To maintain quality, consistency and speed, technology is essential

Alongside our commitment to the central role of human expertise in the translation process, however, we are also fully abreast of the vita importance of technology for managing consistency, quality, terminol ogy and the efficient re-use of previously translated material. We are not just a service company but work intensively on proprietar software with our first patent dating back to 2005. We have an in-house research department and collaborate closely with researchers in Sheffield and Oxford.

We have developed state of the art practices of document redaction

Although we only use either in-house resources or a relatively small range of highly professional external suppliers, we nevertheless realise that the confidentiality of some documents is particularly crucial. Accordingly, we have developed a system of redaction, which enables us to conceal the identities of companies and persons mentioned in our documents even from our own suppliers. Another service, we feel, which sets us apart from other translation companies.
Protext has developed this training model to exceed industry standards and ensure that quality remains our top priority.

Reusing earlier material in a host of ways is now possible and vital

There has been rapid development in the procedures available for optimising the consistency of the translation process over time. A key technology here is translation memory, which uses relevant aspects of earlier translations to guide the process of translating new documents. The field is also often known as computer assisted translation (CAT) or more simply as pretranslation. This process makes it possible to utilise as much as possible of the existing translated material to avoid reduplication of effort by the translator.

Whereas most translation companies use off-the-shelf third-party CAT tools, we have developed and are constantly refining our own software. This gives us a different level of control over these complex technical systems and enables to us to modify and adapt them very rapidly to suit the needs of any particular project. We also have a sophisticated system for referencing and indexing previous translations.

Glossary creation and deployment

Our sophisticated proprietary systems analyse source documents for key terminology and generate glossary entries which are monitored and adjusted as appropriate by human experts. We use a wide range of online and off-line resources to ensure that terminology is consistent with the most recent legal practice. Once the terminology has been determined it is automatically implemented in the translation process.

Quality control

It is not only terminology but also sentence structure and style that can be semiautomatically monitored. We have a broad and increasing range of tools for ensuring that document layout, content and style are as close as possible to the original and mutually consistent in all respects.