Wordfast training manual(course)

（Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services）

Why use a CAT tool?
CAT (Computer-Assisted Translation) must be distinguished from Machine Translation.TM-based CAT rests on two essential methods: segmentation and translation memory. These two methods, each in its way, boost productivity.

Segmentation
With segmentation, the CAT tool displays source segments one after the other; a segment being an elementary unit of the source document, usually a sentence. Even in the absence of any translation memory, segmentation:
1. provides a more comfortable working environment;
2. avoids skipping text, which is often the case when translating from paper;
3. avoids having to re-create layout and style, except on rare occasions;
4. keeps source and target text in the same document, making revision a lot easier.

Translation Memory
A Translation Memory (TM) is a database of translated segments – mostly, a database of pairs of sentences. Translation Memory:
1. avoids having to re-translate anything that has been already translated;
2. allows work groups to share translation that were previously done;
3. allows translators to build up a precious database of translations.

Supplementary features
CAT can also offer supplementary features: terminology management, to make translation more consistent through large projects, quality control, quick access to reference, like dictionaries, document scanning etc.

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