Digitally Assisted Translation: Challenges and Solutions

Running Head: ENGLISH 1
Digitally assisted translation
Author's Name
Institutional Affiliation

ENGLISH 2
Introduction
Recent technological developments and global transits and movements have led to a
growing demand for communication and exchange of information. The increased dissemination
of knowledge has led to expanding demand for speedy translation around the world. The solution
lies in Digitally assisted translation or Computer-Assisted Translation, which is now an essential
practice in the world of translation as it speeds up the translation process. Despite the widespread
reliance on computer-assisted translations or digitally assisted translation tools, specific
challenges still exist for the translation market when it comes to matching the literary
competency of different cultural backgrounds.
Need for translation
The translation market has grown at a rapid pace to meet the political, social, and
economic needs of the world. The different aspects of modern life have necessitated the need for
not just a speedy translation but more efficient and accurate methods of translation. The socio-
economic necessity compels the need to find a cheaper and faster solution to access information
stored in databases, that may or may not be in the native language. As a result, there is a growing
need for translations, and new technologies have come up to meet the pressing needs. The
productivity and quality in translations hold great importance in the translation market. The
translation process is faster and of high quality because of the use of translation tools. The users
of Computer-Aided Translation tools carry a positive attitude towards these tools, as asserted by
Cetiner (2018).
The businesses need to incorporate strategies for multilingual and multicultural
communication and address the exponential rise in the digital content and data that is getting
created. There is a phenomenal amount of audio, video, photo, or text that is being created,

ENGLISH 3
managed, stored, and transformed on a computer (Mellinger, 2014). The digital data needs to be
managed and understood and given the multilingual nature of international commerce; the data is
stored in multiple languages. The data needs to be translated from one language into another and
rely on translation services to meet the ever-increasing volume of digital content. One of the
significant challenges for the language teachers today is to configure out the best digital
technologies that can create meaningful linguistic experiences for students. The solution lies in
making use of new and useful technologies in a content-rich learning environment (Taylor,
2013).
It is essential to use digitalization, information extraction and machine translation to
make information stores in the library shelves to reach a wider audience. The process of
extracting knowledge and express the predefined notions in a particular field of knowledge is
seen as text mining. The process relies on computer-based devices for a semantic investigation of
vast amounts of text automatically, or semi-automatically (Wiedemann, 2013). Several
multilingual translators and interpreters work in a Language Services Department. For example,
the Hispanic Center Language Services Department employs translators and interpreters who are
proficient in Spanish, English, and other indigenous languages (Gonzales, 2018). They play an
essential role in facilitating communication between community members. The multilingual
community members are trained to become professional translators and interpreters.
Digitally assisted translation
The translators, in the past couple of decades, have been incorporating new technologies
in their daily work. Any professional translator makes use of some tool that allows management
in terminology. However, most translators need more specialized tools for their daily tasks to
incorporate all the features (Polo, 2013). Computer-Assisted Translation tools carry certain

ENGLISH 4
features to meet the translation needs. For instance, the Translation Memory System component
creates bilingual text files memories to store segmented texts and allow their retrieval.
Terminology Management System helps in the creation of databases while the Alignment Tool
segments align two bilingual transcripts that are not managed with a CAT tool. External editors
are part of Computer-Assisted Translation tools to support an intermediate format. CAT tools
also help to maintain quality, work as a spellchecker, and promote the precise use of terminology
as stated by Polo (2013). These features and components can vary from system to system.
The digitally assisted translation is carried out by various software tools such as
Wordfast, Across, Star Transit, SDL Trados, and more (Serpila, Durmuşoğlu-Köseb, Erbekc, and
Öztürkd, 2016). SDL Trados is one of the most favored tools in the translation segment and
comprises of three components, the translation memories, project management, and terminology
management. SDL is a sophisticated translation tool that has been designed for professional
translation. When the software is applied in the translation workflow, it provides the translator
with a wide range of options to optimize the translation work. Some of those features include
concordance search, active terminology recognition, auto-propagation, AutoSuggest,
QuickPlace, and real-time preview (Polo, 2013). Once the task is over, the translator can conduct
a quality check for spellings, inconsistencies, punctuation, grammar, and terminology. Apart
from SDL Trados Studio, there are other popular tools available like Wordfast, MemoQ, Déjà
Vu, Transit, and Across that come with a great deal of variation as asserted by Polo (2013).
The language professionals and translators interact and rely on computer technology on a
daily basis and are getting increasingly reliant on computer technology. When doing a
translation, a translator works with two languages, the source language, and the translated
language. The texts provided and produced are the source text and the target text. Translators