Why Making Raiverb
The creation of Raiverb stemmed from years of hands on localization experience and a clear recognition of gaps in the market. Existing solutions were often too complex, limited to SaaS platforms, or lacked the flexibility to meet diverse needs. Raiverb was designed to be approachable, lightweight, and powerful, catering to professionals seeking a reliable, non SaaS solution.
At the heart of Raiverb lies its Translation Center, a feature that leverages generative AI to deliver accurate translations with a strong emphasis on context and consistency. While AI capabilities are a significant focus, the primary motivation behind Raiverb was to enhance productivity without disrupting existing workflows.
Raiverb isn’t about replacing the human element in localization—a task we view as neither achievable nor desirable. Instead, it’s a tool designed to support human translators, streamline processes, and respect established workflows. Beyond translation, Raiverb offers robust tools to control, organize, and ensure the quality of translated content, making it a comprehensive localization solution.
Context Matters
Machine Translation (MT) has advanced significantly, with neural networks and generative AI models delivering increasingly sophisticated results. However, both approaches have limitations.
- Specialized MT services (e.g., DeepL) excel in raw translation quality but lack flexibility.
- Generative AI models (e.g., GPT, LLaMA) are adaptable and responsive to user demands but may lack precision.
These technologies are converging, with Machine Translation evolving into a specialized branch of generative AI. However, one critical element remains elusive: context.
Context is a crucial yet frequently overlooked component.
Yet the absence of it can lead to inaccuracies and inconsistencies. In localization, especially for software or video games, a high-quality translation is not only about the raw literary quality of the text, but also the nuances of contextual intricacies. Without context, the risk is a result that is technically accurate but contextually inappropriate. This is a significant source of frustration for reviewers and proofreaders.
Human translators have long relied on CAT (Computer-Assisted Translation) tools to address this issue. CAT tools provide past translations and segment large documents, helping ensure consistency and manageability. Raiverb takes this concept further by integrating AI capabilities with robust contextual analysis.
This is true for humans as well, which is why human translators have relied on CAT (Computer Assisted Translation) tools for decades. CAT tools are specialized software mainly designed around the goal to provide references to past translations and terms, and segment large documents into manageable parts.
For example, translating dialogue in a game requires an understanding of the characters, their relationships, and the narrative setting. Without this knowledge, translations can appear awkward or incorrect.
These issues becomes more critical as a project grows bigger, and understanding a specific area of the project becomes increasingly complex and requires reading notes and comments.
Awkward game translations, the result of missing context.
How Does Raiverb Solve This Problem?
Obtaining context is not as straightforward as it seems. The translation and localization industry often involves working with a wide range of file formats that may have little in common. Extracting context from such diverse formats is a complex task.
Raiverb’s Translation Center is specifically designed to handle this complexity.
- Contextual Analysis:
Raiverb reads source files and enable users to effortlessly set up, extract, and organize every piece of available contextual data.
- Segment Translation:
Just like a classic CAT, it will slice the content into relevant chunks called segments, and translate these segments one by one.
- Format Adaptability:
It incorporates different strategies for various file formats. For example, XLSX files can be configured so that each column is recognized as distinct elements: column A can be assigned as the source text, collumn B as notes, and column C as a character limit requirement, which will all be exploited to deliver the most accurate translation. Raiverb supports most of the common formats, all with their own customized strategy focused on extracting contextual data.
Classic CAT features:
Like any CAT tool, Raiverb supports translation memories and glossaries, which are classic formats human translators use daily to ensure adherence to the style and terminology. Translation Memories (TM) are the component allowing access to previous translations, thus ensuring consistency across translations, even with different translators.
Once all the data is set up, the AI endpoint will receive a translation request along with all the data it needs (glossary, TM, and all metadata) to make a precise, adapted translation. This approach allows to not only get a precise translation, but also allows for proper management, proofreading and review.
- Automatic Data Redording:
When translating content, Raiverb automatically records and stores all results in your local device. It also allows language specialists to review and confirm translated segments, as well as exporting/classifying them, creating a growing repository of knowledge.
- Data Under Control:
Another beneficial side effect is to effectively remove the file size limitations for imported content. Raiverb is a standalone application that does not require users to upload files online, but only the segments to be translated.
The heavy lifting is done offline, if at any point the network is lost or the computer shuts down, all work done is safe.
Combining the power of CAT and LLM for optimal translation.
Long Term Planning
Raiverb’s long-term vision focuses on building a smarter, more adaptable tool over time.
- Expland Language Suuport & Streamline Collaboration:
Raiverb is set to support over 200 languages, ensuring comprehensive coverage for all your translation and localization needs. Additionally, it will be able to facilitate seamless collaboration with internal and external team members, enabling efficient management of the entire translation workflow.
- Learning and Optimization:
Raiverb gets all the benefits of classic CAT software: it not only learns and gets better the more it works on a given project, but won’t resubmit the same content.
- Full Customization:
Raiverb is not tied to any specific generative AI service. It uses customized versions of the best services available to date, with constant improvement and monitoring. Its output will evolve as available LLM make progress.
Future updates will allow users to fully customize their workflows. A licensed version of Raiverb will offer complete endpoint customization, empowering users to fine-tune the software to their specific needs.
Raiverb is fully customizable, continuously improving for best user experience.
It’s Not Only About AI
As mentioned previously, Raiverb is more than just its Translation Center. The objective was to create a lightweight software to centralize all classic localization features. It does not aim to replace a CAT tool or an established workflow but provides a set of convenient utilities that can be used anytime, anywhere. With Raiverb, you can do:
- Text-To-Image OCR. You have a scanned contract but can’t rely on third party websites? Raiverb will do it without connecting to the Internet.
- Translation Memory conversion. Get an industry-compatible Translation Memory file from your bilingual XLSX spreadsheets, and import it into any third-party solution.
- Quality Check. Get detailed yet simple-to-read quality reports on existing translations: check your glossary integrity, TM integrity, check for untranslated or empty content, abnormal difference in length, unequal numbers of tags with the LQA feature. Ideal for spotting easy to miss yet crucial issues.
- WYSIWYG Visual Editor for code and tags heavy content. Raiverb will remove all the tags and replace them with the relevant visuals. It is particularly useful when reviewing content using a lot of HTML or other code.
All of these features are entirely free and do not require a connection to the Internet, making Raiverb not only data-safe, but also fail-safe.
In A Nutshell
The objective of Raiverb is to be an easy-to-use, hassle-free assistant for all your localization and translation needs. At its core, Raiverb believes that context is just as important as the raw quality of a translation.
That’s why Raiverb is packed with a suite of tools and features, with an aim to streamline workflows, enhance productivity, and adapt to the unique needs of each user. Whether you’re managing a complex project or handling routine tasks, Raiverb is designed to make localization simpler, smarter, and more efficient.
