For Powerpoints, which is better Wordfast or Trados
Thread poster: Natalia Eklund
Natalia Eklund
Natalia Eklund  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 08:42
French to English
+ ...
Sep 4, 2008

Hi Everyone,
A client approached me for my availability on translating a hefty Powerpoint presentation (comments included). I've done these before, but never using a CAT tool. Powerpoints are real time suckers, when all you want to do is just translate instead of fiddling about with the different text boxes. Also, sometimes sections of text can be overlooked, and I'm always anxious I left something out, so I check it over a gazillion times.

This time around I was thinking of
... See more
Hi Everyone,
A client approached me for my availability on translating a hefty Powerpoint presentation (comments included). I've done these before, but never using a CAT tool. Powerpoints are real time suckers, when all you want to do is just translate instead of fiddling about with the different text boxes. Also, sometimes sections of text can be overlooked, and I'm always anxious I left something out, so I check it over a gazillion times.

This time around I was thinking of approaching the job by using a CAT tool, especially since the client gave me reference materials that I could align to create a TM to help me out. I have access to both Wordfast and Trados, and though I'm hardly a CAT master, I'm more used to Wordfast. (I haven't touched Trados in over a year)

My question is, which handles Powerpoints better, Wordfast or Trados? Since I'm not a master, is it simple enough that I won't end up fiddling around with segments for hours on end? The purpose is to help speed things up, and guarantee that no text is left out.
Also, I think the CAT tool would be an excellent way to verify the word count, since the Powerpoint statistics typically 'forget' some elements.

Thanks in advance for your advice!
Natalia
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Marie-Hélène Hayles
Marie-Hélène Hayles  Identity Verified
Local time: 08:42
Italian to English
+ ...
WordFast with Werecat Sep 4, 2008

I've never used Trados so I don't know how it compares, but WordFast in conjunction with WereCat works perfectly on Powerpoint files. You can download Werecat free here:
http://www.volny.cz/ddaduc/werecat.html

Just follow the very simple instructions and it should work fine - I've found it invaluable. It turns translating PPT files from a nightmare into a job just like all the r
... See more
I've never used Trados so I don't know how it compares, but WordFast in conjunction with WereCat works perfectly on Powerpoint files. You can download Werecat free here:
http://www.volny.cz/ddaduc/werecat.html

Just follow the very simple instructions and it should work fine - I've found it invaluable. It turns translating PPT files from a nightmare into a job just like all the rest of them.

Good luck!
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Natalia Eklund
Natalia Eklund  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 08:42
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Any problems Sep 4, 2008

Thanks for the suggestion Marie-Hélène. I looked at the website and they mentionned some possible glitches when sending your text back and forth from Word.
Have you ever had any such problems with things that you have to fiddle with?

I had seen your suggestion before on the Wordfast forum, but I hadn't heard if there was an all-in-one or integrated solution in Trados, which is why I ask. I wasn't sure if these glitches they mention in Werecat were resolved in Trados.
... See more
Thanks for the suggestion Marie-Hélène. I looked at the website and they mentionned some possible glitches when sending your text back and forth from Word.
Have you ever had any such problems with things that you have to fiddle with?

I had seen your suggestion before on the Wordfast forum, but I hadn't heard if there was an all-in-one or integrated solution in Trados, which is why I ask. I wasn't sure if these glitches they mention in Werecat were resolved in Trados.

Thanks again!
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David Turner
David Turner  Identity Verified
Local time: 08:42
French to English
+ ...
Why limit yourself to just those two? Sep 4, 2008

N.M. Eklund wrote:

My question is, which handles Powerpoints better, Wordfast or Trados?



IMHO, Deja Vu X and MemoQ handle Powerpoint files much, much better than the other two tools you mentioned.

David Turner


 
Natalia Eklund
Natalia Eklund  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 08:42
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Access and learning curve Sep 4, 2008

Hi David,
I'm forced to limit myself because those two are the only ones I have immediate access to. I don't have any experience with the others, and if I decided to start using one, I'm sure I'd have to spend a few hours learning the think before I can use it appropriately (i.e. well enough to save me time on the project).

