Translation memory in StoreLingo: what it reuses and what it does not

Translation memory is a store of texts that have already been translated. When the same text comes up again, the stored translation is used instead of asking the translation engine a second time. This post explains how it works in StoreLingo and where its limits are.

What StoreLingo stores

Each entry in StoreLingo's translation memory holds:

• the source text (product or CMS field text that StoreLingo translates);
• the translated text;
• the language pair, for example English to German;
• the site it belongs to.

A lookup matches the exact source text, after spaces and line breaks are tidied up. Capital letters count: "Steel frame" and "steel frame" are different entries.

Per site, per language pair

The memory is kept per site and per language pair. If a product description was translated into German on your site before, the same description on another product of that site is filled with the stored German translation. It does not carry over to French, and it does not carry over to another site: the first French translation of that text is a new DeepL translation.

What it saves

StoreLingo plans include a monthly number of AI characters: the characters of source text sent to DeepL. Text filled from translation memory is not sent to DeepL and does not use AI characters. Editing by hand is unlimited.

How much this saves depends entirely on how much text repeats in your own catalog. A catalog with shared summaries or standard specification text repeats more; one where every description is written from scratch repeats little. We do not have a typical figure to give you.

Translation memory only covers the text StoreLingo translates: product and CMS item fields. Text that lives in your page templates, such as an "Add to cart" button or a shipping note typed into the Designer, is not translated by StoreLingo at all, so it never reaches the memory.

Your edits win

When you edit or approve a translation, that version is stored in the memory as your own. A later machine translation of the same text never replaces it, so the next time that text comes up in the same language on the same site, your version is used.

Viewing and clearing it

The Account dialog in the app has a Translation memory section where you can browse, search and clear entries, either all of them or the ones matching a search. Cleared texts are sent to DeepL again the next time they are translated, and that uses AI characters.

Translation memory and the glossary are different things

• Translation memory reuses whole translated texts.
• The glossary is a do-not-translate list: brand names, product lines, anything that should stay exactly as written. Matching is whole-word, any capitalisation of the term counts except an all-lowercase ordinary word, and the source's own spelling is kept. The glossary does not map a term to a translation of your choice.

A text that contains a glossary term is sent to DeepL with the term protected, rather than read from memory, so a newly added glossary term takes effect on the next translation.

Things to know

• Exact matches only. A text that differs by one word is a new text and is translated by DeepL.
• No context. The memory matches text, not meaning. If the same short text should be translated differently in two places, edit one of them by hand.
• Old entries stay. When you rewrite a description, the entry for the old text stays in the memory until you clear it.
• "Re-translate" ignores what you have. AI translate fills empty fields. The separate, labelled "Re-translate" action overwrites existing translations, including edited and approved ones, and uses AI characters.

Translation memory is included on every StoreLingo plan. Questions go to hello@storelingo.com.