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Client requesting translation in bilingual format

Paul Golf

I have a client who is requesting the final translation in parallel bilingual format. The export for bilungual review batch command does a pretty decent job of getting what I need, except that in the review document that's created, all the formatting tags are displayed in long form (i.e. <italics> </italics>). Is there any way of exporting to bilingual format which applies the tags to Word rather than displays them for editing? Also I'm surprised that Trados doesn't seem to have a feature to generate a finalized document in bilingual format. Surely it can't be that uncommon for clients to request this?
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  • 0
    The simple answer is NO. If you think this is what you need, why don't you just use search and replace in Word to get the formatting done for you?
    Of prepare the text upfront, converting text to table, adjusting the width, copying this table and adding it as a second column, then hiding the first column, translating this and unhiding the hidden column in the final file.

    @Evzen: well, I would have expected you having seen such requests nearly on daily basis. In fact it is nothing strange when translating contracts, agreements or similar. And I would always prefer using Word than Excel for this.

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  • 0 in reply to Jerzy Czopik

    Unknown said:
    I would have expected you having seen such requests nearly on daily basis.

    I work for localization companies, not translation companies... i.e. no such little things like contracts or agreements, but mass-localization of software, multimedia, e-learnings, websites, etc.

    In any case, I see no point having contract or agreement in some funny side-by-side table format instead of ORIGINAL contract format, ready to be signed.

    From my experience such requirements are rather based on completely wrong (or completely missing!) idea how translators work - that they open the source document in Word and start typing the translations directly in it - than on a real needs for such format.
    In other words, wrong and unmanaged client's expectations...
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  • 0 in reply to Jerzy Czopik

    Unknown said:
    I would have expected you having seen such requests nearly on daily basis.

    I work for localization companies, not translation companies... i.e. no such little things like contracts or agreements, but mass-localization of software, multimedia, e-learnings, websites, etc.

    In any case, I see no point having contract or agreement in some funny side-by-side table format instead of ORIGINAL contract format, ready to be signed.

    From my experience such requirements are rather based on completely wrong (or completely missing!) idea how translators work - that they open the source document in Word and start typing the translations directly in it - than on a real needs for such format.
    In other words, wrong and unmanaged client's expectations...
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  • 0 in reply to Evzen Polenka
    Sorry for slight off-topic here...
    In any case, I see no point having contract or agreement in some funny side-by-side table format instead of ORIGINAL contract format, ready to be signed.

    From my experience such requirements are rather based on completely wrong (or completely missing!) idea how translators work - that they open the source document in Word and start typing the translations directly in it - than on a real needs for such format.
    In other words, wrong and unmanaged client's expectations...

    Well, you do not see...
    Then imagine you're buying something and have an interpreter helping you to sign a contract. But you wanna read what you sign - same applies to the other party, not speaking your language. So either you or the other party must sign an exemplar, where you or he does not understand a word. So why not put these versions both on one paper and sign this? It is indeed quite common, even if you don't see any sense in there. And this has nothing to do with the understanding of how translation works, but a simple customer convenience thing...

    _________________________________________________________

    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

    Unknown said:
    It is indeed quite common, even if you don't see any sense in there. And this has nothing to do with the understanding of how translation works, but a simple customer convenience thing...

    This is exactly right Jerzy.  The translation industry does not revolve around well ordered and experienced customers who understand how an agency or experienced translator would prefer to work.  You can't always "educate" a customer either unless you want to lose them.  So I love to see solutions that can cater for the things many translators come across on a day to day basis.

    It's a bit like PDF translating.  We all know this isn't the best way to work, but there are plenty of valid reasons for having to handle them, and plenty of content for translation in these formats too.

    Paul Filkin | RWS Group

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  • 0 in reply to Jerzy Czopik

    Unknown said:
    So why not put these versions both on one paper and sign this?

    And why yes? ;-)
    The practice I have seen multiple times in my life is that you need to create separate versions anyway... and a notary confirms that the translated version corresponds to the original. And then you sign the translated (and notary-confirmed) version... since this is the only legally valid way (signing contract/agreement in your native language).
    So creating such hybrid - which will then have to be splitted manually anyway - is just adding extra work on both sides.
  • 0 in reply to Evzen Polenka
    For the same reason, why a customer is buying his Mercedes in the color "liquid bronze" and the other one goes to his local garage to have the same type of car painted in "crazy blue".

    _________________________________________________________

    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 Evzen Polenka
    Hi Evzen,

    When you say things such as 'completely wrong (or completely missing!) idea how translators work .... wrong and unmanaged client's expectations', I wonder how you 'manage' your clients. I guess by enlightening them as to how you work and by refusing work that isn't as you wish it to be.

    Anyway, I find life is much more satisfying when I find ways of coping with even the strangest client requests, which are rarely unreasonable from their perspective. I have a troubleshooting attitude to the work I receive and am especially pleased if I can deliver it to the customer in a better state linguistically than it was when I received it (authors are often technicians rather than linguists). That gives me great satisfaction. I prefer to work with a 'can do' attitude because with every challenge comes learning. My attitude may be idealistic and do I work mostly for an agency who understand the whole scenario. When they pass me a difficult job whether linguistically or technically, they usually know it's going to be difficult and are hoping I can pull out my magic wand and make it work. I've been very fortunate with my clients but I hope I'd have the same attitude with difficult clients because it makes life easier and I learn more from challenges.

    All the best to you Evzen,
    Ali :)