Earlier translator’s work was incredibly hard, because they must do everything fast and right. There is a huge amount of uneasy tasks for which translators spent lots of time and energy. And some tasks are usually repeated so it is a quite monotonous job. Over time everything is improved by new technologies. There is a machine translation. But it has a great number of disadvantages. Firstly, it replaces translators, so they lose their jobs. Secondly, machine translation does not have quality results, because it is not able to translate contexts, idioms and etc. (Kenny, 1999, p. 67-68). There is a need to use the interaction of robots and a translator to translate everything qualitatively and quickly. But how we can do this? Computer-assisted translation tools (CAT tools) are the best combination and choice for it.

In this research I am going to analyze how CAT tools work and determine their importance for translators.

There are several main components of CAT tools. The Translation memory is the first one. By using it you can just source the document and this component will help you with the rest of the work. And every time when a similar sentence occurs, the Translation memory can already suggest ready translation version of previously used phrases.

Termbases is the second component. The great advantage of this item is that it can store different words, all phrases, idioms and it can help translators to work with context. It is like the Translation memory but it has advanced options that allow translators to work easily and quickly with specific vocabulary. There are also dictionaries. As we can see all these components are closely related to each other. But by using dictionaries we can not only restore many words, but also check their spelling and we can get the necessary meaning of various synonyms through the Autosuggest.

The next element of CAT tools is desktop publishing (DTP). It gives the opportunity to create assignment, evaluate files and extract the required text easily (Ghislandi, 2017, 3:18). By using it translators can easily analyze quality of their work and finish tasks quickly.

CAT tools give different ways for translation. Translators can work not only alone but also in groups. So, translators divide the tasks of a joint project among themselves (Muhammad, 2018). Therefore, it helps them to work faster and to have higher quality result. Moreover, this common activity brings people from the same field together and creates a special comfortable atmosphere there. This is another advantage of using CAT tools.

But in addition to the pros, CAT tools also have their cons. And one of the disadvantages is that most quality programs are paid. (Rolland, 2016, 18:10). However, there are also many free ones that beginners use often to familiarze themselves with the basics. But most professional translators use paid CAT tools beacause they have a wider range of functions than free ones. The high cost later pays off with an excellent result. This is a kind of investment in career development.

Consequently, now translator’s job is not so monotonous and energy­consuming with CAT tools and their useful core components. All these things enhance quality and accuracy of the translation, increase passion of translators for their work and significantly reduce their stress.

CAT tools are great decision for those who dream about the combination of robot and human work. It is a great start and it gives imputes and motivation for further work on inventing robots only to help people rather than completely replace them.

References:

1. Ghislandi, M. (2017). What is a CAT tool? - Translation 101 [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GhX1XA vsA&t=315s&ab channel=Trados
2. Kenny, D. (1999). CAT Tools in an Academic Environment: What Are They Good For? Target. 11(1), 65-82. Retrieved from (PDF) CAT Tools in an Academic Environment: What Are They Good For? (researchgate.net)
3. Muhammad, S. (2018, August 26). An Introduction to CAT Tools - Part 1. ProZ.com Translation Articles. Retrieved from https://www.proz.com/translation- articles/articles/4541/
4. Rolland, P. (2016). Using CAT Tools for Translation (Part 1) [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlRNOMAS0 M&t=456s&ab channel=SueZen g