Collaborating with other translators using Wf Pro 5
Thread poster: Comunican
Comunican
Comunican
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:46
Spanish to English
+ ...
Oct 23, 2019

I'm interested in being able to share a TM with another translator on a project we are sharing. Or, at least, being able to exchange "non-cleaned-up" documents between us.

I've seen the following "Key advantage" about Wf Pro 5: "Collaborative environment: Users can interact with TM Server and share translation memory assets in real-time". However, I can't find how to do this in the 210-page User Guide.

Could anyone help please?


 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 17:46
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Wordfast Server isn't for us Oct 23, 2019

Comunican wrote:
I've seen the following "Key advantage" about Wf Pro 5: "Collaborative environment: Users can interact with TM Server and share translation memory assets in real-time". However, I can't find how to do this in the 210-page User Guide.


It means that if you're a very large company, you can ask the Wordfast company to set up a "Wordfast Server" for you, which may cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars (based on the fact that its price on the prices page is shown as "request quote", which in the software world is often code for "if we mention the price on the web site, you'll click the X and visit our competitors' web sites"). If you read the Wordfast Server brief, the key phrase is "at an enterprise level".

https://www.wordfast.com/buy
https://www.wordfast.com/products_wordfast_server
https://www.wordfast.com/pdf/WF_Product-Brief_Server_v10.pdf


I'm interested in being able to share a TM with another translator on a project we are sharing. Or, at least, being able to exchange "non-cleaned-up" documents between us.


I'm not an expert at WFP5 and I've used only the most basic features of it, so I hope someone who knows better will come along and correct me if I'm wrong, but:

I know of no real-time collaborative options in Wordfast Pro 5 for freelancers or small groups of translators. The "non-cleaned up" files in WFP5 are TXLF files which WFP5 stores in a subfolder of a subfolder of a subfolder, and you can't just open one of them in WFP5 as-is (in WFP3, you can). So as far as I can see, WFP5 isn't really suited for collaboration. It's all too complicated (but perhaps I'm just too simple for it).

You can, of course, each create a project on your own computer with all the files in it, and create TMs and glossaries in those project folder trees, and then regularly send the TMs and glossaries to each other, but there no simple way to automatically update the TXLF files with content from a newly shared TM, nor is there a way to merge two versions of a single TXLF file that is being simultaneously translated by more than one translator.


[Edited at 2019-10-23 08:41 GMT]


 
Comunican
Comunican
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:46
Spanish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you Oct 23, 2019

Ah, thanks Samuel. Unless someone comes up with different advice, your reply saves me a lot of time researching.

And "It's all too complicated" is spot on! It seems to me that the Wf Pro team need to do a lot of work on their product (in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they are considering withdrawing from the market).

But maybe they are all overly complicated? I tried Trados once and was shocked at how ludcrously complex it was. I'm going to look more closely at Mems
... See more
Ah, thanks Samuel. Unless someone comes up with different advice, your reply saves me a lot of time researching.

And "It's all too complicated" is spot on! It seems to me that the Wf Pro team need to do a lot of work on their product (in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they are considering withdrawing from the market).

But maybe they are all overly complicated? I tried Trados once and was shocked at how ludcrously complex it was. I'm going to look more closely at Memsource, which one of my agencies likes me to use for their projects.

Thanks again for your helpful reply.
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Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 17:46
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
More features = more complicated Oct 23, 2019

Comunican wrote:
But maybe they are all overly complicated? I tried Trados once and was shocked at how ludicrously complex it was.


Well, a simple CAT tool tends to have very few features. The more features a CAT tool has, the more complicated it is to use, because these features all have to work together. That said, I agree that some tools are very complicated, e.g. MemoQ and Trados -- even if you want to use only the most basic features of these tools, they are complicated. However, if you use a tool often enough, you get used to it.

The other option is to do like many online tools do: they allow the project manager to simply hide features from the user, to make it all seem simpler. But then you're at the mercy of the project manager and his idea about which features the translator needs access to. Or, some tools take care of certain tasks "at server level", e.g. TMs, glossaries, segmentation rules, etc., i.e. the translator can't set those things up, but instead they are set up by whoever installs the server.

I do find it unfortunate that collaboration between freelance translators is so difficult on most tools. Many tools have "servers" that you can connect to, but those servers are meant for large companies who run project managers, and not for small groups of translators.

OmegaT's collaboration system can be used by freelance translators reasonably simply, as long as the main translator can figure out how to set up the version control service. Older versions of Wordfast Classic allowed translators to share TMs and glossaries over a local network or via an automated FTP service, but those features were dropped because they were complicated and very few people used them.


Comunican
 
Jean Dimitriadis
Jean Dimitriadis  Identity Verified
English to French
+ ...
WF Oct 23, 2019

I don't use Wordfast Pro, but here's what I've found with a quick search: https://www.wordfast.net/wiki/Connecting_to_a_Wordfast_Anywhere_TM_with_Wordfast_Pro_5 (you need to be a registered user to see the video).

There's a link to it in th
... See more
I don't use Wordfast Pro, but here's what I've found with a quick search: https://www.wordfast.net/wiki/Connecting_to_a_Wordfast_Anywhere_TM_with_Wordfast_Pro_5 (you need to be a registered user to see the video).

