| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: Which CAT tool do you use more? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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| | Brandis (X)
Local time: 23:19
English to German
+ ...
| I use various CAT tools | Jul 18, 2007 |
Or the question should have been ending with most. Brandis
| | | | Jeff Whittaker 
United States
Local time: 17:19
Member (2002)
Spanish to English
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| I do not use any CAT tools | Jul 18, 2007 |
and whenever I think about trying, I just pull up the ProZ Trados forum. After reading about all the numerous problems and errors, I am glad that I do not need to use this kind of "tool".
| | | | Steven Capsuto
United States
Local time: 17:19
Member (2004)
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Trados addict here... | Jul 18, 2007 |
TampaTranslator wrote:
and whenever I think about trying, I just pull up the ProZ Trados forum. After reading about all the numerous problems and errors, I am glad that I do not need to use this kind of "tool".
I think that's because people tend to write when they're having trouble, not when things are going well. Similarly there aren't forums where people post messages about how their PC is working beautifully that day.
Mostly I like Trados for the concordance function, though it's also tremendously useful in other ways.
For instance, it saves time and improves my thoroughness in technical translations that either have repeated sentences or set terminology that needs to be followed.
I can pull my client's official glossary into the program and, as I bring up each sentence to translate, it tells me whether any of the thousands of words in that client's glossary appear in the sentence, and prompts me with the appropriate term or terms. That's certainly useful.
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neilmac
Spain
Local time: 23:19
Spanish to English
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| I'm glad to see that I'm not such a minority as I thought... | Jul 19, 2007 |
... since I don't use any of these tools, yet still consider myself a competent translator.
After looking at some forums and talking to friends who do use Trados or similar, I was starting to feel guilty about not having some kind of CAT tool, and have been toying with the idea of trying Wordfast, which they say is good and much easier to use than Trados. However, every time I think about the time I'd have to spend "training" myself to use the thing, I realise I simply don't have the time... See more ... since I don't use any of these tools, yet still consider myself a competent translator.
After looking at some forums and talking to friends who do use Trados or similar, I was starting to feel guilty about not having some kind of CAT tool, and have been toying with the idea of trying Wordfast, which they say is good and much easier to use than Trados. However, every time I think about the time I'd have to spend "training" myself to use the thing, I realise I simply don't have the time. Perhaps that's because I don't use them...
I also distrust the advertising for these products - I have tried the Babylon tool advertised on the proz homepage, with its nigglingly irritating spelling error (favorites) on the blurb, and found it to be a complete waste of time and money. This makes me even warier of trying out more complex/sophisticated software like Trados etc...
[Edited at 2007-07-19 00:12] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Reed James
Chile
Local time: 17:19
Member (2005)
Spanish to English
| MemoQ is the way to go | Jul 19, 2007 |
I don't quite understand the argument expressed by some translators about not using any translation software whatsoever. Why don't we just go back to using typewriters? Why don't we paint our translations on cave walls?
I can understand this philosophy when it comes to religious groups such as the Amish and baroque music being played on period instruments (though I prefer it played on modern instruments and in modern keys). In these two instances, people are preserving traditions ba... See more I don't quite understand the argument expressed by some translators about not using any translation software whatsoever. Why don't we just go back to using typewriters? Why don't we paint our translations on cave walls?
I can understand this philosophy when it comes to religious groups such as the Amish and baroque music being played on period instruments (though I prefer it played on modern instruments and in modern keys). In these two instances, people are preserving traditions based on belief and music respectively.
However, most of us translate for profit and really do need these industrial-strength tools. What I will grant those who are wary of using CAT tools is that software will never replace the translator's own ingenuity, expertise and mind.
I like MemoQ because it is fast, easy-to-use and intuitive. I see that quite a few translators have commented on it, and I hope that it will be further developed and prosper.
You might like to read an article I wrote about MemoQ. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | translator tool newbie | Jul 19, 2007 |
I have quite recently come back to translation. When I last did any translations, typewriters were the tools. And paper dictionaries...
For various reasons, I thought about taking it up again, and stumbled across proz.com.
It's like a whole new world out there!
And one of the most amazing discoveries were computer tools. I downloaded the trial version of TRADOS, because that seemed to me to be the one most agencies were asking for, and I have been one of the posters with "probl... See more I have quite recently come back to translation. When I last did any translations, typewriters were the tools. And paper dictionaries...
For various reasons, I thought about taking it up again, and stumbled across proz.com.
It's like a whole new world out there!
And one of the most amazing discoveries were computer tools. I downloaded the trial version of TRADOS, because that seemed to me to be the one most agencies were asking for, and I have been one of the posters with "problems".
Learning something new always poses some difficulty (at least at my age...), and I had some trouble with the installation when I decided to buy the program - but nothing that could not be solved.
The usefulness far outweighs the irritation over the occasional hiccup, and I have only just begun to learn all the tricks and useful finesses...I only discovered WinALign and ran the tutorial about a week ago. That is going to be tremendous help.
But is it really necessary to have several of these tools?
[Edited at 2007-07-19 07:19] ▲ Collapse
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neilmac wrote:
However, every time I think about the time I'd have to spend "training" myself to use the thing, I realise I simply don't have the time.
