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How can I use reference files?

Emma Goldsmith

Hi all,

I've never used the "reference files" feature in Studio, and I wonder how it works. I can't find any information about it in Help, except how to add reference files, or switch usage type to reference.

I've got a PDF reference file (monolingual, target language) and after adding it to my project, I can't access it, except simply by opening it in a PDF reader. Surely the idea is to use it in Studio somehow? Maybe through concordance?  

Can anyone enlighten me?

Thanks,

Emma
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  • 0

    Hi Emma,

    I wish it was that clever! This is just there so a shared project, or a project package can contain files that might be useful for the translator as they work. Setting them as reference files means they can be included without throwing an unrecognisable error and of course they won't be included in the analysis if they could be translatable.

    Regards

    Paul Filkin | RWS Group

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  • 0 in reply to Paul
    Thanks for your quick response, Paul. That's a pity - I was hoping to unearth a new feature (for me).
    I'll put my PDF into AntConc, then.
    AntConc is absolutely my most favourite tool, after Studio, of course ;)
  • 0
    Emma

    As Paul pointed out, they are simply included in the package to avoid having to send them separately but they don't go through the Prepare batch task because they are not translatable, so there is no SDLXLIFF created for these files.

    Walter
  • 0
    Hi Emma,

    I frequently receive reference files as part of a project. They are invaluable to me when I need to see the context of the translated texts I'm reading. Sometimes I only receive a source reference file, a PDF of what the original source document looked like. If it's possible for the PM to generate a draft target reference file that I can't produce by saving to target myself then I also receive that, which means I can check how it's going to look. Then of course, they might include other documents such as Excel word lists or standards documents, or a previous translation as a guideline that I have to make sure the new/additional document remains in line with.

    You double-click them in the files list and they open in their appropriate format (even though they may be in the files list with file type identifier 'Unknown'). Various types of file can be added as reference, the 'reference' property being set during project creation to prevent them being set up for translation. It's a tidy way of keeping everything together, particularly if the project is being set up by one person for translation by another then reviewing by a third party.

    Reference files are added automatically to both source and target folders. I've mentioned before that I find that illogical and that it would be good if it were possible to choose where they go. They could be placed in a separate 'reference' folder but that creates complications as to how they'd be listed in the project.

    At my request, some of the PMs who send me work amend the folder contents on my reviewing jobs so that I have source reference files in the source folder and target reference in the target folder before they create a package for me that contains them. I can choose between them by changing between source and target language in the files list.

    The possibilities are many and I find reference files very useful.

    All the best,
    Ali :)
  • 0 in reply to Emma Goldsmith

    Unknown said:
    I'll put my PDF into AntConc, then.

    Hi Emma,

    Took me a litle while to find that tool!  Looks very interesting but only seems to support txt files... did I get that right? What's interesting here is that one of our Corporiate customers developed a similar tool that works for all Studio supported filetypes and integrated this into Studio.  The files used to display the results are all stored on Sharepoint and the look up looks through there, but it seems a good idea to have this based on storage on your local machine.  Perhaps they'll make a version available on the OpenX in the future, or someone else will do one.  After reading the AntConc guide the terminology is almost the same too!  AnyConc uses KWIC (KeyWords In Context) and the Studio plugin is called CRIC (Concordance Results In Context)

    Interesting stuff!

    Regards

    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

    Thanks for your insights, Paul, Walter and Ali. So, basically, ref files are put into a project to keep everything in one place. That makes sense.

    I was hoping for a ref file with concordance look-up. Something like this:

    The Studio plug-in CRIC certainly sounds very similar, and potentially more useful as it handles Studio file formats (AntConc only handles .txt files, as you noticed, Paul).

    All very interesting!

    Emma 
  • 0 in reply to Emma Goldsmith

    The feature of concordance search in reference files is simply brilliant and just cries out to be implemented.

    Drop some files where you know the context for your terms exists into the project as reference and voila - you have a ready to use translation memory substitute. Especially great when you don't have any real TMs for the time being. Or even when you have some.

    Now users have to make some sort of fake TMs (where source = target) and use it for concordance, or use some third party apps for this purpose.
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