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Language translation software has been around for a while, but it was first used exclusively by translators. But as localization took over, the value of having translation software for a business became obvious and now this type of software is used by various people and industries.
With the value of the global language services industry expected to be between $54.8 billion and $57.7 billion in 2022, it’s easy to see why translation software is in high demand. But before you go and purchase one yourself, you need to know all of the important features to look for in one.
Language Pairs
When looking for translation software that will benefit your business, one of the most important features the software needs to have is language pairs. This is a term used to describe the combinations of source languages and target languages.
Before you spend your hard-earned money on language software, you need to consider all the different languages you will have to translate to and from. After all, there are 7,139 languages being spoken today and you need to be completely sure which of those languages you will need.
Think about the audiences you’re planning to do business with, what countries they come from, and what languages they speak. Let’s say for example you’re looking to work with Swiss buyers and you find a software that claims it has German translation.
But look a bit deeper, that might mean that it only translates from English to German but not for example from French to German or vice versa.
Keep in mind that language pairs should also include technical language. If you want to localize your server, you will need to have software that is able to handle programming languages. While focusing on learning JavaScript or another programming language may be useful, you should also consider looking for a tool that can handle JavaScript, HTML, and other languages.
Machine Translation
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Machine translation, or MT for short, is a helpful feature that can help you speed up the turnaround times for translation and allow your team to quickly deploy localized assets. With the right machine translation software, you can save a lot of time.
This feature is incredibly useful for those who need to translate simple and short text from one language to another. This can include the wording on buttons or program interfaces for example.
Live Editing
Just like responsive web design should be a part of your digital marketing strategy, live editing needs to be an important feature in your translation software. Things aren’t always static and it’s important to go with the flow.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could simply log in to your software and make changes that are applied as soon as you make them? There won’t be any need to run changes in all the different languages and then go and check for any spelling, grammatical, or translation errors.
Live editing that comes with an in-context editing feature allows you to make real-time translation changes that apply to your website, app, or anywhere else you need it. The changes appear instantly and are grammatically correct.
Not to worry, live editing won’t change the meaning of the text and it will always make sense. When translated from one language to another, it may add a couple of lines to every section, but this is done to stay true to the context.
File Translation
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When looking for good translation software, companies should make sure it comes with a file translation feature. A good tool won’t just be able to translate individual files but it will also translate batches of files in just a few minutes.
Ideally, it should be compatible with all the different file types your organization works with. This means that when you’re choosing a translation tool, you need to take all the different types of files you might use in the future, even if you’re not using them presently.
And when looking at the file translation feature, check if there are import and export functionalities for different file formats. Handling resource files manually is also incredibly time-consuming and good software will take care of that task for you.
If your translation software comes with that feature, you will be able to standardize the method that will be used for receiving, implementing, and reviewing different types of files.
Copy and Paste Feature
Most of the features we talked about so far are important for when you want to perform high-volume translations, but that won’t always be the case. Sometimes you will have to translate small chunks of text, whether from an email, another website, instant chat, or any other source.
In these cases, a copy and paste function will really come in handy. It will provide you with quick and simple translations for small chunks of text whenever you need them and you won’t have to deal with inferior translation software such as Google Translate that isn’t always accurate.
Final Thoughts
If you want to create the optimal translation workflow, you need to acquire translation software that comes with all the important features. Of course, every business will require some different specific features, but the ones we talked about here are the ones every corporation needs to achieve optimal translation.
