Translation software makes the process of translating content faster. You can store and edit your translation projects within the software and even keep your original formatting for simple export.
Options range among cloud-based software, downloadable computer applications and other considerations.
Take a look at our recommendations for choosing software and find the best translation software now.
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What are the Benefits of Using a Translation Software?
Translation software can deliver project management assistance, save translator time and more. Here are the benefits you can expect from adding this software to your set of tools.
Time Savings
Translators who work on similar projects can take advantage of time-saving features like partial or complete matches to other content they’ve translated before. As you build a bank of translated content, the software will start alerting you of similar phrases to help you speed up the translation process.
Translation Consistency
If you work on a large project involving many files or pages, you want to make sure that your translations are consistent. Software can help flag any inconsistencies in how you translate certain words, phrases or product names to provide a more consistent experience for your customers.
Improved Project Management
Some international businesses have an entire translation department. Translation projects can become quite enormous and cumbersome in these cases with managing who is working on what and the many languages that the content needs to be translated into. Software helps managers oversee larger projects and ensures their team completes the work on time.
What to Look for in the Best Translation Software
As you search for software to improve your translation productivity, here are some of the most important features to consider in this type of software.
File Translation
Make sure your software has file translation tools available. Review the various file types that your company works with to see if the software is compatible with your needs. You don’t want to have to change your file types just to use the software.
Accessibility
Today’s world is mobile. Having to download an application to your computer makes accessing the software more challenging and limiting. And if you’re out on vacation and need to check something really quickly, you’ll need to have your work computer with you.
Instead look for cloud-based software that’s accessible through a browser. That way, you could even make changes from a mobile device.
Tracked Translation
Tracked translation shows you a full history of who translated what texts and when. Having a full edit history will help you understand who is working on a project and where they’re at in the process. You can also see if a text has had a another set of eyes on it yet or not.
Value
While you’ll improve your translation efficiency with software, it can’t be so expensive that it negates those productivity improvements. Make sure that the price you pay for the software accounts for the value that you’re getting from it.
Translation Collaboration
If you work with a team of translators, it’s helpful to be able to collaborate on a file or even a folder of files for a project. Look for translation software that enables collaboration, even if you’re currently a solo operation. You never know when your workload will increase to the point where you must add additional translators.
The Best Translation Software
Translators and international businesses can benefit greatly from translation software. Take a look at the top tools available and why they might be right for you.
Memsource
Memsource allows large teams to collaborate on translation projects with ease. You can manage terminology, create workflows and view analytics all through the software. With support for more than 500 languages, large international enterprises will find the tool extremely useful.
Pros:
- Supports more than 500 languages
- State-of-the-art AI technology to improve machine translation
- Collaboration tools for large teams
Cons:
- Lacks support for some file types
- No version control options
- Freelancers can’t add clients to the system
Best for: Enterprise translation departments
Pricing: Memsource offers a free edition that allows you to translate 2 files at a time to see how the system works. Paid accounts start at $27 per project manager per month.
4 stars
Wordbee
Wordbee is an outstanding project management tool for translation teams. It still includes the essential features of translation software but its greatest strength is in making it simple to manage overseeing translation projects and creating workflows.
Pros:
- User-friendly software tool
- Outstanding customer support
- Good workflows for project management purposes
- Includes integrated invoicing
Cons:
- Monthly plans are very expensive compared to annual plans
- Initial setup can be time-consuming
- Spellcheck is not in an obvious and easy-to-use place
Best for: Translation project management
Pricing: Wordbee does not publish its enterprise prices. However, freelancers can get a standard version of the software for $150 per year. Sign up for a 15-day trial to test out the software.
4 stars
Phrase
Scale your translation process using automation through Phrase. You’ll find strict data protection policies to help keep your information safe. Integrate the software with your office tools, including Slack, GitHub and WordPress.
Pros
- Many seamless integrations with other software tools
- Responsive support team
- Extensive feature set
Cons
- Machine translations need heavy editing
- Translations of technical material sometimes lose proper formatting data
Best for: DevOps teams working with multiple languages
Pricing: Subscriptions start at $23 per user per month.
4 stars
Smartcat
Looking for the best free translation software? Smartcat provides a comprehensive feature set that is easy to use but at no cost to users. Use translation match on up to 30,000 words per month for free.
Pros:
- Invoice management to help manage billing and payment tracking
- Setting up a new project is incredibly easy
- Project management is simple with good tools for checking project progress
- Allows for commenting to increase team collaboration
Cons:
- Lacks some intuitive features like memory for ignoring an error in multiple locations
- Larger files take a long time to load
- User interface takes some time to learn
Best for: Free translation software
Pricing: Smartcat offers a forever free option for translation teams that need limited resources. As your needs grow, you’ll need to pay $249 per month to get access to enhanced features.
4 stars
MateCat
MateCat is a free open source translation software you can use through your web browser. To get started, you don’t need to sign up for anything. All you have to do is upload your file for translation. The system supports 78 file formats, including Google Drive files.
Pros:
- Access to community translation memories
- Intuitive design
- Translations are fairly accurate
Cons:
- Larger files experience loading lags
- Users question the security of information uploaded to the system
Best for: Freelance translators
Pricing: MateCat is a free open source platform that helps facilitate the translation process.
3.5 stars
Improve Your Productivity
Translation software enables you to translate content faster and with better consistency. Review your team’s needs and start testing translation software options today.
