How are translation memory tools integrated with DITA for educational content?

November 10, 2023
|By Bryan Tipper

Integration of translation memory tools with DITA for educational content is a crucial step in streamlining the localization process and ensuring consistency and efficiency in translating educational materials. Translation memory tools are software solutions that store and manage previously translated content, allowing for reuse of translations and maintaining consistency across various documents. Here’s how they are integrated into DITA:

TMX Format Support

Many DITA authoring tools and content management systems provide support for the Translation Memory eXchange (TMX) format. TMX is an industry-standard format for exchanging translation memory data. When integrating with DITA, you can export your DITA content into TMX format and import it into translation memory tools. This enables translators to access and reuse previous translations, ensuring consistent terminology and reducing translation costs.

Segment-Level Alignment

Translation memory tools allow for segment-level alignment of source and target content. In the context of DITA, segments could be individual topics, paragraphs, or even sentences. During the translation process, the tool identifies segments that have been translated before and suggests these translations to the linguist. Translators can then accept, modify, or reject these suggestions, ensuring content accuracy and consistency while saving time.

Example:

Here’s an example of how DITA content can be integrated with a translation memory tool using TMX format:


<topic id="lesson1">
  <title>Lesson 1: Introduction</title>
  <body>
    <p>This is the introduction to the lesson.</p>
    <p>This is another paragraph in the lesson.</p>
  </body>
</topic>

In this example, the DITA topic “Lesson 1: Introduction” contains content that needs translation. The TMX format allows this content to be exported and shared with translation memory tools, where translations can be stored and reused for similar segments in the future.