Garcia, I. (2005). “Long term memories: Trados and TM turn 20.” The Journal of Specialised Translation, (4), 18-31. [Summary]
Dubbed “Long-term memories: Trados and TM turn 20” with Ignacio Garcia as the author, the article examines the contribution of Trados in the development of Translation Memory (TM) with the help of information gathered from the Trados websites, as well as informed opinions from people interested in the topic. The article furthers attests that the push for the development of Translation Memory eXchange (TMX) will serve to tilt the balance; an attestation that is then followed by the author expressing doubt in the ability of freelance translators who are the mains users of Trados products to manage the evolution of the new translation paradigm.
For a start, the author traces the development of TM from the establishment of Trados, then as a service provider and later becoming a product provider in the 90s, with regards to the establishment of stand-alone computers, TSS (Translation Support System), INK TextTools and most importantly human-assisted machine translation (HAMT) and machine-assisted human translation (HAMT), among others. Most importantly, the author draws the readers’ attention to the launching of various translation editions (editions 3, 5, 5.5, 6, and 6.5) beginning from 1999 when Trados ultimately became a solutions provider. However, the author is keen to mention that, of the plethora of software developers, only four were still surviving by 2004 because of having products that catered for the needs of globalization in light of software development.
With reference to the Trados website, the author highlights that the number of Trados sold licenses doubled between December 2000 (40,000) and September 2004 (80,000), with investments flowing from a superfluous of ostentatiously lofty investors, among them Merrril Lynch and Deutsche Bank. The website also foregrounds that magnanimous layered service providers have also moved closer to Trados despite Trados entering their service/solution territory. Additionally, the website asserts that, apart from the number of Trados employees growing from 40 in September 1997 to 186 in 2003 and above 3500 corporations relying on Trados to cater for their translation needs, the integration with localization and content management software has served to give Trados and edge over its competitors.
Notably, Trados products have incessantly been high-priced according to critics who think that Trados products are not any better than most other competing products. Again, several other reviewers remonstrate that the overwhelming revenue collected by Tragos is that of a “cottage industry” considering the nature of the market and set standards. On the same note, the author doubts whether Trados will still be holding its self-proclaimed helm position in ten years to come (since 2005) weighing the ever-changing environment distinctly with regards to the development of the semantic web might mightily change the playing ground even as Trados products remaining compatible with other world leading translation products. Nonetheless, according to the author the Trados products, particularly TMX, still have a place, as they will remain utilitarian in training institutions, and corporations with translation needs.
Reference
Garcia, I. (2005). “Long term memories: Trados and TM turn 20.” The Journal of Specialised Translation, (4), 18-31. Retrieved from http://www.jostrans.org/issue04/art_garcia.php
