|
translatortips® main page
NEW eBook -
Business Success for Freelance Translators
tranfree free translators' ezine >20,000 subscribers
NEW Forums
Testimonials
Sell Your Translation Services
Customer testimonials
tranmail list of 1,746+ translation agencies
tranfree back issues
tranfree blog
tranfree FREE newsletter for translators
Sell Your Translation Services on the Web
|
|
Author
|
Topic: Preferences for translation software
|
robwm
Member Posts: 2
Registered: Apr 2005
|
posted 30 April 2005 00:00
  
I am looking into purchasing automated translation software (Spanish/English) to be used for business/legal documents primarly from hard-copy Spanish into English. I am new to translating for a fee and have native level fluency with both languages. I am looking into software as a means of getting the first level of translation work done as quickly as possible. I am hoping that those of you with experience with this type of software would be willing to share the pros/cons and more improtantly which applications you would reccomend. Thanks in advance.IP: 68.2.183.247 |
Margaret
Member Posts: 9
Registered: Jan 2001
|
posted 30 May 2005 02:21
Automatic translation software is not recommendable for a translator who wants to produce a quality text in a reasonable amount of time. The result of passing your text through one of these programs will be a text that sticks much too close to Spanish syntax, word order, imagery, rhetoric style, etc. Even after you have fixed the ludicrous vocabulary mistakes that such a program is prone to, you will still have a text that reads like Spanish, only using English words. From this point, unless you are satisfied with a bad translation, you will have to spend an inordinate amount of time fixing it (and you are really better off doing so directly from the Spanish original, as some of the meaning will have been lost through this type of "translation" into English); otherwise you will have an extremely unsatisfactory result. You would be better served by computer-aided translation (CAT) programs. One of the lower-cost alternatives which many translators find useful is Wordfast (http://www.wordfast.net/). The crème de la crème (but more expensive) is Déjà Vu (http://www.atril.com/). The popular Trados is the "Microsoft" of the CAT world--- ubiquitous, buggy and used by a majority who haven't tried the better alternatives. [This message has been edited by Margaret (edited 30 May 2005).] IP: 201.128.58.110 |
pingvin21
Member Posts: 1
Registered: Aug 2005
|
posted 12 August 2005 09:02
I am a new member of this forum, from Hungary. Also looking for some translation software and has read the message above (or below) with great interest. I have tried Trados and you are right, it takes a lot to "teach" it and requires many plugs and other extras. I will try the other two options.
IP: 193.224.159.162 |
Contact Us | translatortips.com
Copyright (c) Alex Eames 2000-2010
Ultimate Bulletin Board 5.46a
|
