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Character count in WFP 3.20 with/without spaces?
Thread poster: Peggy Maeyer
Peggy Maeyer
Peggy Maeyer  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 21:54
English to German
Apr 9, 2014

Dear all,
I work with WFP 3.20 occasionally and I have now realized that the analysis does not mention anymore whether the character count includes (or excludes) spaces. As far as I remember, the character count in WF always included spaces.
Since I failed to find this information quickly elsewhere, I now hope anyone here has an answer to this question.
Thanks and best regards,
Peggy
 
Peggy Maeyer
Peggy Maeyer  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 21:54
English to German
TOPIC STARTER
Seems to be a good question indeed ... Apr 10, 2014

... anyone out there who knows whether WFP character count includes spaces?
Thanks!
 
Dominique Pivard
Dominique Pivard  Identity Verified
Local time: 22:54
Finnish to French
Easy to check Apr 12, 2014

Peggy Maeyer wrote:
... anyone out there who knows whether WFP character count includes spaces?

It's easy to check: just take any sample Word document, analyze it in WFP and compare the character count to what Word gives you.

I did that here:



Bottom line: WFP doesn't include spaces in its character count (= same brain-dead approach copied from Trados), too bad if you operate on a market where it's standard practice to bill based on character counts, which almost always should include spaces (because, after all, the translation you deliver usually include them as well). Finland and Germany are two such markets I'm aware of.

Workaround: add the number of words to the spaceless character count and you will get a rough estimate of the total character count, including spaces.
 
Peggy Maeyer
Peggy Maeyer  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 21:54
English to German
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks Apr 16, 2014

Thanks, Dominique, for your reply. I already came up with the same approach before reading your response
And I agree with you, it's too bad the character count excludes spaces - being based in Germany, I am in one such market where spaces are usually included in the count.
Maybe the Wordfast developers should/could think about incorporating an option which allows translators to adjust the analysis settings in this regar... See more
Thanks, Dominique, for your reply. I already came up with the same approach before reading your response
And I agree with you, it's too bad the character count excludes spaces - being based in Germany, I am in one such market where spaces are usually included in the count.
Maybe the Wordfast developers should/could think about incorporating an option which allows translators to adjust the analysis settings in this regard; I imagine that's not too difficult. ▲ Collapse
 


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Character count in WFP 3.20 with/without spaces?







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