Translation as a Profession (Benjamins Translation Library)

Chapter13. FromP&PtoWS&ATT 271Terminology management and phraseology extraction applications can beused to:– import the appropriate terms into the translation (i.e. by extracting termsfrom terminology bases),– extract useful phraseology from target language corpora.Terms can be imported in either automatic mode (without human intervention)or semi-automatic mode (with the translator selecting the most appropriate termby accepting or rejecting what the system suggests). So called terminology managementsystems often simply interface terminology management applications or‘automatic dictionaries’ with a word processor. The simplest one is a macro commandthat extracts the terminology from a table that the translator has createdwith all the terminology to be used in the translation and integrates it into thematerial for translation.Phraseology extraction applications can be used on a set of documentsin the target language relating to the subject matter dealt with in the sourcematerial and found via the Internet. The extraction software identifies all theoccurrencesofkeywordsinthephrasesthetranslatorislookingfor,andthendisplays them with their context. The translator can then use this phraseology‘bank’ to find appropriate phrases for the ongoing translation. For instance, thetranslator will ask to see all the collocations and phraseological combinations ofthe term bandwidth in the digital corpus, and will then be able to choose themost appropriate one in the given context. Acrobat Reader TM 6.0 and upwardsunquestionably qualifies as a decent phraseology extractor from PDF files.Dictionary creation software enables the translator to produce dictionaries forhis clients, whenever this is required. Dictionaries may be created using a wordprocessor, a spreadsheet application or a data base management system (eithercommercially available or purpose-built). These applications can be considered as‘translator assistance devices’ insofar as they help translators perform dictionarycreation more speedily and more efficiently.5.4 Translation memory management systemsA translation memory (also known as a ‘bi-text’) is a file consisting of a tableof matches between the segments of two texts, one of which is the translationof the other. In other words, a translation memory is a table matching discoursesegments in two different languages. The matches are generally, but not necessarily,based on whole sentences. Depending on the system, set phrases, paragraphs,sections or even whole chapters may also be segmented and matched. Segmentswhich are deemed to be ‘equivalent’ (in that they ‘match’) can then be substitutedfor each other whenever one of them appears in a document being translated