Which one ? Trados / wordfast / déjà vù ?
Thread poster: Marie 07
Marie 07
Marie 07
France
Local time: 08:51
English to French
Feb 5, 2008

Which one should I buy ? Why ?
thank you very much !


 
Oleg Rudavin
Oleg Rudavin  Identity Verified
Ukraine
Local time: 09:51
Member (2003)
English to Ukrainian
+ ...
Don't - at least for the time being Feb 5, 2008

Hi Marie!

In your areas of expertise - Zoology & Botany, Environment & Ecology, Agriculture, General Science etc. - texts with highly repetitive segments (sentences) are a rarity (with the exception of menus, manuals to agricultural machines or probably articles for some flora and fauna encyclopedias). Hence, any CAT tool would be of little use, if any at all.

Cheers,
Oleg


 
Victor Dewsbery
Victor Dewsbery  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 08:51
German to English
+ ...
Terminology and phrases Feb 5, 2008

As Oleg points out, repetition at the sentence level is not too common in many text types.

However, I do even non-repetitive texts in my CAT tool (DejaVuX, a.k.a. DVX), and I find it a good way to benefit from my own terminology material. With the right settings, DVX "assembles" sentences from bits and pieces that I have stored in my databases (especially the terminology database), and I find that this helps me to be consistent, and it also avoids the experience of looking up key co
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As Oleg points out, repetition at the sentence level is not too common in many text types.

However, I do even non-repetitive texts in my CAT tool (DejaVuX, a.k.a. DVX), and I find it a good way to benefit from my own terminology material. With the right settings, DVX "assembles" sentences from bits and pieces that I have stored in my databases (especially the terminology database), and I find that this helps me to be consistent, and it also avoids the experience of looking up key concepts several times during a big job. And if I come across words that I have translated before but not recorded as terminology items, I can find them by doing a concordance search in the sentences database (= translation memory).

It is worth bearing in mind that it takes time to build up sizeable databases as you work, although there are ways to import existing terminology lists and previous translated texts.
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Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 08:51
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Don't don't, but do Feb 5, 2008

Oleg Rudavin wrote:
In your areas of expertise - Zoology & Botany, Environment & Ecology, Agriculture, General Science etc. - texts with highly repetitive segments (sentences) are a rarity...


True, but those same fields (zoology, botany, ecology, agriculture) often contain terms that require a lot of research, and the same terms do turn up every now and then. Using a CAT tool would be useful for that because you can search through TMs (old translations) quickly to find out how you translated a certain term without having to redo all the research.

I'm not going to answer the question "which one should I buy" and especially not "why", Marie, because if you're too lazy to do a forum search, then I'm too lazy to tell you what you would you find when you do a forum search. Get OmegaT, because it's free and it creates TMs.


 
Lesley Clarke
Lesley Clarke  Identity Verified
Mexico
Local time: 01:51
Spanish to English
wordfast works well for me Feb 5, 2008

I don't actually agree that there is not much repetition of text Marie's chosen areas, I translate environment impact studies, mostly for just the one client and there is a lot of repetition.

But as Victor and Samuel say, the glossary features in CAT tools, at least in my experience, the one in wordfast, saves me a lot of time, and is worth its weight in gold.


 
Oleg Rudavin
Oleg Rudavin  Identity Verified
Ukraine
Local time: 09:51
Member (2003)
English to Ukrainian
+ ...
Don't (continued) Feb 5, 2008

As an amendment to my previous posting, don't buy anything Marie until you:
- know the pros and cons of most popular CAT tools
- understand what they do and what you might need them for
- make sure they'll be useful in your translqtion work

Cheers,
Oleg


 
Victor Dewsbery
Victor Dewsbery  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 08:51
German to English
+ ...
Perhaps a free trial Feb 5, 2008

Most of the tools can be used for a free trial period.

DVX offers 30 days, and there is no limit on the functions of the program for that period.
(By the way, if you do go for DVX, the cheapest version "DVX Standard" is not worthwhile, so you would need to go at least for the more expensive "Professional" version).

Other tools may have longer/shorter free trial periods, and some of them limit the use you can make during the trial (e.g. size of project or size of d
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Most of the tools can be used for a free trial period.

DVX offers 30 days, and there is no limit on the functions of the program for that period.
(By the way, if you do go for DVX, the cheapest version "DVX Standard" is not worthwhile, so you would need to go at least for the more expensive "Professional" version).

Other tools may have longer/shorter free trial periods, and some of them limit the use you can make during the trial (e.g. size of project or size of database).

