yet with businesses increasingly globalizing their goods and services, the demand for translation services has never been higher.
Spurred on by this huge demand, developers have raced to create tools and software that will help ease the workload for those working in professional translation. While machine translation can’t account for the quirks, nuances, and idioms in language, there are many tools that can improve the efficiency and speed of those who translate for a living, helping translators to deliver consistent, quality results. To have a look at some of our favorite tools, check out the Tomedes translation blog.
To help translators enhance and improve their working lives, we present six tech tools that do everything from proofreading to building translation memory, and a whole heap of things in-between.
MemoQ for Translation
Created by three Hungarian language technologists in an effort to capitalize on the growing “digital transformation of the translation industry,” MemoQ was created by translators, for translators. It is a CAT tool that runs on Microsoft Windows. It combines database content to suggest relevant translations, enabling translation between freelance translators as well as translation companies. It Tech tools for translators – 6 of the bests user interface is highly intuitive, enhancing your translation career by making you faster and more efficient, without sacrificing quality. Known for its compatibility, MemoQ can even eliminate the need to rely on multiple CAT tools to get your work done. The company provides unparalleled support in the form of instructional training courses, videos and guides, e-books, webinars, an extensive knowledge base, and live support.
SDL Trados for Translation
A translation tool designed with global business expansion in mind, SDL Trados is ideal for tackling the tasks involved in presenting your brand in a consistent and unified way to the rest of the world. Self-learning, it utilizes intelligent translation memory (TM) technology that can boost the speed and output your translation projects by as much as 80%. Users can create standard terminology terms and glossaries for your brand, which they can use across the entire organization so that every translation remains consistent in the tone and quality of your marketing efforts. It is also an ideal project management tool for translators and translation agencies, giving everyone in the organization the ability to collaborate in real time.
MadCap for Translation
MadCap is one of the best translation tools for technical writers, content developers, and those working on document translation. With the ability to import a wide range of content types like Excel, Dida, and Word, you won’t need to build your documents from scratch. With premade, fully customizable templates, you can easily adapt the style to match your brand’s other marketing materials. Creating user-friendly, searchable websites that allow customers to find answers to their questions with ease can help reduce support tickets and email queries, saving you valuable time and resources. Ideal for parts catalogs, maintenance manuals, user guides, medical documents, employee handbooks, and more, Madcap is a must-have translation tool that belongs in every translator’s toolbox.
Poedit for Translation and Localization
Poedit is a translation and localization tool for developers and professional translators that provides a user-friendly editor for the text. It is intuitive, timesaving, and simple, incorporating features like pre-translation and suggestions sourced from your own prior translation work. Poedit allows fast and easy translation of WordPress themes and plugins, even without the technical knowledge of WordPress Core, PO file format, or PHP source code. Additionally, Poedit provides fast and friendly support from the developer himself.
Smartling for Translation and Localization
Smartling utilizes a cloud translation management system that harnesses the power of data to help you automate your translation process so that you can get more done. By continually indexing hundreds of data points as you translate, it learns as it goes, so it becomes smarter and more customized to the user each time they use it. It helps reduce time spent on tedious localization tasks by connecting your code repository, marketing automation tools, and CNS, allowing you to do your work faster and smarter. It also provides for transparency in the entire translation process so you can evaluate each translator’s performance throughout the course of your project.
Crowdin for Translation and Localization
As a localization management platform, Crowdin helps companies to translate and localize software. It supports web and desktop apps, mobile, help desks, and games. With Crowdin, you can invite your translation agency, in-house translators, and crowd translators to collaborate on localization projects together. It seamlessly integrates with other software, including Madcap, to allow for continuous localization, reporting, and a productive workflow management experience. Crowdin comes with an extensive knowledge base to help you learn how to manage your translation projects effortlessly, and its API automates your localization workflow so you can stop managing all of your localization projects manually. Finally, Crowdin allows new translators to get on board with your project with ease.
Bio
Louise Taylor is the head of content for Tomedes, a translation agency that uses multiple translation tools to help its translators and project managers provide the highest quality deliverables possible. Louise has been fascinated by language all her life and enjoys little more than writing about it.
