Article: Found in translation - Have TRADOS, will translate
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Dec 30, 2005

This topic is for discussion of the ProZ.com translation article "Found in translation - Have TRADOS, will translate".

 
Elvana Moore
Elvana Moore
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:18
Member
English to Albanian
+ ...
Great article! Dec 29, 2007

A well-writen, amusing and charming article. Worth reading it! Don't we all have stories to tell about Trados and translation! I suppose I shouldn't complain much myself, as I have lost (read: misplaced, deleted by mistake, not saved in the right place, or not save at all) more documents in my early days of using a computer than I have had troubles with Trados. Well almost...

Only the other day, having delivered the translation first, I "lost" my way around Trados and kept deliveri
... See more
A well-writen, amusing and charming article. Worth reading it! Don't we all have stories to tell about Trados and translation! I suppose I shouldn't complain much myself, as I have lost (read: misplaced, deleted by mistake, not saved in the right place, or not save at all) more documents in my early days of using a computer than I have had troubles with Trados. Well almost...

Only the other day, having delivered the translation first, I "lost" my way around Trados and kept delivering "unwanted" files - much to the annoyance of the client- cleaned, uncleaned, TM files, any thing that I could think of. Instead, all it was required was the memory in TMX format. Had I know in the first place what it was, I would have saved myself an entire morning's work. I think I should take Vito's advise and suggest dinner and a bottle of wine to make up for the headache I must have caused...
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Harvetta Asamoah
 
José Henrique Lamensdorf
José Henrique Lamensdorf  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 08:18
English to Portuguese
+ ...
In memoriam
Translator or Trados owner/user? Sep 25, 2011

Vito,

The most amazing point here is that while Dorothy demanded Trados, she didn't have it herself. She might be a non-smoker and demand that you smoked Marlboros while doing that job. She might be a non-driver, yet requre you to drive a Ford. And so on... Do unto others...

I had a recent project where the outsourcer wanted me to find a proofreader/editor. I found one, a friendly colleague who now lives within walking distance from me. Due to both our educational backg
... See more
Vito,

The most amazing point here is that while Dorothy demanded Trados, she didn't have it herself. She might be a non-smoker and demand that you smoked Marlboros while doing that job. She might be a non-driver, yet requre you to drive a Ford. And so on... Do unto others...

I had a recent project where the outsourcer wanted me to find a proofreader/editor. I found one, a friendly colleague who now lives within walking distance from me. Due to both our educational backgrounds, myself being a mechanical engineer, and him being a civil engineer, we made an invincible team for that subject.

However the client wanted a TM compatible with Trados... and I use WordFast. My colleague uses both, and a few others too, so he said he'd have be no problem in converting my WF TM file into whatever Trados uses. As it turned out, it took me one day to translate all that, and a few hours for him to check it. However it took him two entire days to rebuild that TM, because Trados went berserk every time it hit (or perhaps was hit by?) a bullet in the text.

Therefore it seems to me that Trados has created a new profession of its own, which occupies mostly translators, however not all translators are part of it. Yes, I go beyond translation, I can do DTP, video subtitling, DVD authoring, but I can't "do Trados" or whatever it's called.

Yet SDL tends to diminish the translating role of people who have it, in their advertising. They induce outsourcers to think that translators who own Trados will do better, faster, and cheaper work, regardless of their competence as translators. As I was considered quite competent as a translator in the days I did it with a Parker 51 or a Smith-Corona, perhaps I made the right decision in not joining this club.
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neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 12:18
Spanish to English
+ ...
Mea culpa Jul 25, 2012

I must admit I gave this article, which I enjoyed reading, a lower grade because I am totally anti-Trados.

 
Giuseppina Gatta, MA (Hons)
Giuseppina Gatta, MA (Hons)
English to Italian
+ ...
Not sure of the meaning Sep 25, 2016

I am not sure of what Vito Smolej intended with his article. Deja Vu works perfectly with Trados files (sdlxliff) and I use it all the time. It's not even true that you need to use a txt extension. You just import them and export them the way they are.
That is why I didn't find the article useful and it looked like a disguised advertising of Trados to me.
Furthermore, I agree with Neil on his comment.

Giusi


 
cloudhunter (X)
cloudhunter (X)  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 12:18
English to German
+ ...
I might be a pain in the... Apr 23, 2017

...here but - in my opinion - it is absolutely irrelevant if Dorothy had Trados herself or not. She wanted a translator with Trados and Vito lied to her about having it. It is as simple as that. It might be that the translation outcome is the same, whatever CAT you use, but what about the "trust"-factor here? How can anyone build a serious (business) relationship, which starts with a lie?

 


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Article: Found in translation - Have TRADOS, will translate






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