For translation students and teachers · free
A free CAT tool for translation students. Nothing to install on lab computers. Nothing uploaded.
Open the SDLXLIFF from Trados Studio, the MQXLIFF from memoQ, or any XLIFF your course hands out, in the browser of a lab computer or a laptop at home. There is no licence to buy, no software to install and no account to create, and the file never leaves the computer, so coursework and client files stay private.
No account · no install · works offline Teaching? Get the free teacher kit ↓
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€0
for every student
No licence, no seats to count and no student plan that runs out. Every feature is free.
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0
installs
It is a web page. A lab computer with a current Chrome or Edge is ready as it is, with no administrator rights.
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0
uploads
Coursework stays on the computer it was done on. There is no server that could receive it. Where the file goes
In the course
Practise on the files and the keys the industry uses.
Students open the same bilingual formats Trados Studio and memoQ produce and keep the same keyboard habits, and nothing in the lab needs setting up.
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The files clients send
SDLXLIFF, MQXLIFF, XLIFF 1.2 and 2.0, PO, Excel and CSV, and SRT and WebVTT subtitles. Students open the bilingual file itself, with no licence or project around it.
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Keys their hands will keep
Ctrl+Enter confirms and moves on. Choose the Trados Studio or memoQ keyboard layout and the common commands sit on the keys those tools use.
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Translation memory
Load a TMX and see exact and fuzzy matches with their rates, pretranslate from them, and export finished work as TMX.
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Terminology
Load a TBX, CSV or Excel termbase. Terms are marked in the source, and the checks flag missing and forbidden ones.
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15 quality checks
Tags, numbers, placeholders, double spaces, punctuation, terms and consistency, with a QA report students can hand in.
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Review in Excel
Export a review workbook, review it in Excel, and import the decisions back into the file. A peer review needs no second tool.
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Works offline
Install it from the browser and it opens and works without internet, for a lab whose network comes and goes.
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Nothing to administer
No accounts to create, no licences to assign and no server to keep running. Students open the page and start.
Private by design
Coursework stays on the student's computer.
There is no account and no upload, so xliff.ai never receives a student's work, name or e-mail address.
- No sign-up, no tracking
- No accounts, no cookies and no analytics, so there is no student data for us to hold, and nothing to consent to.
- Client files stay private
- A real file under a non-disclosure agreement can be opened here: the browser reads it and writes the export on that computer.
- Shared lab computers
- Work is saved in that browser, on that computer, and comes back to whoever opens the same file there. Before leaving, export it and clear the site's data.
Teacher kit · free download
Six exercises for a lab session, with the answers.
Original texts written for the kit, English to German. Hand out the student folder and keep the answer keys.
| # | Exercise | Files | What students practise | Time |
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| 1 | First translation | XLIFF 1.2 | Open a file, translate and confirm, export it intact | 20 min |
| 2 | Tags and placeholders | SDLXLIFF | Bold, links and {0} kept in place; the tag checks | 20 min |
| 3 | Find the errors | MQXLIFF, TBX | Ten planted errors: the ones QA finds, and the ones only a reader finds | 25 min |
| 4 | Translation memory | MQXLIFF, TMX | Exact and fuzzy matches, what changed, pretranslation | 20 min |
| 5 | Terminology | SDLXLIFF, TBX | Preferred, allowed and forbidden terms | 20 min |
| 6 | Review in Excel | XLIFF 1.2, XLSX | A client's review: accept, modify, reject, and a fix that drops a tag | 20 min |
Also in the kit
- An answer key for each exercise, with a reference file to compare against
- A one-page lesson plan for a 90-minute session
- A one-page quick-start sheet for students
- Free to use, copy and adapt (CC BY 4.0)
ZIP · 63 KB · no sign-up
To mark a file, open the student's export and the reference file in Compare two files: every changed segment as tracked changes, with its edit distance.
Limits
What it does not do.
Better read here than found in week three.
- No team server
- No shared memory or termbase, no projects to assign and no class dashboard. Each student works in their own browser and hands in the exported file the way your course already collects work.
- No file preparation
- It opens bilingual files. It does not turn a Word document into an SDLXLIFF, or the SDLXLIFF back into Word: that step stays in Trados Studio or memoQ, or use the kit's files.
- No machine translation of its own
- Pretranslation comes only from memories students load. The optional AI features need a student's own provider key, and send segments to that provider.
- Tested in Chrome and Edge
- Firefox and Safari are not yet in the automated tests. It opens on a phone, but the exercises are built for a keyboard.
Questions teachers ask
Do students need an account?
No. There is no sign-up, no e-mail address and no licence key. Students open xliff.ai, drop the exercise file on the page and start translating. Nothing has to be created for them in advance, and nothing expires at the end of the term.
What about privacy and the GDPR?
The files are opened, edited and exported in the student's browser and never reach us, so xliff.ai receives no coursework and no personal data from it. There are no accounts, no cookies and no analytics. Like any website, the site is delivered by a web host, Cloudflare, which sees each visitor's IP address and browser for the page requests themselves. The privacy policy names Terratra OÜ as the controller and sets out what the host sees, for your data protection officer if your institution asks.
Which computers and browsers does it work on?
A desktop or laptop with a current Chrome or Edge, which is what it is tested in; Firefox and Safari are not yet part of the automated tests. Nothing is installed and no administrator rights are needed. Work is saved in that browser on that computer, so on a shared lab computer a student should export the file before leaving and clear the site's data. The review exercise needs Excel.
How do students hand in their work?
Export gives the file back in its own format under the same name, ready to upload to your learning platform or send by e-mail, and the QA report can go with it. To mark it, open the student's file and the kit's reference file in Compare two files on xliff.ai, which shows each changed segment as tracked changes with its edit distance.
Can I use the exercises in my own course?
Yes. The texts were written for the kit, and the kit is free to use, copy and adapt under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence (CC BY 4.0): shorten it, translate it into your language pair, or use it in an exam.
Does it replace teaching Trados Studio or memoQ?
No. Creating projects, preparing files and maintaining memories happen in those tools, and employers expect graduates to know them. xliff.ai is for practising on their files where a licence is not available: at home, on a lab computer that cannot install software, or for a student who cannot afford one. Its exports have not yet been verified in Trados Studio and memoQ themselves.
Does it translate for the students?
No. Students write the translation, and pretranslation comes only from translation memories they load. The optional AI translation and review work only with a key a student adds for their own AI provider, and send the segments in view, with their neighbours and matching glossary terms, to that provider when the student presses the button.
Something else? Ask, or report a problem.