But I am curious, I don't see these options mentionned as much as the others.


 
David Turner
David Turner  Identity Verified
Local time: 08:42
French to English
+ ...
Trial version Sep 4, 2008

N.M. Eklund wrote:
I'm forced to limit myself because those two are the only ones I have immediate access to.


You could always download a free, fully functional trial version of either DVX or MemoQ (30 days and 60 days) in a couple of clicks.


I'm sure I'd have to spend a few hours learning the think before I can use it appropriately (i.e. well enough to save me time on the project).


I'm sure you'd find MemoQ much more intuitive and easier to use than Wordfast and surely a short learning curve is nothing compared with the shear hell of working with Tag Editor!

BR,
David


 
Marie-Hélène Hayles
Marie-Hélène Hayles  Identity Verified
Local time: 08:42
Italian to English
+ ...
I've never had to change a thing Sep 4, 2008

N.M. Eklund wrote:

Thanks for the suggestion Marie-Hélène. I looked at the website and they mentionned some possible glitches when sending your text back and forth from Word.
Have you ever had any such problems with things that you have to fiddle with?

I had seen your suggestion before on the Wordfast forum, but I hadn't heard if there was an all-in-one or integrated solution in Trados, which is why I ask. I wasn't sure if these glitches they mention in Werecat were resolved in Trados.

Thanks again!


I've only had to use it a couple of times as I don't get too many PPT files, but they were both huge, flashy jobs with millions of different colours, fonts, formats, tables, graphs and so on, and Werecat handled them perfectly. The only thing I had to watch out for was some embedded images which didn't get extracted, but then they wouldn't have been picked up in any application by any CAT. Apart from that, it was idiotproof.


 
Kevin Lossner
Kevin Lossner  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 07:42
German to English
+ ...
DVX & Trados Sep 4, 2008

David Turner wrote:
IMHO, Deja Vu X and MemoQ handle Powerpoint files much, much better than the other two tools you mentioned.



I think she actually owns Trados and doesn't have the other two. However, fully functional demos can be obtained quickly, and you're right - they are a breeze for PPT. However, unless she wants to invest in another CAT tool, that's no long-term solution.

Although I generally prefer DVX to Trados, I've found that there are advantages to doing PPTs with Trados TagEditor. The ability to delete the tags for improper line breaks in the text is one of those advantages - it can't be done with DV unfortunately.

I can't compare Trados & Wordfast in this case, because I've never tried Wordfast for a PPT.

The idea of doing any PPT that is not extremely simple in structure without a CAT tool puts butterflies in my stomach. The problems Ms. Eklund cites - text boxes overlapping, lousy legibility, etc. are too common and lead to many problems with PPT translations. (I just got off a phone chat with an outsourcer who was complaining about this problem with translators who don't use CAT tools. It's too easy for them to overlook stuff.)

[Edited at 2008-09-04 12:31]


 
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 08:42
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Trados TagEditor... Sep 4, 2008

...in my opinion. No problem with any kind of PPTs in recent versions of Trados. It will even help you translate embedded images, which did not happen in the past (it does take a little step beforehand though).

 
Marc P (X)
Marc P (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 08:42
German to English
+ ...
Access Sep 4, 2008

Access to OmegaT is just a couple of mouse-clicks away (www.omegat.org).

You will also need OpenOffice.org, and you may have to prepare the PPT file by removing "brute-force" manual line breaks (which you then put back in when the translation is finished).

If (or when) you have the time, why not try it?

Marc


 
Claire Cox
Claire Cox
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:42
French to English
+ ...
Werecat's fine Sep 4, 2008

