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About translation memory lookups

About

A lookup is a search of the translation memory for existing translations which could be used to translate the current document segment. Translations found by the lookup are displayed in the Translation Results window where you can view them. You can then choose one to apply to the current segment.

Lookups are performed on source language segments only. The current source document segment is the 'lookup value' and the translation memory is searched for segments that match the lookup value.

Where there is a sufficiently good match between the content of the document segment and a translation memory segment, the translation memory segment and its translations are retrieved into the Translation Results window where you can view them and decide whether you want to apply one of the translations to the current segment.

Apply Lookup results

When you apply a lookup result to the current segment, the translation retrieved from the translation memory is pasted into the target segment.

  • If the translation requires no further editing, you can confirm the translation and move on.
  • If the translation is not exactly right, you can edit it in the usual way.
  • If you have Track Changes enabled, it is automatically turned off when the TM match is applied. You can change this setting in the Options dialog box under Editor > Automation.

When you apply a lookup result to the current segment, the degree of match between the source segment and the translation memory segment is displayed in the segment status column in the center of the Editor window.

Translation memory matches

The matching translation memory segments found by the lookup are graded according to the degree of match that exists between the source document segment and a translation memory segment. The matches are all displayed in the Translation Results window, with the best match displayed first.

Translation memory matches are expressed as percentages. The best match is a 100% match, less than 100% matches are known as fuzzy matches.

See About Translation Memory Matches to find out more about translation memory matches.

Automated lookups

By default, SDL Trados Studioautomatically performs a lookup whenever the cursor is moved to an untranslated segment. The lookup results are displayed in the Translation Results window and the best result is automatically applied to the current segment. If the match is a 100% match or a context match, the system automatically confirms the translation and moves the cursor to the next untranslated segment.

All automated translation memory actions are controlled from the Options dialog box under Editor > Automation. You can switch automated actions off and on again at any time.

Lookup settings

To view the list of translation memories that will be applied to the active document and specify which translation memories will be used in lookups, display the Project Settings dialog box. Translation memory settings are located under the Language Pairs > All Language Pairs > Translation Memory and Automated Translation branch of the navigation tree.

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