Did you know? The most dominant types of errors in translation experienced by translators lie in surface structure, such as semantic, lexical, morphological, and grammar errors. (Source)
Nothing spikes a translator’s blood pressure like seeing the dreaded “corrupted memory” error. We all know the feeling – you open up your translation project and find that you have corrupt memory files or missing segments.
Not everyone has the time and budget to afford a professional translation agency for their mistakes. After a few stomach-clenching experiences and too many coffee stains later, I came up with a good process to recover memory when TM disasters happen.
As an Internet analyst for the past three years, I have researched a lot of segments, and this is the most asked topic across the online spectrum. So, through this blog post, I’m going to tell you everything about the recovery journey of memory loss, providing numerous insights to the readers.
Let’s get started!
Key Takeaways
Understanding some common translation memory problems and their root causes
Exploring how to restore TM by following a step-by-step procedure
Discovering the best practices of this segment
Common Translation Memory Problems (and What Causes Them)
Nowadays, I have seen so many projects getting derailed by memory loss, causing time and capital damage to many individuals and companies working in this field. Corrupted memory files often happen because of software crashes and inefficient productivity of CAT tools.
Sometimes duplicate projects happen because of the involvement of multiple translators in a single project, and the older versions of memories get scrapped out in the endless record entries. In the next phase of this article, I’m going to tell you how you can solve these issues with a snap of your fingers by using easy steps.
Intriguing Insights
his infographic shows numerous translation memory statistics.
How to Restore Your TM: Step-by-Step
Well, to start this topic for the greater good of all TM specialists, I can assure that it would be beneficial in almost every data loss tragedy, as they are cultivated with the amalgamation of numerous tips and real-life incidents. Let’s take a look at them:
Import feature will often resurrect files that won’t open ordinarily.
I always keep three backups, one in the cloud (e.g., Crowdin), one on the computer, and one on a physical storage drive.
While reconstructing, I recommend recreating the TM in only a few 100 segments at a time, as imports can fail in batches of 1,000 or more. Just a month ago, I was able to resurrect 98% of a client’s automotive glossary with 20,000 segments.
In cases of severely corrupted TMs, I have used TMX emergency extraction tools with some success, but there is usually some data loss involving the metadata.
The general rule is to test the restored TMs on less critical projects to ensure they can re-enter the working life.
Interesting Facts The source text needs to be very clear for NMT to generate a quality translation. Neural machine translation has difficulties with ambiguities, highly technical language, proper nouns, and rare words. (Source)
Best Practices for TM File Health
It can be very frustrating when your translation memory is uncooperative. Through the years, I have discovered that a little regular maintenance along with a few simple habits can fix or even avoid the vast majority of the issues. The key is consistency, as regular maintenance is a small thing you can do well, whereas major repairs are very infrequent.
I usually make it a habit of cleaning up duplicates once a month, I do a search to see if any terms are outdated four times per year, and I always back up files before large projects. The best advice I could give anyone is to make sure to take notes on any changes you make. What you think is very obvious today may be very problematic months later when you are trying to remember why you updated certain translations.
Final Thoughts
To sum up this entire argument, I just want to say that translation memory plays a pivotal role in structuring the meanings of influential documents and content pieces. Without them, many of the crucial drafts will remain forbidden and unavailable for a selective group of people who are only keen on their native languages. So, go through each and every step that I mentioned carefully to avoid losses and maintain a good translation memory health. Keep Reading!
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the classifications of translation errors?
The most dominant types of errors in translation experienced by translators lie in surface structure, such as semantic, lexical, morphological, and grammar errors. However, a different kind of error in translation lies in the deep structure, which is connected with cultural differences between both the source and target languages.
What causes translation errors?
It can occur if the engine doesn’t understand the context of the text, such as when one word has two meanings or if there is a typo in the source text. These errors can happen if the engine is not trained well or a flawed glossary is used, which then results in the same mistakes appearing repeatedly.
How many methods are used in translation?
ome of the methods mentioned by Peter Newmark, in his ‘A Textbook of Translation’ and other scholars are: word-for-word translation, literal translation, faithful translation, communicative translation, semantic translation, adaptation, and free translation.
What is the most difficult type of translation?
The legal and judicial field often ranks as the most difficult to translate because legalese is a language within a language that varies from country to country.
Why do translators make mistakes?
The primary explanation why even competent translators make mistakes is that human cognitive processing capacity is limited. Because we can only attend to so much with our conscious processes, we automate as much as possible to leave our minds free for more difficult tasks.
