Format changes in Word using Trados Thread poster: Per Bergvall
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Per Bergvall 
Norway
Local time: 19:43
Member (2002)
English to Norwegian
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MODERATOR
Platform: XP Pro, Word 2003, Trados 6.5
When I open a TU for translation with Open/Get, I find Trados often changes the font and size of the text in the blue/green translation window, and fails to restore the text to its original attributes after SetClose. It used to be occasional, and mostly just Arial into Times, but of late it has become the rule rather than the exception - and I've seen fonts from 4 points Times, italic, strike-through to 38 pts Batang bold - styles that were NEVER pre... See more Platform: XP Pro, Word 2003, Trados 6.5
When I open a TU for translation with Open/Get, I find Trados often changes the font and size of the text in the blue/green translation window, and fails to restore the text to its original attributes after SetClose. It used to be occasional, and mostly just Arial into Times, but of late it has become the rule rather than the exception - and I've seen fonts from 4 points Times, italic, strike-through to 38 pts Batang bold - styles that were NEVER present in neither template nor doocument. A colleague who experiences similar problems, suspects it only happens if there's a partial match containing special Scabndinavian characters - which is nearly all the time.
Has anybody else noted this problem, and - more importantly - found a cure? ▲ Collapse
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Laura Gentili
Italy
Local time: 19:43
Member (2003)
English to Italian
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| Same problem | Aug 15, 2004 |
Hi,
I have been experiencing the same problem with documents in English produced by a Korean customer. From time to time I find parts in Batang with the alterations you describe.
However, I could not find any solution to this problem. I just wanted to confirm what your colleague suspects.
Laura
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EKM
Sweden
Local time: 19:43
English to Swedish
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| Same same, but different | Aug 19, 2004 |
The exact same thing happens to me, only with Chinese and Swedish å, ä and ö. It is extremely disturbing and effectively kills a lot of the time Trados is supposed to save us...
The files in question are from a customer in Taiwan, so I suspect incompatibility issues between Scandinavian and Asian language versions of Word.
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| Not Trados related | Aug 19, 2004 |
Hallo,
several times, the moderator Ralf Lemster pointed out that this is no Trados related problem. Very often, authors of word document do not use styles (German: Formatvorlagen) for the layout of their document. See here:
http://www.proz.com/topic/22485
Address the author! Or try to manipulate under Options, TM Options, tab Tools the style related checkboxes.
... See more Hallo,
several times, the moderator Ralf Lemster pointed out that this is no Trados related problem. Very often, authors of word document do not use styles (German: Formatvorlagen) for the layout of their document. See here:
http://www.proz.com/topic/22485
Address the author! Or try to manipulate under Options, TM Options, tab Tools the style related checkboxes.
HTH
Carsten ▲ Collapse
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Per Bergvall
Norway
Local time: 19:43
Member (2002)
English to Norwegian
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MODERATOR TOPIC STARTER | OF COURSE it's a Trados problem...! | Aug 19, 2004 |
Thanks, Carsten, but.:
I find it ludicrous to suggest that this is a Word problem, or a problem caused by the ineffective application of character formatting rather than 'proper' use of Word styles.
Seems to me Trados is trying to be too smart for it's own good. Surely it must be possible for Trados to simply use the formatting of the source text, be it based on a modified paragraph style, a misplaced character style, or (as is frequently the case) whether the entire documen... See more Thanks, Carsten, but.:
I find it ludicrous to suggest that this is a Word problem, or a problem caused by the ineffective application of character formatting rather than 'proper' use of Word styles.
Seems to me Trados is trying to be too smart for it's own good. Surely it must be possible for Trados to simply use the formatting of the source text, be it based on a modified paragraph style, a misplaced character style, or (as is frequently the case) whether the entire document is in the 'Normal' style with manual formatting applied?
I find that my translation units during translation have been changed from 10 pts Arial to anything from "4 pts Times, Italic, strike-through" to "38 pts Batang, bold", and it's ridiculous to suggest (as Trados does) that these are just the original paragraph styles which have been restored.
My problem started about the time I began accepting assignments from a Korean agency. The documents I receive, are in (kind of) English, and I translate into Norwegian. There is no need for font changes, and I don't want them. Trados has a very elaborate scheme for font substitutions, but lacks a flag that says "Do not substiturte fonts". The Korea/Taiwan angle seems to be a common denominator, so this may be a good place for Trados to start when effecting a much needed improvement.
I expect the quick and dirty solution is to specify a target default font, and check "Translate into target default for all other fonts", after buiding a list of Times => Times, Courier => Courier etc on the File/Setup/Fonts page. I don't see this stopping Trados from messing with bold/unbold, and reversing character sequences in the translation window, but it might be worth a try.
Myself, I have bought Wordfast 4.2, where this problem is simply unheard of. ▲ Collapse
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Hynek Palatin
Czech Republic
Local time: 19:43
Member (2003)
English to Czech
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| Very annoying | Aug 19, 2004 |
This is a very annoying behavior of Trados. It has been discussed several times at TW_users. You can search the archives, they are available for downloading at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TW_users/files/Message%20Archives/.
The problem arises with some manually formatted documents and with documents of Asian origin (even if they contain no formatting). If t... See more This is a very annoying behavior of Trados. It has been discussed several times at TW_users. You can search the archives, they are available for downloading at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TW_users/files/Message%20Archives/.
The problem arises with some manually formatted documents and with documents of Asian origin (even if they contain no formatting). If the document comes from Asia and doesn't have to be formatted (it's just a list of strings, for example), you can select all text and copy it to a new document as unformatted text (Edit - Paste special). Then you can translate it without problems.
[Edited at 2004-08-19 13:17] ▲ Collapse
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EKM
Sweden
Local time: 19:43
English to Swedish
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| Millioner tak for the suggestion, Per! | Aug 19, 2004 |
Per Bergvall wrote:
I expect the quick and dirty solution is to specify a target default font, and check "Translate into target default for all other fonts", after buiding a list of Times => Times, Courier => Courier etc on the File/Setup/Fonts page. I don't see this stopping Trados from messing with bold/unbold, and reversing character sequences in the translation window, but it might be worth a try.
Myself, I have bought Wordfast 4.2, where this problem is simply unheard of.
Hej Per!
Tons of KudoZ to you for suggesting this "quick fix" which really saved my day - my problem was solved by one simple manoeuvre, i.e. to force source segments containing SimSum to become Times New Roman in the target. Now my translations are all pretty with å, ä, and ö again, and I am the happiest camper in the whole forest.
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