CAT tools. Target format.
Thread poster: Olivia Oddy
Olivia Oddy
Olivia Oddy
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:45
Spanish to English
Sep 22, 2020

I am new to translating and CAT tools. I have been translating documents of different formats, CV's, university certificates, educational documents etc. Using SmartCat, CafeTrans or MemoQ.

The most frustrating thing that I come across every time is that the format of the source document isn't reproduced in the target.

My question is, is it bad practice to send a translation as a text, in a word document for example, or should the translation be a (translated) replica
... See more
I am new to translating and CAT tools. I have been translating documents of different formats, CV's, university certificates, educational documents etc. Using SmartCat, CafeTrans or MemoQ.

The most frustrating thing that I come across every time is that the format of the source document isn't reproduced in the target.

My question is, is it bad practice to send a translation as a text, in a word document for example, or should the translation be a (translated) replica of the original document?

If anybody has any advice on correcting the format of the translated document, or can recommend any videos or courses on ProZ, that would be great. Thank you.
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Philippe Locquet
Philippe Locquet  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 17:45
English to French
+ ...
Tags Sep 22, 2020

Olivia Oddy wrote:

I am new to translating and CAT tools. I have been translating documents of different formats, CV's, university certificates, educational documents etc. Using SmartCat, CafeTrans or MemoQ.

The most frustrating thing that I come across every time is that the format of the source document isn't reproduced in the target.

My question is, is it bad practice to send a translation as a text, in a word document for example, or should the translation be a (translated) replica of the original document?

If anybody has any advice on correcting the format of the translated document, or can recommend any videos or courses on ProZ, that would be great. Thank you.


Hello.

Short answer: No. It is expected that you get as close as possible as the original format wise. Sometimes, because of language expansion it may be difficult or require some adjustments that can be discussed with the client. Somes LSPs have dedicated DTP departments to handle formatting and layout.

You need to get familiar with the concept of "Tags" in CATs. To oversimplify, these are responsible of helping reconstruct the layout and formatting of the target file. You need to learn to make sure they are kept where they should be.
Some CAT tools offer live preview of target file in form of a pdf or a live clickable panel (I know Wordfast Pro 5 does (for docx format), and some others may too).
One CAT tool allows to work directly within the file: Wordfast Classic (Microsoft Word add-on) so you have the CAT benefits within Word directly (TM, Gloss, MT, QA etc.).

Doing some research and testing, you will find what feels the best to you. Any basic or middle-level CAT training should talk about tags and keeping layout, so you should be able to learn about it quite easily.

Hope this helps


Nurettin Ceylan
 
esperantisto
esperantisto  Identity Verified
Local time: 20:45
Member (2006)
English to Russian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
Formatting and format Sep 22, 2020

Olivia Oddy wrote:

The most frustrating thing that I come across every time is that the format of the source document isn't reproduced in the target.


Do you mean the formatting of the text? Probably, you mess up tags. Read respective parts of the manuals of your tools.

send a translation as a text


What do you mean? A translation is always a text, isn't it? Anyway, unless you are explicitly instructed by your client to do otherwise, always preserve the file format and, to the maximum extent possible, the text formatting.


 
Olivia Oddy
Olivia Oddy
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:45
Spanish to English
TOPIC STARTER
Sep 22, 2020

Philippe Locquet wrote:

Olivia Oddy wrote:

I am new to translating and CAT tools. I have been translating documents of different formats, CV's, university certificates, educational documents etc. Using SmartCat, CafeTrans or MemoQ.

The most frustrating thing that I come across every time is that the format of the source document isn't reproduced in the target.

My question is, is it bad practice to send a translation as a text, in a word document for example, or should the translation be a (translated) replica of the original document?

If anybody has any advice on correcting the format of the translated document, or can recommend any videos or courses on ProZ, that would be great. Thank you.


Hello.

Short answer: No. It is expected that you get as close as possible as the original format wise. Sometimes, because of language expansion it may be difficult or require some adjustments that can be discussed with the client. Somes LSPs have dedicated DTP departments to handle formatting and layout.

You need to get familiar with the concept of "Tags" in CATs. To oversimplify, these are responsible of helping reconstruct the layout and formatting of the target file. You need to learn to make sure they are kept where they should be.
Some CAT tools offer live preview of target file in form of a pdf or a live clickable panel (I know Wordfast Pro 5 does (for docx format), and some others may too).
One CAT tool allows to work directly within the file: Wordfast Classic (Microsoft Word add-on) so you have the CAT benefits within Word directly (TM, Gloss, MT, QA etc.).

