I have returned to freelancing after a couple of years in employment and note that my old (ancient) Tradis 6.5 won't install properly on Windows 7 (it failed to recognise the language pairs I entered at installation and now won't open any of me German - English TMs). Given that I had also had difficulties previously in terms of opening TM exports from later versions, I reckoned it was time to upgrade.
So I downloaded the trial version of Trados 2009 and it is horrible. Massively overdesigned, far too complex for the straightforward Word files I deal with 95% of the time. All I need is a version of the Workbench that installs on Windows 7, opens my old memories and lets me exchange exports with clients.
I wrote to Trados and asked whether I can simply buy a licence for the last version of the Workbench. Of course I can't, but if I buy 2009 I get 2007 free and the Workbench is included in that. At a cost of around £600 (currently discounted). That seems a lot of money to spend when all I want is the free gift, so to speak.
I'm sure this is a common problem in the industry and was wondering whether anyone has any thoughts or suggestions in terms of alternative, more affordable programs that support Workbench-type translating and provide compatible export formats? Or any experience of the pared-down subscription version of Trados (SDL Trados Studio 2009 Starter)?
Any suggestions gratefully received.
Kind regards,
Nick Hubble
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Jabberwock Poland Local time: 08:41 Member (2004) English to Polish
What you want and what you need
Apr 27, 2011
The key question is what are your (current and potential) clients' expectations: in particular, what formats they require and how far they will go to accomodate your workflow.
For example, most decent CATs (e.g. MemoQ) allow to import and export TTX files. The catch is that the files have to be presegmented (pretranslated with source) with Trados Workbench - if you cannot do it, the agency would have to, which some of them might consider inconvenient. The same goes for bilingual Word files - MQ can process them easily, but presegmentation should be done with Trados.
If the clients can live with just the target files and TM export, even better - most CATs would do. There might be some incompatibilities due to different segmentation, but those should be minor.
Have in mind, though, that the investment in the new program will be comparable - both in money and time.
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Olly Pekelharing Netherlands Local time: 08:41 Member (2009) Dutch to English
Wordfast for word
Apr 27, 2011
I'm reposting what I previously posted in the thread "Is Trados so good".
"If, like me, you translate 99.9% of the time in Microsoft Word, then Wordfast Classic is ideal. It runs IN Word with a simple .dot file, it's fast and it doesn't often crash on you when dealing with huge or heavily formatted documents (I've had several experiences whereby Trados' workbench (latest version) couldn't handle docs that Wordafst could. Wordfast is a lot cheaper too. I have Trados, but I only use it to convert my customers' (who all use Trados, and there's the main glitch) TM exports to a Wordfast compatible format. Docs translated in Wordfast are always merged seamlessly back into Trados."
And I'd add: Wordfast does more for half the price (350 pounds for classic and pro via group buy).
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Tapsa Finland Local time: 09:41 Member (Apr 2012) English to Finnish
You want free lunch?
Apr 27, 2011
Wordfast seems to have a free web based translation system if I have understood right?
Well, it is not Word based...
But but...
600 euros is peanuts in the industry, if you really want and can earn your living by translating.
Remember, every CAT tool has its limitations, and a 100-200 euros saving may mean a lot of frustration later...
[Edited at 2011-04-27 12:45 GMT]
[Edited at 2011-04-27 12:58 GMT]
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Thanks for this information. Have downloaded trial versions and will see how they measure up. My clients (so far anyway) seem relatively unfussy. Though I suspect sooner or later I'll have to bite the SDL bullet.
All the best,
Nick
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toad Finland Local time: 09:41 English to Swedish + ...
don't forget Metatexis
Apr 28, 2011
You might also want to check out MetaTexis. It's really cheap, only 99 euro for the pro version, and it produces unclean files compatible with Trados, Wordfast etc. I used that for about six months with a client who wanted unclean Trados files, and never "got caught". I only had to buy Trados 2007 because the client started using Trados server TMs. And now I'm a (relatively) happy Studio 2009 user.
br,
Torsten
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