Life as a professional translator today is a completely different kettle of fish to what it was only 25 years ago. Translators are no longer "just" linguists—many have to embrace translation technology in order to remain competitive or to even simply get that in-house or freelance translation job.

One of the major developments in translation technology has been Translation Memory Tools—software programs that became commercially available in the mid-1990s and started out as mere databases, which a translator could "fill" with original texts and their corresponding translations, and which would then serve as the translator's memory. If the translator translated another text that contained identical or even similar sentences, the translation memory would search automatically (in the background) whether a translation already existed, and if so, would insert this translation automatically into the new file for translation. It all seemed magical at the time, although it obviously wasn't!

Back in the day, Translation Memory software was small, shipped on 3.5-inch floppy disks, and the user guide consisted of some 30 pages, which a fairly computer-literate translator could peruse and then proceed to use the software straight away. Times have changed since then; there are now a lot of different Translation Memory tools from a number of vendors on the market. The software tends to be available for download only, and most tools no longer come with a printed user guide but a massive online help consisting of thousands of pages. The software itself has become a full-blown tool in many cases, with features such as terminology management, project management, and so forth added on.

Many Translation Memory tool vendors now offer online and face-to-face training sessions in order to assist users to learn how to use the tool. Similarly, many universities all over the world have recognized that their translation students need to know what a Translation Memory tool is and how to use it, and have therefore included translation memory in their curricula.

This book has a really practical focus and fills a big gap in the market. I can see the book being used by both fledgling and experienced translators to learn how to use SDL Trados Studio at their own pace. I can also see the book on the virtual and real bookshelves of university libraries and as a companion/reader on every university course that teaches SDL Trados Studio.

London, February 2014

Daniela Ford

Dipl.-Fachübersetzerin, MITI, Managing Director of Softrans Ltd, Lecturer in Translation Technology at UCL and Imperial College London