Translation memory

Translation memory (TM) is a database that stores previous translations in a form of units that consist of two parts: source (original text) and target (translated text). A translation memory can store separate words, sentences, and even paragraphs. The main purpose of TM is to help translators re-use the previous translations, which contributes to efficiency (once you translated any word or sentence, you can easily retrieve it from TM, which saves you time that you would otherwise spend on translating it again) and consistency (if you always use the TM to retrieve the previous translations, you are unlikely to translate any term in several different ways).

A controversial client-side advantage of the TM is the discounts typically provided for the matches with the previous translations. While this is certainly beneficial for the translation buyers, especially when they order translation of content that is very similar to their previously translated content, many translators perceive the TM-related discounts unreasonable, mainly because of the assumption that only they, as the owners of the TM software, should reap the full financial benefit from this technology.

More Information

100% Match and Internal Repetition Rate. Part 1
100% Match and Internal Repetition Rate. Part 2
What Translation Buyers Need to Know about TM
Computer-Aided Translation Technology at Enterprise Level