Poll: Have you ever been asked to translate a text and use InDesign (or similar) as part of the project? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Have you ever been asked to translate a text and use InDesign (or similar) as part of the project?".
This poll was originally submitted by Lorenzo Rossi. View the poll results »
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 07:50
Spanish to English
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One of my clients used to sometimes send me texts in Pagemaker, a predecessor of InDesign. They gave me the program, and I vaguely recall having to deliver translations on a cartridge, as floppy disks weren't up to the job. Thank goodness that can all be done online nowadays.
| | | | Joohee Kim 
South Korea
Local time: 15:50
English to Korean
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I can't use InDesign or similar programs. I hope I know how to use them...
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I am a translator, and do not offer DTP or anything like that. I do not have InDesign.
Some clients send me SDL Trados packages with text extracted from InDesign, which I can open with my CAT, and then I can work on them. I send a return pack, but I cannot open the file otherwise, and I cannot see the layout or anything.
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| You mean Desktop Publishing coupled with translation | Feb 27, 2018 |
I have been doing it since day one of my professional translation career.
In the first years, this began in 1973, two typists neatly converted my handwritten translations into paper strips. I had to prepare technical drawings and other illustrations, as well as tables, which we assembled onto pages using glue sticks, for photocopying and distribution. These were small-run manuals for heavy industrial equipment.
Later an art studio took over, and I was merely supervising... See more I have been doing it since day one of my professional translation career.
In the first years, this began in 1973, two typists neatly converted my handwritten translations into paper strips. I had to prepare technical drawings and other illustrations, as well as tables, which we assembled onto pages using glue sticks, for photocopying and distribution. These were small-run manuals for heavy industrial equipment.
Later an art studio took over, and I was merely supervising the graphic production process.
In the mid-1980s, Page Maker came up, and I immediately joined in. I could do the entire job single-handed. The process was just like I did it with the typists, drawings, and glue sticks, but in virtual reality. I think I translated and assembled over a couple thousand publications ranging from one to 400 pages each, using successive versions of Page Maker, which I still use whenever I have to create a layout from scratch.
When Page Maker gave way to its 'son' InDesign, I didn't move. IMHO - as a translator - as the layout has been created by a more skilled artist, I don't need that truckload of features.
In all these years with Page Maker, I had to turn down all translation requests involving other DTP apps, the pro-level ones being QuarkXpress and Frame Maker. Interestingly, I never had any translation requests involving amateur DTP apps, like Microsoft Publisher (argh!), Serif Page Plus, or Scribus.
More recently, I participated (as a beta tester) in the development of the modern solution: Infix. Translation is done on a live/editable PDF file, and it has all the DTP tools necessary to adjust the layout after the text swell/shrink/misalignment resulting from translation.
Infix enables me to serve - on PDF files, the ultimate result - the output of all DTP apps, including from those maniacs who use MS Word as a DTP app.
While I understand that not many translators do DTP work, it has been part of my job for too long already. The most usual setup relies on some CAT tools being able to trespass into InDesign files to translate them. Later, a DTP operator will have to use InDesign to fix the layout issues.
The trick lies in the DTP operator being familiar with the target language, otherwise that publication will bounce between DTP and translator for proofreading/correction several times. I had one such case where this cycle was repeated eight times until a 200-page book was deemed finished. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Yes several times | Feb 27, 2018 |
Yes, several times
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I’ve never been asked as I don’t offer any kind of DTP services, but if a client were to ask me these services I know who I’ll contact to do that for me…
| | | | | Yes, a couple of times | Feb 27, 2018 |
but so rarely that I tend to forget how to do it.
(I did take a course in InDesign some years ago, and found it quite interesting)
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Muriel Vasconcellos (X)
United States
Local time: 22:50
Spanish to English
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I've done MS Publisher. I'm very familiar with that program and have offered DTP services to a number of clients in the past.
| | | | Mario Freitas
Brazil
Local time: 03:50
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
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| InDesign files, yes | Mar 2, 2018 |
I have translated several files in InDesign format(s), but I imported them to MemoQ and delivered it in the same format without being able to see the actual results. I'm sure the translations were correct, but there was nothing I could do about the format/presentation. Indesign is an expensive program and, if the client does not provide a temporary licence and sends the files in this format, they cannot require that we have the software. Indeed, I never received any complaints in that sense.
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