SDL Trados Breakfast Event

Translation memory software provider, SDL organises several networking events each year in different cities in Europe and North America.

On  April 25th, Content Team Lead Cristina Marín and Content Analyst Gabriele Spiteri had the opportunity to attend one of their brand new events, a breakfast round table in London.

The event consisted of a delicious breakfast in an exclusive London hotel, together with a networking session with other SDL Trados users, and a couple of talks focused on how time and technological developments have impacted the translation industry, as well as the latest technology updates in SDL Trados Studio. 

SDL Trados is the leading computer-aided tool (CAT) in localisation, supporting with quality, consistency and turnaround times for translation and localisation projects.

The agenda of the event included the following topics.

Translation Industry Changes & Trust

The first presentation focused on the keyword “trust”. Nowadays, we find ourselves in what has been defined as a post-truth era, one that is characterised by profound distrust, be it towards the media, the government, or businesses. However, what does this mean for the localisation industry?

Now more than ever, clients are on the lookout for trustworthy brands, they are value-based clients; hence LSPs need to build trust with their client base. What was once assumed with regards to translation quality, correct spelling and grammar to mention but a few elements, is no longer enough to make for a trustworthy provider. In today’s interconnected world, if you don’t get spelling and grammar right you won’t even be invited to the party!

What is now of paramount importance is the authenticity and simplicity of localised copy, that reflects the client’s intent, targets the intended audience and is turned around in no time. In other words, clients look for providers they can trust with their brand’s image and feel. In order to achieve this, top-notch translation technology is all the more a contributing factor, in that it takes care of the legwork, freeing up time for language professionals to concentrate on pure content creation.

Meeting Challenges: New SDL Technology

The second presentation focused on the technological response to the current localisation challenges: quality vs. cost vs. speed.

SDL’s current offerings, as well as their upcoming releases, are a clear indicator of the path that is gradually being taken by the localisation industry. A movement towards a more community and cloud-based translation environment is occurring, wherein linguists and Project Managers can access and share centralised linguistic resources at once. This can only enhance the content cycle, ensuring consistency across all stages of the localisation process and, most importantly, streamlining project management.

New developments in SDL products were presented:

• BaccS: the new business management and accounting solution is designed to smoothen collaboration between clients, Project Managers and vendors, and is set to launch in early May
• GroupShare: the 2017 cloud-based solution allows for more flexibility, security and control by streamlining project management processes, and will get a makeover in 2020
• Machine Translation (MT): SDL’s machine translation solutions are currently undergoing a major shift from statistical to neural learning, setting the ground for increasingly high-quality content, as well as faster ETAs
• Language Cloud Terminology: a tool that allows the creation and shareability of cloud-based termbases.

The event was a success, and a great opportunity for Locaria to keep up with the latest news about localisation technology. We look forward to keeping up with further developments SDL’s offering, as well as the gradual evolution of the localisation industry as a whole.