How to reimport a Trados-compatible bilingual doc exported from MemoQ back into Trados Studio 2017
Thread poster: Tansy Tazewell
Tansy Tazewell
Tansy Tazewell  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 01:17
Member (2008)
German to English
May 10, 2019

I have received a Word file from a customer and the customer would like me to deliver an sdlxliff file in addition to the Word file.

Now I much prefer working with MemoQ to working with Trados. If I import the Word file into MemoQ for translation I see no way of later generating an sdlxliff file (research indicates I must have an sdlxliff file to start with to do that). But I can export a Trados-compatible bilingual doc. If I do that I'm assuming I can then somehow import this file
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I have received a Word file from a customer and the customer would like me to deliver an sdlxliff file in addition to the Word file.

Now I much prefer working with MemoQ to working with Trados. If I import the Word file into MemoQ for translation I see no way of later generating an sdlxliff file (research indicates I must have an sdlxliff file to start with to do that). But I can export a Trados-compatible bilingual doc. If I do that I'm assuming I can then somehow import this file back into Trados Studio 2017 and create an sdlxliff file to send to the customer from there - but I have no idea how to do so.
I'd be very grateful for any advice - with very simple steps, please - I'm not good at Trados!
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Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 01:17
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...
A memoQ XLIFF would do? May 10, 2019

Tansy wrote:
But I can export a Trados-compatible bilingual doc.

Indeed you cannot really make a native SDLXLIFF file from memoQ, but you can make a memoQ XLIFF file (Export-Bilingual) which can be opened with Studio if the customer wants to feed their Trados-TM with the content.


 
Tansy Tazewell
Tansy Tazewell  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 01:17
Member (2008)
German to English
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks May 10, 2019

Hi Tomás,
Many thanks for the quick reply. As the customer knows I have Trados and really wants an sdlxliff file back (even if there is a workaround), I guess I'd probably better stick to working in Trados (and learn how to use it better!)


 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 01:17
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@Tansy May 10, 2019

Tansy wrote:
I can export a "Trados-compatible bilingual doc".


Yes, erm... no. The "Trados-compatible bilingual doc" that MemoQ means is an old bilingual format that was used by Trados many, many years ago (more than a decade ago, in fact). It is also known as an "uncleaned RTF" file. It is intended for people who still use Trados 6 or Trados 2007, or for people who use Wordfast Classic. You would not be doing your modern client any favours if you send him such a file.

If I do that, I'm assuming I can then somehow import this file back into Trados Studio 2017 and create an SDLXLIFF file to send to the customer from there...


I'm not sure if Trados 2019 is able to "clean" an uncleaned RTF (i.e., add its translations to an existing TM), but even if you could, you can't just convert that into an SDLXLIFF file. You have to create an SDLXLIFF file from the original source document. Then, if you have the translations available in a TM (e.g. if you were able to add the translations from your uncleaned RTF file to the TM), then you can quickly translate the SDLXLIFF file against that TM.

Odds are that even if you can add the translations from an uncleaned RTF file to a TM in Trados 2019, the formatting will be lost and you won't get exact matches for an SDLXLIFF file generated from the same source file (and neither will your client!).

If you do the translation in MemoQ, you may be able to export your translations from MemoQ as a TMX file, and then import the TMX file into a Trados TM, and then use that TM to quickly translate a project in Trados, but the same problems w.r.t. formatting apply.

I have received a Word file from a customer and the customer would like me to deliver an SDLXLIFF file in addition to the Word file.


It sounds to me like you do have Trados. So, create a new project in Trados, and then add the source file to it so that it creates an SDLXLIFF file. Then translate that SDLXLIFF file in MemoQ directly (i.e., don't translate the Word file in MemoQ).


Marijke Singer
 
Tansy Tazewell
Tansy Tazewell  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 01:17
Member (2008)
German to English
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks May 10, 2019

Thanks Samuel, that's very useful - I'll try creating an sdxliff file from the Word file in Trados first and then import it into MemoQ. Many thanks!

 
Marijke Singer
Marijke Singer  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 01:17
Member
Dutch to English
+ ...
MemoQ and Studio May 13, 2019

Samuel Murray wrote:

It sounds to me like you do have Trados. So, create a new project in Trados, and then add the source file to it so that it creates an SDLXLIFF file. Then translate that SDLXLIFF file in MemoQ directly (i.e., don't translate the Word file in MemoQ).



I prefer using MemoQ too and this is what I do (since I have Studio). When I am finished and having exported the final file, I delete the language part of the file name (since Studio does not do this) and open the file in Studio just to check it opens and everything is OK.


 


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How to reimport a Trados-compatible bilingual doc exported from MemoQ back into Trados Studio 2017






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