Computer-assisted translation

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Computer-assisted translation, Computer-aided translation, or CAT is a form of translation wherein a human translator translates texts using computer software designed to support and facilitate the translation process.

Computer-assisted translation is sometimes called machine-assisted, or machine-aided, translation.

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Computer-assisted translation vs. Machine translation

Although the two concepts are similar, computer-assisted translation should not be confused with machine translation (MT).

In computer-assisted translation, the computer program supports the translator, who translates the text himself, making all the essential decisions involved, whereas in machine translation, the translator supports the machine, that is to say that the computer or program translates the text, which is then edited by the translator, or not edited at all. Difficulties with such unedited output are described at machine translation.

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Overview

Computer-assisted translation is a broad and imprecise term covering a range of tools, from the fairly simple to the more complicated. These can include:

  • Spell checkers, either built into word processing software, or add-on programs;
  • Grammar checkers, again either built into word processing software, or add-on programs;
  • terminology managers, allowing the translator to manage his own terminology bank in an electronic form. This can range from a simple table created in the translator's word processing software or spreadsheet, a database created in a program such as FileMaker Pro (almost a standard in the translation industry) or Microsoft Access, or, for more robust (and more expensive) solutions, specialized software packages such as LogiTerm, MultiTerm, Termex, etc.
  • Dictionaries on CD-ROM, either unilingual or bilingual
  • Terminology databases, either on CD-ROM or accessible through the Internet, (such as TERMIUM or Grand dictionnaire terminologique from the Office québécois de la langue française)
  • Full-text searches (or indexers), which allow the user to query already translated texts or reference documents of various kinds. In the translation industry one finds such indexers as Naturel, ISYS and dtSearch.
  • Concordancers, which are programs that retrieve instances of a word or an expression in a monolingual, bilingual or multiligual corpus.
  • Bitexts, a fairly recent development, the result of merging a source text and its translation, which can then be consulted using a full-text search tool.
  • Translation memory managers (TMM), tools consisting of a database of text segments in a source language and their translations in one or more target languages.
  • Systems that are nearly automatic as in machine translation, but allow user decisions for ambiguous cases. These are sometimes called human-aided machine translation.
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Comparison of different CAT Tools

(Alphabetical order, free software first, proprietary solutions second.)

Tool Supported File Formats OS Price
ForeignDesk HTML, Microsoft Help File Sources (HPJ, HHC, HHK, CNT), Java Source Code, Trados, C Source Files Windows Open Source
Okapi Framework / Olifant TMX, Wordfast, Trados Windows (.NET) Open Source LGPL
OmegaT HTML, JavaHelp, Java Resource Bundles, OpenOffice, Plain Text, StarOffice, XML independent (Java) Open Source
Transolution XLIFF, DOCBOOK, HTML, Staroffice/Openoffice independent (Python) Open Source GPL
Cafetran Abiword, HTML, Kword, MS Word, OpenOffice, XML independent (Java) 180 Euro
Déjà Vu (DVX) Adobe FrameMaker, Adobe PageMaker, ASP, Interleaf/Quicksilver, InDesign, Help Content, SGML, MS Access, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, MS Word, OpenOffice, Plain Text, QuarkXPress, RTF, XML, Resource files, C/C++/Java source files, Java Properties, VBScript, JavaScript, GNU gettext Windows 490 Euro
Heartsome Translation Suite AbiWord, Adobe FrameMaker (MIF), Adobe InDesign, DocBook, DITA, XML, HTML/XHTML, Java Properties, JavaScript, Plain Text, OpenOffice.org, StarOffice, RTF, Tagged RTF, Trados TTX, MS Office 2003 XML, PO/POT (GNU Gettext), SVG independent (Java) See price list.
LogiTerm  ?  ?  ?
MetaTexis MS Word (all kinds of text files that can be imported by MS Word), MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, XML, HTML, Adobe FrameMaker, Adobe PageMaker, QuarkXPress, Resource files Windows Lite: 29 Euro
Pro: 79 Euro
NET/Office: 109 Euro
MLTS  ?  ?  ?
MultiCorpora MultiTrans  ?  ?  ?
MultiLing Fortis Translation Suite  ?  ?  ?
Rainbow HTML, XHTML, Scripts, Photoshop, etc. Windows (.NET) Freeware
SDLX  ?  ?  ?
STAR Transit  ?  ?  ?
Trados Translators Workbench When it is installed, it automatically adds a template to MS word. To use in Excel, PowerPoint, one should use T_windows application installed with workbench  ?  ?
Traid  ?  ?  ?
WordFast MS Word Microsoft Office Word macro 180 Euro
WordFisher  ?  ?  ?
Similis Word, HTML, PDF, Trados Windows 295 Euros (monoposte)
File Formats OS Price
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External links

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CAT Discussion groups

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Software Localization Tools

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Translation memory packages

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Other tools


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Computer Assisted Translation Tools Indexes

fr:Traduction assistée par ordinateur ru:Автоматизированный перевод

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