Editing Translation memory (section)

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Short description|Segmented database to aid translators}}
{{citations missing|date=November 2022}}

A '''translation memory''' ('''TM''') is a database that stores "segments", which can be sentences, paragraphs or sentence-like units (headings, titles or elements in a list) that have previously been translated, in order to aid human [[Translation|translators]]. The translation memory stores the [[source text]] and its corresponding translation in language pairs called "translation units". Individual words are handled by terminology bases and are not within the domain of TM.

Software programs that use translation memories are sometimes known as '''translation memory managers''' ('''TMM''') or '''translation memory systems''' ('''TM systems''', not to be confused with a [[translation management system]] ('''TMS'''), which is another type of software focused on managing the process of translation).

Translation memories are typically used in conjunction with a dedicated [[computer-assisted translation]] (CAT) tool, [[word processor|word processing]] program, [[terminology management systems]], multilingual dictionary, or even raw [[machine translation]] output.

Research indicates that many [[language industry|companies producing multilingual documentation]] are using translation memory systems. In a survey of language professionals in 2006, 82.5% out of 874 replies confirmed the use of a TM.<ref name="survey"/> Usage of TM correlated with text type characterised by technical terms and simple sentence structure (technical, to a lesser degree marketing and financial), computing skills, and repetitiveness of content.<ref name="survey">Elina Lagoudaki (2006), "Translation Memory systems: Enlightening users' perspective. Key finding of the TM Survey 2006 carried out during July and August 2006." (Imperial College London, Translation Memories Survey 2006), p.16 {{cite web |url=http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/portal/pls/portallive/docs/1/7307707.PDF |title=Archived copy |access-date=2007-03-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070325114619/http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/portal/pls/portallive/docs/1/7307707.PDF |archive-date=2007-03-25 }}</ref>