| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5 6] > | Translators not owning CAT tools: How do they manage? Thread poster: Yasutomo Kanazawa
|
|---|
Vincenzo Di Maso 
Portugal
Local time: 15:08
Member (2009)
English to Italian
+ ...
| spot on, matey! | Feb 23, 2010 |
Tom in London wrote:
not using CAT tools has never prevented me from getting work. I get work because I produce perfect translations, on time - not because I use CAT tools  [Edited at 2010-02-22 11:30 GMT]
The matter is that their usage will be more common.
Anyway I don't think that PDF files will be totally replaced so easily.
| | | | Textklick
Local time: 15:08
German to English
+ ...
In memoriam
Yasutomo Kanazawa wrote:
Textklick wrote:
However, in the case of other material such as marketing texts, longer prose pieces such as magazines etc. they also have their uses in avoiding consistency. In that respect, they can be useful in showing you how to not repeat yourself. I find that a useful aspect when applying the final polish.
I wonder whether others agree?
Cheers,
Chris
Couldn't agree more, but there are some agencies where they ask you to use CAT tools to translate a magazine article or marketing texts. Can you believe that? I guess they're just after the discounts...
Not necessarily. Sometimes they just want to be 100% sure that you use the customer's preferred glossaries/terms. For example 'automotive industry v. car industry, 'IT' v. 'informatics' etc. etc.etc. Matches for discount purposes are seldom, but the reference is in the TM when you need it. That is also linked to Tom's statement on quality...
[Edited at 2010-02-23 10:01 GMT]
| | | | Krzysztof Kajetanowicz (X)
Poland
Local time: 16:08
English to Polish
+ ...
Yumico Tanaka wrote:
Krzysztof Kajetanowicz wrote:
Yumico Tanaka wrote:
Anyway, I get works in medicines which requires me to work on PowerPoint.
PowerPoint translations are hedious because you have to move around the cursels so much.
This is a big plus of Wordfast PRO, which extracts segments of text from .ppt files into a separate .txml file. After you're done translating, you have Wordfast replace source text with translations in the original .ppt file. All you may have to do, depending on your arrangement with the client, is make sure that target text fits into the text boxes.
Fmm, doesn't TRADOS do this kind of work too?
Thanks for your info, maybe Wordfast is better than TRADOS in this way...?
This helps me decide which tools I should invest on.
Trados has something called TagEditor, no idea how exactly it works though. Sorry if my post was misleading.
In any case, I strongly recommend Wordfast PRO for one feature that Trados apparently lacks: a demo mode, and a generous one. The only limitation of the Wordfast demo, as of October 2009 at least, is that TMs are limited to 500 units (but you can use multiple TMs) and remote (server) TMs can't be used. For Power Point files the convenience will be huge even without any TMs. Don't forget to scan through the entire online manual (not a big one) because the process takes some understanding.
[Edited at 2010-02-23 10:19 GMT]
| | | | Gianni Pastore
Italy
Local time: 16:08
Member (2007)
English to Italian
| 100k words jobs | Feb 23, 2010 |
While I agree that CAT tools are not necessary to succeed as a translator, I have to agree that a 100k+ words technical job splitted between 5 or 6 translators would be nearly impossible to keep consistent without a CAT tool.
[Edited at 2010-02-23 10:25 GMT]
| | |
|
|
|
Giles Watson
Italy
Local time: 16:08
Italian to English
In memoriam | Ailourophobia | Feb 23, 2010 |
Tom in London wrote:
not using CAT tools has never prevented me from getting work. I get work because I produce perfect translations, on time - not because I use CAT tools
Absolutely.
But there again being able to use Trados and Déjà Vu has never prevented me from delivering publication-ready work either. As I said earlier, it's the translator that produces the translation. CATs just give you greater flexibility in handling source, target and legacy texts, if you take the time to learn how to use them properly.
What puzzles me is the vehemence with which some people appear to dislike what are merely tools of the trade (NB I'm not thinking of you here, Tom). Still, there's a word for the abnormal fear of CATs.
| | | | Laurent KRAULAND (X)
France
Local time: 16:08
French to German
+ ...
| Hear, hear... | Feb 23, 2010 |
Giles Watson wrote:
What puzzles me is the vehemence with which some people appear to dislike what are merely tools of the trade (NB I'm not thinking of you here, Tom). Still, there's a word for the abnormal fear of CATs. (my emphasis)
As well as a word for the feline counterpart of cynicism: ailurism. But should the abnormal fear of TEnT not rather be called technophobia?
| | | | Yasutomo Kanazawa
Japan
Local time: 00:08
Member (2005)
English to Japanese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Tageditor are mainly for html files | Feb 23, 2010 |
Krzysztof Kajetanowicz wrote:
Yumico Tanaka wrote:
Krzysztof Kajetanowicz wrote:
Yumico Tanaka wrote:
Anyway, I get works in medicines which requires me to work on PowerPoint.
