Applications - Recent Threads

Why We Built Our Own AI Translation Tool Instead of Using a CAT Tool Plugin

Tatjana Kostadinovic — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 22:37:41 GMT

AI models such as GPT and Claude are powerful, but simply connecting an AI model to a CAT tool does not automatically produce professional, human-like translation.

We wanted to use AI differently: not simply to generate translations, but to build a complete translation workflow around the AI.

I've been using Trados and memoQ for years. After more than five years of developing, testing, and refining my own AI translation and QA tool, I learned that the AI model itself is only one part of the solution.

Here are some of the main challenges we needed to solve.

1. A robust SDLXLIFF/XLIFF parsing module

We wanted to process SDLXLIFF/XLIFF files directly.

A professional CAT file contains much more than text. It can include:

Inline tags
Segment status
Comments
Metadata
Formatting information

During translation, these elements must be handled correctly.

The translation engine needs to preserve tags, maintain the file structure, update segment status when required, and generate a valid SDLXLIFF/XLIFF file after translation.

Although SDKs are available, we decided to develop our own parsing module so we could have more control over the workflow and handle the file structure according to our requirements.

2. AI needs human translation rules

Simply sending text to GPT or Claude and asking for a translation is not enough.

Human translators follow specific rules based on the client, project, terminology, style, and language pair.

We wanted to preserve those rules when using AI.

Our tool therefore uses specialized prompts and workflows for:

Translation
Editing
Terminology
IIT
KTM
TGM
Other localization tasks

The goal is to give the AI the information and rules it needs to produce a more human-like translation, rather than relying only on the model's default behavior.

3. Translation Memory and glossary integration

Professional translation workflows depend heavily on Translation Memories (TM) and glossaries.

We wanted the AI to use these resources during translation.

The tool can use a user's existing TM and glossary to:

Maintain terminology consistency
Reuse previously approved translations
Follow client-specific terminology
Provide additional context to the AI

This is an important difference between simply using an AI model and building an AI-assisted translation workflow.

4. Our own fuzzy matching

Another challenge was matching new segments with existing TM entries and glossary terms.

I spent around three months developing our own fuzzy-matching module specifically for TM and glossary matching.

I did not rely on an existing Python fuzzy-matching library. I developed the matching logic myself so that it could be adapted to the requirements of localization workflows.

This gives us more control over how TM and glossary entries are matched and used during translation.

5. QA is part of the translation workflow

Translation does not end when the AI generates the target text.

The result needs to be checked.

Our tool supports QA checks including:

IIT — Inconsistency in Target
KTM — Key Term Mismatch
TGM — Tag Mismatch

It can also work with Xbench QA reports and help fix issues identified in those reports.

The goal is to automate repetitive QA work and reduce the amount of manual correction required after translation.

AI Isn't Stupid: It Can Deliver Human-Like Translation and QA

Tatjana Kostadinovic — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 18:27:44 GMT

I often see people say that AI is not good enough for professional translation or QA.
I understand why they think that—if you're only using GPT or Claude directly, they're right. On their own, they cannot replace a professional translation workflow.
I've been using Trados and memoQ for years, but I don't rely on them for the actual translation anymore. Instead, I developed my own AI-powered translation and QA tool after more than five years of testing and refinement.

I developed an AI-powered translation tool that can directly process SDLXLIFF/XLIFF files and provide fast, high-quality translations while maintaining the original file structure.
The tool supports Trados and memoQ files, allowing users to select the required language pair and apply a glossary to maintain consistent terminology throughout the translation process.
After translation, it also provides automated QA functions, including Inconsistency in Target (IIT), Key Term Mismatch (KTM), and Tag Mismatch (TGM) checks, and can apply Xbench AutoFix to automatically resolve common QA issues.
One of the key features is that it preserves tags during translation, which helps avoid formatting and structural problems that often occur with automated translation workflows.
These are the main features currently available, and I am continuously improving the system with more capabilities.

