Collaborative translation software allows you to work globally across teams, departments, offices, states, countries and continents. Not only does it simply allow you to collaborate, it also encourages higher quality translations because it gives you the freedom to tap the knowledge of experts.

The best collaborative translation software systems will require a monthly investment, so it’s important you choose one that includes the most important features for collaboration. This will give you the most bang for your buck.

Below, we discuss the top collaborative translation software features to look for when you’re shopping for translation software. This will help you choose the best software for your language translation needs without skimping on any of the necessities.

5 Best Collaborative Translation Software Features

After doing much research to develop our own collaborative translation software, we found that these were the best features for collaboration in translation software:

1. Translation Memory

Translation Memory is one of the best components of collaborative translation software. Why? It helps your organization scale its translation process.

In fact, it’s used by the largest translation companies in the world to decrease translation costs and deliver continuous translation quality improvements. It essentially reduces the amount of time and effort it takes to translate

Translation Memory learns your words and phrases as you translate. While you edit translations within the collaborative translation software, Translation Memory works in the background. The more you edit translations, the fuller your Translation Memory bank becomes.

This is why the more collaboration that takes place within the software, the better.

Translation Memory stores your translations as segments in a bilingual repository. These are then used for future translation projects so that you never need to translate the same word or phrase twice.

This is particularly useful for organizations using technical jargon with content that needs to be updated on a regular basis; like owner’s manuals, boilerplates and product descriptions. Any document or product type that has a long shelf life and is likely to require translation over and over again will be benefit from Translation Memory.

In fact, every organization creates duplicate content to some extent.

For instance, when you release a new product, you will likely create multiple forms of collateral for that one product. This could include sales content, marketing content and even training content. There will be some content duplication between these. This is where Translation Memory saves time by allowing these multiple departments to collaborate by translating from the same central repository.

Post-Editing Translations
You must note that human translation is required for you to reap the benefits of Translation Memory.

The ability to edit translations within collaborative translation software is vital to achieving accurate translations. This is because the best translation systems will typically use machine translation, in combination with Translation Memory, to produce a first draft translation for you.

Take note of our calling it a “first draft.” In most cases, the system is giving you a predominantly machine-translated file, which is never going to be as perfect as human translation. The more technical or obscure the text is, the more editing the translation will require.

The best collaborative translation systems are able to improve the initial draft translations with a user’s translation edits. These systems can improve draft translation quality in a short period of time.

This is why a human translator is necessary for quality translations, and why translation editing is a feature you’ll find in the best collaborative translation software available.

2. Invite Collaborators to Edit Translations within the Software

Another one of the best collaborative translation software features to look for is collaborative editing. This is because there is rarely ever just one person completing a translation request.

Here’s how it typically works:

Bilingual internal resources will either complete translations, or external translators may be used to complete translations that bilingual internal resources will review/approve in the end. In other words, employees that speak both the source and target language often have a hand in the translation process.

This makes it important to have the ability to easily share translations with others and request editing from within the translation software interface.

What’s more, you shouldn’t settle for desktop software. We recommend you choose web-based collaborative translation software that will make collaboration possible with colleagues across the globe. This way, they don’t need to install software on their computer, and everything related to your translation projects will be accessible in one central hub.

3. Translation Tracking

Your translation collaboration software should come with revision tracking. This is the ability to see exactly whom edited what segment of text, as well as what was changed.

This also includes date and timestamp.

When you have multiple hands on deck translating content, you want to make sure you can follow up with a specific contributor if you have questions about why they made a specific change.

4. API Access

Another feature that you should look for in collaborative translation software is API access. This is important for integrating your translation software with other systems that your company uses, and it will help with collaboration.

The reason is that other people on your translation team may find it useful to integrate the software into other apps they use. This could include content management systems, project management systems and customer support platforms–just to name a few.

Another great use for the API is to use it to distribute previously translated content stored in your Translation Memories into your own website and proprietary apps.

5. Multifactor Authentication

Multifactor authentication is a particularly important feature to look for in collaborative translation software. This is because you will have multiple users needing to access your account. The more users you have on a single account, the bigger the risk for their passwords being leaked.

Multifactor authentication will make it necessary to verify your identity prior to gaining access to the organization’s account. This will help protect what might be confidential data.

Collaborative Translation Software Recommendation

Pairaphrase is our recommended collaborative translation software, and it includes all of the 5 features we list above, plus more.

At Pairaphrase, we developed the best collaborative translation software available on the market today. When we built our cloud-based software, we remained hyper-focused on providing users with ease-of-use combined with the powerful technology you need to get smart, safe and fast translation.

With Pairaphrase, there are multiple plans available to support your team’s needs. We’re here to support you as your organization grows.

Try Pairaphrase today.