How to translate strings
Thread poster: GuillaumeB
GuillaumeB
GuillaumeB
France
Local time: 05:16
English to French
May 14, 2017

Hello there,

I must explain myself: I often need to translate documents that are in the form $WHATEVER="Text to translate". My question is, how can I go from one text to the other, only translating the parts that are within ""? I’ve been looking for a solution for ages, but it seems no one is able to explain it precisely.

Does anyone know how to do? I am losing a massive amount of time by manually clicking on the text, translating it, deleting the source text...
... See more
Hello there,

I must explain myself: I often need to translate documents that are in the form $WHATEVER="Text to translate". My question is, how can I go from one text to the other, only translating the parts that are within ""? I’ve been looking for a solution for ages, but it seems no one is able to explain it precisely.

Does anyone know how to do? I am losing a massive amount of time by manually clicking on the text, translating it, deleting the source text...

Thank you very much!
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Stepan Konev
Stepan Konev  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 14:16
English to Russian
What file format do you use? May 14, 2017

I know how to do it with MS Word files.

1. Select all, press Ctrl+Shift+H to hide all
2. Do not cancel the 'select all' feature. If cancelled, select all again or put cursor before the first instance of " mark (or at the very beginning of your text)
3. Invoke Replace window.
Find what: (\")(*)(\")
Tick 'Use wildcards' when cursor is in 'Find what'
Replace with: \1\2\3
When cursor is in 'Replace with', select 'Format' -> 'Font' -> untick 'Hidden'
... See more
I know how to do it with MS Word files.

1. Select all, press Ctrl+Shift+H to hide all
2. Do not cancel the 'select all' feature. If cancelled, select all again or put cursor before the first instance of " mark (or at the very beginning of your text)
3. Invoke Replace window.
Find what: (\")(*)(\")
Tick 'Use wildcards' when cursor is in 'Find what'
Replace with: \1\2\3
When cursor is in 'Replace with', select 'Format' -> 'Font' -> untick 'Hidden' so that \1\2\3 is marked 'Not Hidden'
3. Replace all

Now you have all text hidden except for "Text to translate".

If you also want quotation marks to be hidden, replace them as follows:

Find what: (")
'Use wildcards'

Replace with: \1
'Hidden'
(When cursor is in 'Replace with', select 'Format' -> 'Font' -> tick 'Hidden' so that \1 is marked 'Hidden')
Then import to CAT and translate.
Once done, select all text and press Ctrl+Shift+H again to unhide all.
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neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 13:16
Spanish to English
+ ...
Charge more May 15, 2017

The time-consuming aspect is one of the reasons that the rates you charge for software strings like those described should be higher than your rates for normal texts.

 
Mirko Mainardi
Mirko Mainardi  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 13:16
Member
English to Italian
Spreadsheet May 15, 2017

GuillaumeB wrote:

Hello there,

I must explain myself: I often need to translate documents that are in the form $WHATEVER="Text to translate". My question is, how can I go from one text to the other, only translating the parts that are within ""? I’ve been looking for a solution for ages, but it seems no one is able to explain it precisely.


Use a spreadsheet software. With LibreOffice for instance, open the file, select "=" as separator and the quotes as "Text delimiter" and you're done. You'll have "$WHATEVER" in column A and "Text to translate" (without quotes) in column B.


 
GuillaumeB
GuillaumeB
France
Local time: 05:16
English to French
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you May 15, 2017

Thank you very much Stepan! That works great

Thank you Mirko, please tell me how do you put everything together again once you’re done translating it? It means, I put it in two separate columns, I translate the column I want to translate, and then how do I put everything back as it was to deliver it to my client? Thank you!


 


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How to translate strings







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