| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] > | Poll: Do you think that your CAT software has paid for itself? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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DianeGM 
Local time: 15:38
Member (2006)
Dutch to English
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I was first given a license for IBM translation manager by one of my very first clients and saw the benefits immediately. I had also used and liked one which was freeware then. Later I caved into market pressure and purchased another one. I find it useful, time saving and I like the tools with which I can streamline my QA process, thus save time and increasing efficiency/productivity/client satisfaction and the initial investment was covered immediately with the first few large jobs I undertook,... See more I was first given a license for IBM translation manager by one of my very first clients and saw the benefits immediately. I had also used and liked one which was freeware then. Later I caved into market pressure and purchased another one. I find it useful, time saving and I like the tools with which I can streamline my QA process, thus save time and increasing efficiency/productivity/client satisfaction and the initial investment was covered immediately with the first few large jobs I undertook, at least in cash terms.
But after several years of upgrades and learning on my feet and courses it still sometimes spontaneously combusts throwing out weird exceptions and that has a cost in stress, lost time and sometimes external IT. But I am sure I'm still enormously in the black. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Ventnai
Spain
Local time: 14:38
German to English
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| Yes, but ... | Oct 25, 2013 |
CAT tools certainly have helped my productivity, but they do cause problems as well: crashing, key features not functioning as they should, formatting, tags getting in the way, non-compatible file formats ...
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because I did not buy it, I use a free CAT tool, so, I guess, it cannot pay off .
I chose a free CAT tool because I work on an Apple platform and I don't want all that parallels stuff - iOS is iOS and should remain as such, not messed around by Windows (my personal opinion, don't throw eggs).
I am happy with it for the moment, maybe, at some point, I will consider buying another CAT tool, iOS version, but not for... See more because I did not buy it, I use a free CAT tool, so, I guess, it cannot pay off.
I chose a free CAT tool because I work on an Apple platform and I don't want all that parallels stuff - iOS is iOS and should remain as such, not messed around by Windows (my personal opinion, don't throw eggs).
I am happy with it for the moment, maybe, at some point, I will consider buying another CAT tool, iOS version, but not for now. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Anna Grabowska
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:38
English to Polish
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| Does anyone know? | Oct 25, 2013 |
I am sorry if my question is a bit daft. You all say it is such a great tool, and I actually think very seriously about investing in it, but... since it is quite a substantial amount of money and I have never worked with it, I was wondering if there is a way to try it before buying just to check if I get on with it at all. I have search, but can't find anything.... So, does anybody know if I can find a free trial somewhere at all???
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Mary Worby
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:38
German to English
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| @Chris again | Oct 25, 2013 |
Chris S wrote:
But perhaps the latest Studio versions are an improvement on the six-year-old TagEditor I occasionally have to use and hate with a passion?
Yes, without a shadow of a doubt. I wouldn't go back to TagEditor if you paid me!
| | | | | Yes, it brings me more work | Oct 25, 2013 |
Chris S wrote:
Even so, how can it "pay for itself"? Agencies don't pay for matches, so no saving there. And in a recent poll the majority seemed to think it wrong to charge CAT-ignorant customers for matches. So where is the benefit?
For me it's not so much a matter of paid/unpaid matches, but more a question of requirement. Without a CAT tool, I wouldn't have been able to get on board maybe 80 % of my projects, since the client requested the work be done with a CAT tool. The fact that this requirement is right or wrong is not the question here. The fact is, without a CAT tool, I probably wouldn't be able to make ends meet.
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Chris S wrote:
I'm not sure how much one can take from the results here. You have to assume that people who buy CAT software only do so because they expect it to pay for itself, so the results are naturally skewed.
Even so, how can it "pay for itself"? Agencies don't pay for matches, so no saving there. And in a recent poll the majority seemed to think it wrong to charge CAT-ignorant customers for matches. So where is the benefit?
@ Chris: All my agencies pay for 100% and repetitions! it is my time spent sitting there waiting for them to run through, and I usually spend time checking them as well. I charge 25% of my normal fee. Any agencies who don't like it, can lump it. If they really don't want to pay then I do not even look at the reps and charge them more than usual.
An example: as is the case at the moment, I have specifications and operating instructions where 20% is new and the rest fuzzy and reps, I am still earning a good amount for very little work
Yes, the CATs are sometimes bolshy, just like real cats, but the benefits of having all your years of translating at your fingertips in a TM are immense. My CATs paid for themselves within weeks. And to be honest, I have had problems with tags, but once you work it out, no probs. And for me, less time working means more time doing all the other stuff I like to do!
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Chris S wrote:
Good points, I'd clean forgotten about the old overtyping/deleting thing! I'm still not entirely convinced it isn't more work on balance though. For me anyway. Especially Trados.
But perhaps the latest Studio versions are an improvement on the six-year-old TagEditor I occasionally have to use and hate with a passion?
@ Chris
I have tag editor 2007 and I have also been using 2011 for the past 8 months. Once I got used to 2011, it is absolutely fantastic, just the Autosuggest and Autotext features alone are wonderful, especially for a technical translator (just type the first 2 letters and your most frequently used words/phrases are there - think specifications, technical specifications, piezoelectric measurement results, etc.) Practically no tags either and no worries about formating and and and.
