New Fluency CAT tool

Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:

I have only viewed the video the company have published with a quick demo.../...

.../... This topic also raises a general question: how many CAT tools can the market sustain? The choice of tools is breathtaking today, and that is good, but I wonder how many users are necessary to sustain continuous development and improvement.

In my opinion, very few companies are proving that they are financially capable of sustaining a continuous development and agile support, and the list in my head does not include some very important brands after what we hear and see in the fora. What are Western Standard's plans of on this area?

Pablo Bouvier wrote:
A few days ago, I received the always interesting Dr. Jost Zetsche's newsletter. There he refers to a new translation environment called Fluency.

Pablo Bouvier wrote:
A few days ago, I received the always interesting Dr. Jost Zetsche's newsletter. There he refers to a new translation environment called Fluency.

Samuel Murray wrote:



I get the impression that this tool's main selling point is the fact that is comes bundled with a complete dictionary, and that the dictionary feature in Fluency is as powerful as the glossary features in other CAT tools. If you remove the fact that Fluency comes with a built-in dictionary, then the feature set in Fluency is not much better than those of the bottom feeding bunch of CAT programs out there.

The previous version was a 670 MB download, and this latest version is a 450 MB download. The old version contained these files in the download:

1. an English SDF file (270 MB) (this is the dictionary)
2. an SDF file for your language (170 MB or more)
3. an instructional video (130 MB)
4. dotnetfx, in case you don't have it yet (130 MB)

The new version has a smaller dotnetfx file (24 MB) and no instructional video.

Richard Tregaskis wrote:
Since Fluency is new in the marketplace, I will try and clarify some of the features and capabilities that are built into Fluency. The easiest way may first be to respond to some of the questions already posted, but I would like to say that we are very interested in feedback and in answering any other questions.

Samuel Murray wrote:

I get the impression that this tool's main selling point is the fact that is comes bundled with a complete dictionary, and that the dictionary feature in Fluency is as powerful as the glossary features in other CAT tools.

Richard Tregaskis wrote:

Since Fluency is new in the marketplace, I will try and clarify some of the features and capabilities that are built into Fluency. The easiest way may first be to respond to some of the questions already posted, but I would like to say that we are very interested in feedback and in answering any other questions.

First in response to the statements/questions of Tomas:

“1. On the technical side:
- Too centered on the source document. Apparently the preview (which occupies a big part of the screen) does not get updated with your translations. Given that today I only occassionally deal with Word documents, this preview is not very useful.
”
Fluency provides a view of the source document and a live preview of the target document (where applicable). This allows the translator to see the source text in greater context as well as see the target document as each segment is completed (source is not modified). For some fileformats, a preview button is available to see a rendered view of the output (HTML, PPT, etc.).

“- Too much clicking: To see your resources (dictionary, TM matches, etc.) you have to click on tabs. We don't have the time for that!”

The interface has been changed since the old demo video was created (about 1 month ago and a new demo video will be posted in the next day or so). The new interface displays the Glossary, Translation Memories, and any one of the additional resources at all times. Changing settings in the preferences allows the selection of which additional tab is primary.

“- File-based: This is a problem in the old environments that I can now forget about (in MemoQ for instance). You have to save files, so apparently you can always lose work if you forget to save or your computer or programme crashes. Database-driven CAT tools are much more handy, since you can forget about saving. At the beginning I put a little post-it on the "Save" icon in MemoQ as my colleagues were too prone to click on it after a decade using Trados.”

Fluency uses an auto-save feature similar to Word which creates a backup, by default, every 120 seconds. This can be customized in Tools > Preferences to as often as every 60 seconds and with patch 1.1.21 which would be released by the end of the week, every 20 seconds.

“- No review/proofreading features? I did not see how to act as a reviewer/proofreader on the projects.”

What kinds of Proofreading/Review features would you like? We could probably add them in a couple of weeks. Currently, a translator may share project files with other translators allowing them to review and edit the translation and even see any notes that the translator may have provided.

