| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Why do clients demand for Trados? Thread poster: Morten Alme
|
|---|
As I am new to this business, though not new to translation business, I have some questions I hope someone would be able to answer.
I got my first client query the end of last week. This outsorucerer was very pointed about what translation tools I was using, and my tech. background.
Why this obsession about translation tools like TRADOS? It's a mystery to me. As a freelance writer, I write at least a 1000-1500 words an hour depending on the theme I'm writing about. Translatio... See more As I am new to this business, though not new to translation business, I have some questions I hope someone would be able to answer.
I got my first client query the end of last week. This outsorucerer was very pointed about what translation tools I was using, and my tech. background.
Why this obsession about translation tools like TRADOS? It's a mystery to me. As a freelance writer, I write at least a 1000-1500 words an hour depending on the theme I'm writing about. Translation woould be from 300- 800 words an hour depending, again on the text. What do I need a costly tool like TRADOS for in any case?
Yet this potential client doubted my skills as a writer, and a translator for this particular project. Which I seriously doubt, since I have not seen any examples of what this translation job is about. It is quite all in all.... ▲ Collapse
| | | | Keith Boak 
Portugal
Local time: 20:29
Portuguese to English
+ ...
| You pay for the speed and quality improvements | May 31, 2011 |
Hi Morten,
The cynical answer is that clients want the job done quickly and they want low cost. Trados speeds you up and enables them to pay you less by claiming a reduction for "repetitions".
The reality is that Trados will make you quicker and helps quality control, but the fact that you have to make such a large investment in purchasing it and learning to use it, means that you, the translator should benefit from any advantage gained, not the client. Invest in Trados... See more Hi Morten,
The cynical answer is that clients want the job done quickly and they want low cost. Trados speeds you up and enables them to pay you less by claiming a reduction for "repetitions".
The reality is that Trados will make you quicker and helps quality control, but the fact that you have to make such a large investment in purchasing it and learning to use it, means that you, the translator should benefit from any advantage gained, not the client. Invest in Trados (or a cheaper equivalent) and say no to "Trados repetition discounts". ▲ Collapse
| | | | Giles Watson
Italy
Local time: 21:29
Italian to English
In memoriam
If you are still at the stage of touting for jobs, then prospective clients will be in a position to impose conditions such as document delivery in a particular format.
But if you have established yourself as one of the best in the market in your language combination and sector specialisation, clients will come to you and you can dictate terms, conditions and, at least to some extent, the format in which the text will be delivered.
Think about your business strategy, cr... See more If you are still at the stage of touting for jobs, then prospective clients will be in a position to impose conditions such as document delivery in a particular format.
But if you have established yourself as one of the best in the market in your language combination and sector specialisation, clients will come to you and you can dictate terms, conditions and, at least to some extent, the format in which the text will be delivered.
Think about your business strategy, create a well-focused market profile and you will be able to use Trados to increase your productivity, rather than allow clients to use it against you. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Exactly the point! | May 31, 2011 |
autor wrote:
The reality is that Trados will make you quicker and helps quality control, but the fact that you have to make such a large investment in purchasing it and learning to use it, means that you, the translator should benefit from any advantage gained, not the client. Invest in Trados (or a cheaper equivalent) and say no to "Trados repetition discounts".
Why would you invest in such an expensive (and not very userfriendly) tool, only to earn less than before? Never fall into the trap of the fuzzy (=Trados) discounts! It's not easy, but feasible (I personally never did). And there are other CATs that cost much less and do the task as well or even better.
CATs are certainly an improvement for our business, and you should try one, just to see what it is about, but there is not only Trados.
| | |
|
|
|
NMR (X)
France
Local time: 21:29
French to Dutch
+ ...
| If you're a writer | May 31, 2011 |
you'll be unhappy with these tools and the kind of work it will bring to you, which has more to do with secretarial work than with creative craftmanship. But you can always try it out. There are also other and less expensive tools on the market.
| | | |
autor wrote:
Hi Morten,
The cynical answer is that clients want the job done quickly and they want low cost. Trados speeds you up and enables them to pay you less by claiming a reduction for "repetitions".
The reality is that Trados will make you quicker and helps quality control, but the fact that you have to make such a large investment in purchasing it and learning to use it, means that you, the translator should benefit from any advantage gained, not the client. Invest in Trados (or a cheaper equivalent) and say no to "Trados repetition discounts".
Thanks for good advice.
I see no particular problem with the way I have done so far. It's been small, but still. As ling as the job is being done.
