Introduction

Technology has been reshaping the concept and practice of translation in many aspects. Until some time ago, translators were expected to be able to work solely on definite source texts with the exclusive aid of dictionaries. Specialists were called upon where research references failed or left holes, but, even in such cases, translators had the chance to develop familiarity with their source texts, becoming, in many cases, experts themselves in some fields. Textual material to be translated was basically conceptualized as having a beginning and an end, thus making contextualization of meaning easier.

This article reports on the pedagogical effectiveness of using a translation memory tool, e.g., Trados's WinAlign, to assist in the teaching of the translation equivalence (TE) concept. Conventionally, translation instructors taught the TE concept using the prescriptive method of lecture and discussion of relevant TE theories. As an alternative, this study proposes the use of the descriptive method to teach the TE concept. The author administered an experimental technology-assisted translation project by engaging a group of graduate students in the editing of Trados's WinAlign-produced translation alignments. The editing process allowed students to identify various TE modes, such as strong TE, fair TE, weak TE and very weak TE. At the end of the translation project, students filled out a questionnaire. Although using the Trados WinAlign tool as an aid has demonstrated the pedagogical effectiveness to facilitate student acquisition of the TE concept, we still need to test the results of our research on different groups of students to more convincingly verify its benefits.

 SDL International, the world's third-largest translation/localization agency announced today its plans to acquire TRADOS, the maker of the world's most popular machine translation software.

In the translation industry, this is very big news.

Every translation agency that uses TRADOS (which is most of them) and thousands of their clients that also use TRADOS will be affected by this deal.

Imagine a world in which you speak or write your language, and the rest of the globe could instantly understand you in theirs.

Computers may in the future weigh no more than 1.5 tons.
Popular Mechanics, 1949.

The number of transistors on a microprocessor will double approximately every 18 months.
Gordon Moore, 1965.

For people who are deciding on a Language Service Provider (LSP) or which software is needed to manage translation projects within their organization, there are mounds of data and hype to wade through before you are able to make your choice. Not unlike buying a "Green car", where your choices in the U.S. today range from Hybrid cars, to FlexFuel (E85) vehicles, to converting your dad’s old Mercedes to run on restaurant fryer-fat; each of these solutions come with a heap of marketing messages, facts as well as fiction which you need to pick through when making your choice.

Inputting translated text
Adding text to a website in an unfamiliar language can be tricky. One solution is to include notes and labels which tell you which part of the text is which and where it belongs on your website. If you do this, you should explain the purpose of such notes to your translators. Unfortunately not all translators will follow the instructions: some will translate the notes and labels, others will leave them out of their translations. Even with such labelling, some web developers and editors will still not be confident about adding the translated texts to websites, particularly texts written in different writing systems.

Consider Translation Memory (TM) for example. For so long, LSPs have promoted the use of TM, touting the value, but the clients seldom have physical control or possession of the database asset. The concept and value is understood, but a truly integrated approach to other enterprise systems, thus becoming strategic, is virtually impossible. Additionally, a large volume of isolated TM files scattered across translators’ or project managers’ desktops does not resemble anything enterprise or strategic.