| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | What is wrong with Google Translator Toolkit? Thread poster: Dylan J Hartmann
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Having made a living off freelance translating for a while the thought came up several times as of whether to spend money on one of these highly technical, extremely expensive and hard to use CAT tools. The choice of them gets even harder if you use a mac, and then whether to invest in dual OS software etc etc.
So I pose the question here, what is wrong with Google Translator Toolkit?
As far as I can see, with little experience in the other CATs to really know, ... See more Having made a living off freelance translating for a while the thought came up several times as of whether to spend money on one of these highly technical, extremely expensive and hard to use CAT tools. The choice of them gets even harder if you use a mac, and then whether to invest in dual OS software etc etc.
So I pose the question here, what is wrong with Google Translator Toolkit?
As far as I can see, with little experience in the other CATs to really know, all CAT tools will give you a machine translation to choose from, will remember the changes you made and then every time that same phrase comes up again will remember the way you did it last time and let you put it in that way again.
It even lets you choose to save changes to your own TM or the Global database (if you want to be generous!)
With some programs being close to a thousand dollars, the final product shouldn't even need to be proofread if it's claims are as valuable as it's price vs. something that is free, easy to use and quick as well. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Very quickly... | Aug 11, 2012 |
Dylan Hartmann wrote:
So I pose the question here, what is wrong with Google Translator Toolkit?
Well, apart from the potential privacy issues you are probably aware of already... the answer is quite simple: Google Translator Toolkit is not a CAT tool...
| | | | Joakim Braun 
Sweden
Local time: 23:25
German to Swedish
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| Grin and bear it (the cost) | Aug 11, 2012 |
I'm no fan of the ubiquitous Trados, the UI of which is a bad joke... or of the other CAT tools I've seen generally... but whether one likes Trados or not, the pricing (especially with the rebates that show up here regularly) is perfectly reasonable.
There's nothing objectionable about paying several hundred dollars for a professional tool that will bring in thousands over time, even if used only occasionally.
Parallels is $80 - a no-brainer if used for commercial wor... See more I'm no fan of the ubiquitous Trados, the UI of which is a bad joke... or of the other CAT tools I've seen generally... but whether one likes Trados or not, the pricing (especially with the rebates that show up here regularly) is perfectly reasonable.
There's nothing objectionable about paying several hundred dollars for a professional tool that will bring in thousands over time, even if used only occasionally.
Parallels is $80 - a no-brainer if used for commercial work.
These are one-time costs that are amortised over several (perhaps many) years. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Ana Myriam Garro (X)
Local time: 18:25
English to Spanish
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| Different experiences with GT | Aug 11, 2012 |
Perhaps your experience with Google Translator has been awesome, but I have to say that mine has been dreadful. Shortly ago I was offered an editing job of 20,000 words. I only had time to have a look at the project before accepting it and at first glance I noticed the bad quality of the translation, but I had 3 days to do it, so I accepted it. I dare say that I almost had to re-write the translation, so the three-day term, which at first seemed quite reasonable, turned out o be a nightmare. ... See more Perhaps your experience with Google Translator has been awesome, but I have to say that mine has been dreadful. Shortly ago I was offered an editing job of 20,000 words. I only had time to have a look at the project before accepting it and at first glance I noticed the bad quality of the translation, but I had 3 days to do it, so I accepted it. I dare say that I almost had to re-write the translation, so the three-day term, which at first seemed quite reasonable, turned out o be a nightmare. After having seen that, I would not use GT because the translation is so bad that it takes a lot of time to correct it.
I think that investing in a highly demanded software is not a bad idea, even if you use it occasionally. I have recently attended a course on SDL TRADOS and I am still struggling with it, but I believe that once I start to use it regularly it may turn out to be a useful tool.
Good luck with your project! ▲ Collapse
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| The average is not a thousand euros | Aug 11, 2012 |
Dylan Hartmann wrote:
With some programs being close to a thousand dollars, the final product shouldn't even need to be proofread if it's claims are as valuable as it's price vs. something that is free, easy to use and quick as well.
