Tips 'n' Tools for Translators - Déjà Vu

MemoQ 8.1 and translating PDFs

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Sun, 28 May 2017 02:30:00 +0200

Software-maker Kilgray has just released a new version of memoQ 8 that is likely to be something of a landmark development. Although memoQ has been able to import non-scanned PDF files for translation for some time, this was not a particularly strong feature up till now. Version 8.1 changes that, however, as it comes with the ability to link up to Iceni's TransPDF servers to convert PDF files and produce translatable, formatted texts that have been extracted from the source files. PDF files get converted into XLIFF format and can then be imported into memoQ by adding them to a project via a new tab called "TransPDF import/export".

For more information on the steps involved, read Peter Reynolds' post on this feature (Peter works for Kilgray) and then watch this short video about it on YouTube.

To take advantage of Iceni's software, you will need to set up a user account with them first. A trial account is for free. After that, you will need to buy some "credits" off them to be able to use the OCR feature on scanned PDFs and get a PDF file as your target format after translating it.

According to Iceni, their PDF-conversion system supports a wide range of file types, including those from CAT tools like memoQ, Memsource and Déjà Vu. (Memsource has actually already "incorporated" TransPDF the way memoQ 8.1 has.) Rather than having to convert your files on Iceni's website and then import them into your CAT tool, you can now do this through memoQ, which is obviously more convenient.

It's helpful to know that Iceni converts source PDFs into a file with a text-based format for free, so you can translate the resulting file and then send it to your customer for them to check or modify and then export it as PDF themselves, which is really the usual procedure. That way, they will have a copy of the translation in a format they can work with easily; if you were to send them a translated PDF, on the other hand (which Iceni would charge you for producing), then they would essentially be getting a final version off you and could only work with it by using PDF editing software such as Adobe Acrobat or ABBYY PDF Transformer.

If you haven't heard of Iceni's PDF conversion before, why not try it out and see how well it does the job on a typical PDF file of your own? It's an alternative to using an OCR application like ABBYY FineReader and can be used regardless of whether or not you have memoQ.

Regards

Carl

images: memoQ © Kilgray, TransPDF © Iceni

Two virtual events from Proz on International Translation Day

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Mon, 28 Sep 2015 20:00:30 +0200

Translators' platform Proz.com is going to be staging its 7th annual virtual conference shortly, in celebration of International Translation Day on Wednesday, 30 September 2015.

This conference is actually one of two training events for translators running over two whole days starting from 29 September.

100+ hours of scheduled and on-demand sessions and content

30+ hours of LIVE content including Q&A sessions, panel discussions, chat rooms and more

Panel discussions on “Terminology management” and “Customer relationship management”

Exhibit booths where you can chat live with exhibitors and software vendors (including prize giveaways)

Earn 10 ATA CE credits for attending

Save up to 50% on popular CAT tools including SDL Trados Studio, memoQ, Wordfast, Déjà Vu and more

Here are some of the topics that are going to be discussed according to Proz:

How to find direct clients and run a business that you love

Translation or Interpreting? & the Emerging Market for Hybrid Communication Models

Getting in the game: a 'how to' for translation beginners

The beauty of machine translation

10 essential tips that are most helpful for a professional translator

Where to find clients and how to approach them and do the follow-up without sounding too pushy

Glossary & terminology management

Panel discussion on client relationship management

Panel discussion on leveraging voice-recognition technology for greater efficiency.

View the full programme here, after which you can click here to register as an attendee. (It's free!)

N.B. If you attend at least one live event, this will give you free access to recordings after the event, which you can watch any time for a period of at least 90 days.

For events concerning CAT tools on 29 September, see the special programme here. This will include the following talks:

Free Tools for Translators

Technical translation: is it really about terminology?

Setting up an MT system

Managing client expectations

Economics of pricing for the translation industry

Panel discussion on meeting clients

Panel discussion on machine translation

Medical documents for academic publishing: creating English content with precision, accuracy and style

How to participate in EU tendering procedures for translation services.

I'm sure you'll find something worthwhile as the topics are very varied. There are also quite a lot of pre-recorded webinars to accompany the two-day event that you can watch on demand, i.e. whenever it suits you.

Regards,

Carl

image: © Proz.com

Related links

FIT (the International Federation of Translators) on International Translation Day

The British Library's day-long programme of events on translation in London on 2 October ("An opportunity for translators, students, publishers, booksellers, librarians, bloggers and reviewers to gather and debate")

Goodbye Heartsome! Hello Open Source!

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Wed, 30 Jul 2014 19:33:00 +0200

Some of you may already have heard of Heartsome, a firm that produces computer-assisted translation software. Its two main products these days are TMX Editor and Heartsome Studio, a suite of translation tools. The company is based in Hong Kong and has partly been catering to the Chinese-language market in Asia and partly to speakers of English. What's unusual about it is that it's about to close its doors for good. And it's making its products available for further development in an Open Source environment.

Heartsome says it's doing this in the hope that other software developers will pick up where its own developers left off and make the two tools more helpful to translators and agencies (see the farewell note on their website [which may get discontinued]).

Development and technical support at Heartsome is going to stop tomorrow, on 31 July. This is an unusual move in the CAT-tool industry, or at least one that doesn't happen very often. But like any business, if the sales figures just won't offset your business costs, you can only keep going for so long before drastic action is called for. Other companies in the field have seen bad times, too (like Atril, the makers of Déjà Vu), but they may manage to consolidate their business and carry on (which Atril did with a French financier's help).

I'm sorry to hear about this step as the more producers there are on the CAT-tool market, the better, at least in terms of competitive product development and pricing in the interest of users. It will be interesting to see what becomes of Heartsome's products in the future. I also hope the Open Source move is a positive one and that competent developers will step in and not let development stagnate.

