Translation Memory Appendix I Wordfast Classic

The natural complement of a segmenter is translation memory. Every time a segment is translated, it is stored in the TM. Thus, a TM is a database of Translation Units (TU). A TU records source & target segments, date of creation, languages used, and the ID of the TU's creator. It also has a usage counter that records how many times a TU was re-used. The more a TU is re-used, the more it is valuable.

Translation memory, mostly on technical documents, can save a lot of time, because WFC will recognise segments that were already translated and propose them - you only have to check, validate and move on.

When Wordfast has delimited a segment, it will scan the TM, searching for an exact or approximate match to the source segment. If a match is found, the TU's target segment (the recorded translation) is proposed. Wordfast will display a number, ranging from 0 to 100, that rates the degree of similarity between the document's source segment and the TU's source segment. A 100% match is considered exact. A match under 100% but equal to or above the (user-definable) fuzzy threshold is considered fuzzy; beneath that value, it is considered a no-match and will not be proposed.

If a translation is proposed, pressing Ctrl+Alt+M (Memory) will display the TU that was found during the TM's scan. In the case of a fuzzy match, differences between the document's source segment and the TU's source segment are highlighted. The TM management section contains valuable supplementary information.

If Wordfast has found many matches, pressing Alt+Right/Left will display matches with lower/greater match value.

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