The trial period will enable you to test the functions, and also to see if you like the layout of the material on the screen (I know that some people greatly dislike the screen layout of DVX, for example). Most of the CAT users here have their favourite program, but there is no single solution that is best for eveyone.

You will have to look at the programs yourself and then decide which one you like best - and what investment you are willing to make.
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Vito Smolej
Vito Smolej
Germany
Local time: 08:51
Member (2004)
English to Slovenian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
The question is, how much do you intend to earn Feb 5, 2008

Which one should I buy ? Why ?

If you do not see any income coming your way, it does not make sense to buy anything - this is cheapest way out of it. In the case you want to stick around for a little longer, put yourself in your future customers' shoes: what do they expect? What do they accept?

At the beginning of the race, it is pretty much the buyers market: the agency and their expectations decide on what you are supposed to have - even if you have no previous experience with any of the candidates, you are mentioning. Again: is it the buyer's or is it the seller's market you are in? In your case I would dare to say, it's the buyer who decides on what would be the best bet for you to purchase.

[Edited at 2008-02-05 19:37]


 
Viktoria Gimbe
Viktoria Gimbe  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 03:51
English to French
+ ...
This question comes back all the time Feb 6, 2008

Had you searched just a bit, you would have found these merely on the first two pages of the CAT tools forum:

...
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Had you searched just a bit, you would have found these merely on the first two pages of the CAT tools forum:

http://www.proz.com/topic/84308
http://www.proz.com/topic/86668
http://www.proz.com/topic/91789
http://www.proz.com/topic/95833
http://www.proz.com/topic/95963

These threads repeat pretty much the same information over and over... and you can find a lot more. Taking advantage of the information available online includes also searching for it, not just asking a question that has been answered a zillion times... Some of us could gather our postings on this subject and publish an entire book with them!
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Marie 07
Marie 07
France
Local time: 08:51
English to French
TOPIC STARTER
I think I have to buy one ... Feb 7, 2008

I have no previous experience, I intend translating to be a full time job.
I was asked by an agency willing to work with me that I should have a CAT, and I saw it is very often required too.

The agency advised me to take Déjà vù, but I am afraid some job providers only konw trados and won't accept my quote If I have Déjà Vù ...

hence, my question ...


 
Viktoria Gimbe
Viktoria Gimbe  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 03:51
English to French
+ ...
It is YOUR tool Feb 7, 2008

Make sure you know what you spend your money for. Is it to attract more clients or is it to have a tool that will help you do your work? You will invest time and money in something that is supposed to serve your interests first and foremost.

I'd say you need to pick one that is compatible with the TMX standard. That's about it. Other than that, see which one would suit you best. There is no point in getting Trados just so that that one client is happy, especiall
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Make sure you know what you spend your money for. Is it to attract more clients or is it to have a tool that will help you do your work? You will invest time and money in something that is supposed to serve your interests first and foremost.

I'd say you need to pick one that is compatible with the TMX standard. That's about it. Other than that, see which one would suit you best. There is no point in getting Trados just so that that one client is happy, especially if you will become just another person frustrated with Trados (there are already too many of us). Trados may actually be the best choice for you, but don't look at it from the client's perpective - look at it from yours. If you were to buy a tool for your client to use - it would only be fair that the client pay for it. If you invest in a CAT tool, make sure you will be happy with it.

Too many agencies ask for Trados, and too many translators believe it is the standard. Many of us were tricked into believing it is the best CAT tool - otherwise, why would the majority be using it? Don't get fooled - it may be far from the type of tool you need, if even you need any. But if we all obeyed the agencies like you seem to be about to, then I guess we would eventually end up owing it to them to use Trados, when Trados can actually at times hinder out work rather than help it. Looking at it from a businessperson's standpoint - it just doesn't make sense.

For the record, there are still lots of translators who don't use a CAT tool and don't even know how those work - and they are still in business.

[Edited at 2008-02-07 15:41]
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Kevin Lossner
Kevin Lossner  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 07:51
German to English
+ ...
You can do your "Trados" jobs with Déjà Vu! Feb 7, 2008

Marie le Gorrec wrote:
The agency advised me to take Déjà vù, but I am afraid some job providers only konw trados and won't accept my quote If I have Déjà Vù ...


Go have a peek at the "how to" tab on my profile and you'll find links to information on how to do most of the working "requiring" Trados with DVX. The support forum here, the dejavu-l list and Atril's community forum have a wealth of information beyond that. Those sources will also bring up other interoperability options, like doing Star Transit or SDLX projects with DV.


 


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Which one ? Trados / wordfast / déjà vù ?







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