I would definitely recommend you switching straight to Trados 2014 as that has even more useful features.
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Helen Hagon
Local time: 13:38
Member (2011)
Russian to English
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I've only just bought a CAT tool and am still learning how to use it. I've used it for a couple of jobs and they took longer than normal because I was fiddling around with the software. However, as I get the hang of things, I am hoping I will be able to work faster and more efficiently and so start to feel the benefit.
| | | | Mario Chavez (X)
Local time: 08:38
English to Spanish
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| Which agencies don't pay for matches? | Oct 25, 2013 |
Chris S wrote:
I'm not sure how much one can take from the results here. You have to assume that people who buy CAT software only do so because they expect it to pay for itself, so the results are naturally skewed.
Even so, how can it "pay for itself"? Agencies don't pay for matches, so no saving there. And in a recent poll the majority seemed to think it wrong to charge CAT-ignorant customers for matches. So where is the benefit?
I agree that the results may be skewed to respondents whose main priority for having a CAT tool is that it pays for itself in more jobs.
However, I wouldn't go as far as saying that agencies (implying all of them) don't pay for matches. All the agencies I work for here in America pay for 100% matches and repetitions? Why? Because I ask them to.
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Heather McCrae wrote: All my agencies pay for 100% and repetitions! it is my time spent sitting there waiting for them to run through, and I usually spend time checking them as well. I charge 25% of my normal fee. Any agencies who don't like it, can lump it. If they really don't want to pay then I do not even look at the reps and charge them more than usual. An example: as is the case at the moment, I have specifications and operating instructions where 20% is new and the rest fuzzy and reps, I am still earning a good amount for very little work
Hmm, even at 25% I wouldn't expect to make money by the time I've tied in my translation with the old stuff, and then checked and corrected the old stuff, which is almost always badly and inconsistently translated. Which is why I very very rarely do this.
Where I do make money is when it's *my* memory and I don't have to touch the matches. Ker-ching!
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Mario Chavez wrote:
However, I wouldn't go as far as saying that agencies (implying all of them) don't pay for matches. All the agencies I work for here in America pay for 100% matches and repetitions? Why? Because I ask them to.
Sure, some do. Like the ones that work with me!!
But most seem to want huge discounts. Paying 10-25% for matches doesn't cover costs as far as I'm concerned.
You and I may be in a position to refuse to work on those terms, but clearly many others aren't!
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Mario Chavez (X)
Local time: 08:38
English to Spanish
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| Huge discounts | Oct 25, 2013 |
Chris S wrote: Mario Chavez wrote:
However, I wouldn't go as far as saying that agencies (implying all of them) don't pay for matches. All the agencies I work for here in America pay for 100% matches and repetitions? Why? Because I ask them to. Sure, some do. Like the ones that work with me!! But most seem to want huge discounts. Paying 10-25% for matches doesn't cover costs as far as I'm concerned. You and I may be in a position to refuse to work on those terms, but clearly many others aren't!
I believe most of our colleagues can pick and choose their clients and refuse anyone who insists on extracting huge discounts or refuses to pay reasonable rates according to their local markets.
I've been in situations like that, where I thought I had little or no control. There's no special math or magic formula to what I'm saying, but it takes perseverance, vigilance about one's markets and reaching out to better clients. And risk tolerance.
I've said here many times that one of the best solutions is seeking direct clients. But even direct clients, with better rates and conditions, are not forever. I gained —and lost— two promising direct clients last year because of changes in their business activities.
A bit of luck doesn't hurt either.
| | | | Georgia Morg (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:38
Portuguese to English
| I don't use CAT tools...... | Oct 25, 2013 |
I don't use CAT tools because I came late to this game and, although I love the act of translating, I am pretty useless when it come to computers. This means, of course, I lose out on work, (one UK agency just insisted I used a CAT tool if I wanted to do a translation this weekend) but I am in the happy position of not depending on this work to pay the bills. I, personally, can think of nothing worse than fiddling around with new software. I know I am in the minority here, and I know I will neve... See more I don't use CAT tools because I came late to this game and, although I love the act of translating, I am pretty useless when it come to computers. This means, of course, I lose out on work, (one UK agency just insisted I used a CAT tool if I wanted to do a translation this weekend) but I am in the happy position of not depending on this work to pay the bills. I, personally, can think of nothing worse than fiddling around with new software. I know I am in the minority here, and I know I will never earn as much money as most people, but that is OK. BTW, I am such a dinosaur that when I did the Institute of Linguists Diploma in Translation and was offered the option of doing it on a computer or by hand, guess which I chose? No regrets!
[Edited at 2013-10-25 15:23 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Anna Grabowska wrote:
I am sorry if my question is a bit daft. You all say it is such a great tool, and I actually think very seriously about investing in it, but... since it is quite a substantial amount of money and I have never worked with it, I was wondering if there is a way to try it before buying just to check if I get on with it at all. I have search, but can't find anything.... So, does anybody know if I can find a free trial somewhere at all???
I know SDL Trados has a 30 day trial period and you can get a one year license at a decent price; Wordfast has a free version too. I started using Wordfast Pro for a client a while back and I've become a fan.
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