subject: Maximizing The Return On Your Investments In Translation Memory [print this page] Standards are the foundation upon which technology innovation thrives. This is because they allow more advanced technology to be developed by assembling standard components. The new, more advanced technology then requires new standards. This is how an information industry builds its conceptual edifice, layer by layer. It is a sign of maturity in any industry when standards start to appear, and our industry is no different.
High-tech product generation cycles have shortened dramatically with leading hardware manufacturers such as Dell producing hundreds of variations of their machines every few months, all with localized documentation and sales support required as part of a total solution for customers. The same applies to software, where the production cycles are now counted in months. Not to mention web sites, where new content can appear every few hours or days, all in a number of languages that must be updated simultaneously.
Unstructured and growing by leaps and bounds in the form of streaming content of bits and pieces, audio, video, images, etc. The software industry is moving to a sustained release model where there is just a constant stream of content. The good news is that whatever format its in right now, its all just information, waiting to move onto the next medium, the next culture, and the next language.
Translation memories have become critical to the business case for localization.
The only way to make this possible is through the adoption of standards to ensure that translation memories (TMs) can be shared across all of these environments, without being locked into any one companys proprietary format. There is one standard that creates this open environment, and it is starting to make a real difference for customers, language service providers and technology vendors alike: Translation Memory eXchange (TMX), the vendor-neutral open standard for storing and exchanging translation memories created by computer-assisted translation (CAT) systems and other tools.
TMX is an XML format that allows for the exchange of translation memory data, with little or no loss of critical data, between tools and between language service providers, across platforms and across products. It is clearly documented and incorporates a verifiable, third-party testing scheme.
In todays world, words represent a significant Intellectual Property IP investment for global businesses.
TMX is the solution to the commercial problem of protecting this investment. TMs cost money to generate and to maintain and should be the property of the organization that owns the source and target content. Through the use of TMs, words come to be treated as a capital investment since a certain value is placed on each word as it is first created, then translated, then stored and then reused again and again. It follows that a certain value must be extracted from each word over a period of time to recoup the investment. Therefore, it is only logical that the words stored in TMs should be available and reusable in whatever format and through whatever tool the customer may choose.
TMX has become the key that unlocks the power of this investment in words and protects the investment over time. Without TMX, the words remain locked away and trapped, reliant on proprietary technology. Through TMX, users can select from many different tools and can change tools whenever they want, allowing them to always be able to use the best tool for the current job.
The more languages we support, the more important it is that we leverage the latest technology to optimize the localization process, SDLX incorporates many powerful features for localizing software, including tag protection in help files and the ability to hide non-translatable code. Its easy-to-use interface improves productivity and its TMX certified translation memory protects our investment in translation assets.
Aunes Oversettelser AS has been in the business for 26 years, and we are specialized in technical translations. We are specializing in the Nordic languages, and can offer services into Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Icelandic. The premier translation agency for Norway and the Nordic region! Technical translation services for businesses in the Nordic countries and translation agencies world-wide.
