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Cloud TMs

Translation memories (TMs) store translated text which translators can reuse anytime. The ability to reuse previous translations is useful if you translate documents a number of times, in different versions, or if you use similar text in multiple documents. TM content can be searched, updated, classified.

TMs and language pairs

A language pair consists of a source language and a target language. Each language pair has a particular direction: English to German is not the same as German to English. A translation memory (TM) can have an indefinite number of language pairs. In Trados Team, TMs can contain multiple language pairs.

How it works

The text is divided in segments before applying TMs. For each segment, the TM stores the source text and the target (translated) text. The association of a source segment with a target (translated) segment is called a translation unit (TU).

Translators can use a TM to find translations for their text:
  • If a segment that must be translated is the same as the source text in a TU, the TM provides an exact match translation.
  • If a segment that must be translated is similar, but not identical, with the source text, the TM provides a translation based on a fuzzy match.

Using TMs with a translation editor

If the source segment has an exact match in the TM, the translation editor can use the translation from the TM for the target segment. As you work through your translation, you can accept or override the matches that the editor offers for your translation.

You can use more than one TM at the same time. When you use the translation editor to translate text, the editor takes each source segment in turn and searches all the specified TMs for matches for the source text.

You can edit TUs (translation units) while translating your content in Trados Studio or Trados Online Editor. You can also edit TUs outside any translation activities in the TM Maintenance window.

How do TMs get updated with new TUs?

TMs get updated with new content (new TUs) as per the following process:
  1. When you configure your translation engine, you can specify which TMs get updated by selecting the UPDATE check box.
  2. When you configure the project settings, you can specify which segments (TUs) get updated in your TM by selecting Batch Tasks > Update Translation Memory and configuring the available options.
  3. While content is translated, the TMs (configured at step 1 above) are updated with the TUs (configured at step 2 above) automatically.