| Pages in topic: [1 2 3] > | Poll: Do you think that your CAT software has paid for itself? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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| | Mary Worby 
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:05
German to English
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When I first invested in a CAT tool, I calculated how much of my annual income it represented, and therefore how much it would have to improve my productivity to pay for itself. Say it was 10 % of my annual income, it would need to boost productivity by 10 % to pay itself off in a year. It did that and much more even within the first year.
| | | | Michael Harris
Germany
Local time: 08:05
Member (2006)
German to English
It paid itself off in the first 2 months, and since then, probably more than a 1000 times. Have just got the update for studio 2014 for €125 that, as soon as I install it, is also paid off quickly.
Fortunately, Across is free of charge for us, Transit .... ongoing software license updates ...
Under the line, it was a good investment!
| | | | | It really pays off | Oct 25, 2013 |
I have been using SDL Trados for a few months only, but even after such a short period I can appreciate it. I should have bought it earlier
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It has paid absolutely well, and quickly!
Though I am using one year edition of Trados 2011.
Once my license expire, may be I seek for Trados 2014.
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My sweetheart gave it to me as a present. So I did choose other...
| | | | | Damned lies and statistics? | Oct 25, 2013 |
I'm not sure how much one can take from the results here. You have to assume that people who buy CAT software only do so because they expect it to pay for itself, so the results are naturally skewed.
Even so, how can it "pay for itself"? Agencies don't pay for matches, so no saving there. And in a recent poll the majority seemed to think it wrong to charge CAT-ignorant customers for matches. So where is the benefit?
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Angelique Blommaert wrote:
My sweetheart gave it to me as a present. So I did choose other...
Makes a change from roses and chocolates I suppose
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Mary Worby
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:05
German to English
+ ...
| The benefits | Oct 25, 2013 |
"Even so, how can it "pay for itself"? Agencies don't pay for matches, so no saving there. And in a recent poll the majority seemed to think it wrong to charge CAT-ignorant customers for matches. So where is the benefit? "
Chris, As far as I am concerned, the software pays for itself in terms of increased efficiency. Even discarding all the matches and repetitions, the workflow is faster more efficient and checking vocabulary against previous translations infinitely quicker. Even wi... See more "Even so, how can it "pay for itself"? Agencies don't pay for matches, so no saving there. And in a recent poll the majority seemed to think it wrong to charge CAT-ignorant customers for matches. So where is the benefit? "
Chris, As far as I am concerned, the software pays for itself in terms of increased efficiency. Even discarding all the matches and repetitions, the workflow is faster more efficient and checking vocabulary against previous translations infinitely quicker. Even without repetitions in documents I much prefer translating in Trados than 'manually' in Word or a similar environment. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | I don't work with CAT tools. | Oct 25, 2013 |
So no problems with CAT tools, no discount on matches etc.
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Mary Worby wrote:
Chris, As far as I am concerned, the software pays for itself in terms of increased efficiency. Even discarding all the matches and repetitions, the workflow is faster more efficient and checking vocabulary against previous translations infinitely quicker. Even without repetitions in documents I much prefer translating in Trados than 'manually' in Word or a similar environment.
Interesting... How does it make your workflow more efficient? Doesn't it just add a load of work opening and closing segments, dealing with all the little ways it messes up the file, and, my particular bugbear, farting around with tags???
I should add that I use CAT most of the time (Word interface) and it has paid off many times over, but for me it's the matches that are the main benefit (I am happy to charge full price for them in mercenary fashion) and I prefer the bilingual screen layout, but otherwise it's just added faff, especially as I'm a dictator.
| | | | Mary Worby
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:05
German to English
+ ...
Chris S wrote:
Interesting... How does it make your workflow more efficient? Doesn't it just add a load of work opening and closing segments, dealing with all the little ways it messes up the file, and, my particular bugbear, farting around with tags???
OK, tags are a pain, but they are relatively rare! And I don't have any particular issues with files getting messed up.
Way back when I used to work in Word with no CAT tools, I found it awkward to have to translate as I went along, then delete the original text. It is all to easy to delete too much and miss segments. With Trados, the segments are clearly delineated and there is no risk of accidental removal. Plus, once you had translated a sentence, it was no longer there for reference in the source language, so you had to go back to the original file to check vocab, etc.
Added to this is the fact that (in Trados Studio) I can clearly see the source and target languages lined up next to one another. I can see the segments that I have translated and those that are yet to come, so it is all clearly in context.
And, one of the less-vaunted advantages of using a CAT tool is that it is an automatic backup in itself. Once you have saved a segment, it is stored, so if your system crashes, you can just recreate the translation again from your translation memory. Touch wood, but since working with CAT tools (about 12 years), I have never lost more than a couple of segments of translation.
I honestly struggle to believe people can make a living in translation without CAT tools, but clearly they do!
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Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 08:05
Member (2009)
English to German
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My CAT tool has paid for itself more than once already.
I used to be against it, not the least based on these discount requests, but now I'm glad I have it.
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Hundreds time over, would be my guess. It also didn't cost an arm and a leg, as some other do.
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Good points, I'd clean forgotten about the old overtyping/deleting thing! I'm still not entirely convinced it isn't more work on balance though. For me anyway. Especially Trados.
But perhaps the latest Studio versions are an improvement on the six-year-old TagEditor I occasionally have to use and hate with a passion?
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