upLIFT Fuzzy Repair in SDL Trados Studio 2017: Your Resources Repair Fuzzy Matches

We’ve all had that moment in conversation where you just can’t think of the right word mid-sentence. Internally at SDL we joke that this is a verbal ‘fuzzy match’, when you’ve nearly managed to express what your brain is trying to say, but not quite! Then unless you have someone to help you find the word, you either stop mid-sentence or have to pause and find the right resource (often an internet search, in my case) to help you out. It can be frustrating!

The process is somewhat similar with fuzzy matches in SDL Trados Studio. There’s no denying that they’re very useful, saving time and effort and helping to drive consistency and quality across all your projects. However, they always require a certain level of post-editing. As a translator you can of course draw on additional resources when you post-edit a fuzzy match, such as a termbase or even machine translation (MT). However, using these additional resources is a manual process and therefore more time-consuming than if it just happened automatically.

In our last blog we introduced you to upLIFT and the first feature enabled by this fundamental change to translation memory (TM) technology: upLIFT Fragment Recall. The second exciting feature that comes with this technology in SDL Trados Studio 2017 is upLIFT Fuzzy Repair.

upLIFT Fuzzy Repair means that any resources added to your project, including termbases, translation memories (both legacy and upLIFT enabled) and MT (including AdaptiveMT engines) will automatically be used to repair fuzzy matches to provide a more useful translation suggestion. Think of it like that friend who helps you find the right word when you’re having a ‘fuzzy brain’ moment, so that you don’t have to search for it yourself!

The picture below illustrates a simple example:

upLIFT Fuzzy Repair example

Figure 1: Example of upLIFT Fuzzy Repair

Here, the sentence to translate contains green, while the matched TU contains blue. Since there is a termbase containing the term blue and a translation for it, bleu, the upLIFT Fuzzy Repair technology can deduce that the word bleu needs to be replaced. The termbase also contains green and a translation for it, so bleu can be replaced with vert. In this case, as there is no change in the noun and therefore gender, there is no post-editing to do at all in this repaired fuzzy match. This will not necessarily be the case in all scenarios, however typically post-editing will be much more lightweight, therefore saving time and effort.

Repaired fuzzy matches in SDL Trados Studio 2017 will not have an altered fuzzy match value, but will be indicated by the wrench symbol:

Figure 2: upLIFT Fuzzy Repair – Wrench Symbol

The true power of upLIFT Fuzzy Repair comes when using TMs that have gone through fine-grained alignment for use with upLIFT Fragment Recall. This is because any fragment match found in your TM can be used to repair a fuzzy match and is likely to be more relevant to the current translation context than machine translation, for example.

What’s also exciting is the extensive list of types of repair that can be done in Studio 2017:

CHANGE
Connect the ~~blue~~green cable to the probe.
DELETION
Connect the ~~blue~~ cable to the probe.
INSERTION
Connect the long blue cable to the probe.
MOVEMENT
Connect the cable to the blue probe.
PUNCTUATION CHANGES
Connect the blue cable to the probe,

Now you can avoid doing these repairs manually and use your own trusted project resources to make them automatically. When only 50% of respondents to our Translation Technology Insights (TTI) research felt they know how to get the most out of their Translation Productivity tools, upLIFT Fuzzy Repair can make all the difference in helping you to get even more out of these resources with no extra effort. Let Studio 2017 do more of the brainwork for you, so that you can work faster through your translations with even less post-editing.

If you are a freelance translator, click here to see what’s new in SDL Trados Studio 2017>>

If you are a Language Service Provider, click here to see what new in SDL Trados Studio 2017>>

Published on November 24 2016 in SDL Trados Studio , Product , Machine Translation , Terminology Management , Translation Memory

about Emillie Shannon Emilie began her career as a freelance translator after completing a MA in Translation and then worked as a Project Manager for a translation agency. Having seen the language service industry from these perspectives, she has now moved into Product Marketing at SDL in the Translation Productivity department. Emilie is a strong believer that even though today’s technology has dramatically aided the delivery and management of localized content, the next few years are going to be even more exciting with much more innovation to come!