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Can a translator work without any CAT tools?
Thread poster: joannebenz
Milan Condak
Milan Condak  Identity Verified
Local time: 07:42
English to Czech
DGT-OmegaT feature Mar 31, 2020

Tom in London wrote:

tell me how to make OmegaT find all the instances of a word that's in my glossary, and change them all without asking me.


Dear Tom, you ask do in OmegaT "WFC feature "propagate"". In standard Omegat is no such feature.

A fork of OmegaT (for DGT EC) = DGT-OmegaT can do it.

http://www.condak.cz/nove/2019-04/13/en/00.html

http://www.condak.cz/nove/2019-04/13/en/01.html

http://www.condak.cz/nove/2019-04/18/en/00.html

Předběžný překlad s DGT-OmegaT

EN-> DE, IA-> CS

01 DE-EN Přeložit vše
02 IA-CS Nahrazení slovníky
03 IA-CS IA-CS Strojový překlad (z TMX) - Animace
04 IA-CS Strojový překlad dokončen

I hope you can use any web MT for translation of Czech text.

Be successful and happy,

Milan from Petřvald

Milan


 
Andrzej Mierzejewski
Andrzej Mierzejewski  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 07:42
Polish to English
+ ...
...continuing my post: Mar 31, 2020

...no idea whether >50% or

 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 07:42
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@Andrzej Mar 31, 2020

Andrzej Mierzejewski wrote:
whether >50% or <50%


You've discovered an easter egg that ProZ.com's forum's original designer left in the software, which I suspect ProZ.com's current owner is contractually bound not to remove. To write < in the forum you have to type &lt;.


 
Milan Condak
Milan Condak  Identity Verified
Local time: 07:42
English to Czech
If an agency or client WANT Mar 31, 2020

joannebenz wrote:

Hi,
I have a degree in translation, but I do not know how to use any CAT tools at all.
Is it possible at all - in this day and age - to work as a translator and only use pen and paper and the good old dictionary, like back in the 80s? and if not why is that not an option? It was possible back then, so why not now?

I would appreciate a genuine response because this is a genuine question.


If an agency WANT to give a work to translator without any CAT, the agency does.
For example Translation Agency Velior can send to translator the table in HTML format.

http://www.condak.cz/nove/2020-03/29/en/04.html

04 The table for translator

Agency prepares HTML files by script "Write Table"

http://www.condak.cz/nove/2020-03/29/en/03.html

Link to the author of the script, his article:

https://libretraduko.wordpress.com/2013/10/09/omegat-html-table/

EXPORT OMEGAT PROJECT TO HTML TABLE

Here’s a script that lets you export your whole OmegaT project into an HTML file with one or more tables, one for each source file. The left column will have source segments, and the right will be either blank if the segment isn’t translated, or populated with translation (or , if translation was set to be empty). Each table will have source file name for its heading. The script was requested and kindly sponsored by Roman Mironov at Translation Agency Velior.

https://www.velior.ru/
--unquote

Milan

[Edited at 2020-03-31 18:24 GMT]


 
Andrzej Mierzejewski
Andrzej Mierzejewski  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 07:42
Polish to English
+ ...
more or less Apr 3, 2020

Samuel Murray wrote:

Andrzej Mierzejewski wrote:
whether 'more than' 50% or 'less than' 50%


You've discovered an easter egg that ProZ.com's forum's original designer left in the software, which I suspect ProZ.com's current owner is contractually bound not to remove. To write...


Samuel,

Thank you for this note. I was not aware of that 'mouse trap'.

I only wanted to write that a big part of clients - no idea whether less or more than a half of them - do not care how translators work, what tools besides Word, Power Point, and Excel they use. Clients want to have their translations done - that's all they're interested in.

Thanks again!


AM

[Zmieniono 2020-04-03 16:27 GMT]

[Zmieniono 2020-04-03 16:28 GMT]


 
Stepan Konev
Stepan Konev  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 09:42
English to Russian
True but... Apr 3, 2020

Andrzej Mierzejewski wrote:
a big part of clients ... do not care how translators work, what tools besides Word, Power Point, and Excel they use. Clients want to have their translations done - that's all they're interested in.

...if your client say 'I don't care whether you use a shovel or an excavator, I want you to have that trench dug by tomorrow', would you accept it as an instruction to avoid the excavator? Nope. Because your client's expectations in no way limit your toolkit. It's you who choose the shovel. A leopard cannot change its spots. I don't think people who deny CAT tools with their decades of manual work experience would ever accept CAT tools. Your clients deny CAT tools just because they take them for machine translation.


Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
Morano El-Kholy
expressisverbis
Jorge Payan
 
conejo
conejo  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 01:42
Japanese to English
+ ...
CAT tools are not necessary to do translation but many clients require them Aug 11, 2020

When I first got into this business 17 years ago there were no CAT tools and everything was lovely. The only thing you actually need is reliable online dictionaries, because it is very time-consuming to try to use paper dictionaries.

Around 2015, it became very difficult to get jobs if you did not have CAT tools. At that time I chose to get Trados because it was very commonly requested by clients at that time. Some clients mainly use MemoQ, and other tools also exist. Just because y
... See more
When I first got into this business 17 years ago there were no CAT tools and everything was lovely. The only thing you actually need is reliable online dictionaries, because it is very time-consuming to try to use paper dictionaries.

Around 2015, it became very difficult to get jobs if you did not have CAT tools. At that time I chose to get Trados because it was very commonly requested by clients at that time. Some clients mainly use MemoQ, and other tools also exist. Just because you have one CAT tool doesn't mean you can get all the jobs... Typically clients say what CAT tool is required to get the job.

So, no, you do not need CAT tools to perform the act of translation. But many companies require you to use CAT tools. This is all because the end client wants to spend as little money as possible and the agencies say "Our translators use CAT tools so the cost will be less." Ultimately, this is the reason why CAT tools exist.

Personally, I do not perceive that the use of CAT tools improves my job in any way, and using CAT tools does not decrease the time it takes to do a job. In many ways it would be better for me if CAT tools did not exist. But, it is a reality that if you never use any CAT tools, it may be difficult to get jobs.

There are still some jobs that don't require CAT tools, like documents in scanned PDF form, or some jobs in MS Word, etc. But in 2015 I felt that I could not continue without getting CAT tools. I did not like the idea of CAT tools but there it is.
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Christel Zipfel
Christel Zipfel  Identity Verified
Local time: 07:42
Member (2004)
Italian to German
+ ...
Just for clarification Aug 12, 2020

conejo wrote:

When I first got into this business 17 years ago there were no CAT tools and everything was lovely.

Where did you live? I for my part, for example, in 2004 downloaded Wordfast to find out what it was all about CAT tools, and certainly it was not the first one and by far not the only one on the market. Trados existed since the eigthies of last century though not universally known at that time.

conejo wrote:
This is all because the end client wants to spend as little money as possible and the agencies say "Our translators use CAT tools so the cost will be less." Ultimately, this is the reason why CAT tools exist.

I am not at all sure that agencies pass on the savings, made at the expense of the translator that still has, most of the time, purchased out of this/her pocket and learnt the use of the CAT tool, to their customer.
And like you say:
conejo wrote:
Personally, I do not perceive that the use of CAT tools improves my job in any way, and using CAT tools does not decrease the time it takes to do a job.


But certainly, the customer wants to pay as little as possible, the agency tries to maximize its profit, and the translator is the one that loses out. That is, if he/she accepts all sorts of fuzzy match grids that tend to reduce the translation fees to a merely symbolic compensation. Unless the translators raise considerably their fees. I invite everyone to compare what they get with their normal fee and what they get with fuzzy reductions. I am sure they'll be flabbergasted.
I do agree that there is much less time saving involved than the fuzzy match discounts try to make us believe, but concordance search is indeed very useful and that's why I am happy to use CATs (granting discounts only for repetitions if requested to).

[Bearbeitet am 2020-08-12 20:04 GMT]


Angie Garbarino
Jorge Payan
expressisverbis
 
conejo
conejo  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 01:42
Japanese to English
+ ...
Reply Sep 12, 2020

Christel Zipfel wrote:

conejo wrote:

When I first got into this business 17 years ago there were no CAT tools and everything was lovely.

Where did you live? I for my part, for example, in 2004 downloaded Wordfast to find out what it was all about CAT tools, and certainly it was not the first one and by far not the only one on the market. Trados existed since the eigthies of last century though not universally known at that time.

I live in the US. CAT tools may have existed when I started as a freelancer in 2003 but they were not widespread or commonly required by clients in order to get jobs at that time.


I do agree that there is much less time saving involved than the fuzzy match discounts try to make us believe, but concordance search is indeed very useful and that's why I am happy to use CATs (granting discounts only for repetitions if requested to).

[/quote]

I agree that the fuzzy matches do not help anything because most of the ones I have seen contain inferior translation that has to be completely re-written... such as things that were clearly translated by non-native speakers of the target language and contain many errors. It's basically a scam to reduce the price. We have to completely review all fuzzy matches anyway to ensure quality and consistency. Unless the fuzzy matches were done by a highly qualified and experienced translator there isn't much point in having them.


