Samuel Murray Netherlands Local time: 08:40 Member (2006) English to Afrikaans + ...
Oct 24, 2010
G'day everyone
If you had to come up with some hard numbers about which CAT tool is most popular (whatever "popular" means), what strategies would you use? Where would you look to see how CAT tools measure up against each other in terms of popularity?
I quickly googled the profile pages in ProZ.com, TC (can't say full name owing to forum rules) and GT (can't say full name either). Here are the results:
As to me, I stick to memoQ. It covers many formats, except Studio's.
I also use Trados 2007 to pre-translate .ttx files before translating them in memoQ.
Sometimes my clients require Alchemy Catalyst (there's a free version).
So, I guess many of us (who use CATs) need a combination of tools.
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As to me, I stick to memoQ. It covers many formats, except Studio's.
I also use Trados 2007 to pre-translate .ttx files before translating them in memoQ.
Sometimes my clients require Alchemy Catalyst (there's a free version).
So, I guess many of us (who use CATs) need a combination of tools.
I use CAT for many years and support this strategy. By knowing weak and strong points of CAT tools, I can selectively apply CAT to improve my productivity further. Basic rule: I need to understand data structures of each bilingual files of each CAT.
Soonthon Lupkitaro
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Grzegorz Gryc Poland Local time: 08:40 French to Polish + ...
I also use Trados 2007 to pre-translate .ttx files before translating them in memoQ.
Sometimes my clients require Alchemy Catalyst (there's a free version).
So, I guess many of us (who use CATs) need a combination of tools.
Personally, I use 3 tools at daily basis (DVX, memoQ, Trados "classic") and, in an irregular way, other tools like Passolo or SDLX, sometimes Trados 2009 if really suitable (rather exceptional, as I never received jobs requiring T2009).
BTW, the tool choice criteria may be interesting.
E.g. I never translate in Trados unless the job is really small (let's say, up to 300 words), I always found it primitive in terms of user interface (ergonomy etc.) and I'm tired to fight against the eternally buggy terminology management module (Multiterm).
For my main language pairs I work mainly in DVX (I have a lot of huge well tuned DVX termbases I can't import directly in other tools e.g. memoQ without a big rework because of different term matching algorithms).
Nonetheless, I have some sound exceptions.
For my secondary language pairs (e.g. Catalan-Polish) I use almost exclusively memoQ (with some exceptions too).
The translation offices use mainly Trados Classic (IMO approx. 90% of the market) but generally they don't longer fear CAT hopping scenarios.
And here, another point, the dynamics.
I suppose the Trados part of the market will decline in the future.
E.g. memoQ is rapidly growing, it's frankly the preferred general purpose tool of my students.
For the pure Word environment, they prefer rather Wordfast Classic or Metatexis, Trados files are slowly getting only a data exchange format.
Cheers
GG
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Mykhailo Voloshko Ukraine Local time: 09:40 Member (2008) English to Russian + ...
Thanks for the link!
It may come in handy in the future.
Unfortunately, memoQ won't work with Studio packages.
Once I tried to open a Studio package (without RTFM procedure) in Studio 2009, and failed. There were two short documents I actually saw in the Studio. After I heard I had to use different TMs for each file, I cancelled the job. I couldn't even get to the files to start translating. Of course, it's my problem that I skipped RTFM procedure, but somehow I'm not even willing to master Studio.
23 mb .exe + 23-page Quick Start Guide — and you are ready to translate in memoQ (:
[Edited at 2010-12-06 19:55 GMT]
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Grzegorz Gryc Poland Local time: 08:40 French to Polish + ...
Trados packages... memoQ learning curve...
Dec 6, 2010
Mykhailo Voloshko wrote:
Unfortunately, memoQ won't work with Studio packages.
In theory, they must be processed inside Studio.
In fact, you can unpack the file (indeed, it's a plain zip file with a different extension) and extract the translatable files but it seems the processing needs some additional steps I never tested, so probably it's a sound workaround.
Once I tried to open a Studio package (without RTFM procedure) in Studio 2009, and failed. There were two short documents I actually saw in the Studio. After I heard I had to use different TMs for each file, I cancelled the job. I couldn't even get to the files to start translating. Of course, it's my problem that I skipped RTFM procedure, but somehow I'm not even willing to master Studio.
If you can't manage to make work basic functions without RTFM, it seems it's something wrong with the software usability
Personally, I find the Trados packages very slow to proceed and potentially vulnerable, so why the translation offices still prefer the legacy workflow.
It's quite "primitive" but it works.
23 mb .exe + 23-page Quick Start Guide — and you are ready to translate in memoQ (:
Frankly speaking, the memoQ learning curve is astonishing.
I always start with Trados Classic, so the students have already some CAT experience as "false beginners" but they're almost independent after 90 minutes.
The level is really basic but they're independent.
The same with Wordfast Classic.
It's a guided tour, of course, if a newbie attacks 'em "as is", the getting started stage will take more time...
Cheers
GG
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