Here are some of the key challenges I had to solve:

1. A robust SDLXLIFF/XLIFF parsing engine

Professional CAT files contain tags, statuses, comments, and other metadata that must be preserved.
The parser must correctly read the file, keep every tag intact, update segment statuses, and generate a valid SDLXLIFF/XLIFF file after translation.
Although an official SDLXLIFF SDK exists, I found it more flexible and easier to build my own parsing module tailored to my workflow.

2. Human translation rules

Every translator and every client has their own translation guidelines.
To achieve human-like translations, these rules must be incorporated into the prompts instead of relying solely on the default behavior of GPT or Claude.
My tool includes specialized prompts for translation, editing, IIT, KTM, TGM, and other localization tasks.

3. Translation Memory and Glossary integration

A professional translation system must use Translation Memories (TM) and glossaries during translation.
This ensures terminology consistency and allows previous approved translations to be reused instead of generating everything from scratch.

4. Custom fuzzy matching

I spent three months developing my own fuzzy matching engine for Translation Memories and glossaries.
I didn't rely on any existing Python libraries—I designed and implemented the matching algorithm from scratch to better fit localization workflows.

5. Professional QA automation

Translation quality doesn't end when the text is generated.
My tool performs important QA checks such as IIT, KTM, and TGM, similar to Xbench. It can also automatically fix issues detected in Xbench QA reports, significantly reducing manual post-editing.

I've been developing and testing this system for more than five years, continuously fixing edge cases, improving translation quality, and refining the workflow. I'm still improving it as I discover new challenges in real-world localization projects.

Thanks

Addin version does not appear

Balázs Fehér — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 05:59:45 GMT

Hi All,

I have a problem that, I have a functioning addin, but the version of the addin does not appear in the options (see image). I am not sure what I am doing wrong. Can you please help what I should set to make it appear?
Thanks in advance

Best regards,
Balazs

Easing plugin dependency version maintenance via assembly binding retargeting

Robin Palotai — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 12:11:34 GMT

Hello,

I wanted to ask your opinion if it would be feasible to automatically retarget the plugin dependencies to the actual versions (as long as there weren't any breaking changes). Let me share a bit more context on where I encountered this:

The 2024 CU2 release of Trados Studio used updated versions of the MS WebView2 assembly. Since our plugin was compiled against a specific version of WebView2 (the one shipped with Trados 2024), this naturally resulted in a plugin load failure. But WebView2 itself is backwards compatible: using a newer assembly while compiling against an older assembly's API works by contract. So ideally, our plugin would keep working without having to recompile against the new assembly versions.

This should be possible to achieve using the assembly binding retargeting feature of .NET - for example, memoQ has this retargeting config next to its executable, and upgrades all interface assembly version bindings to use the shipped version. This way plugins don't need to be recompiled for successive releases.

As for Trados, it might be possible for the retargeting to affect the API assemblies too, or any assembly where compatibility was not broken. So plugin maintenance could become easier, and recompilation would only be needed in case of a genuine breakage of the API.

What do you think, is this a suitable idea for sometime in the future?

BR,
Robin

Integrate Studio with Censhare

Priscillia Schlemo — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 08:21:42 GMT

Dear Community,

We're about to switch to Studio 2022 and would like to integrate it with Censhare. Is there an existing API for that?

Thanks for your help,

Priscillia

RE: Integrate Studio with Censhare

Paul Filkin — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 15:14:39 GMT

Thanks Piero Pasquali , I'll watch out for your email.

RE: Integrate Studio with Censhare

Piero Pasquali — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 09:30:49 GMT

Hi Paul Filkin

Thanks for looking into this. I've taken over from Priscillia and I have a contact at Censhare, you'll get an email from me soon.

In our case it's still Trados Studio 2022, but the connection might be helpful for as well.

