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How to import a bilingual Word document for translation

Michael Bauer

I have some clients whose preferred tool is MemSource but Studio doesn't like mxliff and to make matters worse, because I cannot re-assign locales in Studio (at the moment at least), I get the unsupported culture thing because MemSource seems to define it as "gd" but Studio expects gd-GB. Argh.

Anyway, their second preferred option is a "bilingual Word document" but that doesn't seem to sit well with Studio either. On the face of it, this "bilingual Word document" format seems to be a multi-column table with string IDs, a Source colum, a Target column, some column for tagging the translation status and a Comment column, plus some header stuff. But when I try to open this in Studio, it treats the whole document as if it was plain text i.e. if there are translated segments, it also treats them as Source strings.

Does Studio handle this format for translation (not talking bilingual review) and I'm doing something wrong or does it simply not handle this format?
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  • 0
    Hi ,

    Having the unsupported culture should not prevent you being able to translate the file. You should be able to do this adding *.mxliff to your wildcard identifier in the default Studio XLIFF. But using this plugin is probably a better solution as the tags are handled better:

    appstore.sdl.com/.../

    If you want to handle their bilingual word file then of course you will see that every bit of content in the file will be translatable. Studio has no idea what a memsource bilingual file is. You might be able to handle it if you copy the source to the target column, then hide everything in the file apart from the target. But this leaves you with two issues:

    1. You can't use partially translated memsource bilingual word files
    2. I have no idea how sensitive these files are to being manipulated in this way (Studio bilingual files probably wouldn't like it!)

    Paul Filkin | RWS Group

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  • 0 in reply to Paul
    Hi Paul
    Thanks - sort of a half-step in the right direction, I can open the mxliff with the plugin installed but Studio refuses to pull up the en>gd TM. I don't really want to replicate the muddle I had some years back with that confusing AnyTM thing.

    Thanks re the bilingual files. I don't think it was an "of course" scenario, as Studio does handle a lot of formats these days. But clearly not "bilingual" files. Fair enough.
  • 0 in reply to Michael Bauer
    Hi ,

    You mentioned gd-gb earlier, so the other way around. Could that be your problem?

    Paul Filkin | RWS Group

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  • 0 in reply to Paul
    No, sorry, I was just too quick typing. Trados and MT deal in gd-GB and that's what my TM is in, MemSource uses gd, at least the way my client exports from it. Should Studio not accept gd-GB and gd as being equal?
  • 0 in reply to Michael Bauer

    Hi  

    I've never actually seen this before so I just created a memsource project with two target languages:

    - Gaelic (gd)
    - Scottish Gaelic (gd-GB)

    I then opened then both in Studio and added a TM. I have no problem with any of this and actually don't get any messages at all. It just works for both files.  I have attached the files and my TM here:

    memsource.zip

    Can you test the attached and see what you get?  If you still have the problem can you give the exact steps you went through so I can try and reproduce your problem?

    If you don't have the problem can you share your files for me to investigate?

    Paul Filkin | RWS Group

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  • 0 in reply to Paul

    Hi Paul

    I note that your file comes as gd-T.mxliff, whereas the one I got from the client was gd-3S.mxliff but the result is the same. So my step by step is:

    - start Studio

    - Translate Single Document

    - open the file (yours or theirs)

    - file opens, MultiTerm for some reason is ok with the language code and displays matches but nothing from the TM

    - if I go to Project Settings, Studio seems to treat this as "All Language Pairs" with no TM selected

    Trados Studio project settings showing 'All Language Pairs' selected with no translation memory or automated translation provider added.

    if I try to select my English to Gaelic TM, I get that error message about AnyTM.

    If I check under the English > Scottish Gaelic tab, I see this:

    Error message in Trados Studio stating 'The following language pairs do not use the translation providers from All Language Pairs'.

    as opposed to what I get when I open any other file following the same steps, here's an example of a plain Word document:

    Trados Studio translation memory settings with a red error icon indicating an issue with the English to Scottish Gaelic translation memory.
    emoji


    Generated Image Alt-Text
    [edited by: Trados AI at 1:53 PM (GMT 0) on 28 Feb 2024]
  • 0 in reply to Michael Bauer
    Hi

    What happens if you try and create a new TM for the project that won't handle your TM correctly?

    Paul Filkin | RWS Group

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  • 0 in reply to Paul
    The TM you sent can be added. I've compared the settings of the two, the only difference seems to be that your has en-GB as the source, whereas my main TM has en-US. Could that be it, Studio throwing a hissy fit because the mxliff file has en-GB as the source and my TM has en-US? I thought these sub-locales were treated as all-same?
  • 0 in reply to Michael Bauer
    Hi

    That is exactly why... your languages do not match.

    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

  • 0 in reply to Paul
    Thanks for your help & patience!