Poll: Do you think your CAT tool investment has paid for itself? Autor de la hebra: ProZ.com Staff
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| | neilmac
España
Local time: 14:43
español al inglés
+ ...
Definitely. I am much more relaxed and less stressed out since I started using Wordfast. I also suffer less wrist and back pain thanks to my speech recognition SW.
| | | | Michael Harris 
Alemania
Local time: 14:43
Miembro 2006
alemán al inglés
within the first month really. The updates are paid-off quickly as well.
Actually, I could not imagine how I could do without it now
| | | | Julian Holmes
Japón
Local time: 22:43
Miembro 2011
japonés al inglés
I recouped 10x my investment with my very first job using 'my CAT tool' all those years back. (FYI, Trados is the de facto tool over here.) Apart from auto-suggest dictionaries and other bells and whistles, I can ensure consistency in both terms and phrasing across multiple manuals that sometimes take 4 to 5 months to complete.
Even though I'm a CAT lover, I also realize that CAT tool related polls must be a real pain in the derriere for those who don't use 'em. You have my sympathy... See more I recouped 10x my investment with my very first job using 'my CAT tool' all those years back. (FYI, Trados is the de facto tool over here.) Apart from auto-suggest dictionaries and other bells and whistles, I can ensure consistency in both terms and phrasing across multiple manuals that sometimes take 4 to 5 months to complete.
Even though I'm a CAT lover, I also realize that CAT tool related polls must be a real pain in the derriere for those who don't use 'em. You have my sympathy  ▲ Collapse
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| Thank you, Julian! | Jul 25, 2014 |
Julian Holmes wrote:
Even though I'm a CAT lover, I also realize that CAT tool related polls must be a real pain in the derriere for those who don't use 'em. You have my sympathy
For thinking of us poor souls...
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I bought Trados many years ago and am working with Translator's Workbench and TagEditor for many years creating many TMs which are growing bigger and bigger and which I am also using for new assignments.
Some years ago an outsourcer urged us freelancers to buy SDL Trados Studio - and I did not like it from the start, not that I don't like to learn a new working environment, but it turned out rather complicated and restrictive. I felt as if forced into a corset.
So, I wasn't re... See more I bought Trados many years ago and am working with Translator's Workbench and TagEditor for many years creating many TMs which are growing bigger and bigger and which I am also using for new assignments.
Some years ago an outsourcer urged us freelancers to buy SDL Trados Studio - and I did not like it from the start, not that I don't like to learn a new working environment, but it turned out rather complicated and restrictive. I felt as if forced into a corset.
So, I wasn't really sad, when it didn't work anymore:
Some other outsourcer sent me the "SP3 update for Studio 2009" - and after I installed it my Trados Studio did not work anymore. I tried several things like uninstall the whole programme and re-install it, but there was no way to get it running again.
So I decided to do without it and had no problems since - working with Trados Translator's Workbench as before.
Unfortunately, there are some outsourcers who always ask for SDL Studio or even call it mandatory for getting jobs. ▲ Collapse
| | | | soren ellegaard
Dinamarca
Local time: 14:43
Miembro 2014
inglés al danés
+ ...
| Freelance versions? | Jul 25, 2014 |
well CAT lovers out there. With huge respect for your work, can you tell me .. are the freelance versions at approx 100 EUR any good?
[Edited at 2014-07-25 09:08 GMT]
[Edited at 2014-07-25 09:08 GMT]
| | | | Gudrun Maydorn (X)
Alemania
Local time: 14:43
inglés al alemán
+ ...
| Hi sorenellegaard | Jul 25, 2014 |
I have been working with Wordfast for the past 6 years and would not want to miss it. The current ProZ.com summer sale offers Wordfast Classic plus 1 year's ProZ.com membership at 200 EUR plus VAT, so if you deduct the ProZ.com membership you will effectively get a brilliant CAT tool for as little as 84 EUR. Grab it!!!
I repurchased my Wordfast licence last year so sadly this offer is too late for me ...
Gudrun Maydorn
Freelance Translator for German and English<... See more I have been working with Wordfast for the past 6 years and would not want to miss it. The current ProZ.com summer sale offers Wordfast Classic plus 1 year's ProZ.com membership at 200 EUR plus VAT, so if you deduct the ProZ.com membership you will effectively get a brilliant CAT tool for as little as 84 EUR. Grab it!!!
I repurchased my Wordfast licence last year so sadly this offer is too late for me ...
Gudrun Maydorn
Freelance Translator for German and English
Medicine, Medical Instruments and Mechanical Engineering
[Bearbeitet am 2014-07-25 09:38 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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| Yes, but only in absolute terms | Jul 25, 2014 |
I've been using WordFast Classic for some 10 years, and my answer is YES, the time it has saved me indeed covered its cost.
When I first installed it, WF was free. Then its price grew exponentially, however as of today it still preserves its $19.99-shareware look, feel, and performance. They say the last item is due to its reliance on the gremlin-ridden Microsoft Word.