“2. On the price/company side:
- Even in its current promotional price and the simplest version, this tool is more expensive (US$ 250) than MemoQ Standard (US$ 179). I am not really sure US$ 250 pays for the features I have seen in the video, especially compared with database-driven applications.”

The $179 for MemoQ is only for a one-year subscription. Fluency is a perpetual license. Fluency is also highly database driven. It was originally developed such that it could not function at all without a central database server that housed all of the terminology, TMs, and project files.

“- It would be great if the company (Western Standard) shared more information about themselves in this forum (I have told them about the existence of the forum so that they can join). Choosing a CAT tool can be a strategic decision and choosing the right partner can be critical long-term.”

Western Standard has been a member of ProZ since 2008, but we do need to update or profile (and keep it up to date ).

“- It would also be very interesting if the company hared some more information with us about filters, compatibility, XLIFF and TMX support, etc. Freedom of choice calls for compatibility with the standards.”

Fluency supports many of the major TM exchange formats, especially TMX. See: http://products.westernstandard.com/fluency-learnmore.html Although our site is already outdated because we add formats almost every week (sometimes a couple a week), it does state most of the core formats we support for both TMs and source file formats. We do not currently support XLIFF, although we’ll look into adding that as well.

” This topic also raises a general question: how many CAT tools can the market sustain? The choice of tools is breathtaking today, and that is good, but I wonder how many users are necessary to sustain continuous development and improvement.

In my opinion, very few companies are proving that they are financially capable of sustaining a continuous development and agile support, and the list in my head does not include some very important brands after what we hear and see in the fora. What are Western Standard's plans of on this area?”

Fluency was originally designed to fill a need in providing timely and accurate translations for the U.S. military. The military needed something to aid in providing translations within hours instead of days. There are currently several U.S. Federal agencies reviewing Fluency for use within their own translation divisions.

From Samuel Murray:

“The new version has a smaller dotnetfx file (24 MB) and no instructional video.”

Tutorial videos are now posted on Youtube and Fluency links directly to those videos from within the program. Video links are now updated with patches or new downloads. This minimizes the amount of data that the user needs to download. Although the download is relatively large, the download also contains large amounts of terminology that can be used with or without an active internet connection (designed for portability).



[Edited at 2010-06-23 18:24 GMT]

FarkasAndras wrote:


If that's the company's thinking, I pity them. That's a hugely mistaken idea. I mean, can they offer a really good dictionary in my mother tongue (Hungarian) or yours (Afrikaans)? Of course not. And even if they could, good translators don't have much use for a general dictionary anyway. It's just hopeless.

The program itself may be excellent for all I know, but built-in dictionaries have never been and will never become a selling point of CATs. People who know what they are doing have zero interest in them.
Also, if the tool lacks the ability to create and import glossaries (from tab delimited txt/xls and/or from TBX) then it goes straight to the rubbish heap where it belongs.

carl11 wrote:

I looked on their site. They do actually offer a Hungarian/English dictionary, though not Afrikaans. Don't know how good it is, though they claim that it's big. Their site also clarifies the terminology import.

FarkasAndras wrote:


If that's the company's thinking, I pity them. That's a hugely mistaken idea. I mean, can they offer a really good dictionary in my mother tongue (Hungarian) or yours (Afrikaans)? Of course not. And even if they could, good translators don't have much use for a general dictionary anyway. It's just hopeless.

The program itself may be excellent for all I know, but built-in dictionaries have never been and will never become a selling point of CATs. People who know what they are doing have zero interest in them.
Also, if the tool lacks the ability to create and import glossaries (from tab delimited txt/xls and/or from TBX) then it goes straight to the rubbish heap where it belongs.

Pablo Bouvier wrote:



I would not dare to openly criticize an application that I have not checked myself in depth.

FarkasAndras wrote:


Nor would I, which is why I don't do so without a caveat. If you read my post again, you might notice that it starts with "If that's the company's thinking" and goes on to say "The program itself may be excellent".