A reader asks: “How do I choose a translation memory tool? I feel like I need one, but I have no idea how to pick. They all seem confusing and expensive, and I don’t know where to start.”
Short answer: If the TM tool is just for your own use, test-drive a few or ask colleagues about their experiences, then pick the one you like best. If you’re buying the TM tool because your clients require it, or because you think it will be a marketing advantage, then buy the one that your clients (or desired potential clients) want.”
Longer answer: It’s a complicated question. Here’s my story. For years and years, I used Wordfast Classic, which is light, easy to learn to use, and has good documentation and support. I really liked it, and I had sort of vowed to never upgrade to one of the “big guys” because I perceived them as expensive and difficult to learn to use. Then, about five years ago, along came a client who offered me a very large, ongoing project that required Trados Studio. At that point, I realized that I had been resisting buying one of the market leaders simply for the sake of resisting (…they won’t get my money, I’ll patch it together on my own, etc. etc.). So I bought Trados, hired an individual trainer to help me learn to use it, and was up and running in less than a week. And all in all, I like Trados Studio. It’s a bit complicated to learn, it can generate some inscrutable error messages, and it’s a bit bloated for projects like a one-page Word document, but I’m not looking to switch tools.
It’s important to look at a TM tool as a business investment, not an emotional decision. Translators get very emotional about their attachment to, or hatred of, certain TM tools and the companies that make them. As a recovering TM resister, I’m here to tell you that that’s misguided. It’s a business investment: will this tool help you land new clients, work more efficiently or produce better translations? Then buy it. If not, don’t. It’s that simple.
Lots of students in my classes wonder if they should pre-emptively buy a TM tool, as a selling point to potential clients. Maybe. In general, we freelance translators are frugal…sometimes we’re cheap. Frugal is good; frugal means that you’re wise with your money. Cheap is not good; cheap means that you’re unwilling to spend money on a tool that is required in order for your business to thrive. If you’re cheap, and using Windows XP and Office 2003 on an ancient laptop, that’s a false economy. At the same time, it’s not wise to spend $1,000 each on three different TM tools you might never use. But if you’ve heard from other translators that the clients you want to work for require a certain tool, it’s probably a good investment to buy it proactively. The caveat is that, depending on the kind of translation work you do, a TM tool can be either useless (if you translate novels) or indispensable (if you translate software). So, you don’t want to invest in one of the market leaders if you’re not sure you need it.
Some translators wonder if free TM tools are any good. That’s easy: yes. I love OmegaT. I actually find its matching algorithm better than Trados Studio’s, and it’s much more stable (no “object not set to an instance of an object” errors). And the market leaders sure aren’t going to say, “Go ahead and localize our tool into Slovenian! We’re excited to see the results!” The sticking point is that, especially if your client is not particularly tech-savvy, exchanging files through .tmx may entail some hiccups. In theory, the .tmx files are compatible between tools. In practice, each tool is going to do things (like segmentation) slightly differently. So, the client is more likely to say, “To work with us, you have to have X tool.” But yes, free TM tools can definitely get the job done.
An additional factor is that the TM tool market is fragmented; agencies may require memoQ, or Trados, or Wordfast Pro, or Memsource, or Across, or Fluency, or something else that they maintain in-house. Of the market leaders, I would say that Trados is the most widely-used, memoQ has the best reputation for support, and Wordfast Pro is the only one that is truly cross-platform. So, they all have their pluses and minuses. Additionally, you’ll need to either hire a trainer, or put in some unpaid time to learn to use the tool. Just as you don’t learn to use Photoshop in an hour, you don’t master a full-featured TM tool in that amount of time.
To close, two specific tips:
-Whatever your level of interest in translation technology, subscribe to Jost Zetzsche’s newsletter The Tool Box (not an affiliate deal, I just love it!). Jost will follow the trends for you, so that you don’t have to.
–When you buy a tool, don’t pay list price. Purchase the tool at a conference, where discounts are often offered, or use a group buying opportunity on a site like ProZ (again, not an affiliate deal).
Readers, any thoughts on choosing a TM tool?
Great article! The trainer idea is also great. How did you find one? I live in “the middle of nowhere”, but would like some help learning to use Trados.
Thanks, Christian! I used a local person here in Colorado, but Tuomas Kostiainen does remote training (again, not an affiliate). http://www.finntranslations.com/?page_id=11
WOW! That was a quick response!
Thanks!
We aim to please 🙂
I checked around with other translators before buying and settled for Trados (there are several options to choose from and I picked Freelancer with 2 installation keys: 1 for my desktop and 1 for my laptop.) Most of the training sessions are on-line. I did go to London once for a 3-day training session (I was already in Paris for a few months) and I learned more in the first 20 minutes than I had learned online myself. I highly recommend investing in some good one-on-one training. Now, when a client asks me to use a different program, I prefer to just turn down the job. There are plenty of other clients out there that use Trados and I don’t want to lower my average hourly income by having to learn a new program just for that client. Better to be an expert at one program than to be average at 2-3 programs.
