Computer assisted translation (CAT) tool – What is a CAT tool?

Updated May 25, 2019
What is a cat tool - Smartcat blog
Kacie Saxer-Taulbee
Edited by
Kacie Saxer-Taulbee

Kacie Saxer-Taulbee is a data-informed content leader with a background in high-scale B2B SaaS, legal tech, and insurtech. Currently the Director of Content and Strategic Brand at Smartcat, she leads the company's global storytelling efforts, harmonizing thought leadership with AI-powered localization and multilingual communication. Her work has been featured or quoted in Business Insider, ABC News, Yahoo Finance, The Seattle Times, Property Casualty 360, The Balance, FinTech Global, and Insurance Business America. She prioritizes rigorous research and analysis to provide enterprise corporations with the best information to address their agentic AI and global content needs

Learn about our editorial policies

Nicole DiNicola
Reviewed by
Nicole DiNicola

Nicole DiNicola is a high-performing and empathetic global marketing leader with over 15 years of experience in the fast-paced B2B tech industry. Currently the Global VP of Marketing at Smartcat, she leads a full-stack global team focused on building awareness, driving growth, and enabling internal and external customers throughout the customer journey. Nicole is a “Scale Up” marketing expert with deep expertise in GTM strategy, product marketing, and account-based initiatives. She has held leadership roles at Qualtrics, Smartsheet, Citrix, and SOCi—where she most recently led the launch of the world’s first CoMarketing Cloud, an AI-powered local marketing platform. She is known for creating scalable marketing organizations that align cross-functional teams around common goals, maximizing resources and results. As a customer-first innovator, she leverages data and insights to shape clear and compelling messaging in complex, competitive markets. Nicole is also a passionate advocate for new moms in the workplace and women in tech. Outside of work, she’s a runner, reader, and imaginative mom to two young children.

Learn about our editorial policies

Why you can trust Smartcat

Our editorial team follows a rigorous set of standards to ensure every piece is grounded in accuracy, clarity, and global relevance. Learn more.

A Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) tool is a software designed to help translators do their job faster and more efficiently.

A CAT tool makes it easier to translate a document from one language to another by using translation memory, automatic translation following glossaries, automatic translation quality checks, machine translation, and other translation automation tools.

How does CAT work?

First, CAT software breaks the source text into smaller units called translation units or segments (TUs for short). Then, the tool creates a translation database storing all the source and translated segments. The CAT search engine allows the translator to view saved segments, to search for segments with similar content and to translate them. With the help of term bases, glossaries, and translation memories, the CAT tool helps the translator ensure that the terminology and writing style of the source file are translated accurately.

The best CAT tools on the market include such features like autosuggest, quality assurance, side-by-side alignment and much more. You can also use a spell checker, manage terms, use specific dictionaries, term databases, text indexers, merge the translation and the source text, manage projects, translation memories, and automate translation work in general. Here’s how CAT software works using Smartcat as an example:

What benefits can CAT tool bring to you?

Time

Translation is time-consuming, and CAT tools save time. Glossaries help save time by automatically offering previously-translated terms which have been saved in the database.

Translation memories (TMs) save time by automatically adding translations to untranslated segments when they are the same or similar. Import/Export tools help save time by carefully importing, saving and exporting the source-document formatting for compatibility and other purposes.

Efficiency

Saving time means working becomes more efficient. The translator doesn’t have to worry about the source-file formatting — the CAT tool does it for them. Through "fuzzy search" features, CAT tools can find segments that are not a100% match. This saves a lot of time and effort and helps produce coherent and consistent translations.

Convenience

A CAT tool divides the text to be translated into TUs and presents the segments clearly to make translating easier and faster. Smartcat shows each segment in a box, and the translation is entered in a separate box to the right of the source text. The best CAT tools do a lot more for the translator: they count words, segments and units, analyze text, compare portions of new and pre-translated material, etc., so the translator doesn’t have to.

Control

CAT tools like Smartcat allow more than one translator to work simultaneously on the same project and even the same document. The project manager controls everything within the system without turning to outside project management tools. By giving translators access to CAT tools LSPs can manage large international projects, e.g. Smartcat allows companies to pay all their remote workers in one payment — the system distributes the payment to each translator accordingly.

Utility

A CAT tool doesn’t translate a document. Instead, it gives translators everything they need to translate: automatic machine translation, storing translations in TMs, text navigation, quality checks, translation progress tools and everything under one roof. Smartcat takes this one step further and also has a marketplace where LSPs, translators, and potential customers can find each other.

The advantages of using Smartcat outweigh any cons you can think of. Smartcat is the best possible solution for translators. It’s license-free. Also, the system allows you to translate simple DOC files, charts, websites, and a lot more!

Translate just anything with Smartcat
💌

Subscribe to our newsletter

Email *