CAT Software or CAT Tool as it is often referred to is used by human translators to speed up the translation process. CAT is an abbreviation for Computer Assisted or Aided Translation. However, Computer Aided Translations shouldn’t be confused with machine translations, the latter of which does not have any human intervention and hence is very inaccurate.
How does a CAT Tool help with the translation process?
Translating a document from one language to the other requires much more than being able to read, understand and type in another language. A translator needs to understand the context, tone and overall meaning/purpose of the document which can be time-consuming. CAT software aids a human translator in the translation process. The software can speed up the translation process by quickly translating known portions of a document, highlighting spelling and grammar errors for a translator to fix. Advanced CAT software works as an interactive medium between a human translator and the machine translation. SDL Trados is considered to be the industry leading CAT Tool used by professional translators and businesses that employ translators.
How does SDL Trados Work?
SDL Trados is an incredibly complex CAT Software developed by Trados GmbH. It provides software translation tools to corporate language departments, freelance translators, academics, etc. In addition to Trados, the company also produces its productivity suite SDL MultiTerm, SDL Language Cloud and SDL Passolo.
Even though SDL Trados Studio is an extremely complex and versatile CAT Tool, it primarily works by integrating machine translation and its postediting modules into a translator’s workflow. So, when tasked with translating a document from German to English for instance, the machine translator will insert its machine translation into parts that it cannot match from memory of previous translation. The human translator is alerted to this fact, and can then step in to edit the machine translation ensuring that it is contextually and grammatically correct. Trados supports numerous machine translation systems including Google Translate, SDL BeGlobal, Language Weaver, and LanguageCloud. The Trados Studio also supports Microsoft Translator and various other machine translation system via its plugin feature.
Why regular people can’t use CAT Tools?
While CAT software or tools like Trados Studio has come a long way over the years, it’s still not something that anyone can use. Using advanced translation tools requires not just understanding how the tool works and receiving appropriate training but also requires an understanding of the translation methodology. A person who is not a professional translator but can read and write two languages will not be able to significantly benefit from a CAT tool because even then they wouldn’t be able to customize the tool for speed and accuracy. Plus, most multi-lingual people like machines may not always understand the context and correct grammar of a machine translation. So, the end result being that they solely rely on the machine translation which is awfully inaccurate and defeats the purposes of using a translation tool. It is for this reason that CAT software like Trados Studio is best reserved for professionals who need to translate documents on a regular basis.