| Pages in topic: [1 2 3] > | Poll: Do you find yourself turning down some clients because of the CAT tools they require? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you find yourself turning down some clients because of the CAT tools they require? ".
This poll was originally submitted by O María Elena Guerrero. View the poll results »
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I’m a happy dinosaur, meaning that I don’t use CAT tools. I used Trados when I worked in-house and I deeply disliked it. When I retired from my in-house position and started freelancing I didn’t buy a CAT tool. To date (18 years later) I have survived without one and I have managed to build a strong client base. I have been working for a few years with 3 agencies that require CAT tools but we have come to an agreement that works for me and for them (I get an export file).
| | | | | Yes, especially XTM | Aug 28 |
I tend to turn down offers mandating the use of browser-based online tools.
In particular, XTM is an absolute no-no. In fact, I do not even consider it a CAT tool because "A" in CAT stands for "assisted", and XTM hinders the translation work instead of assisting it.
[Edited at 2024-08-28 22:34 GMT]
| | | | jyuan_us 
United States
Local time: 13:22
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
I was not able to take an assignment because it requires Phrase. I was too scared to use it because its features look very different to what I'm used to in a CAT tool. I was trying very hard to find Track Change, only to find out that it doesn't have such a feature.
I guess I will need to spend some time learning about it before I can work on projects that require it.
[Edited at 2024-08-29 03:20 GMT]
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Sandra Boca
Italy
Local time: 19:22
Member (Feb 2024)
English to Italian
+ ...
When they required me to buy some expensive CAT Tools and the budget of the project wasn't enough to justify that cost.
| | | | Alex Lichanow
Germany
Local time: 19:22
Member (2020)
English to German
+ ...
jyuan_us wrote:
I was not able to take an assignment because it requires Phrase. I was too scared to use it because its features look very different to what I'm used to in a CAT tool. I was trying very hard to find Track Change, only to find out that it doesn't have such a feature.
I guess I will need to spend some time learning about it before I can work on projects that require it.
[Edited at 2024-08-29 03:20 GMT]
Out of all those browser-based sorry excuses for a CAT tool, in fact, Phrase is the one that comes closest to what a CAT tool should be like. Its translation and QA features are actually pretty satisfactory. Though that being said, it does have a whole slew of inconveniences that pile up over time:
- The new project view is utterly useless. Honestly, I can't even find my current assigned, unfinished jobs in this unholy mess.
- F9 triggers QA instead of setting the next tag. Sorry, but anyone who has ever worked with memoQ will use F9 to set a tag.
- While proofreading a 100% finished file, when I make a correction and confirm the segment again, there is a high chance of Phrase jumping to any random other segment. Especially annoying in big files, where this can mean that I'm just randomly teleported 196 segments further down the line.
- "Phrase Language AI", a.k.a. its DeepL integration, doesn't cooperate with term bases attached to a job. Dear artificial stupidity, term bases exist for a reason. And that reason is NOT to use any number of synonyms just as long as the TB entry itself remains untouched. Those would be DNT entries, which I am yet to see in Phrase.
- Existing MT segments are not overwritten by my own translations when they occur as high fuzzies. Yes, dear Phrase, my own confirmed human translation is worth more than an unconfirmed MT segment, and I would waste way less time if I could just get and confirm a 99% match that is my own translation from slightly further above.
To answer the poll question, I am routinely turning down anything to be translated in any other tool than Trados Studio, memoQ, WordFast or Phrase. Like Anton wrote, especially XTM is completely and utterly useless. It's nothing but a very shoddy AI training tool.
[Edited at 2024-08-29 07:52 GMT]
| | | | Georgi Kovachev
Bulgaria
Local time: 20:22
Member (2010)
English to Bulgarian
+ ...
Anton Konashenok wrote:
I tend to turn down offers mandating the use of browser-based online tools.
In particular, XTM is an absolute no-no.
Why lose a client if you can:
1. Export the file from XTM. In case you can't export the file, ask your client to provide an xliff file exported from XTM;
2. Translate it using your favourite CAT tool if it is compatible with the requested piece of software;
3. Import the translated file in XTM?
Alternatively, you can translate CAT-specific files provided by the client with compatible software. This scenario has its downsides. For instance, I recently translated an sdlxliff file using Wordfast Anywhere (WFA) and delivered it. The client was new. They reported that the file had been empty and requested a translated version to be delivered. In fact, it was translated, but WFA had not set the status of "translated". I opened the translated sdlxliff file using CafeTran Espresso, opted for "Set translated status for target segments" and redelivered. I didn't receive any feedback thereafter and maybe lost this client.
| | | | Georgi Kovachev
Bulgaria
Local time: 20:22
Member (2010)
English to Bulgarian
+ ...
- While proofreading a 100% finished file, when I make a correction and confirm the segment again, there is a high chance of Phrase jumping to any random other segment.
You need to change the settings since it is likely that you have enabled the "Jump to next unconfirmed segment" option. You must enable "Jump to next segment" in order not to be "teleported".
