Under Community Review

"Do not translate" segment status

Occasionally, we are asked to translate only certain sections of a text.

One solution is to convert the text that is not to be translated to hidden text in the Word file (for example).

However, I think it is usually safer to make as few changes in the source file as possible in case we forget to "unhide" the text before delivering the translation.

Could we have an additional segment status in Studio ("Do not translate") that could be used to mark up the relevant segments so that they cannot be edited, are automatically excluded from batch tasks such as "Pretranslate", "Analyse", etc. and can be hidden from view using the display filters?

 

Andrew

Andrew James Wood
Parents

  • Hi Lieven,

    I see your point. Our agency specialises in just two languages, so that issue wouldn't affect us. The file type settings approach is an very interesting one - generally the more customisation options there are (and the easier they are to use), the better, I'd say.

    I completely neglected to mention the context side of things in my original post and that is perhaps the most important point. Working in Trados Studio, translators are already deprived of the helpful context provided by the layout of a Word document. Once repetitive headings, explanatory comments and great chunks of text are taken out on top of that, you can sometimes be left with a disjointed series of sentences and have to refer back constantly to the source text (assuming, of course, that the translator has realised text has been hidden in the source file).

    As a translator, I'd say that an extra segment status would be a simple, quick fix that would make a significant difference - even if I had to mark up the segments myself.  If there were a way text could also be marked up in the source file, all the better!

    I suppose it's a tricky balancing act - streamlining the project management side of things without compromising the translation process, and vice-versa.

    Andrew

Comment

  • Hi Lieven,

    I see your point. Our agency specialises in just two languages, so that issue wouldn't affect us. The file type settings approach is an very interesting one - generally the more customisation options there are (and the easier they are to use), the better, I'd say.

    I completely neglected to mention the context side of things in my original post and that is perhaps the most important point. Working in Trados Studio, translators are already deprived of the helpful context provided by the layout of a Word document. Once repetitive headings, explanatory comments and great chunks of text are taken out on top of that, you can sometimes be left with a disjointed series of sentences and have to refer back constantly to the source text (assuming, of course, that the translator has realised text has been hidden in the source file).

    As a translator, I'd say that an extra segment status would be a simple, quick fix that would make a significant difference - even if I had to mark up the segments myself.  If there were a way text could also be marked up in the source file, all the better!

    I suppose it's a tricky balancing act - streamlining the project management side of things without compromising the translation process, and vice-versa.

    Andrew

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