Key concepts
This section contains some key concepts that you may want to understand before starting work with Trados Studio.
- Abbreviation list
When segmenting text, Trados Studio follows certain rules, including the rule to break segments after a full stop (period). To ensure that abbreviations do not incorrectly trigger a segment break after full stop, Trados Studio uses a default list of abbreviations for each source language. - Active document
You can have more than one document open in the Editor, but only one can be displayed at any time. The currently displayed document is known as the active document. - Active project
You can have several projects listed in the Projects view at the same time. However, only one of these can be open in Trados Studio at any time and this project is known as the active project. - Active row
There are multiple segments displayed at the same time in the Editor window, in the Editor view. However, only one of these can be selected at any time and this row is known as the active row. - Automated translation
Automated translation is translation performed by computer software. The application that provides the automated translation is installed on a server and is accessed in a similar way to a server-based translation memory (TM). - Encoding
Characters are stored by computer programs as numbers. Encoding tells the computer how to interpret a number and display the character on the user's screen. - Language pair settings
Language pairs indicate the source and target languages of your translation. You can specify language pair settings in various locations, for the current project you work on or for all future projects. - Language resources
Language resources control the segmentation of your source document text, before translation memory (TM) resources are applied to the segments. Language resources are stored in the form of lists and rules. There is a set of default language resources for every language supported by Trados Studio. You can customize the lists of language resources by adding, deleting or importing language resource items. - Language resource templates
A language resource template holds a modified set of language resources. You select the template when you create new translation memories (TMs) and the settings stored in the template are added to the new TM. - MHT files
MHT files are a web page archive format used to group an HTML file and its components that are included along with it into one single file. These components are usually a collection of files such as HTML files, images files and Flash animations. - Ordinal follower list
Trados Studio uses a default source language ordinal follower list when segmenting text. An ordinal follower, or ordinal noun, is a word which is typically found following a number. - About Perfect Match
A Perfect Match is a form of context match that compares updated source files to a corresponding set of existing bilingual files rather than to a translation memory (TM). Segment matches, known as Perfect Matches, are checked for context, that is, the surrounding entries are checked to ensure that they are the same. - Pre-translation
When you create a project, it pre-translates project files by applying translations from translation memories, terminology databases (termbases) and previously translated files. Pre-translation refers to the automatic translation of segments in the source file(s). - Project templates
Project templates reduce the amount of time and effort involved in creating new projects by reusing settings and selections used to create previous projects. - Pseudo-translation
Pseudo-translation is a procedure which simulates how a translated file will look after translation and how much extra DTP or other work will be required before the actual translation is done. Pseudo-translation facilitates better project planning, by enabling Project Managers to set appropriate estimates and expectations. - QuickPlace
QuickPlace is a feature which can be used to speed up how placeables from a source segment are inserted into a target segment in the Editor window in the Editor view. Placeables can include text formatting, tags, numbers, variables and dates. - Recognition settings
Recognition settings in a translation memory (TM) specify whether to identify elements that do not change during translation. If enabled, Trados Studio recognizes designated elements and treats them as placeables during translation. These items include variables, dates, times, numbers, measurements and acronyms. - Repetitions
A repetition is defined as any fuzzy or no match that appears more than once. - Placeables
A placeable is a short piece of text, enclosed in a segment, that a translation memory (TM) treats as a single word because it is a defined format. For example, if dates are enabled as a placeable in a TM, the TM recognizesMonday 1 January, 1900as one word. - Segmentation
Studio processes files for translation by breaking text into segments. A segment can be a paragraph or a sentence. Punctuation marks are used to identify where each segment ends. This is called segmentation and affects how the text is displayed in the Editor upon opening a document. - Segmentation and tokenization
Understanding how Trados Studio segments and tokenizes a source file is the key to using TMs effectively. When you open a file, the software uses the file type settings to do initial segmentation. It then uses the TM segmentation rules (taking into account some file type settings) to do further segmentation. - Segmentation rules
Segmentation rules define how Trados Studio divides paragraphs of source text into segments. Often a segment is identical to a sentence, in which case the rules specify the text patterns that constitute a sentence. - SDLXLIFF File Format
SDLXLIFF is an XML-based file format specially developed for use in Trados Studio. It is compliant with version 1.2 of the*.xliffstandard.*.sdlxliffstands for SDL XML-based Localization Interchange File Format. - Tags
- Tasks
A task is a process that is performed on an individual file or on a group of files (for example, an entire project). - Terminology
A termbase is a database containing terms, term translations, and term-related information, for example, a definition of the term. The purpose of a termbase is to reduce the amount of time and effort involved in translating new files by enabling you to lookup term translations. - Translation memories
- Translatable
By default all project files are given a status of Translatable. This means that they can be translated in Trados Studio. If a file requires translation but cannot be translated in Trados Studio, they should be given a usage status of Localizable. - Variables list
You can include a customized list of variables in the translation memory (TM) setup of Trados Studio. Each item on the list is treated as a non-translatable element (placeable). Adding it to the variable list identifies this as untranslatable content. - Whitespace characters
You can display whitespace characters in the Editor window in the Editor view and the TM side-by-side editor window in the Translation Memories view.