Trados 2011: is it essential? How did you learn how to use it?
jmarcos1 United Kingdom Local time: 03:10 Spanish to English + ...
Dec 23, 2011
Hi there,
I am starting out as a freelance translator after my degree in Translatino Studies and would like to know a bit more about TRADOS 2011 as it seems it is impossible to complete translation jobs without knowing how to use this software.
I remember having a short induction course at university for using TRADOS and it seemed an extremely complicated and quite depressing concept as it takes away all creativity involved. However I wish they had taught us how to use it as it would have been very useful .....
Where have most of you learnt to use it or did you teach yoursefl?If you attended courses could you please advice me on the best one?
Do you believe it is essential as a freelancer?
Thanks
Jess
[Subject edited by staff or moderator 2011-12-23 12:21 GMT]
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Stephanie Busch Germany Local time: 04:10 Member (2010) English to German + ...
Trados Studio 2011 videos and training on ProZ.com
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twakely Spain Local time: 04:10 Member (2009) Spanish to English
not essential, but useful
Dec 23, 2011
I´ve been working as a translator for a couple of years and I´ve done a few jobs where no CAT tools have been required, but I realize that many clients now require you to work with Trados, so it should open some doors.
It´s a bit baffling at first because there are many versions- I´ve only got the Starter version- and the training seems to just be designed for the other versions. The annoying thing is I seem to be getting myself bogged down with technology now instead of translating documents, however I hope that in the end I will be able to translate documents faster and give them more consistency.
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Sam Pinson United States Local time: 19:10 Member (2011) Russian to English
Helpful when it works
Dec 23, 2011
Hi, Jess.
You should know that SDL Trados 2009 is very buggy software. I haven't invested in other CAT tools yet, so I can't speak to the other tools. It's possible that they are buggy as well.
I bought SDL Trados 2009 as new freelance translator. Recently, I considered buying AutoSuggest 2009. I was very irritated to learn that AutoSuggest 2009 is no longer available. I would have to "upgrade" to SDL Trados 2011 and then buy AutoSuggest 2011. SDL simply dropped the product when they released SDL Trados 2011. I doubt that I'll buy any SDL products in the future.
If SDL Trados 2011 had new features that I needed and fixed the many bugs found in the 2009 version, I might consider the purchase. Sadly, from what I can tell it does neither.
Why do you say that it takes away the creativity?
Sam Pinson
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jmarcos1 United Kingdom Local time: 03:10 Spanish to English + ...
TOPIC STARTER
Trados
Dec 23, 2011
hello
Thanks for the replies
What I mean by it takes away the creativity is that TRADOS and all such softwares are really testing you on your IT skills and take away the joy of translating in my opinion.
I think I will try and see how it goes without these tools for a while and possibly invest in one if I see no progress. My language combination is not particularly in demand at the moment so will see how it goes....
I am sure TRADOS can be useful if you are used to it, However, I don't think all the technical faults and difficulties are something I would want to deal with on a daily basis....perhaps I will investigate other options as well.
Jess
[Edited at 2011-12-23 14:23 GMT]
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Kelly Venz France Local time: 04:10 Member (2010) French to English
My 2 cents
Dec 23, 2011
Hi Jess,
I felt the need to add to this conversation as 1 year ago I was in your position too- just finished my Translation Studes degree and even though we had a "course" on CAT tools we were never really taught how to use one, let alone something like Trados (I remember at the end of the course the prof said something along the lines of "oh yeah, you should look into Trados, it's a tool that lots of translators use"...er...thanks?). So at the end of my studies I found myself in the position of having to teach myself how to use CAT tools and understand how they work.
To get the ball rolling I started off with Wordfast, which has a manual you can download and read, which helped me understand the basics of CAT tools, and as I started working with file formats other than doc I then downloaded the lastest version of Memoq (you have a 30 day trial or something like that).
Now that I have finished the trial and learnt how to use Memoq, I'm just about to have a look at Trados and see which program I am more comfortable using- which I think is the most important thing (in my opinion) first, alongside being able to read most common translation file formats.
Hope this helps!
Kelly
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JaneD Sweden Local time: 04:10 Member (2009) Swedish to English + ...
Keep it simple to begin with
Dec 24, 2011
Kelly's advice is very good. Wordfast is relatively simple to get used to (especially the Classic version), and will give you an introduction into how to use a CAT tool. If you try to start with Trados Studio you will just get hopelessly confused! And that's not to mention the fact that Studio 2011 is not yet stable, in my opinion...
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S P Willcocks Romania Local time: 05:10 German to English + ...
A discussion of great interest to me
Dec 24, 2011
I haven't ever used Trados or other such CAT tools, but the commercial agency which has provided the bulk of my income for the past four years has recently asked all freelancers to make sure that we use it, and run our texts through it for their term bank. This is rather irksome for myself. For one thing, I'll have to buy a new computer to run the software.
I'm seriously considering dropping commercial work entirely and relying on the literary/academic streams of my income instead, where clients don't ask for Trados and might be rather affronted to have it used, but I'll be following the discussion here to see just how useful a tool people think it really is.
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Williamson United Kingdom Local time: 03:10 Flemish to English + ...
You invest in it and you study the tool to earn more? Trados is thé inventor of those pesty discount-rates, which allowed certain agencies to grow in a spectacular way.
5888 new words
122 reps. So what, I calculate per line.
