CAT tools

How to choose the right CAT tool

Are you lost in the sea of translation tools? Raisa Murto has some timely advice on which one to invest in

Raisa Murto is Production & Quality Manager at Sandberg Translation Partners Ltd, a translation company specialising in the Nordic languages and English. She has an MA in Translation from University of Turku, Finland.

ver 80 per cent of all respondents in Elina Lagoudakis TM Survey of 2006 said they used TM systems, some because their employer or client demanded it, but 71 per cent of them out of personal choice. A translation memory tool is a useful aid to the professional translator, but choosing one is not an easy task. How do you know which one is best suited for your purposes, works with the file formats you need to handle, is compatible with the tools you are requested to use and will serve you in the future as well? Is investing in one tool enough, or will you need several? This article discusses whats out there for you to choose from and proposes some basic questions to consider when you are thinking about which translation tool to choose. With a little internet research, you can find at least 20 translation tools that all promise to help you reuse your old translations and save you money with new work. Many products on the market contain not only a translation memory component, but also terminology

management tools, glossary and QA checkers, project management facilities and other auxiliary tools that you might be interested in. Some translation tools such as Alchemy Catalyst and SDL Passolo are specifically designed for translating software strings. And aside from the commercially available products, there are also a host of tools created by translation companies or end-clients, free to the user but meant to be used exclusively for translating projects from that company: Logoport from Lionbridge and PIXS from Panasonic, to name just two.

Atrils Dj Vu is another tool thats been around the block a few times, and for many users, the current version Dj Vu X is the tool of choice. In freelance circles, Wordfast has long been a favourite, partly because it was free and partly because it was compatible with Trados in Word. If you have used Wordfast in the past, you should note, however, that the recently launched Wordfast Pro is completely different, with both a new interface and translation file format from the classic version 5.5, which is still on the market but not for free. Lionbridges Logoport is used by thousands of translators across the world, but because it can only be used for translating work from Lionbridge, it is not one of the tools that you could freely choose to use; many find themselves using it out of pure necessity, along with various commercial tools. Recently, several tools have come on to the market that promise to do the same or nearly the same as the old solutions, but more cheaply. There are indeed many translation tools that cost less, are lighter and contain much more recent technology than the main commercial products, and although they might not have all the same extras or be compatible with the same file formats as the big ones, they might be just the ticket for you.

Many freelancers working for translation companies eventually find themselves using several different tools
a few examples of these tools. Apart from choosing a tool that can handle the file formats you encounter the most in your work, the key acronyms to look out for are TMX, XLIFF and TBX for true compatibility across the different tools. TMX is short for Translation Memory eXchange, and it is an open XML standard for the exchange of translation memory data between translation memory tools as TMX export files. XLIFF is short for XML Localisation Interchange File Format, and it is designed for enabling the exchange of more complex file formats between the different tools. TBX is short for Termbase Exchange Format, and its the equivalent format for exchanging glossary files.

Locally or remotely?
The traditional way of using a translation memory, locally on your own computer, is now complemented in many tools by a centralised approach, whereby translation memories are stored on your or your clients server and used online. This means that TM content is instantly available to all other translators working on the same project. Some translation tools allow for both local and remote access, depending on the project and the clients needs.

So whats out there?

Starting with the big boys, SDL controls the market with its SDL Trados 2007 package, which combines Trados Workbench 8 and SDLX 2007. There are also earlier versions of SDLX and Trados that many still use, and SDL also publishes Idiom WorldServer and SDL Passolo. Both Trados and SDLX have been on the market for a long while, and benefit from the fact that they are now largely compatible and are used by a host of translation companies as their main tool. However, for an individual freelance translator or a small translation company, the cost of an SDL Trados licence is considerable and, depending on your needs, another tool might do just as well.

Making a choice
For many, the decision will hinge on who they work for. If your clients, whether they be a translation company or an end-client, do not use or require you to use a specific tool, you are free to choose the one that pleases you to start getting the benefit of your own work and leverage from past translations. New tools come on to the market constantly, and new versions of old tools make the old versions obsolete, but before you rush out to buy a new tool that a client has asked you to use, or to update your current version, its a good idea to think about exactly what you need to do with your tool, and what other translation tools yours needs to be compatible with.

How much do they cost?

The cost of purchasing a translation tool varies, from nothing at all for tools such as OmegaT, to under 200 for tools such as MetaTexis, Heartsome and Cafetran, through to mid- and high-range solutions such as Dj Vu, MemoQ and SDL Trados at 400-600 for a full freelancer licence. Some tools offer a free lite version for the benefit of the freelance translator working on projects prepared in the full version, so do check if this is an option before you shell out for a
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Recently, several tools have come on to the market that promise to do the same or nearly the same as the old solutions, but more cheaply
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What file formats do I need to think about?

