Editing Parallel text (section)

===Bitexts and translation memories===
{{main|Translation memory}}
''Bitexts'' have some similarities with translation memories. The most salient difference is that a translation memory loses the original context, while a bitext retains the original sentence order. That said, some implementations of translation memory, such as [[Translation Memory eXchange]] (TMX), a standard [[XML]] format for exchanging translation memories between [[computer-assisted translation]] (CAT) programs, allow preserving the original order of sentences.

Bitexts are designed to be consulted by a human [[translation|translator]], not by a machine. As such, small alignment errors or minor discrepancies that would cause a translation memory to fail are of no importance.

In his original 1988 article, Harris also posited that bitext represents how translators hold their source and target texts together in their mental working memories as they progress. However, this hypothesis has not been followed up.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Harris |first=B. |date=March 1988 |title=Bi-Text, A New Concept in Translation Theory |url=http://mt-archive.info/LangMonthly-54-1988-Harris.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Language Monthly |volume=54 |pages=8–10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180302103859/http://mt-archive.info/LangMonthly-54-1988-Harris.pdf |archive-date=2018-03-02}}</ref>

Online bitexts and translation memories may also be called {{anchor|OBC}}online bilingual concordances. Several are available on the public Web, including [[Linguee|Linguée]], [[Reverso (language tools)|Reverso]], and Tradooit.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Genette |first=Marie |title=How Reliable Are Online Bilingual Concordancers? An investigation of ''Linguee'', ''TradooIT'', ''WeBiText'' and ''ReversoContext'' and Their Reliability Through a Contrastive Analysis of Complex Prepositions from French to English |date=2016 |degree=M.A. |publisher=Université catholique de Louvain & Universitetet i Oslo |url=http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-55054 |hdl=10852/51577 |hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=TradooIT – Concordancier bilingue |url=http://tradooit.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite conference |last1=Désilets |first1=Alain |last2=Farley |first2=Benoît |last3=Stojanović |first3=Marta |last4=Patenaude |first4=Geneviève |date=2008 |title=WeBiText: Building Large Heterogeneous Translation Memories from Parallel Web Content |conference=Proceedings of Translating and the Computer |volume=30 |pages=27–28 |s2cid=14586900 }}</ref>