Do I have to give away SDL Trados to everyone that does not have it. Thread poster: Lords
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Lords 
Mexico
Local time: 15:27
English to Spanish
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I know that translation is very demanding, at times too much for one person, and even though I was trained to translate every subject, it is always faster for a Doctor, Aeronautics Engineer, Chemistry Engineer, Biologist, and so on to translate faster their subjects. So, since I started I have people who has Masters and PhD degrees who have never heard of any CAT tools.
I have the professional version of SDL TRADOS 2011, the problem I have is with excellent translators and some eve... See more I know that translation is very demanding, at times too much for one person, and even though I was trained to translate every subject, it is always faster for a Doctor, Aeronautics Engineer, Chemistry Engineer, Biologist, and so on to translate faster their subjects. So, since I started I have people who has Masters and PhD degrees who have never heard of any CAT tools.
I have the professional version of SDL TRADOS 2011, the problem I have is with excellent translators and some eventual translators who do not know anything about SDL Trados.
I know that the big majority do not have the money to buy the program and that the big majority will leave me after learning the program and may keep it if I give it to them. I have contemplated having floating licenses, but I think it is too much to pay 2500 per license. So, What do I do or what you have done in such cases?
I have work with one SDL TRADOS license, but it has been a night mare to send files to the translators, editors and getting together all the information; more when the client wants everything in SDL Trados.
I do appreciate any help you can give me.
Sincerely
Lords. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Heinrich Pesch
Finland
Local time: 01:27
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
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| At which stage are the savings? | May 3, 2012 |
First I want to compliment you about using specialists for various fields of experience. You should get excellent translations.
But why not let them do the translation as they are comfortable? Why would a specialist want to learn to use a software that does not enhance the quality of the translation but often decreases it? Who will gain?
If the software will help you to make more money in less time, don't you think you should pay for it? If your customers save time and money b... See more First I want to compliment you about using specialists for various fields of experience. You should get excellent translations.
But why not let them do the translation as they are comfortable? Why would a specialist want to learn to use a software that does not enhance the quality of the translation but often decreases it? Who will gain?
If the software will help you to make more money in less time, don't you think you should pay for it? If your customers save time and money by using the software, don't you think they should pay more to you and you should pay more to your translators?
If the software will not pay back your investment, why would you start to use it?
If you analyse your situation, you sure will find a solution that is acceptable to all parties involved. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | You could consider Starter Edition | May 3, 2012 |
It's relatively cheap and you could lend it to translators who don't have their own CAT tools. It should be enough to ask them to return the licence once translation is accomplished.
Best Regards
Stanislaw
| | | | | The 30-day trial version is free | May 3, 2012 |
You could ask them to download the 30-day trial version, which I believe is fully functional, though of course it is only a temporary solution.
Some outsourcers have an agreement with SDL about licences at reduced rates. (The offer freelancers a group buy scheme.) You could approach SDL and ask for details. This might still be too expensive for you, I don't know, but it might save a little.
Trados can be used critically, and has many advantages, especially with technic... See more You could ask them to download the 30-day trial version, which I believe is fully functional, though of course it is only a temporary solution.
Some outsourcers have an agreement with SDL about licences at reduced rates. (The offer freelancers a group buy scheme.) You could approach SDL and ask for details. This might still be too expensive for you, I don't know, but it might save a little.
Trados can be used critically, and has many advantages, especially with technical texts.
Best of luck! ▲ Collapse
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| and what do you think to do, passing ready-made translations? | May 3, 2012 |
What does your work consist of, then, if you say that compiling all work together, is a nightmare? If you were a real agency, you could probably press free-lance translators to work with a certain CAT, but how could you in that case, obtain services from specialists in very professions you mention?
I do hope you mean to earn your living with preparing, sorting, controlling, proofing, reviewing translations.
What about preparing jobs for specialists in some kind of a fi... See more What does your work consist of, then, if you say that compiling all work together, is a nightmare? If you were a real agency, you could probably press free-lance translators to work with a certain CAT, but how could you in that case, obtain services from specialists in very professions you mention?
I do hope you mean to earn your living with preparing, sorting, controlling, proofing, reviewing translations.
What about preparing jobs for specialists in some kind of a file that can be easily elaborated by them: pre-segmenting a file so that they send you back an uncleaned file?
What about sending them a ttx file from Trados?
What about using free or almost free, or opensource CAT-s, which can deal with such bilingual files, or with ttx?
Sorry Lords, my tone might sound hash to you, but I find you unprepared to tangle with any other software, besides the one you mention.
Dragomir
Lords wrote:
I have work with one SDL TRADOS license, but it has been a night mare to send files to the translators, editors and getting together all the information; more when the client wants everything in SDL Trados.
