PDF use with Trados 7 Thread poster: Stephen Rifkind
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Stephen Rifkind 
Israel
Local time: 02:05
Member (2004)
French to English
+ ...
First, I apologize if this topic has been answered. I did a search and did not find a relevant problem. If you have a reference, I will be happy to receive it.
My question is how I use the trados with PDF files. Do I have to convert them to doc format first? If not, how do load the workbench to the PDF? What about the existence of handwriting on the PDF files?
Thank you very much for your help I get a great amount of PDF files.
Yours truly,
... See more First, I apologize if this topic has been answered. I did a search and did not find a relevant problem. If you have a reference, I will be happy to receive it.
My question is how I use the trados with PDF files. Do I have to convert them to doc format first? If not, how do load the workbench to the PDF? What about the existence of handwriting on the PDF files?
Thank you very much for your help I get a great amount of PDF files.
Yours truly,
Stephen Rifkind ▲ Collapse
| | | | Natalie
Poland
Local time: 01:05
Member (2002)
English to Russian
+ ...
Moderator of this forum SITE LOCALIZER | Han Li
China
Local time: 07:05
English to Chinese
+ ...
| PDF file translation | Dec 26, 2005 |
As far as I know, we can not deal with PDF files with Trados.
I always convert them to doc format first, and I reedit the PDF files with Adobat Acrobat Profession or Illustrator after translation. But some PDF files made from IMG or TIF(F) format files, you must use OCR tools to recognise the text in Acrobat first, then copy the text to Word.
Regards,
Han Li
| | | | Han Li
China
Local time: 07:05
English to Chinese
+ ...
| Three articles on PDF files | Dec 26, 2005 |
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| The work involved with PDF translation | Dec 26, 2005 |
This may not help you in translating the document, but I thought I would let you in on some related info.
First off, if someone requests a translation from PDF, you have two options when quoting a price: either you tell them that PDFs cannot be edited and you need the original document before it was made into a PDF (whether it be a Word, PowerPoint document or other) or charge more for that work. You will either have to type the document by hand or convert it with an OCR or other so... See more This may not help you in translating the document, but I thought I would let you in on some related info.
First off, if someone requests a translation from PDF, you have two options when quoting a price: either you tell them that PDFs cannot be edited and you need the original document before it was made into a PDF (whether it be a Word, PowerPoint document or other) or charge more for that work. You will either have to type the document by hand or convert it with an OCR or other software for converting PDF to text, and these programs (at least the better ones) are costly. Even so, you will have to edit parts of the document yourself before starting the translation process. So, this means either extra work for you, or extra costs for you as you had to pay for the software that converted the document - or even both. You therefore deserve to be paid better than for a translation whose source document is already in a format editable by Trados. I usually add about 40% to the initial per word rate. If they don't agree with that, I refuse the contract.
In general, steer clear of translation to be performed starting with a PDF document. Usually, if you get such requests, this means that the client is not educated on what translation involves, and therefore they will most often have unrealistic expectations with regards to deadlines, formatting, rates, etc. You will have to explain to them the whole process, which they may or may not understand. In most cases, they will not WANT to understand, on purpose, as either way your explanation will incite them to pay you more - which they don't want to do. If the deal doesn't work out at that point, you have just lost some precious time that you could have spent on translation.
Finally, regarding any type of translation work, establish rates that are sound both for you and your potential clients, by taking into account your geographic region, your market, etc. Then, STICK BY YOUR RATES! Always stick by your rates. By selling your services cheaper than the average rates on your market, you are chipping away at your chances to later make more money. Even worse, you are killing the market for the OTHER translators, as you are lowering the average rate of the market and now they will also have to work for less, as they know that if they don't take that job at that rate, someone else - like you - WILL accept the contract at that rate, and then they will be out of work. If clients get used to low rates, they will never want to go back to the sound rates again. Remember that this is business we are talking about and it's not the same as dealing the price of a bottle of wine at the local supermarket.
Good luck! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Heinrich Pesch
Finland
Local time: 02:05
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
+ ...
| Conversion is no problem | Dec 26, 2005 |
..if you Abbyy Finereader or the like. But make the customer pay for it, as others already mentioned.
There are cases when I rather take jobs from pdf straight. Often they include pages with table of contents or indexes. if the customer sends you the Word-file from which the pdf is created, these parts are not counted, because word creates them automatically. But in the pdf you can charge for every word, though the table of content is exactly the same as the headers in the text. Once I had... See more ..if you Abbyy Finereader or the like. But make the customer pay for it, as others already mentioned.
There are cases when I rather take jobs from pdf straight. Often they include pages with table of contents or indexes. if the customer sends you the Word-file from which the pdf is created, these parts are not counted, because word creates them automatically. But in the pdf you can charge for every word, though the table of content is exactly the same as the headers in the text. Once I had a 500 line pdf, which was only 300 lines real text, but the customer paid for 500. I ask for the Word-file, but it was "not available". If he had sent me the Word-file, he would have noticed the difference.
Regards
Heinrich ▲ Collapse
| | | | Stephen Rifkind
Israel
Local time: 02:05
Member (2004)
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Thanks to all | Dec 26, 2005 |
To all those who have responded and may respond in the future, thank you for the information. I am reading and learning.
I have gotten used to doing PDF work without any CAT tools, and thought, apparently correctly, that there must be a better way.
The issue of Hebrew handwriting, which I get a lot in the insurance documents I receive, still remains a tricky point. Any ideas?
Stephen Rifkind
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