Any SmartCAT users around? What's your take on SmartCAT? Thread poster: BabelOn-line
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BabelOn-line
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:58
English to French
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Hello Prozians,
Asking this question as one of my nicest clients is thinking about using SmartCAT - and hence I would probably have to use it myself.
I believe the idea is to use an online TM tool so that various linguists who work on projects can tap into a common, updated glossary (and not so much about saving on repetitions/matches – the bulk of the work with this client does not feature much in terms of matches).
What is your general experienc... See more Hello Prozians,
Asking this question as one of my nicest clients is thinking about using SmartCAT - and hence I would probably have to use it myself.
I believe the idea is to use an online TM tool so that various linguists who work on projects can tap into a common, updated glossary (and not so much about saving on repetitions/matches – the bulk of the work with this client does not feature much in terms of matches).
What is your general experience with SmartCAT? Ease of use, learning curve, is this the right tool for simply applying a common glossary?
Thank you for your input.
Jean-Louis ▲ Collapse
| | | | Luca Tutino 
Italy
Member (2002)
English to Italian
+ ...
In addition to the usual offline CAT tools, many clients are now asking me to use new cloud base tools nowadays, to the point the I find it difficult to remember which one is which - XTM, Wordbee, SmartCat and I can't remember what else... When I get one of these translations, I open the tool, kind of quickly learn it again and work with what I have. I soon remember from experience, but when I am not working with a specific tool I cannot really remember the details.
Having said that... See more In addition to the usual offline CAT tools, many clients are now asking me to use new cloud base tools nowadays, to the point the I find it difficult to remember which one is which - XTM, Wordbee, SmartCat and I can't remember what else... When I get one of these translations, I open the tool, kind of quickly learn it again and work with what I have. I soon remember from experience, but when I am not working with a specific tool I cannot really remember the details.
Having said that, I have now launched SmartCat just to try and answer your question and found that my client implementation does not look too bad. Certainly not difficult to use, reasonably complete with basic features, and it gives the option to download the bilingual file after translation. This is one of the most important features for me because it allows me to apply my own way of checking my work before delivery, apply checklists and other offline tools, compare with my own glossary, etc.
About the glossary: in the case of this implementation, I do not have the option to add new terms into the common glossary. Which is not necessarily a bad thing: in general, I do not like having unvetted editing of the glossary by multiple colleagues. I think a responsible person should rather make the final decisions having a complete view of the whole project even if this requires a more complex workflow. ▲ Collapse
| | | | BabelOn-line
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:58
English to French
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TOPIC STARTER
Thanks you ever so much for taking the time to fire up your SmartCAT and provide this detailed answer.
100% agree with you when it comes to glossaries. This is exactly the problem my client has: the glossary is actually a list of previously translated sentences, with multiple copy and paste (made by end-client), edits, no versioning. In the days, we had a language sub-editor to keep the wheels on, but this era is long gone.
Since asking the question on Proz, it seems t... See more Thanks you ever so much for taking the time to fire up your SmartCAT and provide this detailed answer.
100% agree with you when it comes to glossaries. This is exactly the problem my client has: the glossary is actually a list of previously translated sentences, with multiple copy and paste (made by end-client), edits, no versioning. In the days, we had a language sub-editor to keep the wheels on, but this era is long gone.
Since asking the question on Proz, it seems that the fundamental issue is: who owns the glossary? Who is in charge of updating it? And the thorny one: who is willing tp pay for the maintenance of a glossary?
Looks to me that, we could provide a text or Excel CSV-delimited glossary and let each linguist use their own offline TM. I cannot imagine a TM that can't import a bilingual text fil. And indeed, for the few of us who do not use a TM yet, offer an on-line solution.
Apparently, SmartCAT also insists on handling the payments (from end-client and to linguists). This would, as far as i am concerned, be a massive red flag.
Again, thanks for your time
Kind regards ▲ Collapse
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BabelOn-line
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:58
English to French
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TOPIC STARTER | Thanks, Jean | Sep 27, 2019 |
Hi Jean
This is for a client, they were asking around to their linguists for advice.
Turns out that the main concern is indeed the ability to use bilingual glossaries. Which of course you can easily do in CafeTran - and I would imagine in more or less any offline TM.
So I think the discussion is now less a technical one (around "which TM, online or offline") and more around the "who owns and updates the dictionary", as linguists can probably work on heir ... See more Hi Jean
This is for a client, they were asking around to their linguists for advice.
Turns out that the main concern is indeed the ability to use bilingual glossaries. Which of course you can easily do in CafeTran - and I would imagine in more or less any offline TM.
So I think the discussion is now less a technical one (around "which TM, online or offline") and more around the "who owns and updates the dictionary", as linguists can probably work on heir TM of choice.
What I heard re SmartCAT was that apparently (have not checked it myself) , it was not allowing linguists to export and keep their own TM. If true, that would be a no goer as far as i am concerned. Also, there is a level of "we will handle everything for you on line including your admin and payments" that i am quite uncomfortable with.
Anyway, still on the learning curve with CafeTran but I like its dependability and the interface, so all good so far>
Have a great weekend. ▲ Collapse
| | | | John Fossey
Canada
Local time: 12:58
Member (2008)
French to English
+ ...
| SmartCAT is the client, not just a platform | Apr 28, 2020 |
BabelOn-line wrote:
Apparently, SmartCAT also insists on handling the payments (from end-client and to linguists). This would, as far as i am concerned, be a massive red flag.
That makes SmartCAT the translators' client, not simply a translation platform. In which case the normal due diligence is called for.
| | | | BabelOn-line
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:58
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thx for your input.
There is no way I am letting a third party anywhere near a client of mine, especially if I have just given this third party the treasure map (i.e. the glossary and terminology base).
Due diligence done, I am afraid it is a no go.
Kind regards
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