Working with TRADOS

SDL Trados is a computer assisted translation software suite, originally developed by the German company Trados GmbH and currently available from SDL International, a provider of translation management software, content management and language services. It provides translation memory and terminology management.

History

Trados GmbH was founded as a language service provider (LSP) in 1984 by Jochen Hummel and Iko Knyphausen in Stuttgart, Germany. The company began developing translation software in the late 1980s, and released the first Windows versions of two of the suite's major components in the early 1990s – MultiTerm in 1992, and Translator's Workbench in 1994. In 1997, the company received a major boost when Microsoft decided to use Trados for its internal localization needs. By the end of the 1990s, it had become the clear market leader in desktop translation memory software.[citation needed]

Trados was acquired by SDL in 2005.

Configuration

As of 2011, the freelance and professional edition of SDL Trados contained four principal components:

SDL Trados Studio

An application for translating files, creating and managing translation memories, for automated project creation and automated translation.

MultiTerm

A terminology tool that interacts with SDL Trados Studio to populate translations with approved terminology.

SDL Trados 2007 Suite

The previous version of the software which is included as part of the new product giving access to previous components such as Translator's workbench, TagEditor and SDLX.

SDL Passolo Essential

A software localization tool that enables the translation of user interfaces.

Studio also contains a specialized tool for translating graphic interfaces and one for aligning source documents with existing translations. Additional functionality, such as further file format support, task automation and connectivity to automated translation is provided through apps accessible through a platform called SDL OpenExchange.

Handling of translation memories and glossaries
 

The translation memory (TM) format of Trados is SDLTM.

When creating a new (file-based) translation memory, SDL Trados Studio creates a database file in which all translation units are stored. The translation memory also stores structural and context information to link all the different segments and their position in a document. This allows the tool to select the most relevant translation memory segment.

Main translation memory database file: .sdltm

In previous version of Trados a neural network of files that enable fuzzy search capability was also created. A new translation memory consists of five new files:

Main translation memory database file: .tmw

Neural network files: .mdf, *.mtf, *.mwf, *.iix

When copying a translation memory, you must copy all five translation memory files. Otherwise, Translator's Workbench displays an error message when opening the copied translation memory.

Trados can also work with server-based translation memories.

Glossaries are handled by the MultiTerm application. Glossaries can be bilingual or multi-lingual.

Integration of Machine Translation and Post-Editing  

Trados Studio 2011 has integrated machine translation and postediting into its translation workflow. If the appropriate parameter setting is made, Trados will insert a machine translation of a translation unit (TU) if no match is found in the translation memory. The translator can then post-edit the machine translation for added clarity. SDL Trados currently supports the following MT systems: Language Weaver, SDL BeGlobal, Google Translate, Microsoft Translator. Trados also supports the integration of other MT system through its open API and plugin architecture on the SDL OpenExchange.

Criticism

SDL Trados has been criticized for various issues such as lack of backward compatibility.

A number of solutions have been created to be able to handle the different versions of Trados file formats, but the process is not foolproof. SDL did apparently respond to user complaints of licensing complexity and problems by simplifying the licensing scheme used in the SDL Trados Studio 2011 Freelance release.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SDL_Trados

For more information go to: http://www.trados.com/en/