Advise me on the best CAT Tool Thread poster: Mandy K
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Mandy K
Local time: 14:43
English to Arabic
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hello all,
I mainly translate source texts from dead PDF files and JPEG images, sometimes I do Word, to Word documents. What is the best and most suitable CAT tool to use so I can keep a memory that is quick and easy to retrieve for more sufficient work?
If a CAT tool is not my best option, do you know of any tips or tricks I can make use of to make my work faster and easier.
thnx a lot.
| | | | XXXphxxx (X) 
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:43
Portuguese to English
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| neilmac
Spain
Local time: 15:43
Spanish to English
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| Excuse my ignorance | May 29, 2013 |
What is a "dead" PDF file?
| | | | | I guess dead = scanned | May 29, 2013 |
neilmac wrote:
What is a "dead" PDF file?
I guess that a "dead" PDF file is a scanned one. One that doesn't contain embedded text. These need heavy OCR.
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Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 15:43
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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| Some options | May 29, 2013 |
Mandy K wrote:
I mainly translate source texts from dead PDF files and JPEG images, sometimes I do Word, to Word documents. What is the best and most suitable CAT tool to use so I can keep a memory that is quick and easy to retrieve for more sufficient work?
I know of no CAT tool that will serve memory matches without a source text. If you want to use a CAT, you need source text, and that means you should hire a typist to convert your files.
That said, some CAT tools now have autocomplete functions that autocompletes full segments. You can try to use those features, but you would have to figure out how to tell the CAT tool to use your target text as the source for the autocompletion, and how to use it without having a source text in the first place. Perhaps you can create a set of dummy segments ("asdf" over and over) and "translate" those in the CAT tool, using the autocompleter while you type your real translation.
Another thing you can use is an autocompleter such as LetMeType (freeware). It only suggests three words at a time but it builds its memory while you type.
There are also autocompleters and clipboard managers that allow you to manually save snippets of text that should be offered for autocompletion. If you diligently add all your finished translations to the database of such a program, you could use it as an autocompleter.
| | | | | To the topictarter: try OmegaT | May 29, 2013 |
If you work with dead PDFs and JPG files, it doesn't matter which CAT you use, because you'll need to OCR the files first, and this is best done outside a CAT.
To decide if you need a CAT tool at all, I suggest that you try OmegaT. This free and open source tool has made a big progress in the recent years so I don't hesitate to recommend it to novices anymore (though I did before). Sure, its workflow and UI approach may not be for everyone, but the basics are now solid. You'll need ... See more If you work with dead PDFs and JPG files, it doesn't matter which CAT you use, because you'll need to OCR the files first, and this is best done outside a CAT.
To decide if you need a CAT tool at all, I suggest that you try OmegaT. This free and open source tool has made a big progress in the recent years so I don't hesitate to recommend it to novices anymore (though I did before). Sure, its workflow and UI approach may not be for everyone, but the basics are now solid. You'll need to read the docs carefully — but that's also the case with Trados et al. anyway. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Alberto Cury
Brazil
Local time: 10:43
Member (2013)
English to Portuguese
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| dead pdf file | May 29, 2013 |
neilmac wrote:
What is a "dead" PDF file?
It is a file (normally generated when we scan a document) which the internal part has been converted from text to graphics format and in those situatuions there is no converter OCR software capable to change it back to text, so its called dead
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 15:43
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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| True OCR can do it | May 29, 2013 |
Alberto Cury wrote:
[A dead PDF file] is a file (normally generated when we scan a document) which the internal part has been converted from text to graphics format, and in those situatuions there is no converter OCR software capable to change it back to text, so its called dead.
True OCR programs will be able to convert it back to text. Converters that don't use OCR technology won't be able to convert it, though.
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Drew MacFadyen
United States
Local time: 09:43
Spanish to English
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| Heinrich Pesch
Finland
Local time: 16:43
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
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| WFC would be a good choice | May 29, 2013 |
When working in Word you don't need to care about formatting tags.
Did you try [email protected] for converting your pdf? It gives outstanding results compared to Finereader, which was considered best OCR-tool.
| | | | | Confidentiality | May 29, 2013 |
Heinrich Pesch wrote: When working in Word you don't need to care about formatting tags. Did you try [email protected] for converting your pdf? It gives outstanding results compared to Finereader, which was considered best OCR-tool.
This option may not exist if you have confidentiality obligations.
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Suggestions:
1. Convert scanned PDF to editable Word with ABBYY first,
2. Then clean your word files with TransTools and/or Codezapper，this will reduce lots of tags in your CAT.
3. Translate the files with your favorite CAT.
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Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 15:43
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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| Don't just trust the OCR | May 30, 2013 |
Heartsome Support wrote:
1. Convert scanned PDF to editable Word with ABBYY first,
2. Then clean your word files with TransTools and/or Codezapper, this will reduce lots of tags in your CAT.
3. Translate the files with your favorite CAT.
You left out what I consider a crucial step for anyone using OCR, namely step #2 "carefully check the OCR'ed version against the original to see if everything was OCR'ed correctly". That step is not optional, in my opinion. OCR is good but a translator doesn't need just "good". The client trusts that your translation will be a translation of the original and not the translation of something that is more or less similar to the original.
| | | | | I second that (use of Abbyy for OCR) | May 30, 2013 |
Heartsome Support wrote:
Suggestions:
1. Convert scanned PDF to editable Word with ABBYY first,
2. Then clean your word files with TransTools and/or Codezapper，this will reduce lots of tags in your CAT.
3. Translate the files with your favorite CAT.
I used Abbyy Finereader to OCR pdfs and turn them into editable Word format. I have used Wordfast, Trados and MemoQ in my time and none handle scanned pdfs directly.
My favourite CAT tool of all the ones I've used is MemoQ. I find it intuitive, easy to use and I like the user interface. There is also great web-based training available and the support team is brilliant (I've only used them once but it was on a Sunday night for an urgent project and they'd resolved the problem by a couple of hours later). I don't have shares in Kilgray by the way - I just think the product's great
I would await a TGB from Proz (Translator Group Buy) as you can buy it with a huge discount.
Abbyy is fairly cheap to buy too. I think it was about €70 or so, which I recuperated immediately with a big project in pdf!
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