Understand and use linguistic assets
Get an introduction to Smartcat linguistic assets, including translation memories and glossaries.
Smartcat linguistic assets are AI-driven capabilities in the Smartcat translation platform that help you to achieve better quality and consistency. They include translation memories and glossaries, and you can access them right on your private Smartcat workspace.
Access Linguistic assets via the left navigation sidebar under Intelligence Fabric
Once you click on Intelligence Fabric you see a dropdown with a number of options. Click Reviewed translations to view and configure your translation memories. Click Terminology to view and configure your glossaries. You can switch between them by clicking the name of the asset in the top left corner and selecting a different screen from the background.
Understanding glossaries
Glossaries, located on the Terminology page, 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 TMs to search for previous translations of a given term, glossaries provide a much more structured and organized interface, making them easier to use and maintain.
How do glossaries work?
After you create or import a glossary you can associate it with a specific project.
If you enable a glossary on a project, Smartcat automatically suggests the glossary-saved translation term on Smartcat automatic AI translations.
You can create and keep separate glossaries for different subjects and clients, and add terms with translations into other languages.
Each time you create a project, you can specify a client or department for it. Smartcat automatically enables the relevant glossary from the list that you have already created in Smartcat for this client or department.
How to create a glossary in Smartcat
Create a glossary with as many languages as you like in Smartcat. There is no limit.
Step 1
Go to Terminology from the left navigation sidebar, as described above.
Step 2
Click Create Glossary.
Step 3
In the next window, input a unique name and your languages to be used, as well as client and project tags.
Click Advanced if you already have a glossary structure in mind to use. This allows you to change glossary structure and properties.
Step 4
Click Save.
Alternatively, you can import a glossary from outside Smartcat.
Understanding translation memories
Translation memories, or TMs, are a crucial linguistic asset. They are databases of previously translated sentences. You can use them as translation references for your projects and save time and money on editing and keep translation quality standards high.
They improve quality and consistency, reduce project turnaround times, and decrease the number of words to translate by pre-populating new translations with previously translated content that matches current content for translation.
How to create a TM
Creating a new TM in Smartcat is simple.
Once you click Translation Memories from the drop-down menu described above, click Create TM.
Clicking Create TM will generate the following dialogue box
Note: the numbers have been superimposed to provide instructions below
Field 1: TMX, SDLTM OR XLSX file
Import a TM file in one of the available formats.
Field 2: Name
Choose a unique name.
Fields 3 and 4: Source and target languages
Select your source language (3) and all your target languages (4).
You can only have one source language but as many target languages as you require.
Field 5: Client
Assign a label for the client.
Field 6: Project tags
Assign a tag for the project.
Field 7: Subject
This field enables you to define a subject for your TM. However, this option is generally redundant if you need a TM for a specific client
Field 8: Comments
You can also add comments or a description for each translation memory. Click Save when you are done.
Other linguistic assets
TMs and glossaries are your primary supporting linguistic assets. In the drop-down menu on the linguistic assets page, you will also see TM Editor as an option.
TM Editor
TM Editor is Smartcat's in-house computer-assisted translation (CAT) tool. This is your Smartcat home for editing your translations or inviting a professional linguist to your project to perform a translation review and editing round.
AI matching
AI matching is Smartcat's automated talent-sourcing feature that identifies the best-match linguist from Smartcat Marketplace to work on your translation project.
AI matching analyzes Smartcat Marketplace of over 500,000 linguists in seconds. It assesses a linguist's suitability based on their language pairs, area(s) of expertise, years of experience, availability, monetary rates, and client reviews. It also scans the text of previous translations that they have completed on Smartcat to check for suitability with the content of your translation project.