The digitalization of the translation process occurred during the 1990s, when translation memory tools, usually integrated with terminology management systems, became the focus of translation companies because these memories helped them improve their productivity.

Nowadays, various computer software can be used to increase the efficiency, speed or quality of translation, although these claims are less proven by comparative studies.

The combination of processes and computer tools with translation processes and tools has led to the creation of a new field of study called translation technologies, including machine translation or computer aided translation.

Some scientists offer a scale based on the amount of computer use in the translation process, which is based on the degree of human involvement in the translation and the amount of computer use in the translation process.

On one side of this scale is human translation, a type of translation in which the whole process of translation was done by humans using only pen and paper, which has been used in translation for centuries, but on the other side of this scale , there is a fully automatic or automatic translation with very high quality.

In 1992, this view was completely utopian, and it will be so today if there is no control or restriction on the language of the texts. Between these two scales, there are other types of translation that use computer-aided translation tools, but the amount of computer use varies.