No, WE do all the translating!

What I love most about my job is the sheer variety of clients and requests that we deal with on a daily basis: sometimes, it’s a property broker needing a sworn translation of documents. Other times, it’s an advertising agency wanting us to write copy for a new campaign, or an automotive industry client asking for a proofread of their annual report. Whatever the request, it is usually needed very quickly. The deadline of choice: ‘Ideally, yesterday, Ms Kudraß.’ Sadly, I’m neither Doctor Who nor Marty McFly, and can only work as fast as I can. Managing several projects while adhering to these ideal timelines is akin to juggling several balls. So any support extended is always welcome – be it from colleagues or from technology.

‘Twas a long, long time ago

Until a few years ago, managing such projects was synonymous with investing plenty of time and effort. Some of these relics from the past still pop up occasionally: ‘What kind of folder is this and since when have we been filing things haptically? Oh, we don't do that anymore? I see – thank God!’

Technology to the rescue

It’s another reason to be thankful that technology has come such a long way so quickly. Offices in particular have many ‘digital elves’ working away quietly in the background these days. I, for one, have a program that counts the number of words and characters of a text for me. There’s also a program that recognises text fragments that need to be translated in scanned documents, and there’s yet another one that serves as a ‘filing cabinet’ for all the projects I manage. The list goes on …

The holy grail of my programs

The most important program of all in my list is undoubtedly the CAT tool. The acronym CAT stands for Computer-Assisted Translation, but herein lies the conundrum: the name CAT tool implies it’s the computer that does the translation work and not a native speaker from our team of experienced translators. That, however, is certainly not the case! The CAT tool is, of course, a very useful translation aid and particularly important for our clients. Among other things, the software ensures that the layout of the target text matches the source text. It also factors in the font type and size, spacing, bullet points and much more.

What’s more, the tool is a repository for previous translations and picks out elements from these to frequently make suggestions. Take, for example, an already translated client slogan. The program remembers the campaign associated with it and offers it up as a suggestion to the translator working on the job. This feature guarantees consistent language and tonality within a campaign or across all translations for the client. CAT tools also provide translators with comparative examples in terms of context and client-specific glossaries, thus ensuring a uniform use of language at all times.

Human translations with a technological touch

But let’s go back to the crux of the matter – namely CAT tools giving customers the impression that they’ve received a machine translation, or in other words, a translation that hasn’t been done by a person, but rather by the machine itself. As already mentioned, this presumption couldn’t be further from the truth. The CAT tool just aids in consistency and stringency. The human touch remains integral to the job.

When I request my favourite client to send me open file formats for the documents she needs translated, she’s well aware that our CAT tool only processes files in Words, Excel, IDML, etc. and not in PDF or graphical formats. Our new clients, however, need to be familiarised with the process, and I do this by explaining it to them step by step, right down to the tiniest detail. Alternatively, I offer them the choice of having our translator type up the text manually first before they translate it. That usually does the trick, making the process crystal clear to them. It also underpins the time-saving benefits of the tool. Therefore, dear clients, don’t forget: CAT tools are your friend and not your foe!

To learn more about our technological solutions for your language requirements, click here.