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You invest in it and you study the tool to earn more? Trados is thé inventor of those pesty discount-rates, which allowed certain agencies to grow in a spectacular way.
5888 new words
122 reps. So what, I calculate per line.
Or even:
480 new words
1277 fuzzy matches (whatever this is). So how much do you earn?
You invest in it and study it to earn LESS than before...:-( That's the truth. (But I believe that's what you meant)
But for beginners, even if they have sussed out the mechanism, it's not so easy nowadays to say no to that perverse presupposition.
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Marina Steinbach United States Local time: 22:10 Member (2011) English to German + ...
That would depend on the fuzzy matching.
Dec 24, 2011
Christel Zipfel wrote:
Williamson wrote:
You invest in it and you study the tool to earn more? Trados is thé inventor of those pesty discount-rates, which allowed certain agencies to grow in a spectacular way.
5888 new words
122 reps. So what, I calculate per line.
Or even:
480 new words
1277 fuzzy matches (whatever this is). So how much do you earn?
It really is sad. First you work out a price per word of e.g. 0.10 USD, and then they present their pricing model.
Repetitions, context matches and
100 % matches: 0.02 USD
What I find strange about this: When I analyze a document, I don't see the fuzzy matching, but only the new words and repetitions.
Does this have something to do with my Trados version?
[Edited at 2011-12-24 20:34 GMT]
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Williamson United Kingdom Local time: 03:10 Flemish to English + ...
Exactly
Dec 25, 2011
Christel Zipfel wrote:
Williamson wrote:
You invest in it and you study the tool to earn more? Trados is thé inventor of those pesty discount-rates, which allowed certain agencies to grow in a spectacular way.
5888 new words
122 reps. So what, I calculate per line.
Or even:
480 new words
1277 fuzzy matches (whatever this is). So how much do you earn?
You invest in it and study it to earn LESS than before...:-( That's the truth. (But I believe that's what you meant)
But for beginners, even if they have sussed out the mechanism, it's not so easy nowadays to say no to that perverse presupposition.
Yes. If you multiply the discounts demanded times 100 translators in our database (of agencies) + the difference between the price per word a translator gets and the full price invoiced to the client+ payment delays, you understand the fabuluous growth of some agencies in only a decade.
To those just graduated, you chose the wrong studies and the wrong profession. In now and 40 years, the time of your "career" (?) translation will be so automated, that you task will consist in rewriting parts of texts.
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Giles Watson Italy Local time: 04:10 Member Italian to English
If only...
Dec 26, 2011
Williamson wrote:
To those just graduated, you chose the wrong studies and the wrong profession. In now and 40 years, the time of your "career" (?) translation will be so automated, that you task will consist in rewriting parts of texts.
In the 20 or so years that I have been translating professionally. this prediction has been made time and again yet the automated translation of all but the simplest texts remains pretty much a mirage.
It's beside the point, though. To make a living from translation, you have to add value that clients will pay for to your texts and the best way of doing so is to acquire very specific target-language writing skills.
Or you could open your own translation agency and offer your former course mates slightly better fuzzy match rates than they would get elsewhere
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IanDhu France Local time: 04:10 Member (2005) French to English
Before buying, see what you can get for free
Jan 6
Happy New Year, Jess and all of you;
There are two separate issues to discuss in your post: how to use the software, and what you need to input in the way of style and tradecraft.
After a brief introduction to Workbench from an employer in the late 1990s, I worked my own way round the menus and help files, as well as the Trados site support material: I am largely self-taught, and I've found a lot of peer information from blogs and fora.
Before investing in training, see what you can pick up for yourself, or by asking. Look the software over carefully, compare products, ask for free "demos" at trade fairs. SDL, who took over Trados and released the later versions, advertises a large number of free webinars explaining its products. In sum, look carefully before you invest, and assess your clients' real needs, as well as weighing up the gains to yourself: productivity, especially with Trados and Multiterm in combination (or mutatis mutandis, the equivalent in other packages).
As a reminder, you are aware that the basic concept in Trados is cutting the source text into segments, which can be done in batch mode (beforehand), or as you go along. A search is made for matches or near matches of these segments with segments already input to the translation memory. The thing is to concentrate on the basic commands at first rather than trying to master a bewildering array of features all at once. I hope I'm not patronising.
The second point you raise I have already discussed in another post: Computer-Assisted Translation packages can't think for you, and sometimes translation memories can contain less-than-perfect renderings. Acquiring tradecraft can be helped by judicious reading (stylists such as Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh) and consulting style guides (The Economist's style guide is very useful; Usage and Abusage by Partridge and Onions; I have a 1980 edition of Fowler's modern English usage, and a fraying penguin book edition of Gower's Complete Plain Words). Again, look these over before deciding to buy. Language distils experience, and writing condenses thought. The aim is to be crisp and readable.
I hope this helps.
My best wishes for prosperity in the New Year.
With kind regards,
Adam Warren
(IanDhu - 41189)
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jmarcos1 United Kingdom Local time: 03:10 Spanish to English + ...
TOPIC STARTER
thanks
Jan 6
Hi
Thank you, all comments have been very useful
At the moment I am doing freelance translation for charities and proofreading for the company I work for so work is not very constant.However, I am starting to look into Wordfast and believe this will be a good place to start....
Jess
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. (But I believe that's what you meant)
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