Déjà Vu
This is one of my 'secret weapons'. Atril's Déjà Vu X is a translation memory and terminology management program that I use when translating HTML documents and files in a variety of DTP formats.

Déjà Vu is a great working environment for translators, but I wouldn't be mentioning it here if it didn't also provide very real benefits to you as a translation buyer - faster turnaround times, unparalleled consistency, absolutely strict adherence to your reference material and competitive pricing of revision or upgrade projects.

Unlike machine translation programs, Déjà Vu doesn't "translate". Essentially, it creates a database containing the source material and the translations produced by the human translator working with the program. The program scans the new source material, automatically inserts any exact matches found from previous translations, suggests translations for approximate matches and automatically provides approved, customer-specific terminology where applicable. From the translator's viewpoint, it automates the quality-assurance process and eliminates the tiresome necessity of continually reinventing the wheel.

Déjà Vu processes most file formats relevant to the DTP and software localization sectors. As a specialized translation tool, it processes the text only, while preserving the integrity of the document formatting codes. This is especially important when translating HTML documents, since WYSIWYG HTML editors such as FrontPage have an unfortunate tendency to modify hand-crafted HTML beyond recognition the first time you save your document. In the case of DTP files, it's a good idea to include time in your production schedule to view the files in their native programs and fine-tune the final layout after translation. This is simply due to the differences in length that inevitably occur. For example, a typical text tends to "shrink" by around ten percent when translated from German to English.

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