Contrastive Studies of Two Computer—aided Translation Software

楊一洋

Nowadays， many translation sofeware are available， such as snowman， yaxin， wordfast series. They all help the development of translation career. Having a good understanding and better use of these tools is essential.

Introduction of Snowman CAT and SDL Trados

Snowman CAT is a kind of software that allows the translator to control the quality and target text through combining computers super computing and memorizing ability with humans creativity. Snowman CAT is comparably easy to grasp. One can learn how to operate this software in a short period and the functions are also worth exploring.

SDL Trados， world-famous CAT software， overcomes the cultural and language barriers and usually increase the work speed by 50%. It can value the time and cost accurately and can also deal with documents with PDF pattern. Because it possesses complex parts， it is not easy for the beginners to learn， so this software is more suitable for translation companies and professional translators with high demands.

Contrastive Analysis

1. Translation memory analysis

Both of the two have rich functions， such as translation memory， alignment tools. In terms with translation memory， there is only a few differences. When establishing the translation memory， SDL Trados will produce a document with affix of “.sdltm”. When importing relevant document， the software will be compatible with the documents that follow the Translation Memory eXchange standard， also SDL XILFF， TRADOStag and SDL Edit patterns. Other kinds of documents must be transferred to TMX pattern before importing.

Snowman CAT can add the project dictionary （DIC pattern） and translation memory （STM pattern）. It can import many kinds of documents， such as Word， PPT， Excel， txt. The process is rather simple and efficient.

2. Alignment tools analysis

SDL Trados 2009 users must follow the 2007 model， making the original and target texts in accordance by sentence， only by which he can import translation memory and form translation units. All the clear and unclear alignment units will be shown.

Snowman CAT is excellent at its alignment function. Once start snowman CAT， a dialog box- project setting will appear. It can separate the English and Chinese text freely and efficiently. Sometimes it also need human operate themselves in case of several mistakes happen.

3. Terminology management tools analysis

SDL Trados Multi-term is a solo part， can only be used if combined with other parts of the software. It has a strong function with its multi-term convert and multi-term extract.

Snowman CAT needs translators add the term bank， importing the already finished ones to its system and put into actual use.

4. Project management tools analysis

After importing the original text into SDL Trados， one will analyzes the text， making clear the working load and repetition rate， carrying out word accounting and pre-translation with the help of translation memory and term bank， then examining and exporting.

Snowman CAT pays a great attention to the details， such as spelling， emails， punctuations， text length. CAT can be used to examine the quality of texts， but the review must be accomplished by human， solving the subjective problems.

5. Effective area of interface analysis

SDL Trados 2007 work with Word， belonging to semi-independent interface. When translators apply this software， much of the work is done in the word interface， reducing the effective working area in a certain degree. This kind of problem is settled by SDL Trados 2009 with a complete independent computer-aided translation interface.

Snowman CAT does not depend much on word， and its whole translation process is finished in its own interface， the function of the original and target texts can be handled by translators themselves.

Conclusion

SDL Trados can deal with PDF documents directly without any transformation. This software is widely used worldwide， attracting many people with its splendid functions. However， to common people， SDL Trados is too complicated， and it has a high demand for system， only suitable for professionals. It also has no semantic real-time tips， hard for translators whose vocabulary is not so strong.

Snowman CAT is a home product， features in humanization design and easy operation， which is easier for Chinese to handle. However， the free version only admits documents with txt pattern and the words cannot be adjusted.

References：

[1]Bowker，L.Computer-aided Translation Technology：A Practical Introduction[M].Ottawa：University of Ottawa Press，2002.

[2]Kenney，D.CAT tools in an academic environment：What are they good for？[J].Target，1999（1）.