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Working on projects where your PM has a different CAT tool than yours (i.e. SDL vs Wordfast etc.)
Thread poster: Philippe Locquet
Philippe Locquet
Philippe Locquet  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 06:41
English to French
+ ...
Jul 13, 2017

Hello to all,

I thought I’d start a thread on a problem that affect us all: file compatibility. We may have lost some job opportunities because our Project Manager was using SDL Trados Studio for example and we were using a different CAT tool.

However, it’s possible to work on a bilingual file that has been produced in different CAT tool and then work on it on our own CAT-tool.
To help many, it would be great to put a few tips and tricks in this thread for tho
... See more
Hello to all,

I thought I’d start a thread on a problem that affect us all: file compatibility. We may have lost some job opportunities because our Project Manager was using SDL Trados Studio for example and we were using a different CAT tool.

However, it’s possible to work on a bilingual file that has been produced in different CAT tool and then work on it on our own CAT-tool.
To help many, it would be great to put a few tips and tricks in this thread for those struggling with the issue.

I have published a video showing a full return trip between SDL Trados Studio 2017 and the free solid CAT tool Wordfast Anywhere. You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/sGdVytxM4_k

The same process would apply if you want to export and import back in SDL Studio and edit the sdlxliff in a different CAT tool like Memo-Q, Wordfast, Omega T, Cafetran etc. You would export and import allways the same way in SDL Trados (if you just export the sdlxliff and not the full package). Of course, importing in a different CAT tool would be specific to each different CAT tool.

If you PM tell you they can’t do it, send them a link to the video. It can most certainly be done! This should be of benefit to them because it’s a shame that the access to quality translators should be narrowed by the CAT tool they chose.

In a few weeks, I’ll publish a video with a similar return trip from a different CAT tool.

I hope this will help those struggling with this issue.

Enjoy 😊!

My bests to all!
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Luca Tutino
Luca Tutino  Identity Verified
Italy
Member (2002)
English to Italian
+ ...
But what if the PM sends a package and wants a return package? Jul 13, 2017

Thank you for your post. CAT tools seem to be quite inter-compatible lately, and this is certainly an important possibility for us. Still, it can be problematic in some case, like for instance:

- A client sends a specific CAT package and wants a return package
- They ask for "track change" review or ask to look at a track changed review
- They send a dtp exported file (mif etc.): will the compatible cat handle the conversion as well and in a compatible way?
- ...<
... See more
Thank you for your post. CAT tools seem to be quite inter-compatible lately, and this is certainly an important possibility for us. Still, it can be problematic in some case, like for instance:

- A client sends a specific CAT package and wants a return package
- They ask for "track change" review or ask to look at a track changed review
- They send a dtp exported file (mif etc.): will the compatible cat handle the conversion as well and in a compatible way?
- ...

Do you have good workarounds for these?
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Philippe Locquet
Philippe Locquet  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 06:41
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Gathering around the workarounds, so we start! Jul 13, 2017

Luca Tutino wrote:

Thank you for your post. CAT tools seem to be quite inter-compatible lately, and this is certainly an important possibility for us. Still, it can be problematic in some case, like for instance:

- A client sends a specific CAT package and wants a return package
- They ask for "track change" review or ask to look at a track changed review
- They send a dtp exported file (mif etc.): will the compatible cat handle the conversion as well and in a compatible way?
- ...

Do you have good workarounds for these?


Thank you for your answer, it fits exactly the purpose of this thread!

A package is often a folder with many resources in it. You should be able to open it and see the files. In the case of an SDL package,
You could handle the sdlxliff in your CAT tool if it supports it.
The sdltm could be converted to tmx and uploaded in your CAT tool. You could use WF Converter to that effect, Dominique Pivard (CAT Guru) has a great video on it here: https://youtu.be/L0t9n5yZaaQ
You could then handle the sdltb in the same way with the same tool.
You could then replace the files in package and return it and see how it goes.
Tracked changes are often dealt with outside of CAT tools using review exports that are in MS Word formats, so no issue here.
The issue will often rise when your PM is less CAT-Tool knowledgeable than you are and doesn’t want to spend an extra 5 mins to handle a few things manually.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a workaround for every situation, and that’s exactly the purpose of this thread, because there definitely needs to be more interoperability between the CAT tools and meanwhile the more knowledge is available to face the matter, the better it will be for translators and for translation quality.

My bests 😊


 
Mario Chavez (X)
Mario Chavez (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 02:41
English to Spanish
+ ...
Useful initiative Jul 13, 2017

Hello, Fi2 n Co, and thank you for that novel initiative. To the problem at hand, I've acquired and used a variety of CAT or TEnT tools over the years: Trados Studio, Déjà Vu, SDL Trados Studio and, lately, memoQ. The strategy has paid off so far as I use the tool I judge to be best for the project at hand.

