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> >The company stores the file between
> >translation projects and then sends it, along with the English original,
to
> >a translator at the start of the next translation project. Each CAT saves
> >its memory files in a proprietary format by default, however, each is
> >capable of saving the files also as delimited text files and/or as files
in
> >a branch of XML called TMX (Translation Memory Exchange language). These
> >text or TMX files can be used by any of the other CATs.
> Not exactly... trados cannot use deja vu files, for example, though dv can
> use trados files.
Yes it can. Deja Vu's manufacturer, Atril, has a Deja Vu/Trados
Compatibility Guide which shows how they are bi-directionally compatible.
Moreover, all the major CATs, including Trados and Deja Vu can save and use
translation memories in TMX Level 1 format, which means they are all
mutually compatible. (Some, but not all support TMX Level 2 or TMX Level 3.)
> >Accordingly, your
> >company should insist that, among the deliverables, the translators must
> >send the translation memory saved both in the proprietary format of the
> >translator's CAT and in text or TMX format.
> You will find translators up in arms about this.
That was not my experience. Our translation agency agreed to this instantly,
and at no extra charge.
> > This gives the company the
> > freedom on their next translation project to shop around among all
> > translators and translation agencies regardless of what CAT they own.
> Your company would be better off developing an association with a
trusted=20
> agency or translator(s). Shopping around, as you put it, between
projects=20
> will still lead to inconsistencies; one of the hugest problems faced by=20
> translators is inferior translation memories, the result of end clients=20
> "shopping around" for the cheapest solution.
So what you are saying is that there are some incompetent translators out
there who will fail to translate an updated document consistently with
previous translations of the document. And if this is one of the "hugest"
problems, then there must be a lot of those incompetent translators. Well,
surely, the presence of incompetent translators is an argument in *favor* of
shopping around. In other words, Frank's company isn't necessarily going to
find that "trusted agency or translator" the first time, so they will need
to be free to switch: hence, the value of a text or TMX translation memory.
Also, the CATs include Terminology Managment Systems that should ensure
consistency in the use of all terms where consistency really matters.
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