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Strange characters in source segment

Bruce Campbell

I am translating a Word file from a PDF conversion.

It produces the following garbled display in one of the source segments:

Screenshot of Trados Studio editor displaying garbled text with multiple 'box' symbols and question marks in a source segment.

This is with Studio 2017 SR1.

The editor setting for "Formatting display style" is set to "Show all tags but do not show formatting".

I remember seeing things like this happen in the past when Studio was having trouble with fonts. The solution was to use the above setting for "Formatting display style".

This is different. The source file contains two little "box" symbols produced from a PDF conversion. The boxes are from the boxes that were in the legend of a chart in the PDF file.

Here is the test Word file I used to isolate the problem characters. It contains only the two box symbols: 

0574.test.docx

When characters like this are mixed in with regular characters (in this case it was a chart legend, with each of these characters followed by a text label), it is difficult to locate and edit the text that needs to be translated.

Any suggestions? Is there a setting I can change to see something reasonable in the editor? (By the way, these special characters are also stored in the TM when I confirm a segment.)

Best regards,
Bruce Campbell
ASAP Language Services

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[edited by: Trados AI at 12:09 PM (GMT 0) on 29 Feb 2024]
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  • 0

    Dunno

    I have failed to reproduce your problem with the file you posted

    Trados Studio interface showing a project with four lines of text. Two lines are highlighted with red circles indicating an error with strange box characters.
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    Generated Image Alt-Text
    [edited by: Trados AI at 12:09 PM (GMT 0) on 29 Feb 2024]
  • 0 in reply to AnonymousUser

    Hi Saerome,

    Thank you for checking. We might be using different versions of Studio.

    I am using Studio 2017 SR1. Are you using a different version?

    Or perhaps it is due to the language combination you are using. These special characters might be part of the regular font in your language. (I was using German to English.)

    Best regards,
    Bruce Campbell
    ASAP Language Services
  • 0 in reply to Bruce Campbell
    the SDL Trados Studio version of mine is the same one with you
    Source language is English, destination is Korean

    regards
  • 0 in reply to AnonymousUser

    Paul, could you try reproducing my problem?

    Sorry to bother everyone with this.

    I wanted to try the same languages as Saerome, but it is not as easy as it used to be to change the 5 default languages. A Windows repair of Studio used to work, but when I tried it now, Studio did not ask me to enter my 5 languages :-(

    A re-installation also used to work, but when I downloaded the Studio installation file from SDL.com, it refused to install over my existing Studio, saying I was running a later version and I would have to first uninstall and then install.

    I am reluctant to uninstall Studio unless I really have to, as Studio is running fine now and I don't want to anger the gods by playing around with it too much.

    I just wanted to find out whether the strange display of these characters indicates a problem with my specific installation of Studio, or with Studio in general.

    If it is my specific installation, then I will uninstall and reinstall.

    As I mentioned before, I am running Studio 2017 SR1 (14.1.10014.38031).

    The test file only contains 2 characters: 2318.test.docx

    Best regards,
    Bruce Campbell
    ASAP Language Services
  • 0 in reply to Bruce Campbell

    Hi  

    I don't really know what you want me to do? I don't understand the relevance of this file with the screenshot you shared at all.  So I took it, added some text here and there and opened it:

    Screenshot of Trados Studio showing text with color-coded segments, including added text 'This test' and 'now what?' with no visible errors or warnings.

    Sort of to be expected given what's in the source file.  I'm obviously missing something here.

    Paul Filkin | RWS Group

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    Generated Image Alt-Text
    [edited by: Trados AI at 12:09 PM (GMT 0) on 29 Feb 2024]
  • 0 in reply to AnonymousUser

    Based on what Saerome sees in her Studio, I think I asked the wrong question.

    How do I get a nice display like Saerome's ? (Seeing Asian characters is better than the garbage I am seeing now.)

    I copied the strange character from my test file into Notepad++, changed it to hexadecimal (EF91B2) and then created a series of similar characters (EF91B0 ... EF91B4) that I converted to ascii and copied back to the test file, one per line.

    This is what they look like in Studio (segments 2 to 6).

    Screenshot of Trados Studio showing segments 2 to 6 with unrecognized characters displayed as question marks in a pink highlight, indicating an error in character encoding.

    I guess I have just been lucky not to run into a problem with characters like this in the past.

    Does anyone know of a way to see Asian characters instead, or anything but this garbage?

    (The sdlxliff file comes from a client, so I have no control over its contents.)

    Best regards,
    Bruce Campbell
    ASAP Language Services
    emoji


    Generated Image Alt-Text
    [edited by: Trados AI at 12:10 PM (GMT 0) on 29 Feb 2024]
Reply
  • 0 in reply to AnonymousUser

    Based on what Saerome sees in her Studio, I think I asked the wrong question.

    How do I get a nice display like Saerome's ? (Seeing Asian characters is better than the garbage I am seeing now.)

    I copied the strange character from my test file into Notepad++, changed it to hexadecimal (EF91B2) and then created a series of similar characters (EF91B0 ... EF91B4) that I converted to ascii and copied back to the test file, one per line.

    This is what they look like in Studio (segments 2 to 6).

    Screenshot of Trados Studio showing segments 2 to 6 with unrecognized characters displayed as question marks in a pink highlight, indicating an error in character encoding.

    I guess I have just been lucky not to run into a problem with characters like this in the past.

    Does anyone know of a way to see Asian characters instead, or anything but this garbage?

    (The sdlxliff file comes from a client, so I have no control over its contents.)

    Best regards,
    Bruce Campbell
    ASAP Language Services
    emoji


    Generated Image Alt-Text
    [edited by: Trados AI at 12:10 PM (GMT 0) on 29 Feb 2024]
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