I second Marie-Hélène's comments about Werecat. It's a much better way of translating ppt files with Wordfast than just using Wordfast in isolation, as you can get into problems that way and it doesn't always pick up all the text boxes. I also find that if you stop in the middle of a slide, it refuses to pick up any other text in that particular side and jumps forward to the next one, which is very frustrating! Not so with Werecat, which is pretty straightforward. The only thing you have to wa... See more
I second Marie-Hélène's comments about Werecat. It's a much better way of translating ppt files with Wordfast than just using Wordfast in isolation, as you can get into problems that way and it doesn't always pick up all the text boxes. I also find that if you stop in the middle of a slide, it refuses to pick up any other text in that particular side and jumps forward to the next one, which is very frustrating! Not so with Werecat, which is pretty straightforward. The only thing you have to watch is that you don't end up with bad segments as it won't send the text back properly if you do! I also find that the formatting doesn't always stay the same - especially if you have bold or different font sizes within a segment. I've found it just uses one format within each segment and you have to adjust it in the ppt file afterwards. I tend to do my first draft, then send it back to the ppt file and do any corrections straight in the ppt file, so you can adjust the format at the same time. Admittedly, any changes are then not in the TM, so you could theoretically go back and edit the Word file too, before cleaning up and committing to the TM, but I rarely have time, I'm afraid to say....

Claire
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Heinrich Pesch
Heinrich Pesch  Identity Verified
Finland
Local time: 09:42
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
+ ...
These are wordfast-problems Sep 4, 2008

Claire Cox wrote:

I second Marie-Hélène's comments about Werecat. It's a much better way of translating ppt files with Wordfast than just using Wordfast in isolation, as you can get into problems that way and it doesn't always pick up all the text boxes. I also find that if you stop in the middle of a slide, it refuses to pick up any other text in that particular side and jumps forward to the next one, which is very frustrating! Not so with Werecat, which is pretty straightforward. The only thing you have to watch is that you don't end up with bad segments as it won't send the text back properly if you do! I also find that the formatting doesn't always stay the same - especially if you have bold or different font sizes within a segment. I've found it just uses one format within each segment and you have to adjust it in the ppt file afterwards. I tend to do my first draft, then send it back to the ppt file and do any corrections straight in the ppt file, so you can adjust the format at the same time. Admittedly, any changes are then not in the TM, so you could theoretically go back and edit the Word file too, before cleaning up and committing to the TM, but I rarely have time, I'm afraid to say....

Claire


Werecat only extracts the text. If there are formatting issues, they are caused by Wordfast.
The positive side of translating in Word (with Wordfast or other tools) is that you dont see those stupid tags which distract you from understanding the text.
Cheers
Heinrich


 
Doron Greenspan MITI
Doron Greenspan MITI  Identity Verified
Israel
Local time: 10:42
Member (2005)
English to Hebrew
+ ...
TagEditor Sep 4, 2008

I recommend using TagEditor.
Since I translate into Hebrew, I suffer some LTR/RTL problems specific to my pair, but on the whole, formatting, once you know how to do it, doesn't take long.

Otherwise, TagEditor does an excellent job of it, and Save as Target gives you a decent PPT file to tweak to perfection.

I don't know the other tools, but never felt the need to try them for PPTs.

Good luck whichever way you go, Doron


 
Balasubramaniam L.
Balasubramaniam L.  Identity Verified
India
Local time: 13:12
Member (2006)
English to Hindi
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
Trados with TagEditor Sep 5, 2008

I regularly translate powerpoint presentations from English to Hindi using Trados and TagEditor. Many of the presentations are complex with lot of visuals and notes. I have never had any problems.

The only issue that I have faced is sometimes the size of the text boxes in Hindi don't exactly match the size of the English text boxes when the English text in the boxes is translated into Hindi.

This causes overlapping of the text boxes in the finished Hindi powerpoint pres
... See more
I regularly translate powerpoint presentations from English to Hindi using Trados and TagEditor. Many of the presentations are complex with lot of visuals and notes. I have never had any problems.

The only issue that I have faced is sometimes the size of the text boxes in Hindi don't exactly match the size of the English text boxes when the English text in the boxes is translated into Hindi.

This causes overlapping of the text boxes in the finished Hindi powerpoint presentation. This sometimes requirs tweaking of font-size and line spacing of the Hindi text.

When I have to do too much of such formatting I usually charge extra for the time this requires.
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Frits Ens
Frits Ens
Netherlands
Local time: 08:42
Member (2006)
English to Dutch
+ ...
Transit XV... Sep 5, 2008

Transit is very good in handling Powerpoint presentations.
Almost everything is included...
Layout is maintained.
Easy import and export


 


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