xml:tm - using XML technology to reduce the cost of authoring and translation

In the beginning... The advent of text in electronic format posed a number of problems for translators. These problems were: 1. How to mange the differing encoding standards and their corresponding font support and availability. 2. How to present the text to translators without having to purchase additional copies of the original creation program. 3. How to translate the text while preserving the formatting. 4. How to build translation memories for these documents to reduce the cost of translation and improve consistency. The problem was exacerbated by the veritable “Tower of Babel” of differing authoring and composition environments from Interleaf through to PageMaker. The typical approach was to write filters that would “lift” the text to be translated from its proprietary embedded environment and to present it to translators in a uniform but equally proprietary translation environment. After translation the text would then be merged with the original document, replacing the source language text.