I do appreciate any help you can give me.
Sincerely
Lords.
▲ Collapse
| | | | Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 15:27
English to German
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In memoriam | What makes you think of that? | May 3, 2012 |
Lords wrote:
I know that the big majority do not have the money to buy the program
Particularly when you are talking about medical doctors, aeronautics or other engineers, scientists, etc.?
Let's be honest: To a large degree, CAT-tools are helpful to
- be able to open exotic file formats when you don't happen to own the license for this particular software
- help with layouting, because having the translator deal with myriads of tags is easier than hiring a DTP-specialist
- build up TMs to be able to request discounts.
There is a weird thing about all those above mentioned specialists - they don't need TMs, they know their terminology by heart because it is their profession.
| | | | Kirsten Bodart
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:27
Dutch to English
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If your translators are real specialists in their fields (and those are the best people to employ for really specialised translations), then they will probably produce a document that is much much better than the one you produce in a CAT tool. All the things I have seen in Dutch as a proofreader, you can spot from a mile away that they were exported. Either the translator can't work with it, or CATs mess with your brain. That is my problem personally.
Unless your document contains a... See more If your translators are real specialists in their fields (and those are the best people to employ for really specialised translations), then they will probably produce a document that is much much better than the one you produce in a CAT tool. All the things I have seen in Dutch as a proofreader, you can spot from a mile away that they were exported. Either the translator can't work with it, or CATs mess with your brain. That is my problem personally.
Unless your document contains a fair amount of repetitions and another fair amount of similar sentences it is not worth using. In the first case though, you get frustrated always typing the very same thing.
About TRADOS.
Why is it always Trados, though? It is extortionately expensive, bulky, old technology and SDL practically have a monopoly. Their starter edition sounds good, but you can't use any existing TMs, no termbases, and it does not pick up 70% repeats, for example. In short it is not worth your while. Enough reasons to dispense with it altogether.
If you really find it necessary to hand them a CAT-tool, then opt for one which is clear, also does the things you want for free and is cheaper.
I myself use MemoQ. It is much smaller than Trados, does its job much faster, does pick up 70% repeats in its free version and doesn't look so labyrinthine as Trados. And it does its best to be Trados-compatible. As does Wordfast, I believe, and most other ones. And it can do Excel.
In its free edition, it cannot import TMs nor can it make Termbases, but at least file-based it does what it is required to do.
And it costs about 600-800 EUR in full, I believe. It also has servers for companies and floating licenses I have worked with.
When clients say, 'Must work with Trados,' they tend to mean 'Needs to be [fill in] format' because they don't know any better. You can deliver that format with another tool or convert. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 15:27
English to German
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In memoriam | I agree, Kirsten. | May 3, 2012 |
Kirsten Bodart wrote:
When clients say, 'Must work with Trados,' they tend to mean 'Needs to be [fill in] format' because they don't know any better. You can deliver that format with another tool or convert.
Or any other specific CAT tool they will stubbornly insist upon. Which reminds me of a dialog with a new (fine) client:
Client: "You must deliver the files in Across."
Me: "What is Across?"
Client: "That's what we use."
Me: "I don't have Across. But I have Idiom, SDLX Lite, Lingobit Localizer, InDesign, QuarkXPress, Photoshop, Freehand, Oxygen... for whatever reason, I do have the feeling that we will compatible."
Client: "Sigh. Just send me a clean file of some sort."
I translated in Word.
Everyone was happy.
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Neil Coffey
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:27
French to English
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| What's your actual necessity? | May 3, 2012 |
I'm slightly confused: what's your actual necessity to use TRADOS?
You say you are working with some colleagues who produce excellent translations without TRADOS. So... what's the actual problem that you're trying to fix by ramming TRADOS down people's throats?
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Lords wrote:
I have the professional version of SDL TRADOS 2011, the problem I have is with excellent translators and some eventual translators who do not know anything about SDL Trados.
Although SDL Studio 2011 could work for you (especially if your main customers demand it with no possible alternative), it might not be the best option for other people. By expecting non-translators to use CAT tools, you will most probably have technical problems with the files along the process.
If I were you I would look for some other format as the interface with your experts, a bilingual RTF file being the simplest one, even if that is not risk free either (your experts can destroy the tagging). Other tools, like memoQ, allow you to create clear two-column files your translators can use to simply type in the translations in a column or overwrite the source text.
| | | | | xliff converter | May 4, 2012 |
Lords wrote:
I have the professional version of SDL TRADOS 2011, the problem I have is with excellent translators and some eventual translators who do not know anything about SDL Trados.
it has been a night mare to send files to the translators, editors and getting together all the information; more when the client wants everything in SDL Trados.
Why not just use this and send people two-column xls tables like all the agencies that are in a similar situation?
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