PowerPoint translations are hedious because you have to move around the cursels so much.
This is a big plus of Wordfast PRO, which extracts segments of text from .ppt files into a separate .txml file. After you're done translating, you have Wordfast replace source text with translations in the original .ppt file. All you may have to do, depending on your arrangement with the client, is make sure that target text fits into the text boxes.
Fmm, doesn't TRADOS do this kind of work too?
Thanks for your info, maybe Wordfast is better than TRADOS in this way...?
This helps me decide which tools I should invest on.
Trados has something called TagEditor, no idea how exactly it works though. Sorry if my post was misleading.
In any case, I strongly recommend Wordfast PRO for one feature that Trados apparently lacks: a demo mode, and a generous one. The only limitation of the Wordfast demo, as of October 2009 at least, is that TMs are limited to 500 units (but you can use multiple TMs) and remote (server) TMs can't be used. For Power Point files the convenience will be huge even without any TMs. Don't forget to scan through the entire online manual (not a big one) because the process takes some understanding. [Edited at 2010-02-23 10:19 GMT]
Krzysztof,
From what I know, TagEditors are mostly used for html files and Excel files. You just drag and drop them, and voila, you could open them in TagEditor and start translating using the same TM as Workbench.
| | | | Jaroslaw Michalak
Poland
Local time: 16:08
Member (2004)
English to Polish
SITE LOCALIZER
From what I know, TagEditors are mostly used for html files and Excel files. You just drag and drop them, and voila, you could open them in TagEditor and start translating using the same TM as Workbench.
Where did you get that idea from? TagEditor can be used to translate all formats supported by Trados 2007, including PowerPoint.
[Edited at 2010-02-23 13:18 GMT]
| | |
|
|
|
Yasutomo Kanazawa
Japan
Local time: 00:08
Member (2005)
English to Japanese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Yes, you're right | Feb 23, 2010 |
Jabberwock wrote:
From what I know, TagEditors are mostly used for html files and Excel files. You just drag and drop them, and voila, you could open them in TagEditor and start translating using the same TM as Workbench.
Where did you get that idea from? TagEditor can be used to translate all formats supported by Trados 2007, including PowerPoint. [Edited at 2010-02-23 13:18 GMT]
Since I don't use PowerPoint and everytime someone asks me to use TagEditor, it's either an Excel file or a html file. I totally forgot that it supports all formats.
| | | | Jeff Whittaker
United States
Local time: 10:08
Spanish to English
+ ...
It has been my experience that companies in the U.S. do not require the use of CAT tools for into-English translations very often. This is probably because most of these clients only need a one-time translation of a contract or document, while translations into other languages tend to be software manuals, etc. where there are multiple revisions and repeated text. Also, much of the work I do comes in the form of faxes in .pdf files.
However, I recently received a very large project t... See more It has been my experience that companies in the U.S. do not require the use of CAT tools for into-English translations very often. This is probably because most of these clients only need a one-time translation of a contract or document, while translations into other languages tend to be software manuals, etc. where there are multiple revisions and repeated text. Also, much of the work I do comes in the form of faxes in .pdf files.
However, I recently received a very large project that contained over 50% repetitions. Unfortunately, the project was divided into 11 separate files. I thought I could do the job with copy/paste, find/replace, but it turned into a complete nightmare because it was extremely difficult to find all the very small changes in large chunks of seemingly identical text. I believe a CAT tool would have highlighted these changes.
Therefore, I have decided to get/purchase a tool sometime this year. Unfortunately, I will not be able to use Trados because the freelance version only supports 5 languages and I need to have 6. (Trados suggested that I install a license on two separate computers, thereby enabling me to theoretically use 10 languages, but my data would then be split between two systems and that could get cumbersome). From what I have been told, it looks like Wordfast/Wordfast Pro does not have this limitation, so that is probably the tool I will use. ▲ Collapse
| | | | NMR (X)
France
Local time: 16:08
French to Dutch
+ ...
| Only eleven? | Feb 23, 2010 |
Jeff Whittaker wrote:
However, I recently received a very large project that contained over 50% repetitions. Unfortunately, the project was divided into 11 separate files. I thought I could do the job with copy/paste, find/replace, but it turned into a complete nightmare because it was extremely difficult to find all the very small changes in large chunks of seemingly identical text. I believe a CAT tool would have highlighted these changes.
For me it was the reason for having a CAT (eight years ago). Since then I regularly have several dozens and sometimes even several hundreds of files.
Back to the original question: Translators not owning CAT tools: How do they manage?
They translate.
I have several friends who don't know what is a CAT, and they translate all kinds of subjects, for high-end clients. They open files, translate and close them. And they have lots of PDFs and paper source texts, yes.
The only "trick" they use is Search/Replace.