Sometimes I find myself persuading the client to let me use my preferred tool; sometimes I have to use the client's tool because they already have a team and a procedure in pla
... See more
Hello, Fi2 n Co, and thank you for that novel initiative. To the problem at hand, I've acquired and used a variety of CAT or TEnT tools over the years: Trados Studio, Déjà Vu, SDL Trados Studio and, lately, memoQ. The strategy has paid off so far as I use the tool I judge to be best for the project at hand.

Sometimes I find myself persuading the client to let me use my preferred tool; sometimes I have to use the client's tool because they already have a team and a procedure in place.

I haven't yet seen your video, but I think it would be extremely helpful for clients and translators alike.

By the way, where in Portugal are you? I've been to Aveiro and Lisbon for academic studies in the last year, and I have one more trip to your country within 3-5 months.

Best regards,

Mario
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Philippe Locquet
Philippe Locquet  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 06:41
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
"One size fits all" vs the opposite :) Jul 13, 2017

Mario Chavez wrote:

Hello, Fi2 n Co, and thank you for that novel initiative. To the problem at hand, I've acquired and used a variety of CAT or TEnT tools over the years: Trados Studio, Déjà Vu, SDL Trados Studio and, lately, memoQ. The strategy has paid off so far as I use the tool I judge to be best for the project at hand.

Sometimes I find myself persuading the client to let me use my preferred tool; sometimes I have to use the client's tool because they already have a team and a procedure in place.

I haven't yet seen your video, but I think it would be extremely helpful for clients and translators alike.

Best regards,

Mario


Hello Mario,

Thank you for the feedback and for sharing your experience.
What you mentioned makes the issue even more important:

Having to buy multiple CAT tools
_Is impractical
_Is expensive
_May bloat your computer (depending on how powerful it is)
_Requires the translator to make an effort to learn multiple interfaces and workflows instead of focusing on translation quality.

And over the years most translators have created powerful resources they can leverage (TMs, Glossaries etc.) and having several tools at the same time makes it difficult to keep all terminology resources up to date at the same time.

So, the more tips, tweaks and workarounds, the more the translator will be able to leverage valuable resources and experience built over the years in an environment that enables him to work at his best: his favourite CAT tool.

So, the more personal experiences and working tips we get here, the better it will be for the whole industry, hopefully 😉.

My bests


 
Mario Chavez (X)
Mario Chavez (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 02:41
English to Spanish
+ ...
Bloaty computers and vaporware Jul 13, 2017

Fi2 n Co wrote:

Mario Chavez wrote:

Hello, Fi2 n Co, and thank you for that novel initiative. To the problem at hand, I've acquired and used a variety of CAT or TEnT tools over the years: Trados Studio, Déjà Vu, SDL Trados Studio and, lately, memoQ. The strategy has paid off so far as I use the tool I judge to be best for the project at hand.

Sometimes I find myself persuading the client to let me use my preferred tool; sometimes I have to use the client's tool because they already have a team and a procedure in place.

I haven't yet seen your video, but I think it would be extremely helpful for clients and translators alike.

Best regards,

Mario


Hello Mario,

Thank you for the feedback and for sharing your experience.
What you mentioned makes the issue even more important:

Having to buy multiple CAT tools
_Is impractical
_Is expensive
_May bloat your computer (depending on how powerful it is)
_Requires the translator to make an effort to learn multiple interfaces and workflows instead of focusing on translation quality.

And over the years most translators have created powerful resources they can leverage (TMs, Glossaries etc.) and having several tools at the same time makes it difficult to keep all terminology resources up to date at the same time.

So, the more tips, tweaks and workarounds, the more the translator will be able to leverage valuable resources and experience built over the years in an environment that enables him to work at his best: his favourite CAT tool.

So, the more personal experiences and working tips we get here, the better it will be for the whole industry, hopefully 😉.

My bests


Hi again
It depends on when the tool was purchased. I bought my Trados and Déjàa Vu licenses with 50% discount ($500 each) in 1999 at an ATA conference, so I was kind of lucky. I bought my own memoQ license for 99 euros because I'm a university student in Aveiro (Portugal).

So you want to keep your location a secret in Portugal? That's fine. No ovos moles for you!



 
Philippe Locquet
Philippe Locquet  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 06:41
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Nice, yet... Jul 13, 2017

Mario Chavez wrote:

Hi again
It depends on when the tool was purchased. I bought my Trados and Déjàa Vu licenses with 50% discount ($500 each) in 1999 at an ATA conference, so I was kind of lucky. I bought my own memoQ license for 99 euros because I'm a university student in Aveiro (Portugal).



