MyMemory is a comprehensive translation memory platform designed to enhance the efficiency, quality, and consistency of translation projects. Here’s an overview of what the product does and its key features:
What MyMemory Does
MyMemory provides access to the world’s largest translation memory, containing over 8.3 billion professionally translated segments. This platform leverages contributions from professional translators, language service providers (LSPs), customers, and multilingual web content to offer highly relevant and accurate translations.
Key Features and Functionality
Access to Large Translation Memory
MyMemory allows users to search its vast public archive and retrieve customized translation memories (.tmx files) that match the specific needs of their projects. This ensures that users can reuse existing translations, reducing the need for redundant work and improving project efficiency.
Advanced Matching Algorithm
The platform uses a sophisticated matching algorithm that considers context, segment origin, subject, memory ownership, and quality to provide highly relevant matches. This algorithm helps in completing partial matches by suggesting missing terms, making the translation process faster and more accurate.
Public and Private Memories
Users can choose to make their translation memories public or private. Public memories can be searched and edited by the entire community, while private memories are accessible only to their owners. This flexibility ensures confidentiality and allows for collaborative work by sharing private TM keys with colleagues.
Contribution and Community Improvement
MyMemory encourages community contributions by allowing other translators to improve and correct public memories. Users can be notified of changes and can download their memories with or without these contributions at any time. This collaborative approach enhances the quality and consistency of translations.
Terminology Extraction and Pre-Translation
The platform can extract and pre-translate terminology from uploaded memories and monolingual documents, which helps in reducing delivery times and improving translation quality. This feature is particularly useful for managing terminology in large translation projects.
Integration with CAT Tools
MyMemory is compatible with most commercially available Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) tools, such as Trados, SDLX, Wordfast, and DejaVu, using the TMX file format. This integration ensures seamless use of translation memories within various CAT environments.
Machine Translation and Partial Matches
MyMemory includes a feature to transform partial matches into nearly full matches using statistical machine translation. This innovation helps in translating missing parts of sentences and reordering terms to create more accurate translations, even for simple sentences with matches greater than 80%.
Data Protection and Backup
The platform offers a secure backup solution, storing memories in a world-class data center. Users can export and download their memories at any time, with or without modifications made by other translators. Additionally, MyMemory allows users to protect customer privacy by hiding proper names and brands from uploaded memories.
Web Crawling and Bilingual Document Alignment
To enhance its archive, MyMemory crawls the web for bilingual documents, evaluates their quality, classifies them by subject, and aligns them. This ensures that the translation memory is continuously updated with high-quality translations.
API and Developer Tools
MyMemory provides an API that can be integrated into various applications, such as web translators, to leverage its translation capabilities. Developers can use this API to create interactive translation tools, as seen in examples like the JavaScript code for a simple language translator.
In summary, MyMemory is a powerful tool for translators and translation projects, offering a vast translation memory, advanced matching algorithms, community-driven improvements, integration with CAT tools, and robust data protection and backup features. These capabilities make it an essential resource for enhancing the quality, efficiency, and consistency of translation work.