Well, I really think you are missing the point here. A professional tool today, with plenty of features that will constantly save you time and worries, costs 700 euros, plus upgrades every year that will mean some 150-200 euros more. This is a tremendously reasonable amount if you think of all you are getting... most importantly the access to a huge CAT-based translation market.
Assuming that a minimally successful translator makes a very minimum of 25,000 euros a year (250 days x 1500 words a day even at a low rate), the investment in the CAT tool, even if you paid it in full every year, will mean less than 3% of that income. Is 3% of your income so terribly high for a professional investment? How much business and income are you losing because of decision not to invest in a proper CAT tool?
| | | | | not sure about that | Aug 11, 2012 |
Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:
Well, apart from the potential privacy issues you are probably aware of already... the answer is quite simple: Google Translator Toolkit is not a CAT tool...
I’m not so sure about that. Although GT proper does not have an explicit privacy policy, the Toolkit does have one. And it is a CAT tool of sorts… (It has a TM and a glossary, and the TM and glossary are shareable among a team. If that’s not a CAT then I don’t know what it is. It’s not easy to use though…)
| | | | | Save your money for the rainy season | Aug 12, 2012 |
Dylan, there's no need to spend thousands of dollars on a CAT tool, there's no need to spend a single dollar on a VM, and there's no need to use Trados, Google nor Windows for translating on a Mac.
Here's an overview of CAT tools: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2184204/CAT%20Tools%20DEC%202010.pdf
It's a rather old (late 2010) Wiki entry, but it's far more compre... See more Dylan, there's no need to spend thousands of dollars on a CAT tool, there's no need to spend a single dollar on a VM, and there's no need to use Trados, Google nor Windows for translating on a Mac.
Here's an overview of CAT tools: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2184204/CAT%20Tools%20DEC%202010.pdf
It's a rather old (late 2010) Wiki entry, but it's far more comprehensive than the current one. As you can see, there are several CAT tool for the Mac. The free OmegaT is very popular, I use the €80/USD100 CafeTran, the most feature rich CAT tool for any OS and cross-platform at that, http://cafetran4mac.blogspot.com I can help you out getting started with CafeTran (we happen to live in the same timezone, so check Skype: hanstranslations). Most CAT tools can handle Trados files, and can handle them better that Trados.
If you don't believe me, and still want to use Windows, you can download and install VirtualBox, a free (in both meanings of the word) VM: http://www.virtualbox.org It's a bit harder to install than Parallels, but it's also a lot faster to use. I can't say Parallels isn't worth the money (it is), but speed is of the essence for me since I rarely use Windows. Probably about once a month to check the Dutch spelling of a geographical name in a legacy atlas. Just for kicks, I installed Ubuntu yesterday as well. Fun!
If you still want to use Parallels (or VMware Fusion), you should regularly check http://www.macbundler.com/index.php or http://www.mupromo.com Most of the time (but of course not at this very moment*), one of the two VMs is included in a bundle of around 10 apps for half the regular price of Parallels/VMWare.
*Recent example: http://osxdaily.com/2012/06/06/get-11-great-mac-apps-for-49-99-with-the-macupdate-june-2012-bundle/
DISCLAIMER: Even though we are neighbours, I don't know a thing about the Thai language. This can be important for making a choice.
I'm a happy CafeTran user with no ties to the company, financial or otherwise.
Cheers,
Hans
[Edited at 2012-08-12 01:49 GMT]
[Edited at 2012-08-12 10:32 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Dylan J Hartmann
Australia
Member (2014)
Thai to English
+ ...
MODERATOR TOPIC STARTER | It get's tricky with Thai | Aug 13, 2012 |
Meta Arkadia wrote: I use the €80/USD100 CafeTran, the most feature rich CAT tool for any OS and cross-platform at that, http://cafetran4mac.blogspot.com I can help you out getting started with CafeTran (we happen to live in the same timezone, so check Skype: hanstranslations). Most CAT tools can handle Trados files, and can handle them better that Trados.
I tried using the free demo of CafeTran and couldn't get the text to change to Thai script - it encoded it as some form of system language (like wingdings!).
