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starting out as a freelancer advice on purchasing CAT tools
Thread poster: Susanne Toito
DZiW (X)
DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
A few specifications May 21, 2020

Thought me unprofessional, which was true.

Heinrich, could you answer a couple of questions:
1) What exactly made the big difference at that very moment—the name, the quality, the speed, the consistency or something else?
2) How long did it take you to learn CATing and recoup such an investment?
3) How often do your clients and prospects ask for a CAT as a password and excuse for infamous volume/fuzzy ‘discounts’?
4) If it’s not a big secret, does your “pre-quarantine” average rate exceed $0.10/word flat?


P.S. It’s been awhile though, but you wrote that in 2003 you knew nothing about Trados, whereas your CV reads "since 2001 Trados 6.5.5"


[Edited at 2020-05-21 11:11 GMT]


 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 00:47
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
Find a tool that suits YOU May 21, 2020

Try the free versions, and really give yourself time. I hated Trados when I started, but I was working in house, and my employer insisted. (That was about 20 years ago...) I fought bugs and a faulty dongle when I started freelancing, but my clients wanted Trados, apart from one big agency that had its own tool, and believe me, I wept for Trados many times when I worked for them!

I have tried Wordfast Classic, which was very good as a compatible backup at one time, and MemoQ, plus on
... See more
Try the free versions, and really give yourself time. I hated Trados when I started, but I was working in house, and my employer insisted. (That was about 20 years ago...) I fought bugs and a faulty dongle when I started freelancing, but my clients wanted Trados, apart from one big agency that had its own tool, and believe me, I wept for Trados many times when I worked for them!

I have tried Wordfast Classic, which was very good as a compatible backup at one time, and MemoQ, plus one or two others that I hated. I have always come back to Trados, and it is several years now since I needed the helpline.
MemoQ and Trados can handle each other's files and packages, so if you work comfortably in one, you can handle the other. Try out the features outside the basic daily translation and self checking, and choose the one that suits you!

It takes time to accumulate the benefits and work up a routine, before you even start to use all the extra features. Some people don't care, but they can enhance the central functions, or be an advantage for particular jobs.
I have used the review features in Trados Studio and built up TMs using the Alignment tool - you can, for instance, run EU documents and templates in two languages to make a TM, or sets of hazard regulations and lots of other texts if they are going to be useful.

I have databases in Multiterm, the Trados glossary feature, which is also much easier to use now than it used to be.

You cannot learn it all in a day or a week, but it IS worth the effort IMHO.

Best of luck!
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Lincoln Hui
Lincoln Hui  Identity Verified
Hong Kong
Local time: 07:47
Member
Chinese to English
+ ...
. May 21, 2020

It's very rare that an agency actually REQUIRES Trados. Most of the time they just need you to be able to process Trados files or packages, which MemoQ does perfectly well. On the other hand, MemoQ is often required by clients who manage their projects on a MemoQ server, and you do need MemoQ for that. SDL had a similar system, but it seems far less popular than MemoQ. Clients usually do provide a temporary license for server based jobs, but having your own license means you don't have to jump b... See more
It's very rare that an agency actually REQUIRES Trados. Most of the time they just need you to be able to process Trados files or packages, which MemoQ does perfectly well. On the other hand, MemoQ is often required by clients who manage their projects on a MemoQ server, and you do need MemoQ for that. SDL had a similar system, but it seems far less popular than MemoQ. Clients usually do provide a temporary license for server based jobs, but having your own license means you don't have to jump between different software.

I don't love MemoQ and there are a lot of things about it that annoy me regularly. But I hate it less than Trados, and it definitely has a less punishing licensing system than that inferno turd that Trados uses. Seriously, just search for 'return license' in the forums and you will have enough horror stories to keep you up at night for a week.

[Edited at 2020-05-21 16:52 GMT]
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Susanne Toito
Susanne Toito
Canada
Local time: 19:47
Portuguese to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you everyone for your input May 22, 2020

Thank you all for your support and input, this has really helped me come to a decision to put off the purchase of any CAT tool for the moment.
I am lucky enough to have done (very limited) work in SDL Trados through my university training, and I have a free month of MemoQ that I am trying out. I have a free year of Wordfast Pro as well, through my university (I'm still completing my Masters) - so I am using Wordfast and it's ok for my currrent needs.
I will soon be considering a pu
... See more
Thank you all for your support and input, this has really helped me come to a decision to put off the purchase of any CAT tool for the moment.
I am lucky enough to have done (very limited) work in SDL Trados through my university training, and I have a free month of MemoQ that I am trying out. I have a free year of Wordfast Pro as well, through my university (I'm still completing my Masters) - so I am using Wordfast and it's ok for my currrent needs.
I will soon be considering a purchase, but I'll wait and see if clients prefer or ask for Trados or MemoQ and go from there.
Thank you to this great community for taking time out of your day to help me!
Susanne
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Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:47
Member (2008)
Italian to English
In the end... May 22, 2020

Susanne Toito wrote:

Thank you all for your support and input, this has really helped me come to a decision to put off the purchase of any CAT tool for the moment.
I am lucky enough to have done (very limited) work in SDL Trados through my university training, and I have a free month of MemoQ that I am trying out. I have a free year of Wordfast Pro as well, through my university (I'm still completing my Masters) - so I am using Wordfast and it's ok for my currrent needs.
I will soon be considering a purchase, but I'll wait and see if clients prefer or ask for Trados or MemoQ and go from there.
Thank you to this great community for taking time out of your day to help me!
Susanne


In the end, all CAT tools deliver exactly the same result: a translation of the source document. Reading the translation, nobody will ever know if it was done in Trados, Wordfast, MemoQ, or whatever.

All CAT tools do the same thing. It's all a matter of deciding which one does it most efficiently. Some of them make the process incredibly arcane and complicated, requiring a massive effort (and investment of time and money) simply to learn them. Others set out to make the process smooth, easy, and low-cost. To find out which is which, you need to experiment a little with the free trial versions. If it takes you more than a few days to understand the basics and *actually do translations*, you're using the wrong CAT tool.

[Edited at 2020-05-22 15:36 GMT]


Susanne Toito
 
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