As far as speedyness, I translated more than 3000 words a day when I rewrote my novella in Belfast from English to Norwegian while sitting at work. Then I didn't have a Norwegian spellcheck on the PC. So I got a little help in editing it, as it would be the 4th time I would have to go through the story. Something i couldn't cope with at the time. Long story.
When a client says "must use TRADOS", would this be compulsory? How should a client be concerned with what translation tools that are being used?
Do you have any cheaper suggestions than TRADOS?
Thanks again for help...
| | | | | Translating some texts is not that creative | May 31, 2011 |
NMR wrote:
you'll be unhappy with these tools and the kind of work it will bring to you, which has more to do with secretarial work than with creative craftmanship. But you can always try it out. There are also other and less expensive tools on the market.
I agree that using CATs robs the translator's job of creativity but they really help you to control the quality of "mechanical", repetitive texts like some instruction manuals.
Moreover, CATs enable you to work on many different formats, which would otherwise require using many different editing tools instead of just a few. For instance the range of formats supported by Trados spans from easy-to-edit HTMLs, RTFs and XMLs to MIFs, INXs and many others. And it is cheaper to invest in Trados than to buy Framemaker and InDesign if you just want to translate INXs and MIFs. This will simply broaden your offer.
Last but not least: Trados is the MS Windows of the modern translation industry. Though it is criticized for its cumbersomeness and price, it is still most popular CAT around. Fortunately, if you are not familiar with CAT tools, you start for instance with OmegaT which is a GPL-licensed, multiplatform CAT tool.
| | | | | Re: Why do clients demand for Trados? | May 31, 2011 |
NMR wrote:
you'll be unhappy with these tools and the kind of work it will bring to you, which has more to do with secretarial work than with creative craftmanship. But you can always try it out. There are also other and less expensive tools on the market.
Translation tools are something new to me. Though I have been using Google instant translation from other languages, and then just rearranged the sentence afterwards.
It's the craftsmanship that makes the language come alive. It all depends on what the client wants I guess.
I have just downloaded the trial Trados so at least that is covered in case someone asks.Any suggestions on other products?
| | |
|
|
|
Laurent KRAULAND (X)
France
Local time: 21:29
French to German
+ ...
| The real problem... | May 31, 2011 |
Morten Alme wrote:
(.../...)Why this obsession about translation tools like TRADOS? It's a mystery to me. As a freelance writer, I write at least a 1000-1500 words an hour depending on the theme I'm writing about. Translation woould be from 300- 800 words an hour depending, again on the text. What do I need a costly tool like TRADOS for in any case?
Yet this potential client doubted my skills as a writer, and a translator for this particular project. Which I seriously doubt, since I have not seen any examples of what this translation job is about. It is quite all in all....
or one of the real problems is the brainwashing advertising and marketing which rather aggressively says that "You cannot be a professional without such a tool".
Well sorry, but I did my first translations with an electric typewriter and/or a rather basic computer under Windows 3.11.
Furthermore, and as the major part of my jobs consists in translating contents from office suite files (MS Office, OpenOffice and iWork) or badly legible scanned documents, I can shrug my shoulders when the client -mainly agencies- "demand" a CAT tool.
Not that I would not use them, but I do it for my convenience and for the consistency of the files I translate.
| | | | Jenn Mercer
United States
Local time: 15:29
Member (2009)
French to English
| I use Trados because I'm a writer | May 31, 2011 |
NMR wrote:
you'll be unhappy with these tools and the kind of work it will bring to you, which has more to do with secretarial work than with creative craftmanship. But you can always try it out. There are also other and less expensive tools on the market.
I am a writer and I am not going to cut and paste or manually retype repetitive passages. That is not what writers do. Instead, I let Trados copy those down the line for me while I use every bit of my available time on translating the original texts to the best of my ability.
| | | | Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 12:29
English to German
+ ...
In memoriam | Hugs and kisses | May 31, 2011 |
Laurent KRAULAND wrote:
or one of the real problems is the brainwashing advertising and marketing which rather aggressively says that "You cannot be a professional without such a tool".
for this perfect summary.
Because this describes what it's all about.
Don't fall for it.
| | | |
Nicole Schnell wrote: Laurent KRAULAND wrote:
or one of the real problems is the brainwashing advertising and marketing which rather aggressively says that "You cannot be a professional without such a tool".
for this perfect summary. Because this describes what it's all about. Don't fall for it.
I'll keep that in mind...
