| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: By how much has the use of CAT tools increased your translation productivity? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "By how much has the use of CAT tools increased your translation productivity?".
View the poll results »
| | | | | I don't know | Jun 21, 2010 |
I voted for "I don't know", except the fact that it has increased my translation productivity but at the same time decreased my income due to notorious CAT tool analysis and discounts on repetitions and fuzzy matches which I believe is unfair indeed.
| | | | m_temmer 
Local time: 19:44
English to Dutch
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| I don't know | Jun 21, 2010 |
I have always used CAT tools, so I really can't tell.
| | | | | I don't know | Jun 21, 2010 |
Same as Michaël
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Michael Harris
Germany
Local time: 03:44
Member (2006)
German to English
| significantly | Jun 21, 2010 |
once in a while, I have to translate documents not using my CAT tool and sometime it just takes ages.
Sorry Yasutomo, I disagree with you there, in my language combination, repetitions are the best freind you can have.
By, the way, why are there so many anonymous polls at the moment?
[Edited at 2010-06-21 09:06 GMT]
| | | | | I don't use CAT tools | Jun 21, 2010 |
I have used Wordfast just a couple of times, I am given paper documents, so it is definitely useless. I could use OCR and then all the conversion process, but it is really not worth.
Anyway I thought I was the only translator who doesn't use/have CAT tools, but I do not feel lonely now!
| | | | m_temmer
Local time: 19:44
English to Dutch
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Michael Harris wrote:
in my language combination, repetitions are the best freind you can have.
Repetitions are always a translator's best friend as long as he or she gets paid for them.
It's amazing how often agencies succeed in lowering rates for fuzzy matches and repetitions. And it's the translators' fault as they accept the lower rates! Why would a translator have to accept a lower rate when investing in tools? The rate should at least stay the same or even go up instead of down! What business man would invest in something that eventually would make him lose money or gain none?
Translators are weird creatures...
| | | | DianeGM
Local time: 04:44
Member (2006)
Dutch to English
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| I don't know | Jun 21, 2010 |
I always a CAT tool - so I don't know either - but its obviously useful.
I've never been asked to provide reduced rates for reps or provide TMs either.
So for me there's only an upside
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Joanna Hald (X)
Poland
Local time: 03:44
Danish to Polish
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| I don't know | Jun 21, 2010 |
I can't say how much, but it has and my income raised because 99% of my clients don't expect me to use CAT.
| | | | | Michaël has said it all | Jun 21, 2010 |
Michael Harris wrote:
once in a while, I have to translate documents not using my CAT tool and sometime it just takes ages.
Sorry Yasutomo, I disagree with you there, in my language combination, repetitions are the best freind you can have.
By, the way, why are there so many anonymous polls at the moment?
[Edited at 2010-06-21 09:06 GMT]
Sorry, Michael, but I'm afraid you have misunderstood me. I agree to your idea of repetitions being best friends and this applies to all languages. I also agree with Michaël regarding the investment involved, but one more thing I would like to add is that we can offer a translation quality with consistent terminologies and styles using CAT tools. I don't understand why it is the norm for translation companies and agencies asking for reductions and discounts despite being able to deliver a file without inconsistencies.
| | | | | don't use it enough | Jun 21, 2010 |
I have wordfast but I don't use it very often...
| | | | John Cutler
Spain
Local time: 03:44
Spanish to English
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Marlene Blanshay wrote:
I have wordfast but I don't use it very often...
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Rebecca Garber
Local time: 21:44
Member (2005)
German to English
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I have wordfast and across.
Wordfast increases my production quite a bit, especially as I have a number of recurring projects that use a lot of the same vocabulary. Even without a fuzzy match, the glossary allows me to see *in context* how I have translated a word in the past.
Across, not so much.
At the moment, I am translating a book, and I am missing the ability to check my previous translations of various terms.
| | | | Erik Matson
Thailand
Local time: 08:44
English to Norwegian
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| More than 50% | Jun 21, 2010 |
I am shocked to see how many "translators" don't have/use CAT-tools. Must be "hobby translators"!
I was very reluctant to spend hundreds of dollars on my first Trados license, but it paid for itself within the first two projects I painted.
Ever since I have not hesitated for a second. I have licensed editions of several major CAT-tools, the most valued of which is SDL Trados Studio 2009 (which of course in... See more I am shocked to see how many "translators" don't have/use CAT-tools. Must be "hobby translators"!
I was very reluctant to spend hundreds of dollars on my first Trados license, but it paid for itself within the first two projects I painted.
Ever since I have not hesitated for a second. I have licensed editions of several major CAT-tools, the most valued of which is SDL Trados Studio 2009 (which of course includes Trados Suite 2007). ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Not appreciably | Jun 21, 2010 |
Trados does NOT increase my productivity.
This is partly to do with the types of texts I translate, which are not very repetitive.
I use a CAT (either Trados or Wordfast) because I like the concordance feature and Multiterm, which is as good a way as any of keeping track of terminology. The concordance is handy for referring back to earlier jobs for the same client, and there are other advantages.
I also use Trados because my clients require or expect it.... See more Trados does NOT increase my productivity.
This is partly to do with the types of texts I translate, which are not very repetitive.
I use a CAT (either Trados or Wordfast) because I like the concordance feature and Multiterm, which is as good a way as any of keeping track of terminology. The concordance is handy for referring back to earlier jobs for the same client, and there are other advantages.
I also use Trados because my clients require or expect it.
But for any time I save actually translating, I spend at least as much time and money attending courses or updating Trados, and generally maintaining the system. Then I have to get my guru and the hotline to help me to get it all linked up again.
Multiterm is a pain with 2007, if it works at all after I updated to 2009...
If I use Wordfast it takes me time to set everything up, because I don't use it very often, but it does sometimes pick up on files that wil not open in TagEditor.
With Trados I have to re-touch formatting... which would not have been messed up in the first place without Trados. I know SDL blames people who do not set up their formatting properly in Word, but they should accept the fact that at least 95% of users do not set up formatting properly in Word, especially if their texts were originally written in some other program, converted from PDFs, or whatever else may happen to them along the way.
TagEditor slows me down. It has its uses, but I will certainly be glad when it is dropped in favour of Studio 2009. I have never succeeded in getting a decent spell checker or Auto-correct to work with TagEditor, and THAT is a serious handicap for anyone who makes typos the way I do!
I can say a lot in favour of Trados when it works, but as far as I am concerned, the increase in productivity is greatly overestimated. ▲ Collapse
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