So I’ve gotten rather interested in doing translation work. Seems like easy money so far
However, all of the translation-helper programs I’ve seen have been extremely quirky and plain old edit-a-Word-document can be messy.
Here is what I have tried so far:
Trados Translator’s Workbench - the translation memory feature worked beautifully, although the terminology dictionary was a bit difficult to use. However, it sometimes totally screwed up my Word document and… at first, it showed me only target language text. Then I somehow got it togglable. And then it always showed me both source and target, in-line… weird! Basically, I would really have loved this had it not been for the very messy word-interaction.
Atril Deja Vu - this seems really cool because it’s a separate app from Word and will thus not screw up my documents. However, it seems to… erm… completely fail to use the translation memory so far… I’m guessing it’s some weird configuration issue… my target language is not even showing up in the AutoSearch window. I’ll keep trying to get it working But for now, it seems to have some cool features but not much info on how to get them working (the help file just says do X to accomplish Y and such… but it’s pretty devoid of other content, as in actual understandable explanations). Also, it’s spell checker is of the press-F7 kind (does not underline) and operates on a line-by-line basis, which makes it quite useless (maybe it works better for integrated target languages… hmm… probably… but I need to translate to a language that uses the Word spell checker - Estonian).
Those two are the ones I’ve tried and both had their good sides. Now if I could just get Deja Vu to show me something in that AutoSearch window… that might make it more useful. Right now, it’s just an app that puts my text side by side in two languages.
So, any recommendations? What do the translating SDers say about all this?
I say relying on a computer to do your translation has quite a few pitfalls. Language is much more than an a=>b correspondence. There are nuances to consider, such as how a particular phrase, uttered at a particular instance in a particular situation, is considered by the speaker of one language and what particular phrase, not always a direct translation of the first language’s phrase, serves the same purpose in the second language. There is also the issue of politeness levels in both languages. Also, the grammar for the second language may be similar to that of the first language; however, that will cause a great difference in meaning if one relies on machine translation.
In short, the best translating computer is a well-trained human mind.
I think the OP is talking about translation ASSISTANCE programs. They don’t do the translation, they just do the recordkeeping as a human does it, keeping formatting and the like. They’re used extensively by folks who need to translate manuals, for example. Unfortunately, I’m monolingual, and no longer work with folks that do this stuff, so I don’t have any actual advice.
I think the OP is talking about translation ASSISTANCE programs. They don’t do the translation, they just do the recordkeeping as a human does it, keeping formatting and the like. They’re used extensively by folks who need to translate manuals, for example. Unfortunately, I’m monolingual, and no longer work with folks that do this stuff, so I don’t have any actual advice.
For example, a translation assistance program could be used to translate my duplicate post into hamsterese, thus explaining to them why they should have responded when I pushed “submit” the FIRST time.
Well, I’ve never used DejaVu, but I’ve used Trados for several years. It’s definitely quirky (working with footnotes is a major PITA and it’s never been friendly with PowerPoint and Excel) but overall it’s a godsend when dealing with boilerplate text that you have to do over and over again with minor variations. TimeWinder is correct: these programs don’t translate for you, they only remind you how you’ve translated similar sentences before (how similar is up to you). Caligulas, unless I’ve been whooshed, what makes you think translation is easy money?
Anyway, I got the easy money impüression because I really didn’t even notice how I earned my first 100$ (which is big money in Estonia :p) - didn’t really take me any time. So it seems quite a fast way to earn money. As long as there is work
As for the programs, yeah… Trados was beautiful when/if it worked…
I guess I’ll keep hoping some magic translation program will pop up…
Hmm… although, on the other hand, I am a programmer… so… hmm! The cool features of DejaVu would be too hard for me but maybe I could do a mix of Trados and DejaVu… ah but then again, I’m too busy as it is
I’ll try to get DejaVu to work. Meanwhile, any more suggestions are very welcome
Ah, thanks for the clarification. For me, I’m using the old-fashioned “keep the records yourself” way. Which is odd, given that I’m really into using computers for everything they can be used for!
In case you Translata-Dopers are interested, it seems like MetaTexis is a great program for this. It has the features of Trados but so far it has not screwed up once. I think it actually has more features. It’s certainly easier to use. Pretty cheap too (I think it was 80€ for the pro version). I think I’m going to use it
It occurs to me that I really should have posted this in IMHO. Ooops
But for now, it seems to have some cool features but not much info on how to get them working (the help file just says do X to accomplish Y and such… but it’s pretty devoid of other content, as in actual understandable explanations). Also, it’s spell checker is of the press-F7 kind (does not underline) and operates on a line-by-line basis, which makes it quite useless (maybe it works better for integrated target languages… hmm… probably… but I need to translate to a language that uses the Word spell checker - Estonian).