Of course, they cannot do that on 87 files, and they don't remember what they said six months ago. They don't know what is Context Search on bilingual material.
From what I have been told, it looks like Wordfast/Wordfast Pro does not have this limitation, so that is probably the tool I will use.
Are you kidding? Does that really exist in other software? This happy WF user never heard of such a limitation, and even mixes up two and sometimes three source languages in one translation memory. (will have to work properly with WF Pro, though).
| | | | Laurent KRAULAND (X)
France
Local time: 16:08
French to German
+ ...
NMR wrote:
Jeff Whittaker wrote:
From what I have been told, it looks like Wordfast/Wordfast Pro does not have this limitation, so that is probably the tool I will use.
Are you kidding? Does that really exist in other software? This happy WF user never heard of such a limitation, and even mixes up two and sometimes three source languages in one translation memory. (will have to work properly with WF Pro, though).
No kidding: I hereby solemnly confirm that the freelance version of SDL Trados is limited to five (5) languages...
| | |
|
|
|
Amy Duncan (X)
Brazil
Local time: 12:08
Portuguese to English
+ ...
| A man after my own heart | Feb 24, 2010 |
Brian Young wrote:
I have Wordfast and Omega T on my Mac, and I can't stand using either one. I agree with John, Henry, Laurent, and others. If a client demands the use of a CAT, then they can find someone else. I am not that hungry, and I have no desire to do the type of translation that might actually benefit from a CAT tool. I think too that it is part of a plot to demand discounts and lower rates. Fuzzy matches? Give me a break! Clean and unclean documents?
That type of BS will soon be handled by Google Translate. I want no part of it.
Couldn't have said it any better myself. I had to use Trados (that was before I switched to Mac) for one agency I worked for some years ago and I hated it. There was no reason to use it, since the texts were press releases and had practically no repetitions. I found it claustrophobic, buggy and just a general pain in the arse.
Haven't used a CAT tool since, and don't intend to. I agree with Brian that if someone insists on it they can find another translator.
| | | | Amy Duncan (X)
Brazil
Local time: 12:08
Portuguese to English
+ ...
Benno Groeneveld wrote:
When I used to look back and forth between the original and the translation, I sometimes missed a sentence because my eyes skip a part (especially when the letters in the source text are small). That hasn't happened to me since I started using WordFast.
Why would you look back and forth between the original and the translation? I just make a copy of the original, place it below the original of the original and then translate on top...that way you don't have your eyes jumping around from one text to another. And when you finish your translation, you have a copy of the original right there for comparison.
| | | |
Yumico Tanaka wrote:
Krzysztof Kajetanowicz wrote:
Yumico Tanaka wrote:
Anyway, I get works in medicines which requires me to work on PowerPoint.
PowerPoint translations are hedious because you have to move around the cursels so much.
This is a big plus of Wordfast PRO, which extracts segments of text from .ppt files into a separate .txml file. After you're done translating, you have Wordfast replace source text with translations in the original .ppt file. All you may have to do, depending on your arrangement with the client, is make sure that target text fits into the text boxes.
Fmm, doesn't TRADOS do this kind of work too?
Thanks for your info, maybe Wordfast is better than TRADOS in this way...?
This helps me decide which tools I should invest on.
Of course Trados can handle ppt, this feature has been around for at least a few years. I'd be astonished if MemoQ and DVX didn't support it too. It's par for the course.
DHIRAJ KHATI wrote:
There are no CAT tools which support my primary language pair, so I don't use any.
I am reluctant to believe this. Do you mean to say Nepali characters can't be rendered in UTF-8? If you can write UTF-8 .txt files in Nepali, then pretty much all CATs should be compatible with your language combination.
Edit: my opinion on CATs in general: of course it is possible to get lots of well-paid work and translate well without a CAT, and quite a few people do it. However, a CATs are useful in almost all translation jobs. They can help you work faster and better.
Most people who say CATs are useless for their work are simply incompetent CAT users. Many of them grew up when computers weren't widespread and learned the trade when CATs weren't widespread, so they can't or don't want to adapt their workflow to CATs and simply find them annoying and never discover how they could/should be used.
[Edited at 2010-02-24 20:16 GMT]
| | | | | Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5 6] > | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Translators not owning CAT tools: How do they manage? | Trados Studio 2022 Freelance | The leading translation software used by over 270,000 translators.
Designed with your feedback in mind, Trados Studio 2022 delivers an unrivalled, powerful desktop
and cloud solution, empowering you to work in the most efficient and cost-effective way.
More info » |
| | Wordfast Pro | Translation Memory Software for Any Platform
Exclusive discount for ProZ.com users!
Save over 13% when purchasing Wordfast Pro through ProZ.com. Wordfast is the world's #1 provider of platform-independent Translation Memory software. Consistently ranked the most user-friendly and highest value
Buy now! » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
Translation news
