Pages in topic:   [1 2] >
What tools do you use for QA on your translations?
Thread poster: Thomas Rebotier
Thomas Rebotier
Thomas Rebotier  Identity Verified
Local time: 08:34
English to French
Jan 5, 2010

Hello,

I was wondering what type of QA tool is used by other translators. The large majority of my documents are in MS Word and the spell check is not perfect. I have looked into QA tools on the market but most of them work at the level of the TM; I'd like something more simple, at the level of the target document. I considered doing my own macro package but I'm not well versed in VB and would rather not reinvent the wheel. What tools do you use for QA on your translations?
... See more
Hello,

I was wondering what type of QA tool is used by other translators. The large majority of my documents are in MS Word and the spell check is not perfect. I have looked into QA tools on the market but most of them work at the level of the TM; I'd like something more simple, at the level of the target document. I considered doing my own macro package but I'm not well versed in VB and would rather not reinvent the wheel. What tools do you use for QA on your translations?

[Subject edited by staff or moderator 2010-01-05 01:00 GMT]
Collapse


 
Julie Dion (X)
Julie Dion (X)  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 11:34
English to French
Antidote Jan 5, 2010

Druide informatique.

Gladis Audi, DipTrans
 
Claudia Alvis
Claudia Alvis  Identity Verified
Peru
Local time: 10:34
Member
Spanish
+ ...
Studio Jan 5, 2010

My favorite QA tool is now Studio. I like it so much because it's a real-time QA tool, so I don't have to wait until the translation is completed. I still always do a post-translation QA but it takes me considerably less time. I wrote about it in this post; the second paragr... See more
My favorite QA tool is now Studio. I like it so much because it's a real-time QA tool, so I don't have to wait until the translation is completed. I still always do a post-translation QA but it takes me considerably less time. I wrote about it in this post; the second paragraph is about quality assurance.

I hope that helps and happy new year.

Claudia
Collapse


 
Brandis (X)
Brandis (X)
Local time: 16:34
English to German
+ ...
I am mainly a translator. Jan 5, 2010

Hi!
these days many outsourcer are demanding QA arguing they have in-house QA specialists. Infact they are offering more for editing and proof-reading etc., than translation. considering this translation supplied represents raw material, without which there will be no proof-reading and editing etc., I just translate in my domain expertise and leave the rest to the outsourcer. The world is changing here a little bit, whether it is due to over population of translators or the outsourcers. QA
... See more
Hi!
these days many outsourcer are demanding QA arguing they have in-house QA specialists. Infact they are offering more for editing and proof-reading etc., than translation. considering this translation supplied represents raw material, without which there will be no proof-reading and editing etc., I just translate in my domain expertise and leave the rest to the outsourcer. The world is changing here a little bit, whether it is due to over population of translators or the outsourcers. QA is a very special subject and highly expensive. Brandis
Collapse


 
Brand Localization
Brand Localization
Egypt
Local time: 17:34
German to Arabic
+ ...
STAR Format Checker Jan 5, 2010

STAR, the provider of Transit Translation Memory, provides a paid tool called "Format Checker" there is a version for MS Words and another one for FrameMaker.
It checks only for format possible mistakes like double spaces, wrong tabs and so on.
But it has nothing to do with spell checking, which you can do using the spell checker plug-ins of OpenOffice for instance.

I hope, this would help you.

