Computer-Assisted Translation and the Evolution of Language Technologies: The Case of SDL Trados Studio in the Translation of Fashion Texts into English

This thesis was developed with the aim of illustrating how, nowadays, professional translation practice is no longer based exclusively on translators’ linguistic knowledge, but is also supported by the use of digital translation tools, commonly referred to as CAT tools (Computer-Assisted Translation tools). Specifically, this study focuses on the analysis of selected excerpts from fashion texts—particularly descriptions of clothing items—which were produced during a collaboration with a translation agency working with a well-known Italian fashion brand. After a substantial theoretical background section, which examines the perspectives highlighted within Translation Studies, the thesis focuses on the methodological criteria adopted and on the use of the software Trados Studio, which represents the CAT tool selected for this analysis. The limitations of the study are also acknowledged, since the analysed corpus is relatively small and the translations are the result of the work of a single translator, namely the author of this thesis. The results show that the use of translation memories and terminology databases promotes terminological consistency, stylistic uniformity, and efficiency in the translation process. At the same time, the importance of the translator’s intervention emerges in maintaining the expressive and communicative characteristics typical of the language of fashion.