Morano El-Kholy
Christopher Schröder
 
Maxi Schwarz
Maxi Schwarz  Identity Verified
Local time: 01:42
German to English
+ ...
Many of us work full time, without CAT tools, so yes, Sep 13, 2020

A translator can work without such tools. It depends on the nature of the work.

expressisverbis
Jorge Payan
Patrizia Sorbara
P.L.F. Persio
polyglot45
 
Paul Dixon
Paul Dixon  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 03:42
Portuguese to English
+ ...
No CAT tools Apr 26, 2021

I also have an aversion to CAT tools but for a different reason - I have not found a CAT tool simple enough and user-friendly enough to use. Price is another consideration, in this dire crisis that has tsunami'd its way through Brazil in recent years, CATs are too expensive. I have seen one for 750 quid, which you need to pay every year, so it seems.

I wouldn't say I will never use CAT tools, but only when something EASY to use and either free or cheap comes along. Trados (known loc
... See more
I also have an aversion to CAT tools but for a different reason - I have not found a CAT tool simple enough and user-friendly enough to use. Price is another consideration, in this dire crisis that has tsunami'd its way through Brazil in recent years, CATs are too expensive. I have seen one for 750 quid, which you need to pay every year, so it seems.

I wouldn't say I will never use CAT tools, but only when something EASY to use and either free or cheap comes along. Trados (known locally in Brazil as 'Travos', from the Portuguese verb 'travar' meaning '(a system) to crash') was a beast. you had to open 6 different folders and keep switching between them. Wordfast seemed a bit simpler, and don't know about MemoQ.
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Baran Keki
Baran Keki  Identity Verified
Türkiye
Local time: 09:42
Member
English to Turkish
You must be mistaken Apr 26, 2021

Paul Dixon wrote:
I have seen one for 750 quid, which you need to pay every year, so it seems.

That's mad.


Jorge Payan
 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 07:42
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@Paul Apr 26, 2021

Paul Dixon wrote:
I have not found a CAT tool simple enough and user-friendly enough to use. Price is another consideration...


Well, if you're looking for a **simple** CAT tool, I think Wordfast Anywhere is the most elegant of the "simpler" ones out there. And it's free to use.

https://freetm.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuGFw9vJjVw

Trados was a beast. You had to open 6 different folders and keep switching between them.


You're talking about Trados 2007 and earlier. Trados 2009 and later versions are very different from Trados 2007. But it's still expensive. Don't even bother with MemoQ, CafeTran or Wordfast Pro 3 or 6 -- they're all very complicated tools (often the more complicated the tool, the more powerful it is, but only if you can figure out how it works). OmegaT is on the simple side of the scale, although some of its aspects are very complex.


 
Stepan Konev
Stepan Konev  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 09:42
English to Russian
6 different folders? Apr 26, 2021

Paul Dixon wrote:
you had to open 6 different folders and keep switching between them.
Why?
Wordfast seemed a bit simpler, and don't know about MemoQ.

So you judge all CAT tools by two of them? If you think you need to keep switching between 6 different folders, you just don't know how to use it. I never had 6 folders neither with Trados 2007 nor with Studio. Probably you mean 5 files (iix, mdf, mtf, mwf, and tmw) + 1 translatable file? But you don't need those 5 files to translate 1. They existed on their own. 14 years ago.


Jorge Payan
 
Ruth Clowes
Ruth Clowes  Identity Verified
Australia
Local time: 17:42
Member (2011)
Japanese to English
Usefulness depends on type of text but not essential Apr 27, 2021

Up until recently, I have mostly been working without CAT tools for nearly 30 years, so I don't think CAT tools are essential. However, recently, more of my clients are using them, particularly to help maintain consistency with previous translations. I work on a lot of quarterly and annual financial results reports, and I am finding the CAT tools very useful in this area. However, another part of my work involves translating academic papers, and I think the tools are not so helpful here. So it d... See more
Up until recently, I have mostly been working without CAT tools for nearly 30 years, so I don't think CAT tools are essential. However, recently, more of my clients are using them, particularly to help maintain consistency with previous translations. I work on a lot of quarterly and annual financial results reports, and I am finding the CAT tools very useful in this area. However, another part of my work involves translating academic papers, and I think the tools are not so helpful here. So it depends on what kinds of texts you are translating and whether they are similar to previous texts of the same type and for the same client.Collapse


 
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Can a translator work without any CAT tools?







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