Anyone else finding the MemoQ Help files frustrating?
Thread poster: Marinus Vesseur
Marinus Vesseur
Marinus Vesseur  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 17:39
English to Dutch
+ ...
Mar 4, 2011

...or is it just me (again). I've unintentionally made a name for myself as a CAT tool critic (read: klutz), so bear with me.

I have noticed that when I want to do a very specific thing in MemoQ the Help files don't help me much. First of all: searching for a specific issue either returns no results, or too many unrelated results - a typical problem with the search function of Help files, it seems. But even if I find the 'right' article it often confuses me more than anything else.
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...or is it just me (again). I've unintentionally made a name for myself as a CAT tool critic (read: klutz), so bear with me.

I have noticed that when I want to do a very specific thing in MemoQ the Help files don't help me much. First of all: searching for a specific issue either returns no results, or too many unrelated results - a typical problem with the search function of Help files, it seems. But even if I find the 'right' article it often confuses me more than anything else.

Point in case: I'm trying to share a job with a colleague who works with Wordfast. Now, according to the website MemoQ is fantastic for doing just that. Yet that doesn't mean it's easy to find, it turns out, because there doesn't appear to be a command "Export file for WordFast" or anything remotely like it.

'If all else fails, look at the instructions' is the slogan, so I searched the Help files and found "Exchanging documents with other tools".

This is what it says:
In memoQ, you do not need the original documents to work on the translation or export the result. memoQ bilingual documents, XLIFF files or bilingual DOC files contain both the original and the translated segments. memoQ bilingual files and XLIFF files also contain the formatting of the document. If you receive a translation document in the form of a memoQ bilingual file or an XLIFF file, you can export the translation on your computer without the original file.

If you work with Trados-compatible DOC files, you can export the result anywhere if the original file is a Word document. If the original document is of a different format, you need to return the bilingual file to the computer where the original file was imported, update the project with the bilingual file, then export the translation. If you receive a translation document in the form of tagged Trados bilingual files, it is the Trados-tagged version that is imported into, and later exported from, memoQ, not the original file. Export of the tagged Trados bilingual files to the original format needs to be done in Trados.


Wa?

So I read it. And I read it again. And then I gave up. After reading "If you work with Trados.." for the third time, in fact. Keep in mind that there already is a chapter called "Exchange Data with SDL Trados". Why the reference to Trados here again, in a chapter about Other Tools? But much more importantly: what part of the exchange process is this supposed to be about anyway?

Does anyone else find this hard to understand? Could it be that the MemoQ-typical use of the word 'export' is partly to blame?

After more reading and searching I think I am going to work it out with this Help chapter: "Exchange Data with SDL Trados", which says:

If you receive a file created in memoQ, it is advisable to translate it entirely within memoQ and export the result. If you choose instead to use SDL Trados to edit memoQ bilingual files, do the following in order to have SDL Trados accept the filters set in memoQ:

1. Create and pre-process the project in memoQ

2. Click Copy source to target where empty in the Project menu

3. Click Export bilingual in the Project home and choose Trados-compatible bilingual doc as the file type.

4. Open the bilingual file in Microsoft Word or SDL Trados tageditor

5. Translate and save the file

6. Open the original project in memoQ and import the file using the command Import/Update bilingual in the Project home

7. Export the file to get it into its original format.


This is somehwat helpful as a step-by-step guide for me. It probably will do. But what is an even-less-CAT-savvy than me going to do with 'filters', 'pre-processing', 'Export bilingual in the Project home', etc. The bold print is supposed to help, but does it? Alright, I'm being anal now. Still I hope I'm not the only one having a hard time with this. Wait a minute. No. I hope it makes perfect sense for you, but I have an inkling that it might not. What do you say?

- Rien
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Pzit (X)
Pzit (X)
English to Italian
Dunno Mar 6, 2011

I find the How to section quite useful. No real frustration yet about the Help files, except for the sections about Regular Expressions, Autotranslations, etc. I don't understand a thing in there! Luckily, I don't need to know more for the time being.

 


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Anyone else finding the MemoQ Help files frustrating?






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