Tools required to be learnt to be successful translator
Thread poster: Vinita Sharma Dubey
Vinita Sharma Dubey
Vinita Sharma Dubey
Local time: 03:10
Member (2019)
English to Hindi
+ ...
Jun 14, 2019

Hi Everyone,

I am a new translator .I invested in the proz membership just two days before and now I am seeing that many projects are coming up with requirement to work on specific tool.So far I have worked on Ms word mostly and also learnt word fast pro few days back which was not so difficult to learn myself. I am looking for some guidance by any experienced translator who can tell me which tools I should learn and how and from where?
Do I have a courses available for the sa
... See more
Hi Everyone,

I am a new translator .I invested in the proz membership just two days before and now I am seeing that many projects are coming up with requirement to work on specific tool.So far I have worked on Ms word mostly and also learnt word fast pro few days back which was not so difficult to learn myself. I am looking for some guidance by any experienced translator who can tell me which tools I should learn and how and from where?
Do I have a courses available for the same on proz and also how much time will it consume? I am good with the translation part but need to become more confident technically so that I can be eligible for most of the projects. Please guide.
The purpose of taking the membership was to make myself ready as per the industry standards and also to attract well paid work.

Thanks for reading,
Vinita
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Ceba Ammar (X)
Min Fang
 
Richard Purdom
Richard Purdom  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 21:40
Dutch to English
+ ...
memoQ Jun 14, 2019

Hi Vinita, I presume you mean CAT tools. I recommend you try out memoQ, I think trial versions are available.
It's extremely easy to use, probably easier than MS Word, and you can teach yourself as you go along.


Ceba Ammar (X)
marijaflora
 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 21:40
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
IT abilities are incredibly important nowadays Jun 14, 2019

Vinita Sharmadubey wrote:
I have worked on Ms word mostly and also learnt word fast pro few days back which was not so difficult to learn myself.

That's really good news. I've always struggled with these tools. In fact I only use WF Classic now, even though I did buy a licence for Pro at one time. And believe me, it's an ever-growing handicap. I don't think life would be easy if I was just starting out now with that handicap. I had to withdraw from a really good job just a while back because it was loaded with requirements to download this, install that, learn something else .

Do I have a courses available for the same on proz and also how much time will it consume?

I think it was a good move getting a paid subscription to ProZ.com, but I'm wondering which one you went for. There's a PLUS option that brings with it a whole raft of 'perks'. Not all will interest everyone, of course, but they might be useful to you. There's free access to the entire library of training videos, for a start. I don't really know what they cover, but it's worth checking out. There are also some free licences (one for the Cafetran CAT tool), plus admission to a closed FB group where you'll be able to share in discussions. If you didn't get the PLUS, it might be worth asking to change your membership type. If there isn't an obvious way to do that, send staff a support ticket.

Others are better placed to evaluate what you should prioritise getting to know about. My brain starts going fuzzy as soon as the conversation gets into those three-letter acronyms .


neilmac
Min Fang
Morano El-Kholy
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
Vinita Sharma Dubey
Vinita Sharma Dubey
Local time: 03:10
Member (2019)
English to Hindi
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
And after memo q? Jun 14, 2019

Many thanks to Richard and Sheila. I am going to download memo q but I need to know if it is a cat tool? What is trados?

Min Fang
 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 22:40
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
MemoQ and Trados are CAT tools Jun 15, 2019

There are a great many CAT tools on the market, and you cannot use them all. Luckily they are to some extent compatible.

Trados was one of the first to appear, and with strong marketing it became widespread. It has also developed beyond recognition from the early versions. I personally like it, and have used it for nearly twenty years.

The basic features function like Wordfast - you see a segment of text at a time, translate it, and save it to the Translation Mem
... See more
There are a great many CAT tools on the market, and you cannot use them all. Luckily they are to some extent compatible.

Trados was one of the first to appear, and with strong marketing it became widespread. It has also developed beyond recognition from the early versions. I personally like it, and have used it for nearly twenty years.

The basic features function like Wordfast - you see a segment of text at a time, translate it, and save it to the Translation Memory.
Then there are a lot of other features, which can be tailored to your personal work routine, your clients' requirements, and so on. I like the glossary function, and the way a corrected, finalised Word document can be used to ´Retrofit´ or update the TM.
There is a glossary feature called Multiterm, which is sometimes a little complicated, but well worth the effort, I find. There is now an app that makes it somewhat easier than it used to be!
It is easy to use the Concordance function, which finds earlier examples of single words or strings of text in the TM, and can be extremely useful.

