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Article translation with CAT tools

CAT stands for Computer-Assisted Translation. CAT tools are software that aim to aid a human translator in the translation process. All formatting in the source text is maintained in the translated text, which makes CAT tools excellent options to translate texts without worrying about losing the formatting.

With CAT tools, the content to be translated (by a human) is divided into segments which, after they are translated, are stored in a translation memory. When translating a segment that is similar to another segment already stored in the translation memory, the translation of the stored segment will be displayed as a suggestion, allowing it to be adjusted according to the new segment and stored again in the translation memory. Thus, computer-aided translation is not the same as automatic translation (Google Translate, Bing Translator etc.).

CAT tools support many file types, but the SE Knowledge Base articles are exported to HTML. Thus, make sure your tool supports HTML files. Some CAT tools that support files in the .html format: OmegaT, SDL Trados Studio, memoQ, among others (Source).

Step 1: Export article

To export an article, first, enable its editing. Access the content of the article in the source language and click on the button. At this point, an HTML file with the content of the article will be downloaded.

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If your CAT tool allows translating several files in the same project, download all articles to be translated.

Step 2: Translate article

After downloading the articles, import the files to the CAT tool and translate them.

Example of article being translated in OmegaT

Example of article being translated in Wordfast Anywhere

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Step 3: Import translated article

After translating the files in the CAT tool, import them to the articles in the section that corresponds to the language used in the translation. To do that, open the article data screen and access the language in the Navigation panel. Click on the button and select the translated file.

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Repeat this procedure for all languages to which the articles are translated.

At this point, the content of the translated article will be displayed; however, if there are images and/or links, check if they need to be translated, as the translation process with CAT tools only works with written text, maintaining its formatting. In the case of images with text, for example, replace them with images translated to the article language:

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Then, release the version or execute the revision of the article. When the article is being viewed in a portal, it will be displayed according to the language of the logged user or according to the configurations of the base language.