Tr·AID's Description

After years of research and experimentation, ILSP / R.C. "Athena" launches Tr·AID, an integrated Translation Memory, fully embedded in the Word for Windows 95/98 environment. A Translation Memory is an application that aims at enhancing the translator's work by making use of previous translation projects. Tr·AID compares new sentences to previously translated material and locates existing sentences similar or even identical to the new ones, in order to propose them as candidate translations of the originals. This is the first, unrivalled translation memory product that has been developed by a Greek organisation. Its task is to give the Greek and foreign markets access to innovative language technologies.

Needless to say, the benefits of computerising the translation task are many: ease and convenience, improvement in productivity rates, better quality output and many more. Some years ago, text processors and editors were innovative; today translation work without them is unthinkable. The innovations of today, computer aided translation tools and especially translation memories, are already becoming a prerequisite. Today it is very easy to take advantage of a product like Tr·AID for many reasons:

• Machine readable versions of documents become more and more available
• Text flow is being increasingly computerised (especially in translation work)
• The processing power of computers offers astonishing new functionalities
• New technologies can handle error tolerant retrieval
• The boring and repetitive work of translation is increasing
• The skills of users of computerised tools are steadily growing
• Bilingual corpora collection is becoming more and more a serious business

The benefits that a Translation Memory tool can offer to end users are invaluable; in brief, they are hinged around five important key factors:

• quantity
• quality
• consistency
• uniformity
• reusability

How Tr·AID works

In simple terms, we can divide the whole operation of Tr·AID into the following steps:

• The user sets the processing options of the translation session
• The user selects a specific text segment to be translated
• The system retrieves a pair of sentences (consisting of an original text segment, identical or similar to the selected one, and its translation) from the translation memory database
• The retrieved pair of sentences is then proposed to the user for acceptance or editing
• The accepted translation is stored in the translation memory database, together with its corresponding source text

During the retrieval phase, the system can retrieve two types of text:

• in case the selected text segment has already been translated in the past and exists in the database, the system retrieves this identical text segment; this is a full match
• in case the selected source text has not been translated in the past as such, then the system retrieves a fuzzy match, that is, a text segment only similar to the one selected.

Finding a fuzzy match with Tr·AID 

Tr·AID's working environment

Tr·AID is fully embedded in Word for Windows 95. Since statistical analysis has shown that this is the most frequently used platform for text processing, the system becomes very easy to learn and use from the very beginning.

By using the functionalities of the editor, Tr·AID offers a very convenient environment for translating, editing, post-editing and proof-reading any translation work.

Original document side by side with the proposed translation

Given the ease-of-use of the application, the advantages of Tr·AID in the area of translation are impressive:

• Large quantities of text can be translated faster and easier
• The quality of the translations is enhanced
• Subsequent similar translation projects can take advantage of earlier work
• Repetitive material is no more a problem, since it can be treated automatically
• Higher consistency and uniformity in translations is enforced (a prerequisite for technical writings)
• Terminology management is facilitated

All steps of the translation procedure can be presented on screen at the same time

Who can use Tr·AID

Almost anyone involved in translation work. Nowadays, with the dramatic increase of international contacts, more and more professionals besides translation experts are personally involved in various kinds of translation work and have to deal with material in a foreign language, be it orally or on paper.

Tr·AID can become a worry-free solution for various types of users:

• Multilingual Organisations
• Multinational and international enterprises
• Public services
• The military
• Media and multimedia sectors
• Localisation Industries
• National, European and international institutions
• Insurance Companies
• Banks
• Translation Agencies and bureaux
• Administrative bodies and local authorities
• Free-lance translators and terminologists

Tr·AID has been made for all those who require the best solution to a translation problem.

Contact person: Stelios  Piperidis