Thanks, Ruth! That is such great advice about considering your hourly rate. Very important! And great to know that you got a lot out of the in-person training!
Dear Corinne,
I’m also interested in learning how to use Trados but have been unable to find a personal trainer in Seattle. Totally agree with Ruth, Cat Tools are too complicated for online classes.
By the way I did quite a bit of biking in the past years around Geneva (Switzerland) from where I recently relocated, so I enjoyed a lot reading your post about your biking trip in Italy. Thank you! for that.
Juan
Thanks, Juan! I agree: an individual trainer is kind of a must when you’re learning one of the market leader TM tools. And that’s exciting that you were able to do so much biking in Switzerland!
“It’s a business investment: will this tool help you land new clients, work more efficiently or produce better translations? Then buy it. If not, don’t. It’s that simple.”
Exactly. The only thing I’d add would be “good” in front of “new clients”. Nobody wants to be spending money on a new TM program, only to have it be the client who benefits if they start trying to impose 100% match segments for free, and fuzzy segments for only 30% of the full cost, and so on. *You* need to be the one to benefit, in terms of productivity, consistency etc..
Your original reader sounds very unsure. In his/her place, I’d be looking for much stronger indications that a CAT tool was necessary: is he/she getting enough work anyway? losing out because companies have said that you need tool X to work with them? (and are those companies ones you’d really want to work with, in terms of subject-matter, business and payment practices and so on?) Is the sort of work he/she does the sort which is likely to be repeated, or has a lot of internal repetition? And as you say, give various programs a proper trial run first, to find out whether they’ll really do what you need them to.
Thanks, Alison! Those are fantastic questions to ask!
I quite agree. Purchasing a TM tool is a business decision, plain and simple. Why would any other factor be involved?
It took me a long time to break down and finally buy a TM tool. I finally purchased Trados Studio 2014. I hate it! It’s the most user UN-friendly software I’ve ever owned.
However, in my experience the best clients and agencies demand it. I’ve never been asked for anything else, except for one agency I work with that likes Wordfast. Sometimes you just have to do what the market wants.
Thanks very much for your comment!
Just like you Corinne, I’m sticking to my tool: OmegaT.
When a client requires another tool I usually either request a licence paid by the client or I turn down the job.
A lot of clients don’t even know why they have such requirements, and a lot of them don’t know how to use their own tools. So when there is a tool requirement it is very important for the freelancer to check what really is required: it is a delivery format, is it a translation memory, etc. Very often, the tool is not the requirement and there are ways to keep one’s workflow with just a few modifications to satisfy the client.
Just saying that you bought Trados because a client proposed you a steady job is hiding that truth, which seems more important to me than anything else. I’d rather buy Studio and export packages to xliff/tmx for working in my OmegaT based workflow than try to spend time to be as efficient in Studio as I am in OmegaT because In the end, all the tools are equal. By the way, I don’t need to buy Studio, I just use a demo version in a virtual Windows environment that I reset every time I need to run Trados, which is not that often.
Hi, I have used Wordfast Classic for many years. I taught myself how to use it without too much difficulty. I then taught my translation students at university how to use it by running my classes using WordFast Anywhere. I followed a training course on Trados so that I would know how to use it but I didn’t like the terminology system and didn’t continue. I then started using WordFast Pro 3 and have been using it ever since. I have just installed WordFast Pro 4 so I will see how that goes. I think the most important thing is to understand the advantages of using a CAT tool. I think that the terminology and contextual options are features that many people don’t realise are useful.
Does anyone know a way of finding out in advance which agencies require which tools (i.e. before applying, taking tests, etc.)? I’m looking for a more efficient way of finding this out than applying and testing with agencies individually and then hearing “oh by the way, you need X tool…”
Rachael, I’d say that ideally the *agency* should mention that up front, unless they are going to provide you with the server version of the tool for free. I have definitely gotten contacts from agencies where they’ve said, “You must have…” or “If you work on projects that require TM, you must use…” If you find that agencies aren’t in the habit of mentioning it, I would just put that on your list of questions to ask before you take their tests.
Thanks Corinne!
To those who doubt which tool to buy because “agencies use tool X”: If you learn your tool well enough, you may ver well be able to complete the work in your tool of choice and still deliver it in the CAT tool format required by your customer. You may even not need to have both tools installed on your computer (although having both programs available helps in case of problems).
For instance, I have a customer who insists on using Memsource … and I can translate all those Memsource projects using memoQ instead (see for example “Quick Tips: How to translate a MemSource project using memoQ” http://www.aboutranslation.com/2016/06/quick-tips-how-to-translate-memsource.html)
To each their own, but I look at this from a purely business angle. I own Trados Studio 2015, MemoQ Pro, and Wordfast Pro. These three cover all my client preferences. The price of each is not that high, considering that I use them all the time. Choosing a tool just because it is free is like buying the cheapest tool if you’re a carpenter. You’re unlikely to see professional carpenters use price as a deciding factor.