Piero

RE: Integrate Studio with Censhare

Paul Filkin — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 09:01:45 GMT

I've had zero response! If you happen to know someone we can speak to I'll happily contact them. Certainly they aren't a company we see any opportunity for so they are not high on my list to be honest, and the lack of response does nothing to change my opinion. But if you do know someone, let me know.

RE: Integrate Studio with Censhare

Walter Blaser — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 08:05:38 GMT

[quote userid="2145" url="~/archive/language-developers/f/applications/44928/integrate-studio-with-censhare/178436"]I will try the contacts we have for them today as using the partner portal has been a fruitless exercise. [/quote]

Hi Paul Filkin
Have you been able, meanwhile, to find out something useful about this?
What do you suggest I give as answer to my customer?

RE: Integrate Studio with Censhare

Paul Filkin — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 14:22:37 GMT

In this case I think it's ok here as nobody responded to the original anyway, so nothing there to get confused with.

[quote userid="2184" url="~/archive/language-developers/f/applications/44928/integrate-studio-with-censhare/178428"]I found this documentation of Censhare, but it does not say much about API interface:[/quote]

Indeed... I also found this:

https://documentation.censhare.com/online-solutions/rest-api-overview

The Censhare REST API seems offers four main components:

MiddlewareApi, which is extensible and supports creating custom endpoints for various purposes;
DataApi, providing basic data handling for the frontend, including image manipulation and configuration endpoints;
AuthenticationApi, handling login, logout, password reset, and related tasks independently of the broader system;
Module Configuration API, which manages module-specific configurations and allows authenticated users to upload and download theming images.

There doesn't seem to be any native support for translation-specific tasks like XLIFF or TMX handling which are the basics of their solution in this regard. They only support TMX 1.4 and not 1.4b which I'm not sure about - might need a conversion - but the XLIFF 1.2 is fine.

I will try the contacts we have for them today as using the partner portal has been a fruitless exercise. I'm wondering just how upto date and needed this solution really is? Have you ever had any other requests or come across anyone else using it? Could be that a simple solution would be to use something like Blackbird or Make to facilitate the exchange of files between Trados and Censhare.

RE: Integrate Studio with Censhare

Walter Blaser — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 12:26:58 GMT

Hi Paul Filkin

My request is more recent than Priscillia's, I posted it here because I found this thread with a search and thought the answer might benefit both.
If you prefer, I can create a new separate thread for this.

The request I received is for an API integration with GroupShare. The customer would like to handle translation requests from customers so that they automatically generate a project in GroupShare.

I found this documentation of Censhare, but it does not say much about API interface:
Set up translation & localization

Walter

RE: Integrate Studio with Censhare

Paul Filkin — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 11:06:11 GMT

Priscillia Schlemo

We don't have an existing integration as far as I can see. I also can't find their API documentation to see what they have. If you have it and are looking for an API for Trados Studio then you can find all the API documentation for our tools here:

https://developers.rws.com/

I would be interested to know what you expect from the integration as this seems like an integration with Language Cloud would be a better fit anyway, but if you're just switching to Trados Studio 2022 which is already quite old perhaps you're not using Language Cloud yet?

I will contact Censhare and see whether there is anything we can do... but this will be a longer process than giving you an answer right now.

RE: Integrate Studio with Censhare

Former Member — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 10:08:03 GMT

Paul Filkin

Dear Paul
Now that you are back to the fray, hopefully not to overlaid 😁,
do you know if there is anything existing or in the pipeline in this area?
I just got the same question from another customer who would like to integrate Censhare with Studio through an API.
Best
Walter

GroupShareKit TranslationMemories.GetTms() returning incomplete and nondeterministic results

Tamas Meszaros — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 08:07:44 GMT

Hi,

when calling TranslationMemories.GetTms() on the GroupShareKit API several times, it keeps returning different results:

1st call: 3626 TMs

2nd call: 3688 TMs

3rd call: 3729 TMs

4th call: 3601 TMs

Accoring to GS web UI, we have 4450 TMs (tested with the same user every time)

We have GS: 15.1.10.13194 - GS 2020 SR1 CU10, and GSKit 15.1.10.

