Understand terminology and reviewed translations
Overview
Discover how terminology (glossaries) and reviewed translations (translation memories) work in Smartcat.
Critical localization projects, especially the more technical, require extra attention to terminology and phrasing to ensure consistency. That's why we let our users create and use reviewed translations (translation memories) and terminology (glossaries).
Reviewed translations (translation memories, or TMs) are databases of previously translated sentences, usually in CAT tools, and terminology (glossaries) are databases of set terms.
You can use them as translation references for your projects to save time and money on editing and keep translation quality standards high.
Terminology (glossaries) are organized collections of approved translations for specific terms. These can be technical terms, industry-specific jargon, or just set words that are used frequently in your content.
While you can use reviewed translations to search for previous translations of a given term, terminology provides a much more structured and organized interface, making it easier to use and maintain.
How do reviewed translations (translation memories) work?
Each time you edit and confirm a segment in the Editor it's saved in Smartcat's internal database for further use. After translating a segment, you can save it as a reviewed translation (translation memory).
Reviewed translations automatically retrieve and suggest previously translated text when the technology detects identical sentences or similar fragments of text. If the segment matches a reviewed translation in the project, it is recorded as a 102%.
When you get a suggestion from a reviewed translation, you can either accept the proposed translation, edit it, or ignore the suggestion and translate the segment from scratch.
How do reviewed translations help you?
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Saving time. The more content that is already translated, the less work the translator and the editor have to do.
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Improving quality. Translations are more consistent in terms of terminology and style.
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Cutting costs. The less work involved in the translation, the less you'll have to pay translators and editors.
How does terminology (glossaries) work?
After you create or import terminology you can associate it with a specific project. Then, when a term is detected in the source text, the system will automatically offer the stored translations for the term. You can accept or decline the word or phrase suggestion.
How does terminology help you?
Diversity. You can have the same term translated differently for different clients as it's stored in different glossaries.
Easier collaboration. Your translators always have enough context even if they have to switch between multiple projects.
Speed and quality. Terminology helps to ensure consistency the same way reviewed translations do.
FAQs
Can I see which projects use specific reviewed translations (translation memories)?
No. Smartcat's translation memory settings are project-centric. You can view and manage which TMs are linked to a project from that project's Linguistic Assets settings, but there's no way to open a TM and see a list of all projects associated with it.
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