Learning how to use CAT tools is essential for a graduate student like me who is studying translation and localization management. Based on what I’ve learned from the introduction to CAT class, I’d like to share some thoughts on the best practices of using CAT tools in a localization project. I’ll use the in-class final project as an example.

Our final project is the simulation of a small localization project handled by an LSP.  In this project, our team — the PandaCAT company is cooperating with the Foreign Affairs Journal to help translate its article into Chinese. To finish the project, our team needs to touch on all the required steps from drafting a project proposal to finally sending all the deliverables. In this process, the use of CAT tools (in this case, we chose Trados) plays an important role in file preparation, quote generation, translation, quality check, and the export of deliverables. Therefore, keeping the following in mind will help you complete a project more smoothly.

  1. Use the CAT tool to do file analysis and preparation

CAT tools are dispensable when you decide to get familiar with the files to be translated. When you create a new project and add a file to it, use the file settings to get a detailed perspective.

In our project, for example, our source file, which is a word document, actually contains many hyperlinks. By default, Trados will extract these hyperlinks and all the hyperlinks will show up when you do translation. To solve this problem, you can change the default setting in the project file type settings.

Here, pseudo translation should also be used to check if all the settings are correct and the file is ready for translation.  It can also give your client a preview of the final document.

After doing all the file preparation and analysis, click on the report and you will get a detailed analysis report of the file to be translated. Based on this report, you are able to generate a quote.

  1. Check the term base(TB) and translation memory(TM) before sending your quote.

Quote is usually generated based on the word count, language, engineering type, and time. But checking your original TB and TM in your CAT tool can help you include a potential discount on the quote, making the quote more professional and friendly.

  1. Include the CAT tool as a resource in the proposal and explain to the client.

While your client may know nothing about CAT tools, it’s necessary to include the CAT tools in your project proposal. It will make your proposal more convincing and logical. Don’t forget to explain what kind of tool it is so that the client can get a clear understanding of how the translation will be produced and what efforts are you going to make in terms of ensuring the translation efficiency and quality.

  1. Use a CAT tool to update the TB and TM after each project.

As it’s mentioned above, TB and TM are powerful. Updating your TB and TM will not only improve your translation efficiency for your future projects potentially, but also should be considered when you decide to wrap up your deliverables. Putting in the TB and TM into final deliverables may help the client reduce the cost of future projects.

CAT tools like Trados are helpful for project managers, translators, and the client. In addition to the functions mentioned above, they can also perform quality check, alignment, machine translation, file handling, etc. All these makes translation easier, faster and more accurate.

To download our project files (proposal, source file, deliverables, in-class presentation), please click here.