Regards

ATT


 
David Wright
David Wright  Identity Verified
Austria
Local time: 16:34
German to English
+ ...
Read it Jan 5, 2010

I'm probably old fashioned, but basically I read through my final text very carefully indeed, and if the work is for publication (as opposed to being used simply to inform my client) I get it double checked by a qualified proofreader in the UK. I only rarely get queries from the client side, so my system seems to work. (admittedly most of my work is to provide the client extremely quickly with a text that he can understand , and we both accept that there may be minor errors in the use of languag... See more
I'm probably old fashioned, but basically I read through my final text very carefully indeed, and if the work is for publication (as opposed to being used simply to inform my client) I get it double checked by a qualified proofreader in the UK. I only rarely get queries from the client side, so my system seems to work. (admittedly most of my work is to provide the client extremely quickly with a text that he can understand , and we both accept that there may be minor errors in the use of language - but not in the actual content).Collapse


 
John Di Rico
John Di Rico  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 16:34
Member (2006)
French to English
Customize Wordfast QA settings Jan 5, 2010

I use Wordfast QA features including blacklists, glossary warnings, penalties, pandora's box commands, quality check reports... There are a lot of simple things that fix hard to spot errors. Plus a "patented" workflow that works!

John


 
DZiW (X)
DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
WF configuration Jan 5, 2010

Frankly speaking I'm pretty sure that accurate and well-prepared work is better than post-screening, so like John I also find that WF settings should do)

Nevertheless it rarely can completely replace an adjourn proofreading (esp. for a long and complicated projects) or an independent proofreader/ editor IMO.

Cheers)


 
Rustam Shafikov
Rustam Shafikov  Identity Verified
Kazakhstan
Local time: 21:34
Member (2009)
English to Russian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
Verifika seems to be the best solution Aug 19, 2014

I have used many QA tools including QA Distiller, Linguistic Toolbox and Apsic XBench but Verifika really seems to be the ONE. It has a very convenient interface, it supports many file types and it lets you edit the files on the fly. And the price is very competitive too - just take QA Distiller for example.
Here's a detailed review of Verifi
... See more
I have used many QA tools including QA Distiller, Linguistic Toolbox and Apsic XBench but Verifika really seems to be the ONE. It has a very convenient interface, it supports many file types and it lets you edit the files on the fly. And the price is very competitive too - just take QA Distiller for example.
Here's a detailed review of Verifika in comparison with QA Distiller: http://3.b-est.ru/2013/05/16/qa-distiller-or-verifika-and-the-winner-is/
Collapse


 
Anna Trzupek
Anna Trzupek
Poland
Local time: 16:34
Polish to German
+ ...
Definitely Verifika Oct 1, 2014

I used Xbench for few years and it was sufficient until the time when I received a huge project for editing in a very short period of time. I managed to do it on time using Verifika. It allows to edit terminology and work on coherence without opening the files. The changes are implemented directly from Verifika’s interface. This is an advantage if you need to make changes in several files in the project. What's more – during replacing the terms you do not have to do everything by hand – it... See more
I used Xbench for few years and it was sufficient until the time when I received a huge project for editing in a very short period of time. I managed to do it on time using Verifika. It allows to edit terminology and work on coherence without opening the files. The changes are implemented directly from Verifika’s interface. This is an advantage if you need to make changes in several files in the project. What's more – during replacing the terms you do not have to do everything by hand – it’s enough to set properly the Find and Replace function – it goes in a flash and you have full control over them. In that project Verifika saved me at least one day of work. I was already determined to buy a license but yesterday I got a surprise: for the International Translation Day Palex gave away some free licenses for Verifika and one of them came to me. Nice of them:)

For those interested: http://e-verifika.com

[Zmieniono 2014-10-02 09:05 GMT]
Collapse


 
Miguel Carmona
Miguel Carmona  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 08:34
English to Spanish
Background, subject matter knowledge Oct 1, 2014

Anybody can like and praise any QA tool he/she wants, but ultimately what really matters is what the person has in his/her brain.

The best CAT and QA tools will not make a lousy translator a good one.

Background and subject matter knowledge are fundamental. Without those two, it is not possible to do proper research. How would the translator evaluate the quality of the information found?

If the translator does not know anything about wh
... See more
Anybody can like and praise any QA tool he/she wants, but ultimately what really matters is what the person has in his/her brain.

The best CAT and QA tools will not make a lousy translator a good one.

