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Poll: What is your preferred CAT tool?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
Marjolein Snippe
Marjolein Snippe  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 13:05
Member (2012)
English to Dutch
+ ...
Wordfast Jan 7, 2015

I find Wordfast Pro easy to use, reliable and highly time-saving. I don't mind MemoQ; I have tried test versions of others but found them much less user-friendly (I may have given up before I had the chance really to get used to them as I already had Wordfast and did not have much patience for other tools).

I prefer Wordfast Pro to Classic as I find the layout easier to work with.


 
Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Yetta Jensen Bogarde  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 13:05
Member (2012)
English to Danish
+ ...
Wordfast PRO Jan 7, 2015

At first I worked with Wordfast Classic and was quite happy with it until I tried WF PRO and love that even better. I also use MemoQ for 2 clients, who provide the licences.

I worked with Trados during in-house jobs, but did not think it was as good as Wordfast or MemoQ.

In fact, I have come to detest Trados due to SDL's bullying behavour, trying to appear as the best and the only 'real thing', and then charging too much.


 
Sara Maghini
Sara Maghini  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:05
English to Italian
+ ...
Can you really be a professional translator in 2015 without using a CAT tool? Jan 7, 2015

I am disconcerted by the percentage of translators who do not use CAT tools. Have they ever tried them? Have they seen what benefits they bring (speed and accuracy, above all)?
Personally, maybe because I have started this profession using Trados from day one and I have been trained to use it proficiently, I would find it almost impossible to work without it.
How do you guarantee terminological consistency, for a start? Sure, you have glossaries, but having to keep checking them is
... See more
I am disconcerted by the percentage of translators who do not use CAT tools. Have they ever tried them? Have they seen what benefits they bring (speed and accuracy, above all)?
Personally, maybe because I have started this profession using Trados from day one and I have been trained to use it proficiently, I would find it almost impossible to work without it.
How do you guarantee terminological consistency, for a start? Sure, you have glossaries, but having to keep checking them is so time-consuming! Also, 90% of agencies nowadays send you projects in Studio (or other Trados formats): surely these translators must miss out on a lot of opportunities? Does it mean they work predominantly for direct clients rather than agencies?
I would like to see another poll where the age/years of experience of respondents are taken into account. Maybe people who do not use CAT tools are those who started the profession 20+ years ago, when CAT tools weren't as widespread as they are today?
Why live in the past when you can be faster and more efficient? I really don't get it.
I know these are a lot of questions, I just wanted to share my thoughts with you and would really appreciate your input!
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Jessica Noyes
Jessica Noyes  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 08:05
Member
Spanish to English
+ ...
Across Jan 7, 2015

The learning curve is steep, particularly because the nomenclature of its features is unusual. However, the price (free to translators) is right, and it does a good job of replicating complex formats in the original.

 
Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Yetta Jensen Bogarde  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 13:05
Member (2012)
English to Danish
+ ...
Sara, I largely agree with you Jan 7, 2015

Sara Maghini wrote:

I am disconcerted by the percentage of translators who do not use CAT tools. Have they ever tried them? Have they seen what benefits they bring (speed and accuracy, above all)?
Personally, maybe because I have started this profession using Trados from day one and I have been trained to use it proficiently, I would find it almost impossible to work without it.
How do you guarantee terminological consistency, for a start? Sure, you have glossaries, but having to keep checking them is so time-consuming! Also, 90% of agencies nowadays send you projects in Studio (or other Trados formats): surely these translators must miss out on a lot of opportunities? Does it mean they work predominantly for direct clients rather than agencies?
I would like to see another poll where the age/years of experience of respondents are taken into account. Maybe people who do not use CAT tools are those who started the profession 20+ years ago, when CAT tools weren't as widespread as they are today?
Why live in the past when you can be faster and more efficient? I really don't get it.
I know these are a lot of questions, I just wanted to share my thoughts with you and would really appreciate your input!


And for me the most important feature is duplicating the format.

However, some translators may have different clients and different situations....

Why don't you suggest a supplementary poll?

[Edited at 2015-01-07 13:25 GMT]


 
Julian Holmes
Julian Holmes  Identity Verified
Japan
Local time: 21:05
Member (2011)
Japanese to English
I, Robot Jan 7, 2015

Well, not a robot exactly

Chris S wrote:

...

New Trados and Wordfast Pro, on the other hand, are most definitely the work of the devil and are to be avoided at all costs unless you are a technical translator/robot.


@Chris
I hope that 'technical translator/robot' is not 'technical translator=robot'

As a technical translator - primarily, that is: I do do other stuff as well - I'd be lost without a CAT tool. And, by force of market circumstances here in Japan, I am locked into and bound to Trados. Some of the projects I do last months, and my customers/clients expect, even demand, that I deliver the same stuff in the same style from beginning to end. Hey, but I'm not an automaton; I'm only human.

On a different note, are you going to stick to the new photo? Is this really you?


 
Angie Garbarino
Angie Garbarino  Identity Verified
Local time: 13:05
Member (2003)
French to Italian
+ ...
Prejudices, and NO, Jan 7, 2015

Sara Maghini wrote:

I would like to see another poll where the age/years of experience of respondents are taken into account. Maybe people who do not use CAT tools are those who started the profession 20+ years ago, when CAT tools weren't as widespread as they are today?


