Which kind of texts requires the least use of Trados Thread poster: Williamson
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Williamson 
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:11
Flemish to English
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I am not a fan of Trados, the reduction imposing tool. A word is a word and otherwise,
I'll just put in the percentage of that word in the text that I am paid for.
However, with some kinds of texts like literary texts, the use of Trados does not come handy.
Are there any other types where the use of Trados is not so very handy.
If you had to quantify the use of Trados on a scale from 100% use and hence reductions to 0%, what would the content of the axis be?
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inge van dri (X)
Local time: 19:11
German to Dutch
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Trados is never "handy". There are more useful tools (Wordfast, etc.) for doing tasks such as straightforward translation.
But as an answer to your question, :
1) very small texts
2) litterature
3) creative texts of all kinds (marketing)
4) unique texts for clients you'll never see again
5) images of all kinds
6) texts which have to be handled with other software such as PoEdit, Pootling, subtitling tools
7) texts which have to be treated di... See more Trados is never "handy". There are more useful tools (Wordfast, etc.) for doing tasks such as straightforward translation.
But as an answer to your question, :
1) very small texts
2) litterature
3) creative texts of all kinds (marketing)
4) unique texts for clients you'll never see again
5) images of all kinds
6) texts which have to be handled with other software such as PoEdit, Pootling, subtitling tools
7) texts which have to be treated directly in the client's CMS
8) highly formatted texts and Powerpoint files
9) ? ▲ Collapse
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Heinrich Pesch
Finland
Local time: 20:11
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
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| Trados has nothing to to with reductions | Apr 1, 2008 |
Reductions are imposed by agencies. Its up to you to put your wordrate at a level, that guarantees you the same income as when counting gross text-amounts.
I would use a CAT-tool always if possible, also in literal translation, for keeping me informed about terminology etc.
Dostoyevsky in his novel The Possessed named initially one character differently than later in the text. As a translator you cannot afford this.
REgards
Heinrich
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| If Trados does not fit your needs, why don't you shop around? | Apr 1, 2008 |
I agree with you that some CAT tools are in some way too much sentence-based and I also had the experience that they actually slowed my work down instead of speeding it up. Choosing a CAT tool is (or at least should be) a matter of personal preference. Mine works quite well on non-repetitive texts as well. In fact, I use it for 95% of all of my jobs, also covering Van Driel's points 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, sometimes 7, 8
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Williamson
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:11
Flemish to English
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TOPIC STARTER | Their rate, their payment conditions. | Apr 1, 2008 |
Heinrich Pesch wrote:
Reductions are imposed by agencies. Its up to you to put your wordrate at a level, that guarantees you the same income as when counting gross text-amounts.
I would use a CAT-tool always if possible, also in literal translation, for keeping me informed about terminology etc.
Dostoyevsky in his novel The Possessed named initially one character differently than later in the text. As a translator you cannot afford this.
REgards
Heinrich
I've posted this because agencies propose their Wordrate and consider Trados reduction as a fact of life. However, for some kind of texts the use of Trados/CAT tools is less appropriate.
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| Turn the screw | Apr 1, 2008 |
Williamson wrote:
I've posted this because agencies propose their Wordrate and consider Trados reduction as a fact of life. However, for some kind of texts the use of Trados/CAT tools is less appropriate.
I usually don't partecipate in dicussions about CAT tools (and rates), because I have very strong feelings about the issue.
But I'll just say this: we, the community of professional translators, have let agencies get away with it. It is now time to turn the screw.
We have sold ourselves cheaply, in a mad competitive drive. The market has followed. We have the blessing of an unregulated market, but have not been able to turn this to our advantage, and allowed the middlemen to dictate to us.
I note with hope that more and more disgruntled translators are realizing that now agencies not only try and tell translator what rates to apply, but also which specific CAT tool to have, and which discount to give.
I Just hope the young blood coming to our profession will reflect on these issues and act accordingly, rather then bow their head and accept to be exploited.
Giuliana
Disclaimer: In my post above I have commented, in general terms, on a trend. Obviously my post is not aimed at agencies that act fairly and translators that don't sell their time cheaply.
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inge van dri (X)
Local time: 19:11
German to Dutch
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Williamson wrote:
I've posted this because agencies propose their Wordrate and consider Trados reduction as a fact of life. However, for some kind of texts the use of Trados/CAT tools is less appropriate.
If using a CAT (whatever) you can maintain your hourly rate or even increase it, then a CAT is useful. Then it is up to you to decide if you can allow a reduction to the client. If you have litterature or too much file handling problems (such as in the cases above), the use of a CAT can be counterproductive and a CAT-reduction should be avoided. Btw. my clients never ask me for a CAT-reduction, but sometimes I propose one if they send me several files at the same time.
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Textklick
Local time: 18:11
German to English
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In memoriam | Actually avoiding repetition | Apr 1, 2008 |
Williamson wrote:
However, with some kinds of texts like literary texts, the use of Trados does not come handy.
This might sound odd at first glance, but on occasion in (boringly repetitive) marketing texts, I've used the concordance search in order to deliberately rephrase.
Along the lines of "They 'sort of' said that before, let's quickly see how I worded it back then, so that I can avoid unnecessary repetitiveness."
Cut/paste and reword to add a little spice.
This is not in Trados, but in SLDX, although the same principle applies.
Works quickly and well.
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| Other options | Apr 1, 2008 |
To add to what Wolfgang says, my answer to your question is "any and all texts translated by a translator who uses a different CAT tool." I use my CAT for 99% of my translations. I can also second statements by Textklick (seeing how I have translated a term or expression previously can also help avoid repetition when necessary) and "van driel" (I, too, have never been asked for a reduction but I do offer one if the text has significant repetitions).
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Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 19:11
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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| It depends on your habits | Apr 1, 2008 |
van driel wrote:
But as an answer to your question, :
1) very small texts...
Back in the days when I used a single TM for all my work (except for certain specialist areas), I would use Wordfast for all translations, no matter how small. It was just a habit. I suppose one could make using Trados a habit also.
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