Manual Translation can save you time and money if managed correctly. Learn how we helped a client save over $500 on a document update using CAT tools and revision tracking. Avoid paying twice for the same translation—discover smarter ways to manage updates and translation costs.
READ MORE >>> How to Manage Projects Towards Success
Why Translation Costs Add Up Quickly
Many companies assume translation is always a flat fee per word. But when documents are updated frequently—like product manuals, legal contracts, or marketing brochures—repeated content can quickly push costs higher than necessary. Without a system in place, you might end up paying full price multiple times for identical or nearly identical text. That’s where smarter workflows like document comparison and CAT tools come in.
MS Word Comparison
MS Word comparison screenshot showing how Manual Translation with revision tracking helps identify changes, insertions, and deletions in documents.
Use “document comparison” function in MS Word. You need to put the old and the recent version of the document to see the detailed revision history. It shows any insertion, deletion, and other changes.
However, if you did not maintain a proper layout sequence, you will probably have a document with more revision tracks than it should.
Adobe Acrobat document comparison tool used in Manual Translation projects to identify revisions and optimize translation costs.
Use “document comparison” function in Adobe Acrobat Professional. Once you put the old and the recent version, you will receive a comparison report with detailed information on the revised pages. It’s better than the MS Word, especially for brochures that have images and a significant shift in content spots.
However, you still cannot have an accurate number of how much work was done easily.
These two show you an estimate of how much work was involved.
CAT Tool Analysis vs. Manual Translation
No, it’s not a pet tool for your cat😄. CAT stands for Computer Assisted Translation, which in a layman’s term is a tool that can remember everything – all the words that have been translated and re-use them.
There are quite a few CAT tools on the market, commercial and free ones. They have one thing in common; CAT tools have translation memory and terminology base.
Every translation completed on CAT tool was sent to translation memory (TM), which can later be used to compare and identify which has been translated (matches), which has not (untranslated) and which is in between (fuzzy matches).
In this way, we have a better understanding of exactly how much work is yet to be done for the next project.
We submitted our analysis report for Brian’s new document.
Every 100% match will not be charged, meaning you will never pay for the same translation again!
Fuzzy matches will be charged at a small fraction of standard translation price. Because these would be a simple revision in a sentence that has been translated before.
Untranslated are new words that need to be worked right away.
In short, for this project of 5800 words, only 428 words are new, we have saved Brian $537.20 in total.
Reducing costs for clients is one of our top-priority as a professional translation partner.
As you can see, Manual Translation doesn’t have to be costly or inefficient. By combining revision tracking with CAT tool analysis, you can avoid paying twice for the same work, cut unnecessary expenses, and still receive high-quality results. In Brian’s case, this approach led to savings of more than $500—proof that a strategic workflow makes all the difference.
If you’re updating documents, rolling out multilingual content, or simply looking to reduce translation costs without sacrificing accuracy, our team is ready to help. Contact us today to discover how our Manual Translation services can make your next project faster, smarter, and more cost-effective!
