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Originally Published PMPN April 2001

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Translation memory is revolutionizing how companies control the quality of their multilingual labeling, while cutting costs.

Robert Sprung

Nowadays, high-tech solutions are overwhelming almost every field, and the language business is no exception. One of the key high-tech solutions with broad applications in pharmaceutical and medical packaging is translation memory (TM). Labeling and documentation professionals who deal even peripherally with foreign languages run significant risks of higher priced and lower quality translations if they are unaware of this critical technology.

The concept behind TM is not all that new. It is based on simplifying the process of translation by, for example, making certain phrases (like "single use only") that have already been translated readily available. Just as labeling and documentation professionals rely on style guides and glossaries to boost consistency, translators for years have used similar tools to keep track of past translations.

However, TM can be called a new technology for a few reasons. First, the relatively recent jump in processor speeds and drop in memory and storage costs allow vast quantities of data to be quickly and easily stored and accessed. Microsoft's old translation glossaries contained thousands of terms in Excel files that would bring most computers to a crawl. Second, TM technology itself has become much more user-friendly and refined. Finally, the Internet has introduced a whole new world of on-line collaboration that allows customers, translators, and overseas reviewers to access terminology databases.

The stakes are high. If a company has 200,000 terms that appear in its labeling worldwide (e.g., 2000 product codes, each with 10 pieces of text, each of 10 words), and these must be translated into 12 languages at an average cost of, say, $0.25 per word, the price-tag for the project could easily exceed a half-million dollars. The claim is, however, that TM technology can boost translation quality, while cutting cost through a reuse factor of perhaps 30%.

Before delving deeper into TM technology, it is important to be able to distinguish TM from machine translation (MT). Here are some basic TM terms that will make you a more critical buyer:

  • TM technology refers to software that performs the mechanical task of looking up past translations and looking for exact or approximate matches to improve consistency and reduce rework.
  • Reuse factor is a number, based on an analysis of source texts, that reveals how much of a company's past translations can be recycled. A reuse factor of 30% means that about a third of new texts match previous versions.
  • Fuzzy matching. Most TM systems can detect a matching threshold. If at least 60% of a phrase matches exactly, that constitutes a match.
  • Alignment refers to the TM vendor's tools for comparing a company's new English text to its old English text, and then ensuring that the right text blocks from old translations are inserted properly in the new translation.

In contrast, machine translation is the process of using a computer to perform an actual translation to replace or supplement a human translator. Unlike TM, it may require massive time and money investments to make it work.

Here are some telltale signs that you can significantly benefit from TM:

  • You produce a large volume of text for translation.
  • Your translations are now kept in disparate sources (e.g., multiple databases, spreadsheets, or Word tables), resulting in inconsistencies as these varied sources drift apart from each other.
  • You are experiencing translation quality problems. Regulatory Affairs departments are increasingly savvy about translation-consistency issues as a potential source of product recall risk.

The beauty of TM lies in knowing when not to use it. Although an average-size packaging company can enjoy dramatic benefits from TM, it requires a significant up-front investment in software, database-building, and training. A company with a large product line could easily spend two years shaping its TM database. And, given the personnel and management shifts endemic in the modern corporation, all that investment can evaporate with a new regime that doesn't understand or appreciate TM.

Robert Sprung is the chairman of Harvard Translations (Boston, MA). His latest book, Translating Into Success, includes case studies in multilingual labeling and is available on amazon.com. To contact him, send an e-mail to robert_sprung@htrans.com or visit http://www.htrans.com.

Copyright ©2001 Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News