Anyone who wishes to try out Heartsome Studio 8.0 and/or TMX Editor 8.0 now (à la Heartsome) can do so by downloading them from the GitHub site Heartsome has set up (see below) or from other trustworthy software platforms (even so, please make sure your PC is well protected from web-based viruses before downloading the packages; the software links are sound as far as I can tell, but you never know...).

The products can run on several operating platforms: not just Windows and Mac OS, but also Linux, for example.

I haven't tried out Heartsome Studio yet, but I know it can create bilingual XLIFF files, which can be easily modified for importing into other CAT tools (such as memoQ and SDL Studio 2011 or 2014). For more details about the Heartsome Studio suite, check out the features listed on GitHub.

I'll have a go when I get a chance and see what it's like in terms of usability. As for TMX Editor, that's a useful program you can use to edit and modify TMX files created by other CAT editors if their own TMX editing features are lacking. Why not try them both out and see what you think?

Regards,

Carl

images: © Heartsome

Related links

- blog post in German by Torsten Rox-Edling: "Heartsome wird Open Source"

- Dominique Pivard's short e-training video on how to translate using Heartsome Translation Studio 8 (it lasts 8.5 mins)

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Free translator training at Proz

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Fri, 28 Feb 2014 18:40:00 +0100

Proz, the international translators' portal, is going to run a series of free webinars for registered users in March.

According to the programme of events now available here, the sessions will mainly be covering computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools:

Wordfast Pro 3.3

memoQ 2013 R2

SDL Trados Studio 2014

Déjà Vu X3 (aka "DVX3")

Fluency

and Wordbee Freelancer.

In addition, you will also be able to learn more about utilities like WordFinder, a web-based dictionary suite, and Translation Office 3000, a package for managing your translation and proof-reading assignments, your customers and your accounting. Several of these programs are now available in brand new versions with fresh interfaces.

There are also going to be two sessions on getting in touch with potential customers via Proz's own web platform. At the time of writing this post, places were still available for the session on 20 March.

To participate in any of these events, all you have to do is register to attend them. If you aren't a registered user yet, sign up for free or take out a paid subscription, depending on what features you would like to use.

Proz.com regularly stages training events for translators and interpreters, not just giving them an opportunity to learn about the latest software tools, but also to improve their knowledge of subject areas they work with such as legal contracts, interpreting in court or for the police, medical translation, tourism and travel, software localisation and audio subtitling, to mention just a few examples.

Some of the events are recorded and can be viewed any time, albeit at a small cost. These are known as "on-demand courses".

The training Proz offers isn't just in English, but that does seem to be the main lingua franca used. Sometimes presentations are held in other languages; some of the events in March are going to take place in Spanish, Italian, French, German, Russian or Chinese, for instance.

Quality-wise, the free webinars and "virtual conferences" I have attended so far have generally been reasonable to good. Not brilliant, but generally interesting. Some were a bit too commercial for my taste, but still, you learn to pick out the cherries after a while...

Why not take a look at the events lined up in March and see if there are any that interest you?

Regards,

Carl

images: screen shots taken from Proz.com

Webinars on the new Déjà Vu!

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 10:11:00 +0100

Déjà Vu is a versatile software suite for translators that has been on the market for twenty years now, ever since 1993. An established CAT tool produced by a European firm called Atril, it has a loyal following among its users thanks to its flexibility and robustness, not to mention the speedy and helpful technical support Atril provides.

A new version of the software called "X3" is going to be launched this year. Two free "sneak preview" webinars will be held on it in the second half of January to give translators an idea of what enhancements and innovations they can expect. These are going to be on 23 Jan (7-8 pm CEST) and on 28 Jan (4-5 pm CEST), the company's website says.

Version X3 comes with a number of enhancements and brand new features compared to its predecessor DVX2. These include:

a completely overhauled user interface for easier access to features (a ribbon approach)

live previews for Microsoft Office documents: Word, Excel and PowerPoint files from customers' Office 2003, 2007, 2010 or 2013 suites can now be displayed without Office having to be pre-installed on the translator's PC.

as for all file formats not supported by the live preview, DVX3 will display "live source context", thus providing code information in development formats, for example

WYSIWYG inline formatting in the translation grid ("What you see is what you get")

better quality assurance, including a dynamic inline spell-checker (with the possibility to add your own dictionaries)

enhanced file filters (IDML and Excel, specifically) for quicker import, fewer embedded codes, additional compatibility and interoperability and better handling of Quicksilver files

automation (e.g. automatic update notification).

If you would like to attend one of the webinars, all you need to do is sign up for it in advance on Atril's website at www.atril.com. You'll see the two links on the right of the page in the section called "Training", as the screen shot here shows.

This CAT tool is worth taking a look at despite the fact that the translation market appears to be dominated by various products made by SDL plc. In fact, if you looked behind the scenes at the software tools we translators use, you'd find that many of us are actually employing CAT tools that are not SDL's, but are compatible to them – and often more convenient to use (many of them are less expensive, too).

What matters at the end of the day is that customers get the translations they request in the file format they ask for and that using other tools to achieve these aims doesn't cause them any extra work. Déjà Vu is one of these compatible alternatives. It has some ingenious features that can help you translate texts faster and produce work of a more consistent nature. It is capable of tapping several external machine-translation engines and also works well in conjunction with speech-recognition software, which means you don't need to use the keyboard or mouse all the time. (With a bit of practice, you can even work at a higher speed.)

Hope you find the preview interesting.

Regards,

Carl

images: courtesy of Atril