Great, working out bargains such as these is nice. But even like this, for many translators, this would be rather big sums of money, especially depending on the rates usually applied in their language pairs.

Enjoy Aveiro, it's a lovely place.

My bests

[Modifié le 2017-07-13 19:38 GMT]


 
Philippe Locquet
Philippe Locquet  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 06:41
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Better? Jul 13, 2017

[/quote]

So you want to keep your location a secret in Portugal? That's fine.

[/quote]

Well, ProZ.com have given us direct messaging for that. This way, it keeps the messages in this thread easy to read for those looking for a specific answer.


 
Oksana Weiss
Oksana Weiss  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 07:41
Member (2011)
Ukrainian to English
+ ...
Interesting! Jul 14, 2017

Thank you for starting this thread, which I find really useful. Some issues however seem to have no work-around so far (e.g., no possibility to track changes in Wordfast, although it can already work with sdlxliffs). However, the more they develop CAT-tools, the more interchangeable they become. It was not possible only 2-3 years ago to open a memoQ file in Trados or a Trados file in Wordfast. Hopefully, there comes time when we will be able to link our TMs and termbases to whatever CAT-tool off... See more
Thank you for starting this thread, which I find really useful. Some issues however seem to have no work-around so far (e.g., no possibility to track changes in Wordfast, although it can already work with sdlxliffs). However, the more they develop CAT-tools, the more interchangeable they become. It was not possible only 2-3 years ago to open a memoQ file in Trados or a Trados file in Wordfast. Hopefully, there comes time when we will be able to link our TMs and termbases to whatever CAT-tool off-line and on-line. I shall definitely follow this thread to watch any new developments in this field:)Collapse


 
Philippe Locquet
Philippe Locquet  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 06:41
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Where will this go? Jul 14, 2017

Oksana Weiss wrote:

Thank you for starting this thread, which I find really useful. Some issues however seem to have no work-around so far (e.g., no possibility to track changes in Wordfast, although it can already work with sdlxliffs). However, the more they develop CAT-tools, the more interchangeable they become. It was not possible only 2-3 years ago to open a memoQ file in Trados or a Trados file in Wordfast. Hopefully, there comes time when we will be able to link our TMs and termbases to whatever CAT-tool off-line and on-line. I shall definitely follow this thread to watch any new developments in this field:)


Hello Oksana,

Thank you!
Yes, things have improved in the past years.

The problem has multiple reasons, one being the file type: xliff. Some consider that xliff allows for too many different informations to be added to it. This means each CAT tool developer can decide to add his own proprietary type of information to it that, in turn, will not be recognised by another CAT tool. So to be cross-compatible CAT tools developers have to build filters to manage effectively the xliff that comes from a different CAT tool.

For this reason, xliff2 is currently being developed and it should allow for less exotic informations to be added to it, which in turn should make it more inter-compatible. We’ll have to see if, and how well it will be adopted. I’ll try to publish a video on that subject in the future.

It seems that web-based CAT tools are trying to be compatible with all these proprietary formats. Web-based is great for having all your resources in one place and not bloat your computer. Many web-based CAT-tool are a paired CAT-TMS solution. It would be great to get some feedback from those using Matecat, Global Sight etc.

It seems that you are using Wordfast too. Some Wordfast user leverage pairing their WFP3 edition on their computer with Wordfast Anywhere. This allows someone with a double license to work on his home computer and with his on-site computer and use the same TM being hosted for free on Wordfast Anywhere that will be always up-to date. I have a video on this here if you are interested: https://youtu.be/QVOMOYfR2ws

And many CAT-tools are going ever more towards cloud-based solutions or with solutions where PMs can give you a temporary license for the duration of the project.

It will definitely be interesting to see where this will go in the years to come, because many heavy and expensive CAT tools on one personal computer doesn’t make a lot of sense…

My bests


 
Oksana Weiss
Oksana Weiss  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 07:41
Member (2011)
Ukrainian to English
+ ...
WF Anywhere Jul 14, 2017

Fi2 n Co wrote:

It seems that you are using Wordfast too. Some Wordfast user leverage pairing their WFP3 edition on their computer with Wordfast Anywhere. This allows someone with a double license to work on his home computer and with his on-site computer and use the same TM being hosted for free on Wordfast Anywhere that will be always up-to date. I have a video on this here if you are interested: https://youtu.be/QVOMOYfR2ws

Thanks a lot, that was really helpful! I am actually using Wordfast Pro for 6 years, but was not aware of this feature. You live and you learn:) As for on-line and cloud solutions I used a few, but I am not really enthusiastic about them - some of them (Matecat) do not have Russian spellcheck, and others (Memsource and wordbee) are too awkward to use. Anyway, I am probably too conservative and feel safer with my TMs and termbases stored on a hard drive (with the copies on two external drives, for paranoia's sake:).