A few years ago I tried the MS Word-independent WordFast Pro. Maybe it would work okay on a NASA-style... See more I've been using WordFast Classic for some 10 years, and my answer is YES, the time it has saved me indeed covered its cost.
When I first installed it, WF was free. Then its price grew exponentially, however as of today it still preserves its $19.99-shareware look, feel, and performance. They say the last item is due to its reliance on the gremlin-ridden Microsoft Word.
A few years ago I tried the MS Word-independent WordFast Pro. Maybe it would work okay on a NASA-style mainframe, not on a plain-vanilla PC like mine, which nevertheless works fine to edit video and author complex interactive DVDs. WFP gave the work 'sluggishness' an entirely new dimension. Dropped out of it.
SDL was kind enough to send me the link to an interesting online questionnaire on my work. I tried to answer it as honestly and accurately as I could, and got their very own estimate: Considering my specific line of work, it would take Trados 13 years to pay for itself in my case, not including the expensive yet mandatory upgrades once a year!
This, added to the fact that about 3 out of every 4 threads on the Proz forum are about Trados technical problems that can't get solved, I decided to never try give it a try.
I tried MemoQ with a client-provided portable license, for a multiple translators on the cloud project. In spite of the messy file management (possibly attributable to the project size and complexity) and some minor hiccups, it went well. I thought of moving from WFC to MemoQ.
When I was about to take the plunge, this same client (a friendly translation agency) warned me that MemoQ had 'improved', and I must have something like 'at least' an i7 920 processor, 32 GB ram, running Windows 8 or better and a 100 MBPS connection to the web, in order to join their translating team on the cloud, otherwise I'd be slowing down the entire network and crashing all the time. This made me think that their cloud was populated with angels, not computers.
Well, I didn't try other CAT tools, reasoning that if any of them were better, or at least more cost-effective, it would be the market leader already.
I'll be comparing apples and bananas, but yesterday I had an urgent DTP project, which I did using the vintage PageMaker 6.52. I had to leave aside another project, a large one, using WFC. I was impressed by PM's solid and flawless performance, everything went right the first time, no glitches left behind to fix later. Why can't any CAT tool deliver such reliable performance as a glitch-free software package, regardless of its purpose?
Comparing the entire CAT tools area with other types of software, CAT is clearly the most expensive and lowest performance specialty. On the other end, digital video software is the cheapest and best performing, since excellent freeware for video abounds.
As long as all commercial CAT tools remain abusively expensive for their performance and user-friendliness, translators' needs will keep their cost/benefit ratio viable. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Just out of curiosity... | Jul 25, 2014 |
Julian Holmes wrote:
Even though I'm a CAT lover, I also realize that CAT tool related polls must be a real pain in the derriere for those who don't use 'em. You have my sympathy
... I searched the quick polls and there are 58 (and counting...) CAT tool related polls!
| | | | Yaotl Altan
México
Local time: 07:43
Miembro 2006
inglés al español
+ ...
SDL Trados 2011 and Memo Q.
| | | | | Wordfast yes, Trados Studio (basic) no | Jul 25, 2014 |
Wordfast Classic + Professional: totally!
Trados Studio (basic ediction): not at all.
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| Old Trados veteran | Jul 25, 2014 |
I do have Studio 2011 and as some other translators, do not like it too much. MemoQ, however, I love. I can even process Studio packages in it. It is intuitive, it gives me the translator total freedom of working like I like to work and it is easy to coordinate huge projects (currently translating a book of 100,000 words). I have more than recouped the money invested.
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Especially, since it wasn't very expensive (less then 300 €), and I don't have to pay a yearly fee or for updates.
I love it, and wouldn't change it for anything else
| | | | Giles Watson
Italia
Local time: 14:43
italiano al inglés
In Memoriam
I've been using CAT tools since the mid 1990s, mainly Trados but also DV3/X, OmegaT, LogiTerm and one or two other bits and bobs. Currently, I am using Trados Studio 2014 with various Open Exchange Apps, supplemented now and again by Align Factory Light, Olifant and XBench. And no, I am not a geek. I started out as a dyed-in-the-wool digital alien whose biggest techno-thrill to date has been my first typewriter, acquired in my second year at university in 1973.
The money angle is a... See more I've been using CAT tools since the mid 1990s, mainly Trados but also DV3/X, OmegaT, LogiTerm and one or two other bits and bobs. Currently, I am using Trados Studio 2014 with various Open Exchange Apps, supplemented now and again by Align Factory Light, Olifant and XBench. And no, I am not a geek. I started out as a dyed-in-the-wool digital alien whose biggest techno-thrill to date has been my first typewriter, acquired in my second year at university in 1973.
The money angle is a bit of a no-brainer since, at least in my case, all of the paid tools are tax-deductible. Properly used, CATs enhance consistency significantly and boost productivity to a noticeable, if not spectacular, degree. What you do need to invest is a little time to learn how to use the tools to your best advantage, which some of the people who ask questions about Trados on Proz have perhaps failed to do. ▲ Collapse
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