When and how does the Beebox align?
When the Beebox receives a source file it proceeds as follows:
- The source file is segmented and pre-translated from the Beebox memories.
When you further include translated files and the instructions file, it adds these steps:
- The translated files are aligned. For the alignment algorithm to work more precisely, a “training” file is created on the fly. The file includes all the pre-translations found in step 1 plus any alignment dictionaries that were optionally configured in the Beebox project.
- The pre-translations of step 2 are now replaced by the aligned translations. If alignment is not possible for some pieces of the content, the pre-translations in step 1 are kept.
The next steps are the same whether you align or not:
- The Beebox selects all unapproved translations (segments). These are sent to MT and/or a TMS. Approved translations are considered “final” and are not sent to MT or a TMS.
How does the Beebox decide if translations are approved or not? There are two rules:
- By default, aligned translations are flagged as “unapproved”. This is a design decision since alignment may not be perfect and require human approval in the TMS.
- If an aligned translation (step 4) is identical to the pre-translation (step 1) and the pre-translation itself is approved, then the aligned translation is considered “approved” too.
If these rules sound too technical, the following two examples may add some clarity:
- If you send the file and there is no memory yet in the Beebox, the system will yield translated segments coming exclusively from the translated file (no pre-translation in step 1).
All segments are “unapproved” and a human will have to approve/fix the results.
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There are two simple strategies to improve the quality of alignment:
- Upload legacy translation memories to the Beebox
- Upload dictionaries (word lists) to the Beebox
Legacy translation memories
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