No, I am old but I use trados 100% not 95, so I do not think this is a matter of age, well, young people should stop to consider as dynosaurus the older colleagues, really, I know 25-30 and so on year old colleagues who do not even know how to create a TM.

Please launch that poll, we shall see... as for me (old translator), trados has no secret and I always solve problems, and... hear hear at my age I learned to use it without being trained, read by myself.



PS. You recall me a woman in a vodafone call center who (after knowing my age, which is not 70, not 60, not 80) started to explain me things I know better than her, with a condescending tone.

Angie, very disappointed

BTW, I use trados since 2000, (my preferred CAT) but also Memoq, Across and so on.

[Edited at 2015-01-07 14:22 GMT]


 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 12:05
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Yes, I'm old... Jan 7, 2015

Angie Garbarino wrote:

Sara Maghini wrote:

I would like to see another poll where the age/years of experience of respondents are taken into account. Maybe people who do not use CAT tools are those who started the profession 20+ years ago, when CAT tools weren't as widespread as they are today?


No, I am old but I use trados 100% not 95, so I do not think this is a matter of age, well, young people should stop to consider as dynosaurus the older colleagues, really, I know 25-30 and so on year old colleagues who do not even know how to create a TM.

Please launch that poll, we shall see... as for me (old translator), trados has no secret and I always solve problems, and... hear hear at my age I learned to use it without being trained, read by myself.



PS. You recall me a woman in a vodafone call center who (after knowing my age, which is not 70, not 60, not 80) started to explain me things I know better than her, with a condescending tone.

Angie, very disappointed

BTW, I use trados since 2000, (my preferred CAT) but also Memoq, Across and so on.

[Edited at 2015-01-07 14:22 GMT]


Yes, I’m old and I do not use CAT tools. One of the things I learned with age is not to be judgmental of others and accepting them just as they are… with or without CAT tools!


 
Mario Chavez (X)
Mario Chavez (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 08:05
English to Spanish
+ ...
Deja Vu all the way Jan 7, 2015

The majority (is 19 respondents a majority?) of the poll respondents so far (it's 9:45 a.m. here on the East Coast in America) prefer Trados...or no CAT tool.

I have used across, Trados, Deja Vu, Idiom WorldServer, and I've seen Wordfast but haven't tried it. There is something wrong when a CAT tool is tied to a word processor. In fact, any CAT tool or translation environment tool or TEnT tool worth its bytes shouldn't be tied to any particular word processor.

I have us
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The majority (is 19 respondents a majority?) of the poll respondents so far (it's 9:45 a.m. here on the East Coast in America) prefer Trados...or no CAT tool.

I have used across, Trados, Deja Vu, Idiom WorldServer, and I've seen Wordfast but haven't tried it. There is something wrong when a CAT tool is tied to a word processor. In fact, any CAT tool or translation environment tool or TEnT tool worth its bytes shouldn't be tied to any particular word processor.

I have used these tools as a project manager, in-house translator and independent translator.

I don't believe clients should ask an independent professional translator what tool to use (whether it's Trados or even MS Word) because that goes against the term “independent,” at least here in America. According to the interpretation by the tax authorities, an independent contractor (which all freelance translators and interpreters are!) uses the tools he or she deems necessary to do the job. The moment a customer tells an independent contractor what tool to use, there's the risk of creating an employer-employee situation, with the concomitant consequences: having the customer to pay back taxes and the like.

So, whenever a customer (agency, direct client, etc.) asks me if I use Trados, I always reply: “I use the tools necessary to yield a translation in the required format.” And I use the tool of my preference, not the client's.

[Edited at 2015-01-07 15:54 GMT]
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Andrea Jarmuschewski
Andrea Jarmuschewski  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 13:05
Member (2007)
French to German
+ ...
MetaTexis Jan 7, 2015

I've been using MetaTexis for several years now. It is a Word Add-on, easy to use and I find it very useful.
I cannot imagine working without a CAT tool anymore, even though I probably don't even use 10% of its features.


 
Selcuk Akyuz
Selcuk Akyuz  Identity Verified
Türkiye
Local time: 15:05
English to Turkish
+ ...
which Trados and which Wordfast? Jan 7, 2015

Trados 2007 or Studio (any version), and what about Wordfast... Classic or Pro?

I believe CafeTran, Metatexis and Swordfish should be included in this list. Possibly CafeTran users are more than Across or Transit.

My favourite? Well it was Deja Vu X2 for years but now I have two favourite tools, DVX2 and CafeTran .


 
Anthony Mazzorana (X)
Anthony Mazzorana (X)  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 08:05
Spanish to English
+ ...
How could I afford to have more than one? Jan 7, 2015

I have Trados and I use it when I need to but to say I prefer it would not be fair nor accurate. I haven't had the opportunity to try the others. I only went with Trados because I got a reduced price through a proz.com group purchase and it seems to be the industry leader. But to say I "prefer" it wouldn't be accurate. After purchasing it, I simply couldn't afford to purchase any others. I feel like the price tag locks you in for a while, whether you like it or not.


