Ahead of last week’s ATA conference, I asked readers what you would like to tell your translation tool vendor. And with 27 comments (although some of those were me!), the post generated a lot of activity and excellent feedback. I then compiled those comments into a three-page document and presented the results at an informal lunch that the ATA Translators and Computers committee held for the software companies who were exhibiting at the conference. After giving the vendors your comments to peruse, I asked them three questions:
- Do you really not offer these features that people are asking for, or do people not realize what you offer, or both?
- What are your thoughts on training? (i.e. many translators commenting “I pay for the software, then I have to pay to learn to use it too”)
- Over to you: what do you want to tell the freelancers who buy and use your software?
So first, let me say that the software company reps who attended this lunch were incredibly, incredibly forthcoming and constructive. Part of the problem is that when we freelancers rant and curse about translation software issues while we’re alone in our offices, the software companies cannot hear us. They cannot hear us unless we tell them what is wrong. So I think that this discussion was a good step in that direction. Second, let me say that in my opinion, the software companies get it. They do not think “Well, we’ve got your money, now leave us alone.” They realize that it is not good for business if people can’t learn to use their programs. And they had lots of good feedback for us. Here it is in a nutshell, from the software vendors’ point of view.
- There are lots of training materials out there, and most freelancers don’t use them. The SDL rep commented that even when people purchase (yes, pay in advance for) an SDL premium pack that includes training, only about 10% of them follow through with the training.
- There are training videos out there, and most people don’t watch them. The SDL Trados YouTube channel has over 100 free training videos on it. Wordfast has a YouTube channel also, and memoQ has tons of free training materials on their website. The companies are frustrated that more of their customers don’t make use of what’s already there. A couple of the reps estimated that their marketing teams spend almost half of their time developing training, and that training goes largely unused even if it’s free.
- People want something that’s cheap, feature-rich and requires no training to learn, and that’s hard to produce. One attendee gave the example that most professional photographers and graphic designers accept that they cannot work without Photoshop and/or InDesign. The list price of those programs is about $700 each and they aren’t programs that you master in 10 minutes. Translation environment tools are the same: if you want all of those features, the software is going to be expensive and it’s going to take time to learn to use.
- When the software companies try to attract freelancers to in-person training events such as road shows, very few people attend even if the training sessions are free, and most comment that they can’t afford to take the time off work.
- Interestingly, many of the tools vendors commented that translation agencies put too much of the technological burden on freelancers. They feel that agencies are sending out unprepared files, then expecting the translator to return a TM (sometimes in several different formats), a clean file and bilingual Word files, and generally “expect things that translators shouldn’t have to know how to do; if the agency is earning half the money on the job, it needs to take on some of these tasks.” Interesting!
- Some tools (like Wordfast Pro) already offer a version that can run natively on Mac. But don’t hold your breath for many of the other big guys to produce a Mac version. They don’t have plans to do this because “the large user base isn’t there and it wouldn’t be profitable.”
- Many attendees felt that freelancers should consider the option of hiring a “personal trainer” to help them learn the software. For the record, this is what I (Corinne) did when I bought Trados Studio 2011, and I felt it was a great investment. The vendors feel that it’s important to know your own capabilities and limitations; know whether you are someone who learns best from a manual, or from another person.
- As far as interoperability, the software companies feel that they could use more “real-world perspective,” for example having some translators on the XLIFF committee, because apparently there are none right now.
So there you have it. I found this discussion to be incredibly educational and productive. Feel free to comment further, and hopefully we can find a way to keep the discussion going! Thanks to everyone who commented on my original post as well.
Item #5 should be super-extra-bold!
I agree with the other items, though it should be noted that some of the knowledgebases/help materials out there are much too convoluted and could benefit from simplification. Even the error messages themselves (I’m looking at you, SDL!) are sometimes so cryptic that you don’t even know what’s wrong, let alone how to fix it.
I agree Simone, I think we could benefit from simpler language in help topics and error messages. They should take into account that a translator will probably access these things when he/she is in the middle of a job and something has gone wrong, which is in itself stressful. We don’t really needethe added stress of trying to figure out a complicated error message or help topic!
Thanks for your comment! That is so true about trying to decode an error message when you’re already in high anxiety mode. The only complete flameout I’ve had with Studio 2011 involved something like that: an inscrutable error related to generating the target text. Good tip for the vendors!
One of my suggestions would be as follow: more testing before releasing the products. Most of the major publishers regularly release updates/Service Packs to fix those issues, which is great, but we can still lose a lot of time w/ the back and forth when reporting issues. I remember one major publisher did have some sort of Beta version that volunteer translators would test at some point. (Maybe they still do that.) By experience, I know this is pretty much the norm in the industry (release asap and fix later), but it wouldn’t hurt to push for more stability when the product is released on the market…
I have taught at Community Colleges where the student body is very diverse and not all the students share a common background. My point here is that students have different styles and different studying strategies. For me a YouTube channel is exasperating. I need a book that I can mark, take notes from and go back and forth between the pages without having to find the minute and second where such and such concept was said.