There's a link to it in the Wiki: https://www.wordfast.net/wiki/Wordfast_Pro_5#TM_Sharing

I think the process involves uploading the TM in Wordfast Anywhere and connecting to it.

Jean
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Stefan Stefanov
 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 17:46
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Yes, I forgot about WFA Oct 23, 2019

Jean Dimitriadis wrote:
I think the process involves uploading the TM in Wordfast Anywhere and connecting to it.


Yes, my goodness, I forgot about the WFA option. Here is the necessary information:
https://wordfast.com/WFP/5.8/t2115444.html

The way I understand it, in WFP5, open a project, and go to the Project TM tab, and click Connect To Remote. Then, on that dialog, click the WFA Server tab, and fill in the necessary information. But you need a temporary API key, which you generate in WFA. So, in WFA, click TMs & Glossaries > Setup, click Create, and create the TM. Then, click Manage Sharing, and under "My shares to application like Wordfaste Pro" click Add, etc., to create an API key. I haven't tried this, so I have no idea if it works or how it works, but it seems like it should work.


Comunican
Andriy Yasharov
 
Jean Lachaud
Jean Lachaud  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 12:46
English to French
+ ...
One have to need it very badly! Oct 23, 2019

I have tried using a WFA-based remote TM with WfC. Several times.

Not for collaboration (once, in fact, but I was never able to make it work that time), but because WfC is limited to two (2!) TMs.

Whenever I got it to work, I had spent so much time fiddling that it no longer was worth using the remote TM, time-wise, compared to simply searching using WfC Concordance, not counting time wasted while on deadline.

To me, the WFA remote-TM option is only good to
... See more
I have tried using a WFA-based remote TM with WfC. Several times.

Not for collaboration (once, in fact, but I was never able to make it work that time), but because WfC is limited to two (2!) TMs.

Whenever I got it to work, I had spent so much time fiddling that it no longer was worth using the remote TM, time-wise, compared to simply searching using WfC Concordance, not counting time wasted while on deadline.

To me, the WFA remote-TM option is only good to spend time creatively (and frustratingly) when there are only re-runs on TV.

TM Server also is supposed to work with WfC, free for a single-user (sharing TMs is not free, like Samuel wisely pointed out, along the lines of "If you have to ask about the price, you can't afford it"). Same remarks as above.

Let us not forget that WFP is a joint project (50% each) between Transperfect and the author of WfC, the latter not being involved directly in WFP development. Draw your own conclusions.


Samuel Murray wrote:

Yes, my goodness, I forgot about the WFA option. Here is the necessary information:
https://wordfast.com/WFP/5.8/t2115444.html

The way I understand it, in WFP5, open a project, and go to the Project TM tab, and click Connect To Remote. Then, on that dialog, click the WFA Server tab, and fill in the necessary information. But you need a temporary API key, which you generate in WFA. So, in WFA, click TMs & Glossaries > Setup, click Create, and create the TM. Then, click Manage Sharing, and under "My shares to application like Wordfaste Pro" click Add, etc., to create an API key. I haven't tried this, so I have no idea if it works or how it works, but it seems like it should work.

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Comunican
Comunican
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:46
Spanish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Great, thank you! Oct 23, 2019

Jean Dimitriadis wrote:

I don't use Wordfast Pro, but here's what I've found with a quick search: https://www.wordfast.net/wiki/Connecting_to_a_Wordfast_Anywhere_TM_with_Wordfast_Pro_5 (you need to be a registered user to see the video).

There's a link to it in the Wiki: https://www.wordfast.net/wiki/Wordfast_Pro_5#TM_Sharing

I think the process involves uploading the TM in Wordfast Anywhere and connecting to it.

Jean


Thank Jean, that is really helpful - looks like it could solve my problem! Much appreciated.


 
Comunican
Comunican
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:46
Spanish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
It works! Oct 23, 2019

Samuel Murray wrote:

Yes, my goodness, I forgot about the WFA option. Here is the necessary information:
https://wordfast.com/WFP/5.8/t2115444.html

The way I understand it, in WFP5, open a project, and go to the Project TM tab, and click Connect To Remote. Then, on that dialog, click the WFA Server tab, and fill in the necessary information. But you need a temporary API key, which you generate in WFA. So, in WFA, click TMs & Glossaries > Setup, click Create, and create the TM. Then, click Manage Sharing, and under "My shares to application like Wordfaste Pro" click Add, etc., to create an API key. I haven't tried this, so I have no idea if it works or how it works, but it seems like it should work.



IT WORKS!! I set up a TM on WFA and connected to it as per the instructions in this video: https://www.gotostage.com/channel/1af38c3cc9604245b85b20e080d75051/recording/490eac09d08e4ccfbd75de3ed3d4dcb1/watch?source=CHANNEL and also in the link you gave: wordfast.com/WFP/5.8/t2115444.html. I then worked on the translation on Wf Pro 5 and was able to check that the number of TUs in the WFA TM was increasing, Hurrah!

Now just need to see if it works for my colleague's Wf Classic....

Thanks both - especially Jean Dimitriadis.


 


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