Updating translation (TM, I suppose) from a preview file (docx)
Thread poster: Hiroshi Ishibata
Hiroshi Ishibata
Hiroshi Ishibata  Identity Verified
Japan
Local time: 05:19
English to Japanese
+ ...
Oct 27, 2019

Hello,
I'm using Memsource Editor for Mac on a Team Start account and I wanted to find out if there was any way to update my translation from a preview Word file stored locally.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Hiroshi

PS: I've tried aligning the TM using the original source word file and translation preview word file, but that doesn't seem to work. The TM in the cloud stays unchanged. Perhaps there is a time lag for this to show up? I don't
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Hello,
I'm using Memsource Editor for Mac on a Team Start account and I wanted to find out if there was any way to update my translation from a preview Word file stored locally.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Hiroshi

PS: I've tried aligning the TM using the original source word file and translation preview word file, but that doesn't seem to work. The TM in the cloud stays unchanged. Perhaps there is a time lag for this to show up? I don't know

[Edited at 2019-10-27 09:08 GMT]
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Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 21:19
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
No, you can't Oct 27, 2019

Hiroshi Ishibata wrote:
I'm using Memsource Editor ... and I wanted to find out if there was any way to update my translation from a preview Word file stored locally.


As far as I know, the answer is "no". The only way you can get translations back into Memsource online, I believe, is if you downloaded an MXLIFF file and translated that file.

memsource download mxliff


 
Hiroshi Ishibata
Hiroshi Ishibata  Identity Verified
Japan
Local time: 05:19
English to Japanese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you Oct 27, 2019

I was afraid that might be the case. I think I'll send a feature request to memsource.

 
Stepan Konev
Stepan Konev  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 23:19
English to Russian
Defenitely no Oct 27, 2019

As its name suggests, the preview file is designed for preview only. Neither for editing nor for TM updating.
Mxliff files are for work/translation. However you can export an mxliff file to docx format (2-column table), edit it there and then revert it back to mxliff thus updating its content.


 
Hiroshi Ishibata
Hiroshi Ishibata  Identity Verified
Japan
Local time: 05:19
English to Japanese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
What do you think? Oct 29, 2019

Thank you. I sent a feature request to memsource and they told me they had no plans to add such. They had already discussed something similar and decided not to take this route.

Perhaps adding a feature for re-importing documents edited outside of Editor is somehow bad for business? I don't know.

I don't know if this is just me, but I find it more natural and easier to read and edit on the Preview file or similar reader-friendly file that more or less reproduces the or
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Thank you. I sent a feature request to memsource and they told me they had no plans to add such. They had already discussed something similar and decided not to take this route.

Perhaps adding a feature for re-importing documents edited outside of Editor is somehow bad for business? I don't know.

I don't know if this is just me, but I find it more natural and easier to read and edit on the Preview file or similar reader-friendly file that more or less reproduces the original's formatting. So a feature for importing such file back to Editor would be great to have.

Do either of you have any personal views or preferences on this?

Thanks again.
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Stepan Konev
Stepan Konev  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 23:19
English to Russian
I don't need it Oct 30, 2019

I never used this feature since it appeared in Trados 2015 (retrofit). Even SDL could not go further than just allow minor text edits for the retrofit purposes. You may not add/delete paragraphs, etc. In fact, fixing typos is the only thing you can safely do with this feature in Trados. But you don't really need a formatted target file to fix typos, do you.
I think Memosource just learnt from SDL’s mistake/white elephant. To summarize, I don't miss this feature at all.


 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 21:19
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@Hiroshi Oct 30, 2019

Hiroshi Ishibata wrote:
Perhaps adding a feature for re-importing documents edited outside of Editor is somehow bad for business? I don't know.


FWIW, in MemoQ, this feature is called "import reviewed"; in Trados, it's called "retrofit".

Keep in mind that using a feature like this works only sometimes. In other words, it's not guaranteed to work properly every time, due to the complexity of the process (translators editing across segment boundaries, translators adding formatting that isn't present in the source file and isn't supported by the bilingual format, translators creating files that are visually well-formed but using tools that the CAT tool have no control over, e.g. older versions of Word, or LibreOffice, etc.).

The assumption (in MemoQ and Trados) is that the user (the translator) is skilled enough to fix any problems himself, in his own time.

MemSource is designed to be foolproof from the agency's side of things. In other words, all processes in Memsource are supposed to always work. It would go against Memsource's business model to create features that "only sometimes work" or that rely on translators not using any tools that the Memsource developers are aware of. Memsource saves agencies money by making sure that everything they do is predictable, can scale well (i.e. can be used on very, very large projects) and reliable. Agencies that use Memsource don't want to hear from the translator that "oops, the retrofit didn't work" because then the agency itself has to spend time figuring out why.

I find it more natural and easier to read and edit on the Preview file or similar reader-friendly file that more or less reproduces the original's formatting.


Yes, that is true, but if you use Memsource, then you work for an agency that made the financial decision not to work with files in their original format. Translators who work within such systems must learn to made most edits within the bilingual environment or format, so that only very few edits need to be made in the end.


 
Hiroshi Ishibata
Hiroshi Ishibata  Identity Verified
Japan
Local time: 05:19
English to Japanese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Makes sense Oct 30, 2019

Thank you Samuel,

I see. I hadn't looked at it from an agency perspective.

The thing is, I learned about memsource from a friend and none of the agencies that I work with use CAT tools; at least not that I know of. Once I started using it (Team Start account), I found the TM and TB to be very useful, and thought it could be much better with the function I was asking about.

I don't know if I'm missing the point, but I think including a function like this --
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Thank you Samuel,

I see. I hadn't looked at it from an agency perspective.

The thing is, I learned about memsource from a friend and none of the agencies that I work with use CAT tools; at least not that I know of. Once I started using it (Team Start account), I found the TM and TB to be very useful, and thought it could be much better with the function I was asking about.

I don't know if I'm missing the point, but I think including a function like this -- for odd balls like me LOL -- and giving agencies the option to disallow translators from using the function would work for both parties.

But again, if it's only seldom used, why include it in the first place right? I guess that logic makes sense too.

Anyways, it appears that my overall productivity has improved over the last couple of months so I think I will continue using it and see how things go.

Thanks for filling me in on the business mechanics of it.
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Updating translation (TM, I suppose) from a preview file (docx)






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