| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] | Selling a translation memory - feedback needed Thread poster: infactglobal
|
|---|
| Alignment tool | Oct 5, 2012 |
We are currently using AlignFactory. I consider it an excellent tool. It has nice setting, allows batch processing, handles PDF files etc. The real problem with aligning lies in the process.
You have to get/identify the documents, rename them and arrange them in folders to do batch conversion. The alignment itself is a fast process, e.g. +600 files (actually paired file) in about 30-60 min.
But then the real work starts, you have to check the aligned segments for errors and i... See more We are currently using AlignFactory. I consider it an excellent tool. It has nice setting, allows batch processing, handles PDF files etc. The real problem with aligning lies in the process.
You have to get/identify the documents, rename them and arrange them in folders to do batch conversion. The alignment itself is a fast process, e.g. +600 files (actually paired file) in about 30-60 min.
But then the real work starts, you have to check the aligned segments for errors and in our case also to delete the segments you don't want in the new TM. We have a hierarchy of TMs and certain segments that are higher up in the hierarchy have to be deleted etc. This is a time consuming task. E.g. at the moment we are working on a TM with 308,000 segments. Preparation of the files took about 30 min, the alignment took about 60 min, and we have already invested about 10 hours work to clean the TMX. Now we are down to 280,000 segements. I assume that it will take us at least another 40 hours to clean the file enough to comply with our quality standards.
I guess we will end up with a TM of 200 - 250 k segments.
Just do your own calculation: 50+ hours x the rate for a specialist* = your price.
And I mean a specialist, rates for specialists are definitely not in the range of EUR 25.-/hour.
Sure if we would have a better tool for the alignment, we would have to spend less time on checking.
I do know from pharma companies having spend high 6 figure amounts on alignment of their documents, it took them a year and a lot of work. I am sure the yould have loved to be able to just buy a TM at a low 6 figure rate.
[Edited at 2012-10-05 15:39 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | |
Siegfried Armbruster wrote:
We are currently using AlignFactory. I consider it an excellent tool. It has nice setting, allows batch processing, handles PDF files etc. The real problem with aligning lies in the process.
You have to get/identify the documents, rename them and arrange them in folders to do batch conversion. The alignment itself is a fast process, e.g. +600 files (actually paired file) in about 30-60 min.
But then the real work starts, you have to check the aligned segments for errors and in our case also to delete the segments you don't want in the new TM. We have a hierarchy of TMs and certain segments that are higher up in the hierarchy have to be deleted etc. This is a time consuming task. E.g. at the moment we are working on a TM with 308,000 segments. Preparation of the files took about 30 min, the alignment took about 60 min, and we have already invested about 10 hours work to clean the TMX. Now we are down to 280,000 segements. I assume that it will take us at least another 40 hours to clean the file enough to comply with our quality standards.
I guess we will end up with a TM of 200 - 250 k segments.
Just do your own calculation: 50+ hours x the rate for a specialist* = your price.
And I mean a specialist, rates for specialists are definitely not in the range of EUR 25.-/hour.
Sure if we would have a better tool for the alignment, we would have to spend less time on checking.
50 working hours - about 6 working days - for more than 200k segments is actually a fair bit less than what I would have expected a reasonably thorough manual check to take. If you were to charge 0.01 EUR/word for this at ten words a segment, as you seemed to imply, you'd be making an absolute killing: ~20,000 EUR for ~50 working hours, i.e. 400 EUR/hour. I'm sure you don't charge this much.
It also implies that 80k segments could be done in about 3 days. I don't see how 3 days' work comes out to 5000 EUR. Honestly, aligning isn't even specialist work in my opinion. It requires computer skills on par with those of a good secretary, and much less advanced language skills than translation. And practice, of course, but that's easy to come by.
The reason why I asked what you use was to find out if you use an autoaligner. You clearly do and you're making good use of it if it allows you to crunch 200k segments in 50 man-hours. Without an autoaligner, a lot more manual correction would be needed, and the time requirement would be much higher. It'd be interesting to know how good the alignfactory algorithm is, but AFAIK the company who makes it didn't release any info about how it works (gale-church, dictionary etc). One would need to test it on a test corpus to find out how well it fares compared to hunalign and its ilk. There are such test corpora and evaluation procedures out there, so someone should do it.
Siegfried Armbruster wrote:
I do know from pharma companies having spend high 6 figure amounts on alignment of their documents, it took them a year and a lot of work. I am sure the yould have loved to be able to just buy a TM at a low 6 figure rate.
