General strike against TRADOS and other expensive CAT tools

IPtranslate wrote:

All this, of cours, under the assupmption that you don't own shares in the companies that produce these (often not working properly) CATs. If the answer to this question is positive, then the comment all of a sudden does make sense.

Nadejda Vega Cespedes wrote:

A CAT tool is an investment like any other. If the ROI justifies the purchase, it is not too expensive. If it doesn't, but you invest anyway, you should strike against your own lack of basic business skills.

Claudette Hepburn wrote:

I have just today given up a big job because Trados was involved and the client suggested, as I protested, that I should consider buying it. I protested even more then.

My reason is that I have tried Trados and dislike it very much. I am a fervent user of Wordfast classic, Pro, Anywhere, whatever!

Well, eventually, the client asked if I would like to proofread the files then, so I did not lose everything...

My strike will be permanent, Thomas.

With you all the way!

Claudette

IPtranslate wrote:

it is not the tools I have a problem with; it is with the fact that agencies feel they have the right to impose which tools I should use....all of this of course under the excuse of "if you use this tool, we can provide you with more work".....Reminds me of situations in 19th century Belgium (and probably in other countries as well) where factory workers were only allowed to spend their hard earned wages in the shop that was part of the factory and of course owned by the same boss....not quite similar, but nevertheless....

Lutz Molderings wrote:



If you have more work than you can handle and you have decent rates (like me, I think), the "investment" in a CAT tool is hardly worth mentioning. You'll have made the money to buy a tool within 2-3 days. I probably spend more money on magazine subscriptions than on my CAT tool.

I simply don't understand this categorical rejection of this obvious time-saver.
It's like walking to the library instead of using their online services.
It's no big deal. Just buy one, learn to use it in a day or two and start using the time you save doing something more enjoyable - like reading your favourite magazines

Maybe you are a literary translator. Then I wouldn't bother buying one either.
But then again, I probably I couldn't afford one anyway






[Edited at 2011-02-19 09:51 GMT]

Tony M wrote:

I just boycott them altogether!

For every job I turn down because the client insists on the use of CAT, I have 10 others that don't, and are usually more interesting.

One client the other day tried to insist on the use of CAT, for a document with less than 1% actual repetitions; I pointed out that for the sake of saving a very small number of €uros, they were going to sour their long-standing relationship with me, as well as missing out on the quality of my service; they soon saw reason!

By deliberately boycotting CAT, I still manage to get more work than I can handle, at advantageous rates, and make a perfectly respectable living out of it, thank you very much!

I know I'd have to work a lot more to recover the cost of a CAT tool and then actually make more money using it, so why bother?

Indeed, the fact that other people invest in CAT tools suits me just fine — 'cos I pick up such a lot of work proofing and correcting the output of those people who no doubt cut corners, in order to both recover the cost of their expensive CAT tool and work more to make up for the lost earnings because of the reduced rates! In what other industry would one be required to invest money in a tool that would help you... earn less?!

Strikes me it's a bad case of 'the tail wagging the dog'.

Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL wrote:



Independent from what? You already are a FREElance, so you have your independence. And as far as "expensive" CAT tools are concerned, again, we are FREElance so we are FREE to say no and not to use them or to choose an inexpensive one... it gets a bit tiring seeing this employee mentality amongst people who are supposed to be businesses, but think in terms of "slavery"... get a grip!

(1) "A strike would be useless, inefficient"

I think it would be a way to send a clear signal to the market - agencies and CAT tool producers - that excessively expensive CAT tools are not OK and won't be accepted.

(5) "No one complains about the high prices of AutoCAD, Adobe Photoshop, MS Word/Office etc."
That is simply not true at all.
And people around the entire word complain about the high prices of Microsoft Office.

Thomas Johansson wrote:

(3) "The price doesn't matter, as long as buying the CAT tool is a good overall business investment (in terms of increased productivity, ability to take on more projects etc.)"

Just because they CAN charge whatever price they want from us - and still get their products sold - doesn't mean the price is fair, just or reasonable. We are simply being used, and we should not accept that.

Thomas Johansson wrote:
(4) "Nobody is forcing you to buy Trados. You can use one of the freeware tools or Wordfast. It's your choice and your business decision to invest in a tool like this."

We often cannot just decide whichever CAT tool to use for a specific job.

Thomas Johansson wrote:
Many jobs are posted as requiring TRADOS. And there is an overall push towards TRADOS on the market. More and more agencies decide to work exclusively with some specific expensive CAT tool. And, as somebody put it, "if you don't have a required CAT tool, you can't collaborate effectively and your output is likely to cause technical problems for other people."

I for instance have personally acquired Wordfast, but I am loosing many job opportunities simply because I don't have TRADOS (and, no, I won't buy it either as long as the price is outrageous, however much sense it would make from a business or investment point of view).

Laurent KRAULAND wrote:

And I don't think that I ever used the word "slavery" in this thread...