Translation Memory Basics

AnyMem

Translation Memory

What users say

"...It is quite easy to handle if you've had experience with any other CAT tools. My personal impression is that the software is quick and doesn't have problems with exotic language pairs such as Bulgarian-Greek."

Mariya Nenova, freelance translator, Bulgaria

Translation Memory Basics

Translation memory (TM) is a database where translations of separate text segments are accumulated. If translator encounters a similar segment to the one which had been translated earlier, translation memory will suggest using this completed translation. Such method is called “computer-assisted translation” (CAT).

Generally, TM software performs the following functions:

breaks the text into segments or "translation units" (as a rule, it can be a sentence, more rarely it is a part of compound sentence);
determines if some segments match each other, and what type of match it is;
searches memory for translators of matching segments and suggests them to translator.

The advantage of using TM is evident when it is used to translate technical texts which often contain a lot of identical or almost identical sentences.