I recently received an email asking me about an article I wrote in 2005 titled Why I Don’t Use Translation Memory. First, they wanted to know if I had changed my mind, and second, if there was any more I had to say on the topic.

In essence, the answer is a simple yes. The article is still valid. Here are the reasons why I still don’t use translation memory tools:

1- They are expensive! Most TM tools range from $900 – $1500 for the freelance user versions.
2- In my freelance work – which is a relatively small amount, I hold a full-time job – most of the work I get is either hard copy or an image of hard copy. The state of Arabic Optical Character Recognition is such that I would not want to rely on it for production use. If anyone knows of any cheap, reliable OCR, let me know!

Two reasons. That is about all there is to it. Now, I have looked into using open source translation memory tools. Specifically, I have looked closely at OmegaT and Anaphraseus. These products both have a lot of potential, and I will be experimenting with them more in the future. They might change my mind, having taken cost out of the picture. The best part is they both run on Windows, Mac, and Linux/FreeBSD systems.