Background and subject matter knowledge are fundamental. Without those two, it is not possible to do proper research. How would the translator evaluate the quality of the information found?

If the translator does not know anything about what he/she is translating, what good does it make to have the best QA tool available? Tools will never substitute knowledge.

For instance, just take a look at many of the questions asked on KudoZ, who ask them and the tools they use. What difference did it make for them to have those tools?
Collapse


Hans-PH
 
Anna Trzupek
Anna Trzupek
Poland
Local time: 16:34
Polish to German
+ ...
QA Oct 1, 2014

That's true. QA tools cannot replace the crucial knowledge. But they help introduce order in the translation (unification, catching omissions or missing terms, which are simple human errors). In this sense, it's hard to imagine a really good job without some quality assurance steps.

Lea Wettmann
 
Daniela Bosco
Daniela Bosco  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 16:34
Member (2007)
English to Italian
+ ...
Verifika above all Oct 2, 2014

I use several QA tools in my workflow. The first checks are done inside Studio, then I use Xbench and the last step is left to Verifika which pick all those important things that the others did not. It is perfect to spot inconsistencies and terminology deviations. Also small issues such as leading spaces, wrong quotes or spaces betwwn tags are spotted and taken care of inside the program. Excellent tool!


Dani


 
Maxi Schwarz
Maxi Schwarz  Identity Verified
Local time: 10:34
German to English
+ ...
like David and Miguel Oct 2, 2014

I cannot see any application replacing the work that a translator does by checking through his or her work, unless the material is very ... formulaic? (trying to think of the word). You check that everything has been translated with the same meaning and nuance. An application can do some of that possibly, but not where nuance and tone comes in. You check for style, flow, syntax - again an application cannot do that. However it can check for things like spelling. Although often the system in... See more
I cannot see any application replacing the work that a translator does by checking through his or her work, unless the material is very ... formulaic? (trying to think of the word). You check that everything has been translated with the same meaning and nuance. An application can do some of that possibly, but not where nuance and tone comes in. You check for style, flow, syntax - again an application cannot do that. However it can check for things like spelling. Although often the system in Word will decide something is "wrong" or should be different when it is absolutely correct, because applications can't think.Collapse


 
Tiffany Hardy
Tiffany Hardy  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 16:34
Spanish to English
I use Xbench Oct 2, 2014

Personally, I use Xbench and find it to be an invaluable tool for my work. I'm not sure about just loading a simple word file into it. I'm usually checking against a terminology list so I load the term lists and perform a check against the bilingual file which also does a QA check (double spaces, inconsistent translations, spelling errors, repeated words, number inconsistencies etc.).

If that doesn't work for you, using word macros are quite simple to get the hang of after you've
... See more
Personally, I use Xbench and find it to be an invaluable tool for my work. I'm not sure about just loading a simple word file into it. I'm usually checking against a terminology list so I load the term lists and perform a check against the bilingual file which also does a QA check (double spaces, inconsistent translations, spelling errors, repeated words, number inconsistencies etc.).

If that doesn't work for you, using word macros are quite simple to get the hang of after you've practiced a few times. If you are sticking with just word documents for the most part, my advice would be to work your way through some macros tutorials online until you get the hang of it and draw up a basic proofreading macros to run on each document. This is great because you can keep adding to it as you come up with new things you would like to check for in your quality check.

Best of luck!
Collapse


 
Pages in topic:   [1 2] >


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:


You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

What tools do you use for QA on your translations?






TM-Town
Manage your TMs and Terms ... and boost your translation business

Are you ready for something fresh in the industry? TM-Town is a unique new site for you -- the freelance translator -- to store, manage and share translation memories (TMs) and glossaries...and potentially meet new clients on the basis of your prior work.

More info »
Trados Business Manager Lite
Create customer quotes and invoices from within Trados Studio

Trados Business Manager Lite helps to simplify and speed up some of the daily tasks, such as invoicing and reporting, associated with running your freelance translation business.

More info »