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As a first step, I downloaded Xbench on my computer (v.3.0) from xbench.net.

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Basic CAT tools, such as OmegaT, Trados and MemoQ, are of great help for translators—they allow for a greater control of formatting and speed up the translation process. However, their functionalities are limited when it comes to quality assurance.

Hence, I have decided to explore Xbench, a QA tool for translation that allows translators and project managers to check the accuracy and consistency of translations.

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To be able to get started, I created a free account, which gave me access to a 30-day trial. Xbench is kind enough to provide its users with a link to YouTube tutorials that explain the functionalities of the tool!

Therefore, I decided to watch the tutorials in order to understand the purpose and basic features of this tool.

These are the videos that I watched:

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I installed the spellchecking dictionaries available on Xbench to get started with a first check.

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I then translated a page of one of the files3,4 available on our course platform using the translation memory (TM) provided, and I generated my project files, as I learnt that I would soon need one of the legacy TMs² of my project and the glossary file¹.

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Finally, I added my tmx file and my glossary to a new project on Xbench, and saved my Xbench project to an xbp file⁵.

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I was impressed to discover that thanks to Xbench, I can search any term contained in the text and find all its occurrences, in their respective contexts (displayed in the bottom pane). This made me very excited about the tool—I can now verify in a matter of seconds whether all the occurrences have been translated correctly within seconds!

For instance, I looked up the word "mountain":

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I now know that there are 14 occurrences of this word, between the TM and the glossary. (I checked which entry belongs to which file by looking at the right-hand side column.)

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In Project Properties on Xbench, I defined priorities of the files I had uploaded. Thanks to this, my searches are well-organised, with glossary entries displayed as key terms with high priority, and TM units as medium-priority.

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I also learnt that Xbench is compatible with OmegaT (v6.0.1) and I can look up terms very easily, by selecting the desired term in OmegaT and pressing ctrl + insert, then ctrl + alt + insert.

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I think that this would be a very useful trick to be able to quickly verify whether there are any terminological discrepancies in the translation—with these two shortcuts, I can see how a particular term was addressed in the rest of the translation, and then decide whether I should change it somewhere in the target segments for consistency.

At this point, I can select the chosen translation (let's take the glossary entry) and simply click Enter. This copies the term to the clipboard, and I can paste it directly in the target segment in OmegaT.

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Having learnt the basic functionalities of Xbench, it was time to use its primary tool—the quality assurance check. I selected the options that interested me and ran a check⁶.

In this instance, I did not try to make mistakes on purpose for it to give me results, but as it turned out, I had made a typo, which Xbench promptly addressed: I wrote rOkres in Polish, which should have been Okres.

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Xbench also allowed me to spot a numerical inconsistency—1,5 instead of 1,500. Upon checking, I realised this was not a mistake, but a translation choice (1,5 tys. instead of 1500 in Polish). However, this is a great feature that makes sure that we do not get lost in numbers. (At the end of the day, 1,500 apples is way more than 1,5 apples!) If a translator made a similar mistake in medical translations, for example, lives could be on the line.

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Unfortunately, Xbench and OmegaT are not compatible when it comes to this feature, I have had to manually search for the issues to fix them in the target segment. Programmes like Trados and MemoQ, on the other hand, are compatible, and Xbench searches for these issues directly in the programme.

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1. Understand the scope behind a QA tool using Xbench as an example.

2. Learn to use basic functionalities of a QA tool.

3. Learn to perform a term search.

4. Learn to perform a QA check and use it effectively.

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Since I have never used Xbench, or any other QA tool, I will first download the programme and do some research to understand how the tool works.

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These are the files that I used during my learning process.

They are referenced accordingly in superscript in the portfolio, whenever they are used. Superscript numbers match the files as follows:

1. glossary.txt — Glossary used in Xbench

2. mountains 2-level1.tmx — Legacy TM used in Xbench

3. Mountains_ST.docx — Source text

4. Mountains_TT.docx — Target text

5. Mountains.xbp — Xbench project file

6. QA check.mp4 — Screen recording of a QA check

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Thanks to this activity, I have understood the importance of quality assurance tools in translation. I now know that they are a necessary part of ensuring quality and consistency in our job.

While it is already possible to verify the quality of a translation through proofreading, I recognise that in bigger projects, QA tools are a must-have, as they allow for the verification of terminological consistency, as well as checking for linguistic accuracy.

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I am proud to say that I have accomplished my learning goals and satisfied my learning needs within the scope of this activity.

1. I have understood the need for QA tools within the translation industry.

2. I have learnt how to upload files on Xbench, assign priorities to files, and use the basic functionalities of Xbench alongside OmegaT.

3. I know how to perform a term search and how to analyse its results.

4. I have learnt how to perform a basic QA check effectively to find inconsistencies and errors in a translated text.

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Of course, this activity does not exhaust all the features that QA tools have to offer. Therefore, I aim to keep exploring Xbench, as well as other tools, in order to be able to use them as efficiently as possible. Here are a few ideas for further exploration:

1. Creating custom RegEx rules to check for specific inconsistencies;

2. Discovering project templates available on Xbench;

3. Using plugins and automation.

Moreover, given that Xbench is not fully compatible with OmegaT, as I have noticed in this portfolio, I will come back to it and explore its potential with MemoQ and Trados later on, potentially as part of next year's portfolio.