In the meantime, I will have to translate my own fictional works for free, while waiting for the golden oportunity to occur. Hoping that some publisher will buy my rants and ravings in due time....
| | |
|
|
|
Kipale78
Italy
Local time: 21:29
English to Italian
+ ...
| shouldn't the point of CAT tools be... | Jun 1, 2011 |
...that consistency is ensured? I don't use cat tools (i am more of an interpreter) but my understanding is that
1. CAT tools ensure consistency of the translation in itself and in the future (further elaborations of the document)
2. Trados and other CAT tools have been established in the market by a somehow smart move towards agencies, that got a discount on their softwares and then basically imposed them to their translators.
3. CAT tools are for technic... See more ...that consistency is ensured? I don't use cat tools (i am more of an interpreter) but my understanding is that
1. CAT tools ensure consistency of the translation in itself and in the future (further elaborations of the document)
2. Trados and other CAT tools have been established in the market by a somehow smart move towards agencies, that got a discount on their softwares and then basically imposed them to their translators.
3. CAT tools are for technical translations
If ever I start working with CAT tools, I am not going with TRADOS, for sure. But it seems like in Italy it is the ONLY CAT tool.
Am I understanding this correctly? ▲ Collapse
| | | | LEXpert
United States
Local time: 14:29
Member (2008)
Croatian to English
+ ...
Kipale78 wrote:
...that consistency is ensured? I don't use cat tools (i am more of an interpreter) but my understanding is that
1. CAT tools ensure consistency of the translation in itself and in the future (further elaborations of the document)
2. Trados and other CAT tools have been established in the market by a somehow smart move towards agencies, that got a discount on their softwares and then basically imposed them to their translators.
3. CAT tools are for technical translations
If ever I start working with CAT tools, I am not going with TRADOS, for sure. But it seems like in Italy it is the ONLY CAT tool.
Am I understanding this correctly?
In general, yes, you are. By point:
1) Yes, if the CAT tool is used correctly and with a full understanding of its features. But I don't think that "consistency" is the advantage most agencies see in CAT tools - why do they expect (demand?) discounts then? If the CAT tool improves the translation, they should pay you more if you use it!
2) Probably generally true, but I can't say that this is the case with ALL CAT tools. Some are freeware, after all.
3) They are not just for tech. Any repetitive or versioned/updated document, such as financial reports, statutes, amended contracts, to name a few examples, will probably go faster if prior versions are in a TM. For pure one-offs there's not so much benefit in terms of speed, but even in those cases a CAT tool has advantages such providing an overview of view of source and target (vs. switching eyes back and forth from paper to screen, or trying to overwrite text), effectively creating a backup in the TM in case the original file is corrupted, etc.
| | | | | Another point | Jun 1, 2011 |
I am assuming you refer to job ads on Proz.
After one outsourcer has selected their requirements, it's common to see that several thousand Prozians will qualify. The job poster has a hair-rising sensation after envisioning half, or maybe just one-third of those 'several thousand' translators' applications to read and choose one.
The way to shortlist them is to require something else... See more I am assuming you refer to job ads on Proz.
After one outsourcer has selected their requirements, it's common to see that several thousand Prozians will qualify. The job poster has a hair-rising sensation after envisioning half, or maybe just one-third of those 'several thousand' translators' applications to read and choose one.
The way to shortlist them is to require something else. No, they can't change the source/target languages to more 'rare' ones. They could require the translator to smoke Marlboros, own a Ford, drink Pepsi... but these options are not available there. If they are in the translation business, they might have heard (from SDL, of course) that 'Trados is the only and the best'. So they demand Trados sine qua non always, even when the job involves translating handwritten docs, audio, video, or sometimes only interpreting. This reduces the number of potentially qualified applicants from several thousand down to a few hundred, which is more workable.
For Trados lovers, yes, I know that some large projects involving many translators over time require that all translators use the same CAT tool. But this is not so often the case. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Pages in topic: [1 2] > | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Why do clients demand for Trados? | Anycount & Translation Office 3000 | Translation Office 3000
Translation Office 3000 is an advanced accounting tool for freelance translators and small agencies. TO3000 easily and seamlessly integrates with the business life of professional freelance translators.
More info » |
| | Trados Studio 2022 Freelance | The leading translation software used by over 270,000 translators.
Designed with your feedback in mind, Trados Studio 2022 delivers an unrivalled, powerful desktop
and cloud solution, empowering you to work in the most efficient and cost-effective way.
More info » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
Translation news
