It’s of no surprise to anyone that the use of technology is on the rise. This is definitely true when it comes to the translation industry, as customers are requiring content faster, cheaper and of a higher quality.
None of this would be possible without applying technology, but it’s about using the tools wisely, and in conjunction with qualified translators and project managers.
Within the field of localisation, technology should primarily focus on improving the quality of translations, the productivity of teams and clients, and connectivity between systems.
Improving quality
The most important result of any translation job is the quality, so where technology can be used to improve this aspect, this can only be a good thing. Tools can be applied before a document is even translated to assess the quality of the source file, and then during the translation process itself, the linguist can work within their translation environment, and use complimentary tools to check the consistency and accuracy of their work.
Enhancing productivity
Translation management shouldn’t be cumbersome, so wherever technology can be sued to speed up the process – it should be.
By connecting clients’ systems with the translation provider’s, reports and updates can be seen within one central system, dispelling the need for multiple logins and a lot of time wasting.
Time is of the essence for linguists as well, so ensuring their translation environment is easily accessible, and connected to all the tools they need, will increase their throughput of work, meaning the translated documents are sent to the customer faster.
Ensuring connectivity
Making sure all systems talk to each other is a crucial element of translation management. There are often multiple tools involved in the translation process, so making sure they’re all connected will save both time and effort. Think about all of the systems involved; content management systems, machine translation engines, email platforms, accounting systems…wouldn’t the process be so much simpler if they were all inter-connected and could all talk to each other?
There is no doubt that using technology in a smart way can greatly improve the whole translation process, and that’s why we have developed a best-of-breed technology assisted translation environment under the SmartMATE suite. For more information, visit our technology section.
