Term recognition in Trados 2024

Dear Community, 

this post is an inquiry aimed at understanding better what new Trados24 version brings.

Here is a curious example of term recognition performed by Multiterm today:

Screenshot of Trados software with term recognition highlighting 'comprehensive' and 'maintenance' in a text segment. Term Recognition pane shows 'comprehensive maintenance' with a 78% match.

I have NEVER seen Trados recognize separate words as part of a term saved in the database (comprehensive and maintenance, in this particular case). 

The search is set to 70%, which is a standard issue:

Screenshot of Trados software showing Project Settings with Search Settings expanded, highlighting the 'Minimum match value %' set to 70.

First, I thought that Multiterm recognized only "comprehensive" and returned a fuzzy match from the database (even this would be a 50-60% match, definetely not 70%, in my opinion).

But then I saw that "maintenance" does not appear in the hitlist as a separate term, meaning that both words were recognized as parts of "compehensive maintenance". How come? There are 3 words inbetween!

This has never happened in the previous versions. Is there any technical explanation? New search processes in Trados 2024?

Would be very grateful for the explanation! Thanks in advance!



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[edited by: RWS Community AI at 8:09 AM (GMT 1) on 2 Apr 2025]
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    I tested this in 2022 and got exactly the same results as I do in 2024, so I don't believe there is anything different in 2024 in this regard.
    As to how this works... I tested it a bit and can explain by deduction rather than giving details it would require a developer to provide.  But first some basics.
    Term recognition match scores are not calculated like translation memory fuzzy matches.  Instead, they consider:
    1. Exactness of phrase match
      • Is the entire term ("comprehensive maintenance") present as-is?
      • If yes => 100% match
      • If only components are found, Studio will attempt a fuzzy term match
    2. Proximity of tokens
      • If the term is made up of multiple words, Trados checks how far apart those words are in the segment.
      • Closer = higher match score
      • Separated by multiple words or punctuation = lower score
    3. Additional modifiers or interference
      • Words like “digitized” and “complex” interrupt the expected phrase, reducing confidence in the match.
    4. Order of tokens
      1. If the words are out of order, it further weakens the score.

    So, if I then look at some examples:

    Screenshot of MultiTerm software showing term recognition results with 'comprehensive maintenance' at 78% match and other terms at 100%. Text being analyzed is visible at the bottom.Screenshot of MultiTerm software showing term recognition results with 'comprehensive maintenance' at 87% match and other terms at 100%. Analyzed text is displayed at the bottom.Screenshot of MultiTerm software showing term recognition results with 'comprehensive maintenance' at 72% match and other terms at 100%. The text for analysis is shown at the bottom.

    I changed the distance between "comprehensive" and "maintenance" in each one resulting in 78%, 87% and 72% matches, all based on the same single termbase entry "comprehensive maintenance".

    First, I thought that Multiterm recognized only "comprehensive" and returned a fuzzy match from the database (even this would be a 50-60% match, definetely not 70%, in my opinion).

    If it was a translation memory I'd agree... but it's not :-)

    Studio attempts to infer the intent and provide useful term suggestions even if the exact match isn’t there.  In your use case (technical documentation/rail), this behaviour might be quite useful.  But equally it could be misleading if translators assume that “comprehensive” or “maintenance” are individually present in the termbase (when they're not).  So one difference I do see between 2024 and 2022 is that the match value seems to be there by default in 2024 (it wasn't in 2022 - although I didn't investigate this to see if my earlier or current default settings are at play).  Either way the match score helps flag that partial matches are being made, based on token recognition and order.

    Hope that helps?

    Paul Filkin | RWS Group

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    [edited by: RWS Community AI at 10:01 AM (GMT 1) on 3 Apr 2025]
  • As always, thank you for answering, Paul!

    As for the match value, it appears in 2024 version. My colleagues with Trados 2021/2022 do not have it and there is no such option in the Hitlist settings.

    But this is not the issue. Technically, I do not know how the match calculation is performed, but let me assure you that Multiterm has never "recognized" terms separated by word/words before.

    A recent example: my colleague asked me about a very common system used on the train (Juridical recording unit / Unidad de Registro Jurídico), she needed the exact, "official" term in Russian. Since I work on the TDB on a daily basis, I knew it HAD to be there, so I wondered why it did not appear in the Multiterm window.

    In effect, it was not there, because the engineer used the wording "unidad jurídica", and I had only the first three options saved: 

    Screenshot of a MultiTerm database entry showing terms in Spanish and Russian related to juridical recording units.

    Therefore, Multiterm had "unidad de registro jurídico", but when it came across "unidad jurídica", it was not recognized as a fuzzy match (null result). As you can see, I added this term "variation" to the database.