It all depends on what the input material looks like and what the output expectations are. If the source material is good and 95-99% accuracy is enough for the client, then it's enough to feed the material through a good autoaligner with some pre- and post-processing. That takes next to no time. The pharma guys probably want 100% correct alignment and for their field, that may make sense. But in general, I see this as a game of diminishing returns: if you got the right tools (and skills), you can get a 95-99% correct alignment of 50,000 segments in an afternoon (or for 100 EUR if you have me do it for you). Then you can manually revise that to bring the accuracy up to 100%, which will take ten times as much money/time. Most of the time, it's just not worth it. Translators can ignore the 1 in 20 or 1 in 100 misaligned segments.
| | | |
FarkasAndras wrote:
50 working hours - about 6 working days - for more than 200k segments is actually a fair bit less than what I would have expected a reasonably thorough manual check to take. If you were to charge 0.01 EUR/word for this at ten words a segment, as you seemed to imply, you'd be making an absolute killing: ~20,000 EUR for ~50 working hours, i.e. 400 EUR/hour. I'm sure you don't charge this much.
No, I am not really charging 400 EUR/hour, but I am not planning to sell a TM I created/aligned for less than EUR 0.01/source word either (if I ever plan to sell it). I have currently no plans to sell it at all. These aligned texts are part of our business process.
It all depends on what the input material looks like and what the output expectations are. If the source material is good and 95-99% accuracy is enough for the client, then it's enough to feed the material through a good autoaligner with some pre- and post-processing. That takes next to no time.
We mainly work with mixed scenarios with Word files and a real high percentage of PDF files. In this scenario, we did not get a 95-99% accuracy with any tool (hunalign included).
You might find 50 hours of postprocessing a lot, but over the last 2 years, we did develop a process that allows us to achieve this. I'll check the wordcount of our current project and will keep you updated about its progress.
[Edited at 2012-10-05 17:57 GMT]
| | | |
FarkasAndras wrote:
It all depends on what the input material looks like and what the output expectations are. If the source material is good and 95-99% accuracy is enough for the client, then it's enough to feed the material through a good autoaligner with some pre- and post-processing.
My opinion too. A vast majority of customers would be happy with a very quick alignment of 90-95% of the segments... and would certainly not pay 1 extra cent per word just for the alignment.
| | |
|
|
|
Siegfried Armbruster wrote:
It all depends on what the input material looks like and what the output expectations are. If the source material is good and 95-99% accuracy is enough for the client, then it's enough to feed the material through a good autoaligner with some pre- and post-processing. That takes next to no time.
We mainly work with mixed scenarios with Word files and a real high percentage of PDF files. In this scenario, we did not get a 95-99% accuracy with any tool (hunalign included).
A good dictionary can help hunalign's performance somewhat, but of course if the input files are pdf, all bets are off. Some pdf files are just hopeless.
Anyway, thanks for your input.
| | | | | Alignment process thread | Oct 6, 2012 |
First off, I'd like to thank everyone for participating in this forum. You've helped me understand what solution to bring and how to present it to client.
This discussion is turning not a discussion about the alignment process and I searched the forums looking for a thread discussing which alignment tools people use, how they use them etc and none exists. I think it's a good idea to get one going so I'm going to start that new thread.
Again, thanks to everyone for you... See more First off, I'd like to thank everyone for participating in this forum. You've helped me understand what solution to bring and how to present it to client.
This discussion is turning not a discussion about the alignment process and I searched the forums looking for a thread discussing which alignment tools people use, how they use them etc and none exists. I think it's a good idea to get one going so I'm going to start that new thread.
Again, thanks to everyone for your input. The proz community has once again come brought for me.
C ▲ Collapse
| | | | | align factory trial version | Jun 10, 2016 |
Hello, where can I download alignfactory trial version?
| | | |
I think the amount they will pay for it depends on what they are hoping to gain, and not how much might cost to reproduce it.
I assume that they are planning to use it together with some CAT grid to reduce translators rates? So the question is, how much can they make with it over the years, and how much more would they have to pay translators without it.
There is also the question of making the OP dispensable, if any other good translator could produce the work in a sim... See more I think the amount they will pay for it depends on what they are hoping to gain, and not how much might cost to reproduce it.
I assume that they are planning to use it together with some CAT grid to reduce translators rates? So the question is, how much can they make with it over the years, and how much more would they have to pay translators without it.
There is also the question of making the OP dispensable, if any other good translator could produce the work in a similar style and with similar terms used. ▲ Collapse
| | |
|
|
|
harveyhc wrote:
Hello, where can I download alignfactory trial version?
To gain some understanding of AlignFactory Light's capabilities, you may use YouAlign - their free online document alignment solution.
| | | | | Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Selling a translation memory - feedback needed | 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! » |
| | CafeTran Espresso | You've never met a CAT tool this clever!
Translate faster & easier, using a sophisticated CAT tool built by a translator / developer.
Accept jobs from clients who use Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast & major CAT tools.
Download and start using CafeTran Espresso -- for free
Buy now! » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
Translation news