Is this a bug in the REST API maybe? Has anyone met this problem?

thanks,

Tamas

RE: GroupShareKit TranslationMemories.GetTms() returning incomplete and nondeterministic results

Daniel Brockmann — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 08:49:53 GMT

Thanks Tamas Meszaros - indeed a bit non-deterministic... tagging Paul Filkin , and Emanuel Albu to see who can pick this up. Thanks, Daniel

Is it possible to edit and edit & reload templates from studio plugin?

Tamas Meszaros — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 11:03:51 GMT

Hi,

I tried to manipulate an sdltpl Studio template (as xml file) from a studio plugin, but if I open the template for editing then, I cannot see the changes (adding a new file type). If I close the template editor, then the file is reverted to the original state.

It seems as if Studio would cache the templates in the memory, and ignore the current status on the disk as long as the application is running.

Is there any (even unofficial) way to make changes effect while studio is running?

thanks,

Tamas

RE: Exporting a Server TM using the TranslationMemory API results in a TMX file that misses the context matching information

Patrick Andrew Hartnett — Thu, 24 Aug 2023 08:52:08 GMT

This item is duplicated with:

community.rws.com/.../156822

Exporting a Server TM using the TranslationMemory API results in a TMX file that misses the context matching information

Tom Imhof — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 12:24:52 GMT

Hi, I have detected a problem with the Exporter class in the TranslationMemory API. The problem is that - when a server TM gets exported, the TMX is missing the context information after the export.

Here is my code:

Dim TMExporter As New Sdl.LanguagePlatform.TranslationMemoryApi.TranslationMemoryExporter(ServerBasedTranslationMemory.GetLanguageDirection(LangDir))

TMExporter.ChunkSize = 100

TMExporter.FilterExpression = GetFilterCreatedAt()

AddHandler TMExporter.BatchExported, AddressOf Exporter_BatchExported

strExportfile = ExportFolder & "\" & ServerTM & "_" & LanguageDirection.SourceLanguageCode.ToString & "_" & LanguageDirection.TargetLanguageCode.ToString & ".tmx"

Try

Dim strNow As String = Now.ToString("yyyyMMdd_HHmmss")

TMExporter.Export(strExportfile, True)

System.IO.File.AppendAllText(LogFile, ControlChars.CrLf & strNow & " SUCCESS: " & ServerTM & " , Source Language: " & LanguageDirection.SourceLanguageCode.ToString & " , Target Language: " & LanguageDirection.TargetLanguageCode.ToString
& " was successfully exported to " & strExportfile & ". " & exportProgress.ToString & " TUs were exported." & ControlChars.CrLf)

Catch ex As Exception

Dim strNow As String = Now.ToString("yyyyMMdd_HHmmss")

System.IO.File.AppendAllText(LogFile, ControlChars.CrLf & strNow & " ERROR: " & ServerTM & " , Source Language: " & LanguageDirection.SourceLanguageCode.ToString & " , Target Language: " & LanguageDirection.TargetLanguageCode.ToString &
" could not be exported. The original error message was: " & ex.ToString & ControlChars.CrLf)

System.IO.File.Delete(ExportFolder & "\" & ServerTM & "_" & LanguageDirection.SourceLanguageCode.ToString & "_" & LanguageDirection.TargetLanguageCode.ToString & ".tmx")

End Try

This code - when run on a local SDLTM exports everything just fine including the context information:

But when I run it on a server TM, the TMX misses the context information after the export finishes:

RE: Exporting a Server TM using the TranslationMemory API results in a TMX file that misses the context matching information

Tom Imhof — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 14:29:29 GMT

Some more findings:

I can export the server TM from Trados Studio and from the Groupshare Web UI just fine and the exports also include the context information. Also, as I said before - export from a SDLTM through the API also creates a TMX that includes the context information. It is only the export from a server TM through the TM API that loses the context information.

