CAT Tools in an Academic Environment: What Are They Good For?

Abstract: Many universities have now incorporated commercially available translators ' workbench-style systems into their translator-training programmes. But, when it comes to computer-aided translation (CAT), the university's role need not be confined to teaching students how to operate some third party's system; rather new CAT tools open up whole new areas of research. For example, experience of Trados's Translator's Workbench suggests that workbench features such as automatic terminology recognition and translation memories stand to bring about fundamental changes in the way terminology is recorded and texts are authored. State-of-the-art CAT tools can also make a contribution to Descriptive Translation Studies and translation pedagogy.Résumé: Les postes de travail du traducteur (PTT) font désormais partie intégrante de nombreux programmes universitaires de formation des traducteurs/ traductrices. Des logiciels tels que le Translator's Workbench de Trados ouvrent de nouvelles perspectives de recherche aux universitaires. Dans cet article, nous étudions les usages actuels et futurs des PTT ayant trait à la rédaction de textes, la terminographie, la pédagogie de la traduction et la traductologie.