TIF Files
Thread poster: Ivana UK
Ivana UK
Ivana UK  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:38
Member (2005)
Italian to English
+ ...
Apr 1, 2006

One of the files I've been given to translate is a TIF file - full of diagrams and very little writing. What writing there is is literally all over the place - one word here, three words there and a couple of paragraphs.

The file itself is very difficult to read and in an attempt to get a better view, I've downloaded the trial version of Adobe Photoshop (which doesn't make it much better).

My question is, what's the best way to deal with the translation of a TIF file i
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One of the files I've been given to translate is a TIF file - full of diagrams and very little writing. What writing there is is literally all over the place - one word here, three words there and a couple of paragraphs.

The file itself is very difficult to read and in an attempt to get a better view, I've downloaded the trial version of Adobe Photoshop (which doesn't make it much better).

My question is, what's the best way to deal with the translation of a TIF file into Word?

There's no way I can copy all the diagrams acrross (they're way too complicated and the writing is in between diagrams).

I'd appreciate any suggestions!
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Enote
Enote  Identity Verified
Local time: 11:38
English to Russian
---> Apr 1, 2006

Try to cut areas with text and save them as different files.
Then you can convert these files to text with some OCR software.


 
Selcuk Akyuz
Selcuk Akyuz  Identity Verified
Türkiye
Local time: 11:38
English to Turkish
+ ...
two ways Apr 1, 2006

Hi Ivana,

If the file is only one page long you may open it either with photoshop or even with windows paint; then erase all the text, save as jpeg file save and close. Then open a word document, insert the picture and create and use text boxes for your translation.

If the tiff file has several pages, then you may use ABBYY Fine Reader. In this program you should manually select drawing areas first, and then select the text fields (manually).

Then let ABBY
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Hi Ivana,

If the file is only one page long you may open it either with photoshop or even with windows paint; then erase all the text, save as jpeg file save and close. Then open a word document, insert the picture and create and use text boxes for your translation.

If the tiff file has several pages, then you may use ABBYY Fine Reader. In this program you should manually select drawing areas first, and then select the text fields (manually).

Then let ABBYY recognize the text, and send it to MS Word. If the resolution is low, the text may be illegible, but no problem, you have the text boxes where you can make your translation.

HTH

Selcuk
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Jack Doughty
Jack Doughty  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:38
Russian to English
+ ...
In memoriam
Does it have to be a Word file? Apr 1, 2006

If they sent it as a TIFF file, they might be happy to have it back in the same form.
I don't know anything about Adobe Photoshop, but you can use Paint to display a TIFF file and make changes in it, including erasing text in one language and adding it back in another. I often do this with drawings; they are usually JPG, but it works with TIFF too.
I don't know of any way of counting the words except manually.


 
Peter Bouillon
Peter Bouillon  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 09:38
French to German
+ ...
O dear Apr 1, 2006

Ivana Micheli wrote:
My question is, what's the best way to deal with the translation of a TIF file into Word? […] I'd appreciate any suggestions!


That's about equivalent to the question: My chicken has been mashed up into burger patty; how do I reconstruct it so it can be fed? Honestly, I don't see any elegant solution.

If the resolution is up to it, you can pass the file through an OCR programm to extract the strings to be translated. This might enable you to use your CAT program for translation; but if the strings are so short as you say, it probably isn't worth the bother.

Otherwise, I don't see how Word is helpful in any way.

To continue the simile, in order to insert your translations you'll have to poke your food into the chicken patty using a very fine needle, i.e., get the file opened in a graphics program, read the strings using the zoom function, erase them using the graphics eraser and insert the translations with the text insertion function.

Good luck.

P.


 
Scott Li
Scott Li  Identity Verified
Hong Kong
Local time: 16:38
Member (2005)
Chinese to English
+ ...
Dictionary type display Apr 1, 2006

"What writing there is is literally all over the place - one word here, three words there and a couple of paragraphs."

Suggest to use dictionary type display for such case, i.e type Source Words = Target Words. In this case, your client can find correspondent translations and fit into source file with ease. I am not 100% sure but usually end clients will ask for translation of text only, not to replace text within TIFF files unless DTP work is involved.


 
Ivana UK
Ivana UK  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:38
Member (2005)
Italian to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks for all your very useful replies, Apr 1, 2006

(I particularly liked Peter's chicken simile - exactly how I felt when I opened up the file this morning).

I'll try all suggested options and let you know how it goes. It hadn't even occurred to me to use an OCR - I have Abbyy Transformer and the trial version of Fine Reader so I'll try those first as the client has specifically requested a word file.

But, if I can't convert to word but can insert my translation into the TIF file, I can't see that being a major proble
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(I particularly liked Peter's chicken simile - exactly how I felt when I opened up the file this morning).

I'll try all suggested options and let you know how it goes. It hadn't even occurred to me to use an OCR - I have Abbyy Transformer and the trial version of Fine Reader so I'll try those first as the client has specifically requested a word file.

But, if I can't convert to word but can insert my translation into the TIF file, I can't see that being a major problem ...

Thanks once more for your support - I'd be lost without you!

Ivana
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Nicolette Ri (X)
Nicolette Ri (X)
Local time: 09:38
French to Dutch
+ ...
Are you supposed to return a TIFF file? Apr 1, 2006

Give them a Word translation, especially if the're only a few words, and let the lay-out man do his work.

 
Ivana UK
Ivana UK  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:38
Member (2005)
Italian to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
No Apr 1, 2006

Nicolette Richy wrote:

Give them a Word translation, especially if the're only a few words, and let the lay-out man do his work.


they've asked for a Word file and you're right, it shouldn't be up to me to insert the text - it's just that I always try to present my translations as professionally as possible and probably create a lot of extra work for myself in the process!


 


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