 
Philippe Locquet
Philippe Locquet  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 06:41
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
My pleasure! Jul 14, 2017

Oksana Weiss wrote:

Thanks a lot, that was really helpful! I am actually using Wordfast Pro for 6 years, but was not aware of this feature. You live and you learn:)


Yes sometimes there's a lot of great stuff that goes below the radar for some reason.
It seems that the same feature is making its way to WFP5 too in a future update.


As for on-line and cloud solutions I used a few, but I am not really enthusiastic about them - some of them (Matecat) do not have Russian spellcheck, and others (Memsource and wordbee) are too awkward to use. Anyway, I am probably too conservative and feel safer with my TMs and termbases stored on a hard drive (with the copies on two external drives, for paranoia's sake:).


Thank you for your feedback!
For those using web-based CAT tools, there exist the option to leverage the Browser spellchecker, and choose your dictionnaries. I know it works very well in Chrome and in Firefox. I haven't tested the Russian spellchecker though (i wish I spoke russian too ). To that effect I had published a while ago a video showing how to manage languages and spellcheck in Firefox, here: https://youtu.be/na19XZ8QQXg for those that use web-based solutions.

My bests


 
Philippe Locquet
Philippe Locquet  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 06:41
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Opening, editing and creating a return package without using SDL Trados: It works! Jul 19, 2017

Luca Tutino wrote:

- A client sends a specific CAT package and wants a return package

Do you have good workarounds for these?


Good news:

I've been doing a lot of homework and I have worked out a way to open, edit, and repack as a return a package for SDL trados project packages.
That has proven to be hard work!
But,
I have been able to successfully produce a package on my computer with SDL Trados Studio and make the return trip translating outside of Trados with a different CAT tool and creating a return package manually without any CAT tool.

Anyone that follows these steps closely and ha a little patience should be able to manage this perfectly.

The steps are more easily explained with a video, so I've started working on a video that I will soon be posting on my YouTube channel Fi2Pro. Look out for it in the next few days (making instructive videos is a lot of work besides all the time spent doing research...)

When all this is ready I'll come back here with the video link.

My bests to all!


 
Philippe Locquet
Philippe Locquet  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 06:41
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Video out! You can try this workaround. Jul 21, 2017

Here we go!
The video is now out! This has been one of the toughest tutorial project I have been working on, but I’m happy with the way it turned out.

The tutorial shows the full return trip upon receiving an SDL Trados Studio package (sdlppx) and shows how to handle in a way to deliver a return package (sdlrpx) that contains your translation and that will work on your PM’s computer. There’s even a little demonstration of the result in SDL Trados at the end.

... See more
Here we go!
The video is now out! This has been one of the toughest tutorial project I have been working on, but I’m happy with the way it turned out.

The tutorial shows the full return trip upon receiving an SDL Trados Studio package (sdlppx) and shows how to handle in a way to deliver a return package (sdlrpx) that contains your translation and that will work on your PM’s computer. There’s even a little demonstration of the result in SDL Trados at the end.

If you follow these steps closely, it should work for you as it did for me.

If some among the community find ways to improve this process, please write about either here or in the comments section below the video so that we can all benefit from it.

I hope this will be useful to many 😉.

Video is at:
https://youtu.be/a4ZGeAjTl2M

My bests to all.
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Philippe Locquet
Philippe Locquet  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 06:41
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
SDL Package in Wordfast Pro 5! Aug 25, 2017

Hello To all!

Following up on this thread, there’s a nice novelty:

You can now import SDL Packages in Wordfast Pro 5!

I’ve published a full tutorial explaining how you can do it and what you need to do depending on the client’s desires as to the delivery.
Direct link to the video:
https://youtu.be/bZTs6V7QwSc

I hope you all enjoy it and f
... See more
Hello To all!

Following up on this thread, there’s a nice novelty:

You can now import SDL Packages in Wordfast Pro 5!

I’ve published a full tutorial explaining how you can do it and what you need to do depending on the client’s desires as to the delivery.
Direct link to the video:
https://youtu.be/bZTs6V7QwSc

I hope you all enjoy it and find it useful.

If you want to support my video creating efforts, please subscribe, comment and like, every little helps 😉!

My bests to all.
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