![]() ![]() ![]() And yet I still find great value in working with good TMs. I've got news for you: much of the repetitive stuff was outsourced to King Louie & Co. ![]() The widespread notion that translation memory systems are only useful if one works on repetitive texts.Fortunately, advanced features in modern translation memories, like memoQ's "TM-driven segmentation" encourage much better practice among smart service providers today. This in fact describes the real state of many "promiscuous" agency TMs that I have seen over the years. In a source language like German, where word order is often very different than in a good English translation, this can quickly pollute a TM to the point of being worst than worthless. This included cases where someone inserts A statement by an otherwise respected colleague some years ago that translators must not sacrifice potential "leverage" by combining segments to make sense in the translation.The list I could compile of wrong-headed ideas about TMs is a long one, and I would probably only capture ten percent of the foolishness on a lucky day. Various people pointed out that modern translation environment tools such as SDL Trados Studio, OmegaT and memoQ make use of context in their translation memories to avoid the problems of more primitive systems which, in the hands of translating monkeys, too often result in matches being used in very inappropriate ways. In the case of the twitstream discussion, the reviewer's stupid notion that each segment in a translation must stand on its own without context provoked an interesting flurry of responses, ranging from the astute observation from that "if you wanted to translate segments as 'standalone', then you would work in a random segment file, not a text that flows." to some rather disturbing remarks from a few to the effect of "this is why I don't like to use such tools". A recent comment by Iwan Davies on Twitter revealing a reviewer's rather odd notions of the requirements imposed on translation by the use of a translation memory tool led me to reflect with a friend on some of the very strange and wrong ideas that persist in some minds with regard to such technology. ![]()
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