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Alex Lichanow
Germany
Local time: 19:22
Member (2020)
English to German
+ ...
| On XTM and exports | Aug 29 |
Georgi Kovachev wrote:
Why lose a client if you can:
1. Export the file from XTM. In case you can't export the file, ask your client to provide an xliff file exported from XTM;
2. Translate it using your favourite CAT tool if it is compatible with the requested piece of software;
3. Import the translated file in XTM?
Alternatively, you can translate CAT-specific files provided by the client with compatible software. This scenario has its downsides. For instance, I recently translated an sdlxliff file using Wordfast Anywhere (WFA) and delivered it. The client was new. They reported that the file had been empty and requested a translated version to be delivered. In fact, it was translated, but WFA had not set the status of "translated". I opened the translated sdlxliff file using CafeTran Espresso, opted for "Set translated status for target segments" and redelivered. I didn't receive any feedback thereafter and maybe lost this client.
While you're not wrong, of course, I do see some issues in what you wrote.
1) On the technical side, exporting xliffs from XTM then importing the translated xliffs back works relatively well, but in my experience, you will not get the TM. So, while I can see pre-translations and fuzzies in Trados Studio, those fuzzies are worthless because I do not have a clear display of the differences. The PM from back when I was still accepting work in XTM told me that this was done deliberately to protect the client's IP, but to me, it was just a useless waste of time.
2) Nobody pays us for the effort of exporting, importing and tweaking the import so it's accepted as a finished translation.
3) In the age of ruthless "AI" integration, I think translators should recognize that the customer is not always right, especially when it comes to them forcing us to use a specific tool. You wouldn't force your plumber to work with the cheap off-brand screwdriver you bought from the dollar store, so why would you, as a translator, accept to work with a shoddy CAT tool? Our main obligation is to provide our end-clients with high-quality translations. We have no obligation to accommodate LSPs' nonsensical whims
4) All the above aside, as far as I know, XTM is now also always running a language model in the background. I, for one, do not agree with this crappy tool using my translations as training fodder.
Georgi Kovachev wrote:
You need to change the settings since it is likely that you have enabled the "Jump to next unconfirmed segment" option. You must enable "Jump to next segment" in order not to be "teleported".
I have this option set and there are no unconfirmed segments when I do my proofreading step after translating 100% of a file. I will still be randomly teleported from time to time
| | | | Kay Denney
France
Local time: 19:22
French to English
My long-standing clients know better than to make me use tools I don't know. There's just one agency which asked me to use MemoQ, and they send me a floating licence. I found it very easy to use so there was no problem with that.
Another client asked me to use Trados, so I bought it and immediately got a return on investment, but I hate Trados, I find it clunky and non-intuitive and shortly afterwards there was a change at the agency and the new PM doesn't require me to use Trados, so I d... See more My long-standing clients know better than to make me use tools I don't know. There's just one agency which asked me to use MemoQ, and they send me a floating licence. I found it very easy to use so there was no problem with that.
Another client asked me to use Trados, so I bought it and immediately got a return on investment, but I hate Trados, I find it clunky and non-intuitive and shortly afterwards there was a change at the agency and the new PM doesn't require me to use Trados, so I don't.
The kind of translations I do require a lot of creativity, there is very little repetition, and I mostly manage to find the terms I have used in previous translations without having to go through all the rigmarole of preparing files for CAT tools, so all is well. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Not because they require CAT tools, but because of one specific CAT tool : TRANSIT | Aug 29 |
I do accept to work with various CAT tools, including of course Trados and different online tools, but there's one that I definitely can't work with: TRANSIT (let alone the fact that they systematically try to sell it to me along with confirming the job. This has happened many times over the years)
The point is not that I refuse to buy Transit, but that THIS TOOL IS PURE CRAP.
Any job that comes with Transit is a no-go.
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Yes, sometimes.
But in addition to that I may decline working on a client's own complicated Portal.
There are too many of those, and if I don't get a lot of work from a client I forget how their portal works and it is too much of a bother.
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| Quick horror story | Aug 29 |
I had to turn down a job one week after accepting it (the deadline was two weeks after the day it was assigned) because of a rather cumbersome "client's cat-tool + access to client's remote server" combo which made sure I did not work at the speed I usually work. Apart from that, nothing major to report .
| | | | Stepan Konev
Russian Federation
Local time: 20:22
English to Russian
| No. I can export xliff files from other CAT tools | Aug 29 |
I can't recall a CAT tool where I could not convert xliff files into Trados-compatible format...
Probably there is a CAT tool that can make me turn down a job (I never received jobs requiring Transit for example), but I am not yet aware of that.
Alex Lichanow wrote:
So, while I can see pre-translations and fuzzies in Trados Studio, those fuzzies are worthless because I do not have a clear display of the differences. I have three monitors for that. One of them displays XTM [or any original CAT tool] exactly for TM hits and concordance functionality.
| | | | | Nobody may dictate to me how little I should earn per hour | Aug 29 |
Why does nobody ever discuss the difference in hourly pay achieved with different CAT tools? It is phenomenal between the best and the worst. I find that many of the newer CAT tools chop down the translator's hourly pay to half, a third or a quarter of what he or she can earn with a sophisticated CAT tool of choice, along with his or her own Autosuggest dictionaries and termbases. However, I have yet to come across an agency that will compensate the loss in productivity by paying a much higher ... See more Why does nobody ever discuss the difference in hourly pay achieved with different CAT tools? It is phenomenal between the best and the worst. I find that many of the newer CAT tools chop down the translator's hourly pay to half, a third or a quarter of what he or she can earn with a sophisticated CAT tool of choice, along with his or her own Autosuggest dictionaries and termbases. However, I have yet to come across an agency that will compensate the loss in productivity by paying a much higher word rate. ▲ Collapse
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