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track changes during translation

Simon Cole

I have a WORD legal document to translate. It contains some edits displayed in track changes. The lawyer want the translated document to contain the same original text and tracked changes. Can anyone point me at the right options (Studio 2017 AND 2015) to do this, please?

Current situation is that I can DESELECT the option in Word file type 2007-2016 'Apply track changes before opening' and this gives me target segments including track changes as displayed in Word (underlined insertions, strikethrough on deletions). But when the source is copied to target, only the revised form of the text is copied and the source insertions/deletions do not have tags I can copy to target. In conjunction with deselecting this option, also tried selecting 'Extract Alternative Text for translation', but it made no difference. This option is not listed in the help for these functions - can someone tell me what 'Alternative Text' is, please?

It seems to me at the moment, my only option is this workflow:

With the Word file as supplied:

  • Reject all changes and save as –Old.
  • Accept all changes and save as –New.
  • Translate both and create target files.
  • Back in Word, compare –Old and –New.

Thanks in advance

Simon
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  • 0

    This is everything but trivial.
    Did you translate the previous version BEFORE tracked changes were applied?
    If so, open the file with the TM used then and do NOT apply any changes, but let them show in Studio. Switch TC for translation on. The 100% unchanged matches will be applied as they are, where the changed segments will be applied and await the tracked changes applied by you.
    If not, please reject all changes, translate the file then. When done, repeat the procedure above.

    When translating with TC it is sometimes necessary to apply or insert translation with TC switched off to then switch TC on and apply the changes desired.
    Put together the procedure is anything but easy, so I would add some extra charge (not too small) for processing.

    _________________________________________________________

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  • 0
    Hi Simon,

    Frankly, to avoid complications I think you have set out the best way to tackle this. If you use a low enough fuzzy value you may see the previous matches when translating the new version, although upLIFT may be more helpful here.

    The Word compare feature makes this a far easier solution. It also means it's going to be easier to bill the customer since you can analyse both files and get a reasonable reflection of the effort required.

    You can do it all in Studio, but I think it's messy. Your way is going to far easier.

    Regards

    Paul

    Paul Filkin | RWS Group

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  • 0 in reply to Paul
    Provided Word compares files properly. Unfortunately in my experience this did by far not meet the customer expectations.
    I cannot remember now how we solved that problem those days, but AFAIR it was necessary to copy/paste changed text from new to old file version in Word and save the old file version with tracked changes as this what the customer experienced.

    Recently I have had a situation, when a customer send me a revised file, which was a new version of a file we translated previously. I dealt with this as described above. First I checked the TC rejected version against the TM, applied some minor changes which were not yet reflected there to the translated segments and then started with the file with TC on. That worked quite good :)

    Best regards, Jerzy

    _________________________________________________________

    When asking for help here, please be as accurate as possible. Please always remember to give the exact version of product used and all possible error messages received. The better you describe your problem, the better help you will get.

    Want to learn more about Trados Studio? Visit the Community Hub. Have a good idea to make Trados Studio better? Publish it here.

  • 0 in reply to Jerzy Czopik
    Thanks for your help, Jerzy and Paul.
    Actually translating both Old and New at the same time in a single project (virtual merge). Using F3-Concordance to find segments not recovered from TM with the fuzzy match threshold set.

    Paul, how difficult would it be for Studio to be able to accept a document without first applying track changes (as it can now) AND then allow the old and new text to be copied source to target, WITH the tagged insertions/deletions (including tags) so that the target segment can be correctly rendered?

    Here's another thought. What if:
    1. Import document into Studio after editing file type to deselect 'Apply track changes before opening'. This gives SOURCE (not target as I said above) segments including track changes as displayed in Word (underlined insertions, strikethrough on deletions).
    2. Translate the document, so that for segments with changes the original version is translated.
    3. Now switch to Review Mode and edit the target segments with TC in the source, resulting in TC in the target text.
    Would this save as target document from Studio with Track Changes evident?

    Simon
  • 0 in reply to Paul

    Hi Paul,

    Is this still the only way to handle tracked changes documents? Studio 2019 doesn't solve the complicated way tracked changes is handled?
  • 0 in reply to Yael Reinhold

    Complicated?

    I don't think Studio handles tracked changes in a complicated way.  But if you have a requirement to translate the original content, and the tracked changes then this is quite complex.  You could end up having to add more tracked changes, or less, depending on how the sentences were structured or what changes were required.

    Paul Filkin | RWS Group

    ________________________
    Design your own training!
    You've done the courses and still need to go a little further, or still not clear? 
    Tell us what you need in our Community Solutions Hub