| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Poll: Before translating a text, I... Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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Mario Chavez (X) 
Local time: 14:27
English to Spanish
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| Love the cat! | Mar 25, 2012 |
David Wright wrote:
and get started. Why worry about what the text might contain - you have to deal with it anyway, and it may be straigthforward so that all the preparation time is "for the cat" as they say here in Austria
Your Austrian saying transposed to English made me laugh out loud. Thanks!
| | | | Mario Chavez (X)
Local time: 14:27
English to Spanish
+ ...
| Many good prep steps | Mar 25, 2012 |
I applaud my colleagues here (sorry, I'm good with faces, bad with names). I found a few good prepping steps to take before starting to do the translation proper.
Remember the incompatibility in Word back in the mid 90s? Well, welcome to a similar problem between .docx from Word 2007/2010 and .doc from earlier versions when it comes to using a CAT tool. At least, in Deja Vu X Pro or Deja Vu X2 Pro.
I don't print originals. I do view and give a cursory and quick glance o... See more I applaud my colleagues here (sorry, I'm good with faces, bad with names). I found a few good prepping steps to take before starting to do the translation proper.
Remember the incompatibility in Word back in the mid 90s? Well, welcome to a similar problem between .docx from Word 2007/2010 and .doc from earlier versions when it comes to using a CAT tool. At least, in Deja Vu X Pro or Deja Vu X2 Pro.
I don't print originals. I do view and give a cursory and quick glance over the pdf files I receive. Some of them have handwritten notes, for example. For the typed-out documents that were faxed or saved to PDF, I make a judgment call on whether to OCR them or type them from scratch. Why? The OCR process adds a lot of extraneous codes in my CAT tool of choice (again, Deja Vu X).
I don't bother reading the reference materials unless they are 2 pages long. If there is new terminology to be dealt with, I wait until I happen on the new word, do a search in the reference file (usually a pdf) or on Google or other online sources. I concurrently build my terminology database in Deja Vu as I translate, as it saves me time.
Some of my clients give me a global wordcount, but they will trust me with coming up with the final wordcount (CAT tool-generated or Word-generated) at the end of my translation.
Like many of my colleagues here, I will read the original only if it is short in length or if it is likely to present some challenges. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | I just make sure I can access the document | Mar 25, 2012 |
Julian Holmes wrote: I always check to see that they open/close and can be accessed OK... There's nothing worse than finding out that documents and software are incompatible on Saturday when the project must be delivered the following Monday.  I also make sure that all contractual details are squared.
Then I plunge in head-first. My experience is that time spent reading the text in advance is time wasted. I only become aware of the problems when I start translating. As others have said, the first part is usually the toughest and may need to be re-done once I've hit my stride.
| | | | John Cutler
Spain
Local time: 20:27
Spanish to English
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| Check bibliography | Mar 26, 2012 |
Before I start translating (assuming I've already accepted the job), I look at the bibliography at the end of the document. (With the type of documents I do, there's generally a bibliography involved.) There are usually article titles in English that give a wealth of vocabulary, thereby saving lots of time researching or trying to confirm my choice of vocabulary.
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Oleg Osipov
Russian Federation
Local time: 21:27
English to Russian
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| General overview | Mar 26, 2012 |
Just general overview of the source text to see if it matches my expertise.
| | | | Odile Breuvart
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:27
Member
English to French
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I put none of the above as for me it is a combination of all things. Let's say I scan/quick read the text and check the potential website of the client to see who I'm dealing with. Then if I take the job, I will get deeper and research if necessary.
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