Passolo command line

Daniel Masson — Tue, 30 Aug 2022 20:50:57 GMT

Hi,

I start to use the command line interface of Passolo.

I open the dll and create the database but I can't find how to specify the good language code to my new database

I need to set to French France (12 1)

When I use "Fra" the lpu is create in French (12 0) not in French (France)

pslcmd.exe /newproject:CatalogBrowserTool.lpu /addsource:CatalogBrowserTool.dll
pslcmd.exe CatalogBrowserTool.lpu /addlang:"Fra"

I need French(France) because I want to use the /update and my other database the language is 12 1

Thanks for your help

Dan

Export termbases from SDL MultiTerm Server 2015

Vitaly Chernichenko — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 15:22:07 GMT

I am developing a small application which exports TMs and termbases stored in the SDL GroupShare 2015 Server.

The TM part was not a problem at all. But the Multiterm part is a challenge. I have the following code right now:

Sdl.MultiTerm.TMO.Interop.Application oMt = new Sdl.MultiTerm.TMO.Interop.Application();
Sdl.MultiTerm.TMO.Interop.TermbaseRepository oServerRep = oMt.ServerRepository;
oServerRep.Location = Parameters.Server;
oServerRep.Connect(Parameters.UserName, Parameters.Password);

if (oServerRep.IsConnected)
{

var oTbs = oServerRep.Termbases;

for (int x = 0; x < oTbs.Count; x++)
{
var mtName = oTbs[x].Name;
var information = oTbs[x].Information;
var accessPermissions = oTbs[x].AccessPermissions;

bool canExport = accessPermissions.CanExport;

HOW CAN I EXPORT NOW THE oTbs[x] Termbase to a file?

}
}

RE: Export termbases from SDL MultiTerm Server 2015

Vitaly Chernichenko — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 20:21:48 GMT

I want to add something to my question above - as I understand now, I export the termbase using the following code:

ExportDefinitions oExps = oTbs[x].ExportDefinitions;

ExportDefinition oExp = oExps["Default export definition"];

oExp.ProcessExport(MtTaskType.mtScript);

So by choosing a particular ExportDefinition, I choose the export format for the file to be save. But how can I choose the place for the export file to be saved? Or is it saved always in some particular place/folder (where?) and I can't change it?

MT Enhanced Plugin for Trados Studio produces weird output while using Google Translate

Dīpakkumār BHAṬṬ — Fri, 01 Oct 2021 10:09:05 GMT

I'm using Trados Studio 2021 SR1 - 16.1.8.4404 version.

I tried to use MT Enhanced Plugin for Trados Studio for translating from Gujarātī to English. It produced weird output while using Google Translate V2.

The English sentences are completely out of syntax. Actually, it was word-for-word translation in the syntax of the Gujarātī language.

In fact, when I use the free Google Translate app directly without using the SDL Trados Studio, I get much better English syntax.

It'd be great if some distinguished user could help me out.

I intended to ask this question to a developer. I'm not sure whether I am posting it in a right forum.

Please advise me if I should post this question to a different forum, and if so, how I should do it.

This is the first time I'm using this forum.

Download not available (AppStore)

Dalila Ferrero — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 14:21:30 GMT

I try to download a specific free plugin for trados from the AppStore and I get: https://oos.sdl.com/asp/products/App/EditApp?appID=1185

Download App

Download not avaliable

You have logged in successfully, however this app is not available for you to download because you don’t have a license for one of the supported products (SDL MultiTerm 2017 - SDL MultiTerm 2019 - SDL MultiTerm 2021) in your account. Please contact the administrator of your company licenses and they will be able to download the app for you. Alternatively contact SDL through your support account, or via the appstore forum in the SDL Community. For more information, please see the [language] Terms and Conditions

Can you help me? because it not only happens to me

Regards,

Dalila.