| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Translation tools - which one is the best one to invest in? Thread poster: Rikke Schimscha
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Hi all!
I have been doing translations for several years but have only just decided to try and make a living of it. I realise that in order to compete in the market and produce top-quality, efficient translation work, you need tools such as Trados, Wordfast, Transit, etc., but I cannot seem to figure out which one is the best one to invest in in terms of quality/price/agency preference.
Any advice and sharing of experiences highly appreciated:-)
Thanks
Rikke
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It's expensive but industry standard.
In my opinion, you cannot do without it.
Mvh Jørgen
| | | | | | Mónica Machado
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:13
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| Try asking that to the companies you work with | Mar 15, 2004 |
Hello,
Since you have been working in the area already, maybe you should consider asking that to the companies you work with. If they have a preference maybe you could fullfil their needs first instead of trying to find out the general trend.
Hope this helps
Regards,
Mónica
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Kevin Fulton 
United States
Local time: 05:13
German to English
| TM tools are like religions or political parties | Mar 15, 2004 |
Everyone thinks the one he or she has is the best. Go to the "Tools" section here, see the comparison. You can usually download demo versions from the companies. See which one works the way you do, or the one to which you might easily adapt your style of working.
These tools work best with documents available in MS Office format (although other formats are frequently supported). If you mainly work with hard copy, perhaps a TM tool isn't for you.
The other thing is that ... See more Everyone thinks the one he or she has is the best. Go to the "Tools" section here, see the comparison. You can usually download demo versions from the companies. See which one works the way you do, or the one to which you might easily adapt your style of working.
These tools work best with documents available in MS Office format (although other formats are frequently supported). If you mainly work with hard copy, perhaps a TM tool isn't for you.
The other thing is that you won't get full benefit from a TM tool until you've used it for a while. Sometimes you can get lucky and pay for the software with one job. The real savings in terms of time and effort comes down the road after your database gets larger.
Kevin ▲ Collapse
| | | | Steffen Pollex (X)
Local time: 11:13
English to German
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| SDLX is more comfortable than TRADOS | Mar 15, 2004 |
as to my practical experience.
| | | | | Buy Trados, use Wordfast! | Mar 15, 2004 |
Buy Trados for getting jobs (Since this is the market leader), and then use Wordfast for most of the jobs. It uses the same segmentation, and can import a Trados export file. It can also export into TMX (that can be read by Trados).
Believe me: Wordfast is a much better choice. Try to compare the tool in the "Catfight", and you will see.
The downside of this is that you need to invest in two tools. On the long run you will benefit.
| | | | Zhoudan
Local time: 17:13
English to Chinese
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Deja Vu is much easier to use than Trados, according to my personal experience. Good luck!
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mishima (X)
Local time: 18:13
Italian to Japanese
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| Trados sucks a lot! | Mar 15, 2004 |
Rikke Schimscha wrote:
...but I cannot seem to figure out which one is the best one to invest in in terms of quality/price/agency preference.
Thanks
Rikke
No doubt the best one is Dejavu X, both in ease of use and the ability to handle a large number of file formats. I have been using Dejavu 3 and Dejavu X for three years now and I can easily handle all the work that I receive and that I am supposed to process with Trados. All Trados-oriented clients (mainly agencies) I work for do not realize at all that I am not using Trados, except when I need to pretranslate in Trados (but for this the trial version is perfect).
Keep also in mind that if you buy Trados and want to buy all subsequent upgrades will cost you a lot of money, while I have been upgrading Dejavu since almost three years without any additional cost. Trados sucks a lot!
Mishima
| | | | Todd Field
United States
Local time: 03:13
Member
Portuguese to English
| Buy TRADOS, Use WordFast | Mar 16, 2004 |
At the risk of opening a political can of worms, as so aptly put by Kfulton...
I could not agree more with Ivan and Tayfun. Buy TRADOS and use it when you have to. Use WordFast for everything else.
Aside from being less intimidating to learn, it has amazing glossary and quality check functions. As a freelancer you can create your "own little world" of translation memories and glossaries (custom-fit to each customer) that works absolutely beautifully!
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SDLX is more comfortable than TRADOS and Wordfast.
And the support is great!
And you buy a CAT not for your client, but for your self. The best is to download the demo version and to try where you feel comfortable. You must work daily with your CAT, not your customer.
Geneviève
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 11:13
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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| Decide: all-in-one tool or several tools | Mar 16, 2004 |
Rikke Schimscha wrote:
I realise that in order to compete ... you need tools such as Trados, Wordfast, Transit, etc.
You might need Trados and Déjà Vu because agencies might ask you for it (although I've worked for several agencies and only two or three insisted on these). So get a big name just for the show (it's the "buy trados use wordfast" argument, see).
In the end you might find that instead of using a single tool that claims to perform all tasks, you can use a lot of small tools that perform the job better.
Example 1:
Take term extraction. Wordfast has one (in PlusTools), but it's iffy. I'm a Wordfast fan, but I won't use it for term extraction. I'll use Timothy Craven's tool.
Example 2:
Or take alignment. Wordfast has an aligner, but I won't use it. I might use Cypresoft's aligner instead.
Example 3:
Or take web site translation. Sure, you can translate HTML with Wordfast, but I find OmegaT to be much simpler for that task.
So... buy Trados, use Wordfast, and keep your eyes open to the possibilities other [free] tools might offer.
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| The golden rule | Mar 16, 2004 |
Ivan Eikås Skjøstad wrote:
Buy Trados for getting jobs (Since this is the market leader), and then use Wordfast for most of the jobs. It uses the same segmentation, and can import a Trados export file. It can also export into TMX (that can be read by Trados).
Believe me: Wordfast is a much better choice. Try to compare the tool in the "Catfight", and you will see.
The downside of this is that you need to invest in two tools. On the long run you will benefit.
Good luck!
Veronica
| | | | 00000000 (X)
English to French
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| Wordfast, unless you really need Trados | Mar 17, 2004 |
I have recent licenced versions of Trados, SDLX and Wordfast, and I always use Wordfast unless there is an imperative reason for using one of the others.
The new Fusion, advertised on this site, is very promising: more features than Wordfast, very aesthetic interface, intuitive, user-friendly, plus a fabulous terminology-dictionary component for setting up glossaries easily and painlessly. But it's not quite ready for Web pages and still does not quite match Wordfast in action (for ... See more I have recent licenced versions of Trados, SDLX and Wordfast, and I always use Wordfast unless there is an imperative reason for using one of the others.
The new Fusion, advertised on this site, is very promising: more features than Wordfast, very aesthetic interface, intuitive, user-friendly, plus a fabulous terminology-dictionary component for setting up glossaries easily and painlessly. But it's not quite ready for Web pages and still does not quite match Wordfast in action (for example, it totally stops at a column break, where Wordfast can open the segment). ▲ Collapse
| | | | XX789 (X)
Netherlands
Local time: 11:13
English to Dutch
+ ...
| To administrator | Mar 17, 2004 |
Why isn't DejaVuX featured in the CAT section? DVX is a god tool, even compared with Dejavu3!
I'm sorry to say it, but DVX leaves all other tools behind, in every aspect. Name it, DVX can do it.
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