    This is why the example I came across yesterday kind of struck me. Because it would save me recording so many "similar" wordings in the database (I really have plenty of them):

    Screenshot of a MultiTerm database entry with an image diagram and terms in Spanish and Russian related to welding.

    And in Russian, for example, the adjective can come before or after the noun (without any change in meaning), so I have to save both. If not, the term won´t be recognized.

    So I think, some kind of update-improvement has been performed on the Multiterm search engine. But, then, I am just the final user :).

    And if it works as you have explained above, then it is really great, since this may save us many manual fuzzy searches.

    Best regards!

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    [edited by: RWS Community AI at 2:45 PM (GMT 1) on 3 Apr 2025]
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    Maybe a reorganisation would help?

    Paul Filkin | RWS Group

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  • ok - so you're not using 2024, so here's my 2024:

    I have just understood why you said that. Because match value was not shown in the Multiterm window of my example. 

    I keep working and it has not appeared yet. I restarted Trados and it´s not there....magic...but , yes, my version is 2024. And the terminology match value comes and goes :). Randomly.

    As for the reorganization. Well, I can try it, though I remeber half of the pictures disappeared after the last try :).

    But, yes, ok, I will make a copy and try to reorganize.

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    I keep working and it has not appeared yet. I restarted Trados and it´s not there....magic...but , yes, my version is 2024.

    What version of MultiTerm do you have installed?

    Paul Filkin | RWS Group

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  • Screenshot showing a taskbar with the MultiTerm 2024 Desktop application highlighted, indicating it is running.

    Same as Trados

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    [edited by: RWS Community AI at 12:51 PM (GMT 1) on 7 Apr 2025]
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    Same as Trados

    Not sure what that means!  You should have:

    Trados Studio 2024 - 18.0.2.3255

    MultiTerm 2024 - 18.0.2.3266

    Do you have these and no other versions of MultiTerm installed?  If you have other versions installed run a repair on the 2024 version.

    Paul Filkin | RWS Group

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  • True, Paul, I have two notifications on the update. Currently I have these installed:

    About MultiTerm window showing version number 18.0.1.3110 and copyright notice for RWS Holdings plc or affiliates for the years 2024.

    and

    About Trados Studio window showing version number 18.0.1.2259 and copyright notice for RWS Holdings plc or affiliates from 2000 to 2024, with Trados Studio 2024 Professional mentioned.

    Ok, then, maybe it´s the update issue....

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    [edited by: RWS Community AI at 1:54 PM (GMT 1) on 7 Apr 2025]
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    Ok, then, maybe it´s the update issue....

    Maybe... maybe not.  Certainly you should update and then test before we worry about what doesn't work.

    Also worth looking at where you are saving your termbases.  What's the full path?  Good to make sure it's not on a OneDrive path to avoid any synch issues that could be affecting your testing.

    Paul Filkin | RWS Group

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    You've done the courses and still need to go a little further, or still not clear? 
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  • OneDrive is a must now. So everything is synchronized immediately. But originally I have it on Disc C.

    Ahh, since you´ve mentioned OneDrive, I will tell you another problem. My OneDrive gets full (1TB) every two months. And I have no permission for bulk operations (to delete all backup versions in one click). I can do it only one by one. You know the reason? Every time I merge, delete, add or modify an entry...with every click of mine, a Multiterm TDB backup version is created :) 

    Same happens to the translation memories:

    Screenshot of OneDrive storage almost full warning with a version history list showing multiple entries for a MultiTerm TDB, all modified by Yulia Kovalskaya with file sizes around 586 MB.

    So, the first step is to update both applications. I will request for it and see how Multiterm "behaves":)

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    [edited by: RWS Community AI at 2:15 PM (GMT 1) on 7 Apr 2025]
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    Ahh, since you´ve mentioned OneDrive, I will tell you another problem. My OneDrive gets full (1TB) every two months. And I have no permission for bulk operations (to delete all backup versions in one click). I can do it only one by one. You know the reason? Every time I merge, delete, add or modify an entry...with every click of mine, a Multiterm TDB backup version is created :) 

    A good example of why it's a bad idea to put Trados and MultiTerm resources on a OneDrive path.  Like many applications that use large resources and synch often they can have issues when they are living on a OneDrive path.  This isn't anything we can address... we have addressed it already with Trados Cloud... so if you wish to use the desktop environment you'd be advised to make sure your resources are not hosted on OneDrive and you just back things up the old way with a regular backup up.

    You don't have to keep things on OneDrive... they can be wherever you want.

    Paul Filkin | RWS Group

    ________________________
    Design your own training!

    You've done the courses and still need to go a little further, or still not clear? 
    Tell us what you need in our Community Solutions Hub

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  • Completely agree with you, Paul! This has become clear to me even without IT-knowledge. Sometimes (when I don´t forget), I just turn the sync off during the day. In this case, if I am not mistaken, only the last available version of the resources is synchronized when on again.

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