What is a CAT?

My previous post caused a bit of confusion about just what is meant by a CAT. CATs are computer programs used by translators which memorize their translations of phrases and insert them when that phrase is encountered again.

CATs are different from Machine Translation tools, such as translate.google.com, Babel Fish, Babylon*, and many others. These programs actually do the translating for you. Fantastic! The only problem is that they produce appalling results. Some people think they are being smart by using these free programs rather than spending money on a human translator. But the result is they end up looking anything but smart.

If you want to see a great example of how Machine Translations can make you look sooooooooo stupid, you simply must visit the Prague Olympic bid site. We all need a good laugh, so feel free to forward the link to all your friends.

More on CATs soon.

*Not that I mean to degrade Babylon. Like so many other translators and all my students, I'm addicted to using it as a dictionary. However, its machine translation feature is no better (and no worse) than any other.

The Trados Trade-Off

Computer Assisted Translation (CAT) - Sounds great! But only a little bit of research and the pitfalls become clear. They are really expensive (Trados is 695 Euro) and their usefulness is somewhat limited since they only remember sentences that they've seen before. That means that if you are translating a text that is just a dash more creative than the phone book, it is unlikely that you'll have any matches at all. On the other hand, if you're translating standard, repetitive legal or technical texts, whole sentences, if not paragraphs, are given to you as freebies. Very nice, since we get paid by the word.

But I have to admit, I've never felt motivated enough to shell out to buy it. The fact that there a experts known as "Trados trainers" deters me. If you need a specially trained professional to teach a translator (generally a computer savvy breed) how to use software, you know it's complicated. That doesn't mean it's not worthwhile, but it does mean that its not the kind of purchase you rush in to. Rather, you wait for the right moment, and for a busy translator, that moment may never arrive.

I still believe I'll buy it one day, if not for my own sake then at least so I'll be able to tell my students if it's worthwhile. But up to this point, I've only used the free CAT options, and there are a few. I'll discuss what I've learned from this experience in my next post.

(PS. In case you are dying to hear more about Trados from a translator who actually uses it, check out this link to the AboutTranslation blog. Note that he prays fervently for it's demise, but doesn't stop using it. Sounds like the love-hate relationship many of us have with certain other software.)