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Change TM naming

Willem Dubelaar

Every so often, quite often actually, there is confusion between the 'main' TM and the 'project' TM. Particularly for people new to Trados. For me, the current naming convention runs counter to logic. When I, as a translator, create a new project and I assign one or more TMs to it, they are, for me the 'project' TMs. Quite obviously. But I am not allowed to call them 'project' TMs. Nay, I must call them 'main' TMs. It is so, because Studio, of course, creates an internal TM for each project and calls that one the 'project' TM. Result: confusion all round.

Why not solve the problem once and for all, and refer in the software to the 'main' TM as the User TM and the project TM as the System TM? Would then not all be clear and unnecessary confusion avoided?

Just an idea.

Best regards,
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  • 0

    Simply do not let Studio create its own 'project' TMs and that's it...

    Your project will then contain only your TMs and you will be happy.
  • 0 in reply to Evzen Polenka

    Thank you, Mr Polenka,

    Of course, that is exactly what one does, or at least what I always do. But whether or not one selected to create a project TM or not, at the end, when it comes to updating the TM(s), there still remains a choice to be made between updating the 'main' TM(s) and the 'project' TM. That is where the confusion reigns.

    Perhaps you have overlooked that.

    Best regards,
  • 0 in reply to Willem Dubelaar
    Hi 'Abdul'

    No I don't think Evzen overlooked it. I have used Studio since 2009 version in July 2009 and I have never been confused about Main TM and Project TM. Maybe that's because I read the Help about this.

    Anyway, the Project TM is a subset of a Main TM (usually an agency's TM so they don't send the whole TM: confidentiality, intellectual property, large file size). The project TM exists in the project folder and is created only for that project - hence the name - it is only added to that project. It only contains segments relevant to the source text to be translated, i.e. above a certain threshold match value.

    A Main TM is stored in your own TM resources folder and can be added to as many current projects as you wish.

    In the same way, Studio has 2 sets of settings: Project Settings, which only apply to the specific project, and (Main) Settings, accessed from File-Options. Some of these settings apply to the default project template and others to all projects because they are general configuration matters (e.g. Editor settings, Autopropagation, etc.).

    Regarding your suggested changes, 'User TM' could be OK, but then you have to define the 'user': is it the translator or the agency? 'System TM' doesn't seem any clearer to me - who's system? - and since the whole Studio concept is based on PROJECTS, 'Project TM' seems entirely appropriate (to me).

    The problem lies in taking the time to understand the difference. Once understood, no confusion.

    Paul Filkin, if you are reading this, how about another one of your surveys pinned to the top of the list: Do you understand the difference between a Main TM and a Project TM? Yes / No.

    Best, Simon
  • 0 in reply to Simon Cole

    Good morning Mr Cole,

    Yes, thank you. As I indicated in my original suggestion, I understood all that perfectly well. My point merely is that by moving away from, what appears to be illogical naming, there will be no need for studying the help files on that point.

    And please, before somebody comes back to scald me for saying that there is no need for studying the help files, that is not at all what I am saying. Generally, of course they must be read. But some things ought to be so plainly obvious, that there should be no need for explaining that some words are used in a topsy turvy manner. For example, if I see a 'first name' field somewhere, I expect to put my first name there and when I see the 'surname' field, I expect to put my surname there. I do not expect it to be vice versa.

    Indeed, the whole Studio concept is based on projects. Normally, I start off by clicking the 'Neues Projekt' (New Project)  button, which sets off a wizard. During the course of that wizard running, I assign a TM, perhaps more TMs. Because that is done whilst setting up a new project, they are for me, quite obviously, my project TMs. If then, Studio does also set up a TM under the bonnet and calls that the project TM instead, it causes confusion. So, I must read the help files in order to find out that my project TM is not a project TM at all, even though set up during the new project routine, but that my project TM is actually my main TM (If more than one, which one of those is my 'main' TM? Only one can be 'main', of course. Otherwise the word 'main' is also wrong.) So, by instead using words like User TM and System TM (open for other suggestions), all this confusion can be avoided.

    I hope it is clear now. Ever since Studio 2009, this issue has been coming up time and again, with many different people. Besides, we are being encouraged to come up with suggestions for enhancement. If suggestions, with full explanation, are simply shot down, why encourage people to come up with any?

    Best regards,
  • 0 in reply to Willem Dubelaar
    Answering with my humble two cents:

    I work in a translation agency. We produce a big amount of project every year with the same TMs for the same customers. They produce several machines and need to have their documentation consistent across time.

    So actually, for us, a "main TM" is the TM we use on several projects, while a "project TM" is a TM that "lives" only for that project.

    I know translator-work is very project-focused, but translation agencies are not (nor are enterprise users), and in my (always humble) opinion Studio should reflect all the parts involved in its use, rather than be completely translator-focused.

    Of course this means that all the involved parts should shift a little their point of view to understand that they are part of a bigger system, in the middle of which you can find several projects and a persistent reality managed by SDL tools.

    I think TM naming is very intuitive and correct from the point of view of the work getting done thanks to Studio.

    Regards.
  • 0 in reply to Enrico Rosso

    I fully agree with Enrico. The point is that translators often don't see the bigger picture and simply misundertand the meaning of "project".

    In fact, "project" has many meanings -- it can be as big thing as "Windows localization", which then consists of many sub-projects like "UI localization", "UA localization", "packaging localization", etc... each of which consists of a LOT of individual handoffs/drops/you name it, each which can be even futher divided to some sub-parts... each of which is sent to a translator... And each of these is actually a "project" from a particular point of view.

    So the naming "main" and "project" TM is perfectly fine and intuitive.

    FWIW, the projects I have worked on actually NEVER used any "project" TM... for 2 simple reasons:

    • translators cannot flexibly search the TM for similar translations or even completely different translations but containing the same term/expression/etc... simply because the content is not there
    • the main TMs are always updated from the SDLXLIFFs by running the "Update Main TM" batch task to ensure that all translations get to the TM (since god knows how many segments would the translator only confirm, without also writing them to TM - bad experiences with noobs barely able to use Studio)
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  • 0 in reply to Enrico Rosso

    I fully agree with Enrico. The point is that translators often don't see the bigger picture and simply misundertand the meaning of "project".

    In fact, "project" has many meanings -- it can be as big thing as "Windows localization", which then consists of many sub-projects like "UI localization", "UA localization", "packaging localization", etc... each of which consists of a LOT of individual handoffs/drops/you name it, each which can be even futher divided to some sub-parts... each of which is sent to a translator... And each of these is actually a "project" from a particular point of view.

    So the naming "main" and "project" TM is perfectly fine and intuitive.

    FWIW, the projects I have worked on actually NEVER used any "project" TM... for 2 simple reasons:

    • translators cannot flexibly search the TM for similar translations or even completely different translations but containing the same term/expression/etc... simply because the content is not there
    • the main TMs are always updated from the SDLXLIFFs by running the "Update Main TM" batch task to ensure that all translations get to the TM (since god knows how many segments would the translator only confirm, without also writing them to TM - bad experiences with noobs barely able to use Studio)
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