Doing some research and testing, you will find what feels the best to you. Any basic or middle-level CAT training should talk about tags and keeping layout, so you should be able to learn about it quite easily.

Hope this helps



Hello, thank you for your detailed reply. When using MemoQ I transferred the tags over, in the preview below the format looked more or less correct (a few things were off due to translation expansion) however when I downloaded it the format was completely off.
The thing is, the PC I'm currently using doesn't have Microsoft Office, so the completed translation downloaded onto the more basic WordPad, do you think this could be what is causing me problems?
Thanks again.

[Edited at 2020-09-22 19:15 GMT]


 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 18:45
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@Olivia Sep 22, 2020

Olivia Oddy wrote:
I have been translating documents of different formats, CV's, university certificates, educational documents etc.
My question is, is it bad practice to send a translation as a text, in a word document for example, or should the translation be a (translated) replica of the original document?


You must discuss this with your client. Sometimes it is okay to deliver the translation in a plain format. However, in the case of CVs, the client probably wants the target document to look perfect. In the case of certificates, it usually doesn't have to look identical (you don't even have to use the same font), but the various pieces of text must be more or less in the same position as the original, so that someone looking at both the original and the translation can make out which words are translations of which other words.

The thing is, the PC I'm currently using doesn't have Microsoft Office, so the completed translation downloaded onto the more basic WordPad, do you think this could be what is causing me problems?


Yes, Wordpad can handle only very basic formatting, so if you open a file that is meant for Microsoft Word in Wordpad, it will look bad. If you can't afford Microsoft Office right now, you can try the free LibreOffice, which does a reasonably good job of handling Microsoft Word formatting well, but remember to save as DOCX.


Philippe Locquet
 
Olivia Oddy
Olivia Oddy
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:45
Spanish to English
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you Sep 22, 2020

Thank you for the advice regarding 'LibreOffice' I will look into that.

 
Joe France
Joe France  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:45
Member (2016)
German to English
+ ...
Microsoft Office Sep 23, 2020

I can't say I'm familiar with LibreOffice as Samuel suggests but, just in case you weren't aware, you can pay for Microsoft Office by monthly subscription starting at £5.99 per month in the UK: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/buy/microsoft-365

Over time, this may well end up more expensive than just buying it outright - but if you're translating
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I can't say I'm familiar with LibreOffice as Samuel suggests but, just in case you weren't aware, you can pay for Microsoft Office by monthly subscription starting at £5.99 per month in the UK: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/buy/microsoft-365

Over time, this may well end up more expensive than just buying it outright - but if you're translating for a living in the UK, it is surely worth it as an investment? It also means you can open files in any Office format a client might send you and ensure that formatting is absolutely spot on before delivery.

Apologies if you're already aware of this - but I can't imagine doing the job without Office.
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Robert Rietvelt
Robert Rietvelt  Identity Verified
Local time: 18:45
Member (2006)
Spanish to Dutch
+ ...
Microsoft Office Sep 23, 2020

When I type Microsoft Office in my browser, I get get all kind of offers for the full package (digital download). Prices ranging from 21.95 Euro and up. I never tried it, but for that price, what is there to loose?

[Edited at 2020-09-23 09:47 GMT]


 
Philippe Locquet
Philippe Locquet  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 17:45
English to French
+ ...
Libre Office and cloud Sep 23, 2020

Samuel Murray wrote:
Yes, Wordpad can handle only very basic formatting, so if you open a file that is meant for Microsoft Word in Wordpad, it will look bad. If you can't afford Microsoft Office right now, you can try the free LibreOffice, which does a reasonably good job of handling Microsoft Word formatting well, but remember to save as DOCX.


Definitely! Libre Office has the best formatting re-composition I tested so far. Kingsoft Office isn't too bad. And there's Open-Office etc.

And you have cloud options that are very solid:
With a free Microsoft account you should be able to open your Word file from Onedrive.
Google docs does this very well too.

It's one extra-step unless you have Onedrive or Google docs installed on your computer, in which case it's quite fast (provided your internet connection is good).


 


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CAT tools. Target format.







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