Most tools can handle the usual file formats such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, XML and HTML, and files originating from various DTP applications such as FrameMaker, QuarkXPress and InDesign. Some have their own translation
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file formats such as TTX with Trados and TXML with Wordfast Pro. Some tools designers have intentionally designed their product to be compatible with Trados and handle TTX format MemoQ (reviewed in the NovemberDecember 2008 ITI Bulletin), Heartsome and Swordfish are just

There are an array of TM tools on the market, including (top) Wordfast and (below) MemoQ

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CAT tools

SDL Trados is preparing to launch their all-new SDL Trados 2009 later on this year, which is designed to replace both Trados and SDLX
full version. Lite versions with restricted functionality are also available for tools such as MetaTexis, Similis, MemoQ and Idiom WorldServer.

User-friendliness?
With the exception of Transit XV, which makes use of a collection of previously translated files and their source files, most translation tools store your translations as segments in their translation memory so that you can reuse them later. The basic functions can be learned within a relatively short space of time, and many tools use an easy table format with the source text on the left-hand side and the translation on the right-hand side. However, commands and keyboard shortcuts will not be the same across different tools, and learning advanced features might require meticulous research and a keen intellect. Because of this, limiting yourself to only one or a few tools might seem like a good idea, but it might also mean that some work will pass you by because you dont have the tool required. Many

freelancers working for translation companies eventually find themselves using several different tools. In the 2006 TM Survey, just over half of the respondents using TM tools said they used multiple tools, while just under half said they found a single tool is enough. Of course, TM systems and file formats develop fast, and these figures might very well be different from three years ago. For pure userfriendliness, many users swear by Dj Vu and SDLX, the old favourites, while others are impressed by newcomers such as MemoQ and MetaTexis. Heartsome is popular across the Atlantic.

WHERE TO FIND OUT MORE

So where can you now go to find out more information about the different tools, the file formats they support and the way they work? All tools are extensively described on the providers websites, and for many you can download a free trial licence with a time or feature limitation. For independent comparison information, Jost Zetzsches Translators Training website (www. translatorstraining.com/sito/) provides, for a modest fee, access to videos describing the core functionalities of most of the commercial translation tools available. At the last count, 17 tools were introduced on this site, and although you would still need to consider file formats, compatibility issues and other technical considerations based on your own needs and your clients requirements, the presentations and comparison charts on the Translators Training site will give you an overview of how the tools work. Translators portals such as ProZ.com and mailing lists are also useful places to gauge your fellow translators opinions and experiences.

Things to watch out for

Although it might sound as if files and translation memories can be exchanged freely across the tools, there are some issues to watch out for. The main problem in using a tool other than the tool the translation was intended to be handled or prepared in is segmentation. Segmentation means the rules according to which the tool splits the text into entities, ie segments. Depending on the rules the tool uses, segmentation might be different, and therefore reusing TM content from another tool will not yield the best possible results: it might also prevent your client from using your translated segments again fully in their own tool. Another issue is deliverables: will your chosen tool allow for the translated files to be delivered in the format

your client requires? Even if you can use the TM your client sends you as a TMX export, you might not be able to send them back the translated file in the correct format for them. Keep an eye on licensing options as well. Some tools only allow you one licence on a single computer, while others allow you to install and use the application on several computers simultaneously (your desktop and laptop, for example). Will the package that you purchase allow you to use the auxiliary tools as well, or will you have to pay extra for different modules?

SDL Trados v. everyone else

Much discussion on translator forums and at different industry events has been about SDL Trados dominating the market and issuing version updates nearly every year for increasing licence fees so much so that other tools providers are now marketing their wares with the promise of staying independent. The big question is obviously whether you should, and could, avoid investing in the tools offered by SDL Trados when the chances are you will be asked by one of your clients to use it. For just this reason, other tools providers are developing their tools to be compatible with Trados, but change is afoot even here.

and what about SDL Trados 2009?

SDL Trados is preparing to launch its all-new SDL Trados 2009 later on this year. According to the developers, it will be a sleeker, more advanced and user-friendly tool, with new, integrated features and compatibility with the industrys open standards TMX, XLIFF and TBX. Its said to combine the best features of Trados and SDLX, in one complete interface. But yes, SDL Trados 2009 is designed to replace both Trados and SDLX. Although it will continue to support the translation of TTX and ITD files, the 2009 tool will see TagEditor with its TTX file format discarded in favour of XLIFF. SDL promises an easy-to-learn interface for current Trados and SDLX users, but in any case this means that at some point in the future, even current Trados and SDLX users will be faced with a choice: to go with the new version, or put the same effort into learning another, non-SDL Trados tool.
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