[Edited at 2007-07-19 00:12]
It took all of about 20 minutes to start using Wordfast - and that included the download and installation. I've picked up other bits and pieces as and when I needed to. I've no doubt at all that I'm missing out on a lot of features which would make life easier, but even at a basic level it gives me the security of never skipping a sentence plus the benefit of the TM. I do a lot of highly repetitive contracts, consent forms, test procedures and the like, where it's worth its weight in gold (how much does a computer program weigh, exactly???). But I use it even when I'm translating something new with no repetitions at all - I wouldn't want to go back to writing over the original as I used to. Too confusing and hard on the eyes.
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John Cutler
Spain
Local time: 23:19
Spanish to English
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| Couldn't have said it better. | Jul 19, 2007 |
neilmac wrote:
... since I don't use any of these tools, yet still consider myself a competent translator.
After looking at some forums and talking to friends who do use Trados or similar, I was starting to feel guilty about not having some kind of CAT tool, and have been toying with the idea of trying Wordfast, which they say is good and much easier to use than Trados. However, every time I think about the time I'd have to spend "training" myself to use the thing, I realise I simply don't have the time. Perhaps that's because I don't use them...
I also distrust the advertising for these products - I have tried the Babylon tool advertised on the proz homepage, with its nigglingly irritating spelling error (favorites) on the blurb, and found it to be a complete waste of time and money. This makes me even warier of trying out more complex/sophisticated software like Trados etc...
[Edited at 2007-07-19 00:12]
I copied the whole post because I couldn't have said it better myself.
| | | | Deep-one
Local time: 00:19
English to Russian
+ ...
| I recommend DejaVu X | Jul 19, 2007 |
This is (maybe) the best TM tool available now.
It is able to break sentences into segments based on your formatting and to assemble translated segments into full sentences.
It's not always handy because of different word order, but still it usually works just fine for me.
Some issues:
Not user-friendly.
Doesn't display native formatting and screenshots in the main window.
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John Cutler wrote: neilmac wrote:
... since I don't use any of these tools, yet still consider myself a competent translator.
After looking at some forums and talking to friends who do use Trados or similar, I was starting to feel guilty about not having some kind of CAT tool, and have been toying with the idea of trying Wordfast, which they say is good and much easier to use than Trados. However, every time I think about the time I'd have to spend "training" myself to use the thing, I realise I simply don't have the time. Perhaps that's because I don't use them...
I also distrust the advertising for these products - I have tried the Babylon tool advertised on the proz homepage, with its nigglingly irritating spelling error (favorites) on the blurb, and found it to be a complete waste of time and money. This makes me even warier of trying out more complex/sophisticated software like Trados etc...
[Edited at 2007-07-19 00:12] I copied the whole post because I couldn't have said it better myself.
If you are happy not to maximise your profits and work faster, good luck to you...
[Edited at 2007-07-19 09:14]
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Usually I use Heartsome Xliff Translation Editor, but if a projects contains many files, then I use OmegaT, as it handles them better.
I can't imagine not working with a CAT
Anni
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neilmac
Spain
Local time: 23:19
Spanish to English
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| I like writing over (working copies) of original texts. | Jul 19, 2007 |
[I wouldn't want to go back to writing over the original as I used to. Too confusing and hard on the eyes. [/quote]
So if using Wordfast means I have to forego that, I'm much less likely to try it out. Old habits die hard.
Oh, and a word to Giovanni -sometimes "enough" is enough. I guarantee my clients quality translations delivered on time, without "maximising" myself or my business.
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Reed D. James wrote:
I don't quite understand the argument expressed by some translators about not using any translation software whatsoever. Why don't we just go back to using typewriters? Why don't we paint our translations on cave walls?
I can understand this philosophy when it comes to religious groups such as the Amish and baroque music being played on period instruments (though I prefer it played on modern instruments and in modern keys). In these two instances, people are preserving traditions based on belief and music respectively.
However, most of us translate for profit and really do need these industrial-strength tools. What I will grant those who are wary of using CAT tools is that software will never replace the translator's own ingenuity, expertise and mind.
I totally agree with what you said (plus I like your cave wall metaphor), except for the part about MemoQ, simply because I don't know this program and I mainly use Trados.
I also think that those who speak so negatively about CAT tools obviously do not know them well, because, once you learn to use them correctly, the minute you realize all the advantages such tools give to a translator
(e.g. consistency, ability to search terminology within already translated texts, etc.),
I think it would be easy to become a "convert", especially if you wish to produce work on a profitable level.
On the other hand, I think that another problem is that there is not always a "balanced" relationship between being a translator and being software/hardware-savvy.
Obviously those who work in technical translation (like myself) will probably have a clearer interest in learning how to work with software/hardware, but I think that, the way things are nowadays, if you intend to use the Internet just to "surf" around, you need to know at least some very basic software/hardware stuff in order to at least keep your PC away from all the technical "dangers" you may find by connecting to a DSL line.
I guess it's always easier for some to rely on their "geek" friend or the PC shop around the corner, but I think people sometimes don't realise how much money they could actually save by learning just a few tricks here and there about PCs and software, information that is easily available in the Internet
(that's one of the great achievements of the net, the fact that so many people "out there" are willing to share their expertise and know-how about all kinds of things).
Best,
Ivette
| | | | Cecilia Civetta
Italy
Local time: 23:19
Member (2003)
Italian to Spanish
+ ...
If you are happy not to maximise your profits and work faster, good luck to you...
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