You may not need all the advanced features, but at one time or another I have used many of them.

It is one of the more expensive CAT tools, but it is widely used among agencies, and there are starter versions with fewer features.

I do not know MemoQ directly, but it was released in 2006 and was a serious rival to Trados when Trados was completely rebuilt from the now obsolescent Workbench to the Studio format. MemoQ has a lot of similar features, and after looking at it a few years ago, I decided I would stay with Trados, but many colleagues prefer MemoQ. Some use both.
Read more here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MemoQ
_________________________________

There are a lot of other CAT tools. The big advantage of these two is that they allow you to accumulate your own memories and glossaries, and you can import them from agencies or colleagues too.

For big projects, you can connect to a remote database and collaborate with other translators. This can work very well, if the agency sets it up properly, or it can be a nightmare - I have tried both!

Some agencies have their own CATs, and insist that you use them. I have never been happy with those, but you may not be able to escape them entirely.
Having spent a lot of time over the years fine-tuning my own system, I miss my glossaries and my Concordance references!
Agency CAT tools are not all hopeless. Colleagues use some of them more or less happily when they get used to them, and you have to decide for yourself which ones you can work with. (And how many.)

I have sometimes, but not always, been successful in negotiating with clients about using Trados anyway.

You do not need a lot of CAT tools. They are different, however, so if you hate one, try another!
My advice is to find one or two that you really like, and insist as far as possible on using it/them. Then work with clients who prefer the same CAT or a compatible one.

Best of luck!
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Wolfram Weinberg, PhD
 
DZiW (X)
DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
tools Jun 15, 2019

Vinita, as a businesslady, in your biz only you decide what tools to use and how, which projects to consider, and on what terms.

Note that CATs make the translation process rather dull and mechanized, let alone the gradual skills degradation. Why, used wisely it may be ok with neutral-style manuals and techy papers, but no CAT is a universal utility.

Also while real/ultimate client just requires the job done (1) properly, (2) timely, and (3) as agreed, most middlemen (
... See more
Vinita, as a businesslady, in your biz only you decide what tools to use and how, which projects to consider, and on what terms.

Note that CATs make the translation process rather dull and mechanized, let alone the gradual skills degradation. Why, used wisely it may be ok with neutral-style manuals and techy papers, but no CAT is a universal utility.

Also while real/ultimate client just requires the job done (1) properly, (2) timely, and (3) as agreed, most middlemen (agencies) habitually abuse CATs to low rates even lower. For instance, so called repetition/fuzzy "discounts" can easily turn even cherished $0.05+/word to $0.0125/w or lower. Just count, nothing personal though.

So, be smart enough to choose--yourself!--what's better exactly for you)
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Kaspars Melkis
Daryo
Tina Vonhof (X)
Ali Sharifi
Morano El-Kholy
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
marijaflora
 
Maxi Schwarz
Maxi Schwarz  Identity Verified
Local time: 16:40
German to English
+ ...
MS Word, know how to use the Internet, your own knowledge Jun 15, 2019

That's what I use as a successful translator. Knowledge and skills in translation would be first in the list.

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
Chandrakant Mhatre
Chandrakant Mhatre  Identity Verified
India
Local time: 03:10
Member
English to Hindi
+ ...
CAT tools to begin with Jun 18, 2019

Vinitaji, I think you should begin with Matecat and Memsource both of which are very good online CAT tools, as such you don't have to download and/or install anything. Plus they are free. Both of them function like any other CAT tool i.e. by breaking the text into shorter 'segments' which you translates one at a time and move on. Initially the learning curve will be very high, but soon you will be well versed with all the nitty-gritty involved. All the best!

 
Rolf Keller
Rolf Keller
Germany
Local time: 22:40
English to German
Online CAT tools? Jun 19, 2019

Chandrakant Mhatre wrote:

online CAT tools, as such you don't have to download and/or install anything.

Some clients will not be happy with translators who make their (the client's!) texts available to Nobody-Knows-What-I-Do recipients.


Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Wolfram Weinberg, PhD
 
Vinita Sharma Dubey
Vinita Sharma Dubey
Local time: 03:10
Member (2019)
English to Hindi
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Many thanks to all of you! Jun 8, 2020

It really had helped.

 


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