How do you use technology to boost your productivity?
Thread poster: MSA-Translation
MSA-Translation
MSA-Translation  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 13:22
French to English
+ ...
In memoriam
Jul 25, 2014

What tips do you have for building and maintaining a TM? Do you have one master TM or do you build subject or client-specific TMs? How about term bases?

What Trados plugins do you find useful? I hear TermInjector is a big productivity boost. Anyone use this?

Does anyone use a concordancer like Antconc to extract terminology or analyze documents? Do you find Dragon Naturally Speaking useful? What other technological productivity aids are out there?

How do
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What tips do you have for building and maintaining a TM? Do you have one master TM or do you build subject or client-specific TMs? How about term bases?

What Trados plugins do you find useful? I hear TermInjector is a big productivity boost. Anyone use this?

Does anyone use a concordancer like Antconc to extract terminology or analyze documents? Do you find Dragon Naturally Speaking useful? What other technological productivity aids are out there?

How do you integrate these tools into your workflow to maximize their utility to produce a higher quality product and increased daily output? What level of productivity boost do you get on a sustained basis, either in percentage of increased number of words?

I'd really like to maximize the utility of the programs I've invested in, and I'm curious what my colleagues have found useful.
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LilianNekipelov
LilianNekipelov  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 16:22
Russian to English
+ ...
I think the silence might be the answer Jul 26, 2014

It might really be hard to use technology to boost accurate, hight quality translation. Programs that help with the layout and spell-checking are always of help--but the rest--I am not really convinced that they help at all.

 
Orrin Cummins
Orrin Cummins  Identity Verified
Japan
Local time: 05:22
Japanese to English
+ ...
... Jul 26, 2014

I recently created different TMs and termbases for various fields. Not sure if that is the way to go or not, but since you can load multiple TMs and termbases into a single project in Trados I don't see what it could hurt.

It seems like using one giant TM for everything could make searching take too long once it got to a reasonable size, though that's just a theory of mine.


 
Joakim Braun
Joakim Braun  Identity Verified
Sweden
Local time: 21:22
German to Swedish
+ ...
Inverted leverage Jul 26, 2014

MSA-Translation wrote:

How do you use technology to boost your productivity?


I leverage Trados by avoiding it. In this way, I usually produce better translations faster and enjoy my work more.


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:22
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Techno Jul 27, 2014

MSA-Translation wrote:

How do you use technology to boost your productivity?


I use a computer. This is connected to an electricity supply. The electricity is produced by a network of generating stations, some powered by wind, some by gas, some by oil, some by nuclear, and some by coal.

Apart from the wind, nearly all of the fossil fuels, and the uranium for the nuclear stations, come from other countries either through pipelines or in ships.

It is estimated that if the supply of fuels should ever stop its constant flow, this country would be able to survive for about two weeks. After that things wouldn't work any more. Things like sewage pumps.

The electricity is fed into a grid covering the whole country, and this grid is kept in balance from a central control room in a secret location.

That's the technology I use. It requires thousands of people all over the world to make it work. I find that it boosts my productivity very significantly.

[Edited at 2014-07-27 10:41 GMT]


 
John Moran
John Moran  Identity Verified
Ireland
Local time: 20:22
German to English
+ ...
Try DNS Jul 27, 2014

Some translators use Dragon Naturally Speaking. It is worth trying out if it is available in your language pair.

 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 21:22
Spanish to English
+ ...
Agree Jul 28, 2014

Joakim Braun wrote:

MSA-Translation wrote:

How do you use technology to boost your productivity?


I leverage Trados by avoiding it. In this way, I usually produce better translations faster and enjoy my work more.


"I leverage Trados by avoiding it" - best poll answer EVER


 
Peter Linton (X)
Peter Linton (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 20:22
Swedish to English
+ ...
What I have found useful Jul 28, 2014

MSA-Translation wrote:
I'm curious what my colleagues have found useful.

These things I have if found useful in boosting productivity, and in this order of preference:
1. Electronic dictionaries
2. Speech recognition (eg Dragon)
3. CAT tools (eg Trados)
4. Programmable keyboard

Electronic dictionaries can provide a very substantial increase in productivity. With paper dictionaries you have to open the dictionary, search for the term, then type it in your document. That, in my experience, typically takes 1 or 2 minutes per dictionary. In contrast,
with an electronic dictionary it takes about 10 seconds, and in some versions you can search up to 8 dictionaries at the same time, but it still takes about 10 seconds.

Speech recognition also provides a productivity boost as well as helping you avoid RSI and other career-threatening conditions. Unless you are a robust and fast typist SR will improve both the quantity and quality of output.

CAT tools, although 3rd in my list, also provide a productivity boost though mostly for reasons other than translation memories. For instance, most CAT tools have special software for words and phrases in addition to software for sentences and segments. In Trados, they are Workbench and MultiTerm. Some translators use only MultiTerm. One I know specialises in environmental issues, and has amassed close to 10,000 environmental words and phrases.
There are other reasons for CAT tools, such as eliminating the cumbersome process of overtyping. And there are times when a traditional TM can substantially speed up the translation process.
Finally, let's give up the ridiculous claim that you can provide better translations by avoiding Trados. Most translators are smart people well able to make intelligent use of CAT tools.

Programmable keyboards have never really caught on, which is a pity because they are also a productivity boost. They can store 240 macros containing commands or text. For instance, I often need to enter my email address. Mine is stored as a single keystroke and never gets it wrong.

I leverage these tools by using them. In this way, I usually produce better translations faster and enjoy my work more.


 
MSA-Translation
MSA-Translation  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 13:22
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
In memoriam
Hoping for more responses Jul 29, 2014

Thanks, Peter, for your thoughtful response.

I hope we get some more people sharing how they have integrated technology into their workflow. I know there are many power users out there with a lot of good ideas to share.

[Edited at 2014-07-29 07:03 GMT]


 


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How do you use technology to boost your productivity?







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