My workflow with the OSX system is great, I just wish there could be something that was compatible with A. Thai language, B. OSX C. Can detect sections based on the space between thai sentences (there are no spaces between Thai words, instead the space is at the end of the sentence, so far all the CAT tools I've used make whole paragraph sections out of Thai text.)
and finally, something that doesn't cost a month's salary to buy!
The users below give a very Euro/USA centric opinion on the costs of these programs. For us SEA or Asian language pairs, the profits aren't so high, especially when competing with the rates of our local (non-native English) competitors.
Dylan
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esperantisto
Local time: 00:25
Member (2006)
English to Russian
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SITE LOCALIZER
Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:
Google Translator Toolkit is not a CAT tool...
As already commented, you’re wrong. Google Translate Toolkit is a CAT tool. You can upload and leverage TMX files and glossaries in the CSV format. Besides, it combines both translation memory and machine translation (yes, old good Google Translate at no charge).
GTK requires constant Internet/Google connection, it’s software-as-service which some people object [1], it’s interface is very simple, but so is its functionality (for example, you can see a glossary term highlighted in the source, but there’s no way to have its translation inserted into the target except for manually copy/paste), it may ruin your document formatting (for example, I see GTK deleting spaces between sentences in an RTF document).
[1] such as the Free Software Foundation, they find the idea of SAAS contradictory to the idea of free software.
| | | | esperantisto
Local time: 00:25
Member (2006)
English to Russian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER | Why not try free software? | Aug 13, 2012 |
Dylan Hartmann wrote:
I just wish there could be something that was compatible with A. Thai language, B. OSX C. Can detect sections based on the space between thai sentences (there are no spaces between Thai words, instead the space is at the end of the sentence, so far all the CAT tools I've used make whole paragraph sections out of Thai text.)
and finally, something that doesn't cost a month's salary to buy!
Try OmegaT and/or Anaphraseus. I’m very happy with the two programs. However, I have no experience with the Thai script.
| | | | | Thai and CafeTran | Aug 13, 2012 |
Dylan Hartmann wrote:
I tried using the free demo of CafeTran and couldn't get the text to change to Thai script
Now I don't know anything about Thai, but without making any special effort: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2184204/CT%20Thai.png
I just copied a part from the Thai Wiki homepage, imported it as if it was an English text (but choosing th-Th as the source language, of course) in CT, and it looks OK. Quite a few tags, but that's caused by hyperlinks. And the MT by MyMemory also makes sense. Too much sense, in fact. Bad for translators.
and finally, something that doesn't cost a month's salary to buy!
That's why I mentioned the free CAT tools, and free VM software. Apart from that, I may hope the € 80 you should pay for CafeTran isn't equal to a month's salary for you...
[Edited at 2012-08-13 10:10 GMT]
| | | | | Free alternative to Google Translator Toolkit | Aug 13, 2012 |
Dylan Hartmann wrote:
With some programs being close to a thousand dollars, the final product shouldn't even need to be proofread if it's claims are as valuable as it's price vs. something that is free, easy to use and quick as well.
If cost in an issue for you, and you are ready to contemplate an online tool like Google Translator Toolkit, why not consider Wordfast Anywhere instead?
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Dylan J Hartmann
Australia
Member (2014)
Thai to English
+ ...
MODERATOR TOPIC STARTER | will get back to everyone. | Aug 13, 2012 |
It'd be hard to live on 80 Euros!
Even Thai language translators have problems with Trados, so I'll try the other CATs that have been mentioned and get back to people.
| | | | | Thai in Wordfast Anywhere | Aug 13, 2012 |
Dylan Hartmann wrote:
Even Thai language translators have problems with Trados, so I'll try the other CATs that have been mentioned and get back to people.
Here is what a Thai language newspaper article (http://www.dailynews.co.th/sports/149168) looks like in Wordfast Anywhere:
| | | | Laurent KRAULAND (X)
France
Local time: 23:25
French to German
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| | Pages in topic: [1 2] > | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » What is wrong with Google Translator Toolkit? | Trados Business Manager Lite | Create customer quotes and invoices from within Trados Studio
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