[Edited at 201
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I have Trados and I use it when I need to but to say I prefer it would not be fair nor accurate. I haven't had the opportunity to try the others. I only went with Trados because I got a reduced price through a proz.com group purchase and it seems to be the industry leader. But to say I "prefer" it wouldn't be accurate. After purchasing it, I simply couldn't afford to purchase any others. I feel like the price tag locks you in for a while, whether you like it or not.


[Edited at 2015-01-07 16:32 GMT]

[Edited at 2015-01-07 16:32 GMT]
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Marion Plath
Marion Plath  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 13:05
English to German
Whatever floats your boat Jan 7, 2015

Sara Maghini wrote:

I am disconcerted by the percentage of translators who do not use CAT tools. Have they ever tried them? Have they seen what benefits they bring (speed and accuracy, above all)?
Personally, maybe because I have started this profession using Trados from day one and I have been trained to use it proficiently, I would find it almost impossible to work without it.
How do you guarantee terminological consistency, for a start? Sure, you have glossaries, but having to keep checking them is so time-consuming! Also, 90% of agencies nowadays send you projects in Studio (or other Trados formats): surely these translators must miss out on a lot of opportunities? Does it mean they work predominantly for direct clients rather than agencies?
I would like to see another poll where the age/years of experience of respondents are taken into account. Maybe people who do not use CAT tools are those who started the profession 20+ years ago, when CAT tools weren't as widespread as they are today?
Why live in the past when you can be faster and more efficient? I really don't get it.
I know these are a lot of questions, I just wanted to share my thoughts with you and would really appreciate your input!


Sara, maybe you were not aware of it but your post sounds rather condescending towards translators who don't use CAT tools. To answer your question, there are areas of creative translation in which indeed CAT tools are completely useless. I currently do mainly marketing and literary translation and there wouldn't be a point in using a CAT tool for this kind of work. I rarely use Trados and have recently worked with Memsource which I prefer, but I am happy that there are non-repetitive, creative texts which require a different kind of approach. The need for CAT tools is as varied as the fields translators work in, so each to their own.


 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 13:05
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
I actually like Trados Studio 2014 Jan 7, 2015

I do really understand those who don't like CATS - I've been there, and literally wept with frustration on occasions. They are surprisingly different, and if you have not found a CAT that suits your temperament and the way you work, then they can really be a bore.

Deja Vu - many years and versions ago - stopped finding the most basic matches halfway through a large text, just when it should have been paying off, and it seized up totally the day before delivery... I cut and pasted an
... See more
I do really understand those who don't like CATS - I've been there, and literally wept with frustration on occasions. They are surprisingly different, and if you have not found a CAT that suits your temperament and the way you work, then they can really be a bore.

Deja Vu - many years and versions ago - stopped finding the most basic matches halfway through a large text, just when it should have been paying off, and it seized up totally the day before delivery... I cut and pasted and re-formatted all night. My employer at the time went over to Trados, 3 I think it was!

I had a faulty Trados dongle at one stage, and it took me some time to discover I was not stupid, it really was the hardware. Once that was solved, I learned to take backups and cajole Trados (Workbench) to work on most occasions.

I did give up over an update - I had Wordfast up and running on my laptop so I could work on a rushed job while my computer man battled with re-installing Trados on the other computer. WF Classic opened Excel files that Trados would not, and was a handy backup for a while, but I got tired of its glossary. I bought a license, but never persuaded WF Pro to work. Meanwhile Trados Workbench settled down and the last version was quite stable.

TStream drove me up the wall - it suddenly changed over to a German AZERTY keyboard when it could not find other ways of disrupting my work process.

I looked into MemoQ at one time, but came back to SDL Studio. The 2009 version was a little temperamental, but 2011 was far better, and I find the latest Java-free Studio 2014 is my all-time favourite. I have yet to find a glossary function that can compete with Multiterm.

I simply tell clients now that I use Studio or nothing. I CAN still translate a 'dead' PDF without a CAT, but to my great delight I can even get Studio to open some PDFs...

Old, me? It comes to most people sooner or later, but I'm not giving up yet...
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Jose Arnoldo Rodriguez-Carrington
Jose Arnoldo Rodriguez-Carrington  Identity Verified
Mexico
Local time: 06:05
English to Spanish
+ ...
Technical translators are not robots Jan 7, 2015

Chris S wrote:

I wanted to say something along the lines of "the only good CAT tool is a dead CAT tool" but I have actually grown to love Wordfast Classic.

Like the original Word-based Trados, Wordfast Classic is very simple to use and doesn't restrict me at all, obviously it has a better memory than I do, and I much prefer the segmented interface to working from a printout or having the texts side by side on screen.

New Trados and Wordfast Pro, on the other hand, are most definitely the work of the devil and are to be avoided at all costs unless you are a technical translator/robot.


Sorry, but I am a technical translator and I certainly do not consider myself a robot. Technical translation requires different skills than literary translation, it is far from being robotic, and in fact it can be just as challenging.

[Edited at 2015-01-07 17:16 GMT]


 
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