Pre-Translation

Pre-translation helps speed up the translation process and ease the work of translators. It also allows you to save funds as part of translations can be automated. You can use and combine the following types of pre-translation:

• AI Pre-Translate - uses AI Models to pre-translate the content.
• Machine Translation (MT) Pre-translate – takes translations from supported machine translation engines (MTE) and applies them to the project content. You need to configure at least one of the translation engines to enable this feature.
• Translation Memory (TM) Pre-translate – takes translations from the TM vault uploaded to the system and applies them to project content.

Tip

Use the Pre-translation Accuracy report to test which pre-translation methods work the best for your content.

Crowdin AI Read more about Crowdin AI and how to use it.

Machine Translation Read more about Machine Translation and how to use it.

Translation Memory Read more about Translation Memory and how to use it.

Manual Pre-translation

To apply Pre-translation manually, follow these steps:

1. Open your project and go to the Dashboard tab.
2. Click Pre-translation and select the preferred method (via Translation Memory, via Machine Translation, or AI).
3. Configure the following pre-translation parameters:
   • Target languages – select the languages to pre-translate into.
   • Files for pre-translation – select the files or folders you want to pre-translate.
   • Apply to untranslated strings only – when selected, pre-translation will only be applied to strings that don’t have any translations.
   • Allow duplicate translations – adds translations even if they duplicate existing ones. Useful when comparing AI prompts or MT engines in the Pre-translation Accuracy report, as it ensures that all translations are registered as new and included in accuracy calculations.

     Note

     Apply to untranslated strings only and Allow duplicate translations are mutually exclusive. Only one of them can be selected at a time.

   • Filter by labels / Exclude labels – include or exclude specific strings based on their assigned labels.

     Read more about Labels.

   • Minimum match ratio (Specific to pre-translation via TM) – select either 100% or Perfect match (101%) as the minimum similarity required for TM matches.

     Read more about TM Match Types.

   • Skip approved translations (Specific to pre-translation via TM and MT) – prevents overwriting strings that already have approved translations.
   • Approve added translations (Specific to pre-translation via TM) – allows you to auto-approve translations added through pre-translation. Options include:
     • All – approve all added translations.
     • With perfect match – approve only those with a 101% match.
     • With perfect match (approved previously) – approve perfect matches only if they were already approved before.
     • All (skip auto-substituted translations) – approve everything except translations improved by auto-substitution.
   • MT engine (Specific to pre-translation via MT) – select the machine translation engine to use for pre-translation.
   • AI prompt (Specific to pre-translation via AI) – select or create the prompt that will guide the AI model’s behavior during pre-translation.
4. Click Pre-translation.

Note

If the TM Auto-substitution feature is enabled when pre-translating via TM, it means that TM suggestions improved to 100% will be treated as regular 100% matches.

Pre-translating Files and Folders via Context Menu

In addition to running the pre-translation from the project’s Dashboard, you can quickly pre-translate selected files or folders directly from the language page or Sources > Files using the context menu.

From the Language Page

To pre-translate a single file or folder from the language page, follow these steps:

1. Open your project and select the target language.
2. Click on the needed file or folder and select Pre-translate.
3. Select the preferred pre-translation method: via TM, via MT, or via AI.
4. In the Pre-translate dialog, the language and file/folder will already be selected for pre-translation. Configure the rest of the pre-translation parameters as described in the Manual Pre-translation section.
5. Click Pre-translation.

From Sources > Files

To pre-translate one or multiple files or folders from the Sources > Files section, follow these steps:

1. Open your project and go to Sources > Files.
2. Click (or right-click) on the needed file or folder, or select multiple items using Ctrl , ⌘ , or Shift and then click (or right-click).
3. Select Pre-translate, then select the preferred pre-translation method: via TM, via MT, or via AI.
4. In the Pre-translate dialog, the files or folders you selected in Sources > Files will already be selected for pre-translation. Configure the rest of the pre-translation parameters as described in the Manual Pre-translation section.
5. Click Pre-translation.

Pre-translation Queue

The Pre-translation queue allows you to trigger multiple manual pre-translations via TM, MT, or AI, each with different settings. After initiating a pre-translation, each instance enters a queue with a status of Pending.

Upon triggering a manual pre-translation, you will receive a notification indicating that the pre-translation has been added to the queue. To review all pre-translations currently in the queue, navigate to Tools > Pre-translation queue in your project. Alternatively, click Pre-translation in the project’s Dashboard and select Queue to be redirected directly to the Tools > Pre-translation queue.

Each entry in the Pre-translation queue table includes the following details:

• Created at: Displays the date and time when the pre-translation was initiated
• Type: TM, MT (MT engine name), AI (AI prompt name)
• Status: Pending, In progress, Completed, Canceled

You can cancel any pre-translation that is still in the queue if needed. Additionally, for completed pre-translations, you can view a report detailing the target languages, number of translations added and skipped, file list, and more.

Automatic Pre-translation

You can automate the Pre-translation in the project Settings > Pre-translate. In this case, each time you upload new content to your project, the system will automatically trigger the Pre-translation and apply translations to untranslated content.

Read more about Automatic Pre-translation.

Handling QA Issues During Pre-translation via AI

If the AI provider returns translations with QA issues during pre-translation, Crowdin will collect the strings to which these faulty translations were applied and automatically reinitiate the pre-translation. The affected strings will be sent back to the AI provider along with details of the detected QA issues to ensure that the translations are corrected and meet quality standards.

Translation Memory Priority During Pre-translation via TM

When using pre-translation via TM and the Share TMs option is enabled, Crowdin applies translations from translation memories based on a specific priority order. This priority ensures that translations come from the most relevant source, optimizing translation consistency and quality.

The order of priority is as follows:

1. Default TM: Matches are first searched for in the project’s default TM.
2. Assigned TMs: If no match is found in the default TM, the system continues searching through any TMs assigned specifically to the project.
3. Shared TMs: If no match is found in the default or assigned TMs, translations are retrieved from shared TMs available to the project.

This sequence allows Crowdin to apply translations from the most relevant TM source first, ensuring that high-quality matches are prioritized when multiple TMs are available.