Technical forums » Trados support »
Trados' output xlf saves one line off
Thread poster: Vandermeer
Vandermeer
Vandermeer
Germany
Local time: 22:36
German to English
Sep 16, 2015

Hello,
there is a problem we stumbled across today regarding some unexplainable and yet unprecedented file saving bogus. An apparently intact source file was translated into two languages, norwegian and dutch. After matching the translation results in SDL trados and merging them into an output xlf, the norwegian translation came out fine, while the dutch one was one line off, meaning all results were one line lower compared to where they should have been. Weirdly, when watching the transla... See more
Hello,
there is a problem we stumbled across today regarding some unexplainable and yet unprecedented file saving bogus. An apparently intact source file was translated into two languages, norwegian and dutch. After matching the translation results in SDL trados and merging them into an output xlf, the norwegian translation came out fine, while the dutch one was one line off, meaning all results were one line lower compared to where they should have been. Weirdly, when watching the translation in SDL Trados, all lines match up for this dutch translation, and it is only upon saving that the corruption occurs.
We had 3 people looking into this, plus remotely the original translator, but could not find the origin of the problem.

To provide some material, I opened some of those xlf in notepad++ and highlighted what seems to be broken.

The Source
(Images seem not to be working for now, so here is at least the link which can be put into the adress bar to see.)
http://abload.de/img/sourcetooha.png

Here you can see the raw material which needed to be translated into other languages. You have a clear listing of the "source" terms after source id, and then of course empty "target" tags. ..Except for the first one, which is just project info here.
Since both translations in question had to work with this, the file must logically be intact, as the norwegian ended up fine.


Correct Output (norwegian file)
http://abload.de/img/correctoutputtnrck.png

The terms that were translated were simply but into those previously empty target tags, just like it should be. This and some attribute changes should actually be the only things that get manipulated.


Wrong Output (dutch file)
http://abload.de/img/wrongoutputvspli.png

Now this is what happened to the dutch file. The id="2" translation unit was somehow elevated up to fall between the first id's source and target tag, causing all the translation to be one line down. Also a new target tag appeared right above that misplaced block: "" "" ...which is not even an empty, but self closing tag. Might as well not be there, but really, we don't even know what to think of that one.

No matter how often this is saved, it always comes out skewed like this. We tried manipulating the source in notepad, so that maybe if the first id object (which is technically not needed) was deleted, then maybe it would have worked. ..But nearly all edits cause problems with merging the source with the translation, and the other ones just accomplish nothing.


So big end question: What causes this?

One idea was that maybe there are hidden signs somewhere which screw with Trados' computing, but we could find no proof of that yet. Otherwise we are out of ideas. Could it be a problem with the dutch language alone?

We would thank fourfold literally if someone could help us out with this. ▲ Collapse
 
Vandermeer
Vandermeer
Germany
Local time: 22:36
German to English
TOPIC STARTER
Next day Sep 17, 2015

Still a mystery. To specify this again: We have one sdlxliff file that we can open in Trados, and it displays all translations correctly inline. Once we generate a xlf off of that, it becomes skewed, resulting in all translations to be one line lower to where they should be.
 
Vandermeer
Vandermeer
Germany
Local time: 22:36
German to English
TOPIC STARTER
Labor intensive solution Sep 17, 2015

Just to close this, even so nobody could provide help, we kind of worked around it by doing all the edits separately in swordfish 3 and some finishing touch in notepad++ directly. It was laborious doing it semi by hand, but in the end it still took way less time than trying to figure out the causative issue.
 


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:

Moderator(s) of this forum
Natalie[Call to this topic]
Myron Netchypor[Call to this topic]
Marco Ramón[Call to this topic]
Maya Gorgoshidze[Call to this topic]
Prachya Mruetusatorn[Call to this topic]

You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

Trados' output xlf saves one line off







Trados Studio 2022 Freelance
The leading translation software used by over 270,000 translators.

Designed with your feedback in mind, Trados Studio 2022 delivers an unrivalled, powerful desktop and cloud solution, empowering you to work in the most efficient and cost-effective way.

More info »
Protemos translation business management system
Create your account in minutes, and start working! 3-month trial for agencies, and free for freelancers!

The system lets you keep client/vendor database, with contacts and rates, manage projects and assign jobs to vendors, issue invoices, track payments, store and manage project files, generate business reports on turnover profit per client/manager etc.

More info »