The ATA Chronicle ■ July 200734

The first part of thisarticle, which appeared in the Juneissue, discussed the different cate-gories of computer-aided translation(CAT) tools and mentioned someproducts. This month, I will addresshow to get started if you have neverused a CAT tool, including a list ofquestions you should ask yourselfabout your work, your translationprocesses, and what you need from atool.

Analyze Your SituationThe first step is to analyze your sit-

uation. I will discuss three basic typesof tools: translation environment tools,corpus tools, and terminology tools.

Do you receive source textsprincipally in electronic format?

If you receive all source texts inelectronic format (except PDF files,which, unfortunately, do not count,since this format cannot be easilyimported by a word processor in away that tools can process), you willprobably prefer a translation environ-ment tool. If you do not receive mosttexts electronically and still want touse an environment tool, you willhave to convert the paper/faxed/scanned/PDF files into word pro-cessor format so that the tool can readthem. If you receive most texts as

paper/fax/scanned/PDF files, corpustools or terminology tools are prob-ably a better option.

If your source texts are not princi-pally in electronic format, are youwilling to convert them? If so, wouldyou convert them before translating oronly after (due to time limitations)?

I have several environment tools,and if I feel a non-electronic sourcetext would be easier to translate in anenvironment tool, I pay someone toconvert it. However, if I translate out-side a tool and convert the source textinto electronic format later when Ihave more time, I can then import thealigned file set into any of my envi-ronment (or corpus) tools. The toolthen treats this translation as if it hadbeen done within the tool. It becomespart of my translation memory (orcorpus) for future reference.

Are your source texts principally inMS Word, or in other formats?

Translators who work primarily in

MS Word often prefer tools that useMS Word as the principal interface,for example Wordfast and SDL

Trados. Figure 1 on page 35 shows theSDL Trados Translator’s Workbench(top window) working with MS Word.If you normally translate more com-plicated file formats like Excel,FrameMaker, HTML, etc., SDLTrados must use a different interfacecreated solely for non-Word files(called TagEditor). Figure 2 on page35 shows the window (TagEditor) thattakes the place of MS Word whenworking with other types of files. SeeFigure 3 on page 36 for a screen shotof the Déjà Vu X environment forcomparison. Most environment toolscreens are similar to Déjà Vu X’s.

The website of each tool normallylists which file types it can import orprocess, so make sure the tool youchoose supports the types of files youtranslate. If you normally translate20% or more files in a format otherthan Word, I recommend you try a

The first step is to analyze your situation.

Taking the Plunge: Part 2

35The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2007

Figure 1: SDL Trados Translator’s Workbench Working with MS Word

Figure 2: SDL Trados TagEditor Window

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The ATA Chronicle ■ July 20073636

Taking the Plunge: Part 2 Continued

tool other than SDL Trados orWordfast first.

A summary of the different optionsbased on the questions I just asked isshown in Figure 4 on page 37.

Consider Your Budget1. Try a free or inexpensive tool first,

to see if the workflow suits yourstyle. Across is currently givingfree licenses to their environmenttool to ATA members. You need todownload the software and man-uals and then contact them throughtheir website to request a license.OmegaT is also a free softwareproduct. Wordfast used to beextremely inexpensive, but nowonly translators in developingcountries receive a discount.However, Wordfast is still cheaperthan many competing tools evenwithout the discount.

2. Download the manuals for toolsyou find interesting and lookthrough them first, and thendownload a free trial or demo ofa tool when you have time to try

it out. This kind of software is verycomplicated, and you cannot judgehow a program works by justopening it and clicking on buttons oropening menu options. After youhave read about what the tool is sup-posed to do in the documentation,

you can try out the various featureson the sample files or on your owndocuments.

3. SDLX and Star Transit have freeversions designed to operate inconjunction with full versions ofthe software. The agency importsthe file to be translated into thetool, and then sends you the tool-specific file to translate fromwithin the free version. You can

download a trial version of eitherof these programs to learn how touse it, and then mention the freeversion on your résumé. That way,clients who require one of thesetools can consider you as a pos-sible translator for their projects,

and you will be able to test the toolwhile being paid for a job.

Final ConsiderationsTry using a tool when your dead-

line is not tight, or with a sample file.Find out what tools your translatorfriends use, because they might beable to help you if something goeswrong. If you learn one program,learning any other program will bemuch easier because the logic (though

Make sure the tool you choose supports the types of files you translate.

Figure 3: Déjà Vu X Translation Environment

37The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2007

not the process) is similar.I would be interested in hearing

from readers about what tools theylike (or hate), and why, for future CATtool reviews. Please contact me at arti-cles@justright.com.br.

References (in alphabetical order)Across

www.across.net

Déjà Vu Xwww.atril.com

Heartsomewww.heartsome.net

LogiTermwww.terminotix.com

OmegaTwww.omegat.org

SDL Trados, SDLX, MultiTermwww.translationzone.com

Star Transitwww.star-group.net

Wordfastwww.wordfast.net

GlossaryCorpus Tool: A tool which maintainsa collection of texts in electronicformat. These texts can be in one ormore languages, and may be aligned(source sentences aligned with targetsentences) for easy reference.

Translation Environment Tools: Atool which imports a source file intothe tool format, provides an interactiveinterface that helps the translatortranslate the file, and then exports thetranslation back into the originalformat of the source file (e.g.,PowerPoint, PageMaker, MS Word).

Terminology Tool: A tool that allowstranslators to keep terminology records,usually in two languages with fields forcomments and other information.

Figure 4: Summary of questions to answer when choosing a tool type

Déjà Vu X