I am glad the reps were listening but let me give you an example. I was teaching Human Biology with a great package of Power Point slides until a couple of students told me that because every detail was already on the slide they were having a very hard time figuring out how processes started and ended. I want back to drawing step by step on the blackboard and the grades for the whole class improved. I need a book.
I cannot attend seminars even if free as flights-which I have to use, seeing I come from Malta- would be too expensive
Thanks Corinne! Perhaps the Tool Vendors could inform/market their free training videos a bit more. I did not know they existed, but I had not looked for them either. I will surely use them now. Do tell me more about the “personal trainer” option and your experience. Sounds interesting!
Corinne, thanks for your efforts!
Good stuff, Corinne, thanks a lot. I get the question about Mac-compatible tools a lot from my students at UCSD. It’s great that at least Wordfast offers it. In terms of training, I do agree with Lourdes that some actual vendor-issued books/manuals/printed instructions could be useful, especially for translation classes at the university level. For individual training, I’ve been quite happy with what Wordfast has to offer.
I know there’s a lot more to respond to, but is everyone aware of the Trados Studio 2011 Quick Start Guide? It’s here: http://producthelp.sdl.com/SDL_Trados_Studio_2011/client_en/Guides/Translating_and_Reviewing_Documents_QSG_en.pdf
Great discussion; thanks for having it and sharing it!
@Corinne: The Studio Manual, written by a translator, and available on the SDL Open Exchange for $45 is also very helpful. It offers more in-depth instructions than the Quick Start Guide.
Yes!! Thanks Frieda for pointing that out. You can buy Mats Linder’s manual (which gets excellent reviews) from the OpenExchange website or here: http://tradosstudiomanual.com/ It’s US $45.
And here’s a comment from Michael Wahlster (blog.wahlster.net) who is a translation tech guru! For some reason my blog comments are blocking him, so I’m posting this on his behalf:
I find the online material frustrating. It is disjointed, has no common index, and my screens, both of them, are already packed with information. What I would love to see (and that may date me) is a book that (a) explains the architecture of the software so that I know what is happening when I use it; (b) goes through all the menu points on all levels; (c) has a comprehensive index so that I can find answers quickly. A book can be open on my desk, I can keep track of what happens on the screen, I can mark it, I can use post-its. Videos, webinars, and all the other disembodied methods just add to the screen clutter and make it even harder to operate the programs. Software publishers should take their cue from the Missing Manual series.
Corinne, this is a great post. Thank you.
CAT tools are like a bad marriage: you don’t like it but just can’t live without it! I feel like none of us use these softwares in full. They are so expensive and hard to learn that we cannot go on trying them all.
Your good experience with a “personnal trainer” was quite unique because it was someone that you know sort of closely, and the best part is that your trainner is a translator for a living, not a trainner. I tried an online trainner (for a living) once and I wasn’t trilled because the trainner charged me for the time he/she was researching because he/she didn’t know the answer!
Thanks Thais! I agree, my “personal training” experience was very positive because the trainer is someone I know, who is a full-time translator and who came to my house and worked with me on my computer. All of those ingredients were very important and I feel that in a day, I had a pretty good grasp on Studio. I really think that more people who are CAT tool whizzes should think about offering that service.
Great post, Corinne! Thank you!
I attended one of the presentations in my city and was surprised to see very few people. The event was great, the presentations were clear, there was a long Q&A section and the food was surprisingly good. I think it’s a good idea to attend for those of us who love having real human teachers in person. Also, you have the opportunity to talk (to a human being!) about what features you would like to see in the software.
As regards error messages, I totally agree with Simone. I can never decode what the error message is saying and need to waste valuable time trying to figure it out. I normally end up using Google because searching the Help section is useless.
Perhaps the Tool providers could inform their free training videos a bit more. I did not know they existed, but I had not seemed for them either. I will absolutely use them now. Do tell me more about the trainer choice and your experience.
I for one (at least) am for a good, printed manual with lots of margins which allow me to make notes and which I can consult while playing with the thing on screen -especially at the very beginning. Color me a dinosaur (I am, in fact), but that’s how I do it.
To say that any CAT tool is complex (at least to take full advantage of it) is very obvious and nobody should think of it as sort of a “plug-and-play” app. However, I do not think that it can be done through a number of Youtube clips -at the very least because you have to go through them one at a time.
Also, I believe that they should be more “mature” and, especially, that their life cycles should be longer. An example: Trados 2007 – Studio 2009 – Studio 2011. These are all -everyone- complex apps that require lots of effort to reach the starter level, let alone master them.
And those esoteric error messages do not help either -when there is any, that is. I recall one in Multiterm 2007 which just plainly refused to load new terms due to a Java issue.
I also wholeheartedly agree that the translator’s job is to translate and that agencies should do their bit as well. For starters, any originals (even in Word itself) should be properly cleaned before being sent. Have seen some repeatedly updated manuals where every part had been done with styles / default languages / word versions /TOCs differing and the result is continuous unexplained crashes and delays… for which the translator is blamed.
One of the problems with CAT tools is that sometimes they might as well not be used on the job at all and nobody would notice. ‘CAT required,’ is a code phrase to say that fuzzy discounts are expected.