curly apostrophe in Trados 2014
Thread poster: Xavier Amouyal
Xavier Amouyal
Xavier Amouyal  Identity Verified
Israel
Local time: 16:24
Member (2013)
English to French
+ ...
May 4, 2015

Hi everyone,
I am a EN>FR translator, and one of my clients wants me to use curly apostrophes (Alt+0146) when I write in French.
When I write, Trados automatically puts straight apostrophes (Alt+039).
I thought that maybe there was a way to configure Trados and/or Windows so as to write curly apostrophes automatically.
In the meantime I do a global Ctrl-H (Replace All) when I am done translating, which is somewhat annoying...
Does anyone have a clue about that?
... See more
Hi everyone,
I am a EN>FR translator, and one of my clients wants me to use curly apostrophes (Alt+0146) when I write in French.
When I write, Trados automatically puts straight apostrophes (Alt+039).
I thought that maybe there was a way to configure Trados and/or Windows so as to write curly apostrophes automatically.
In the meantime I do a global Ctrl-H (Replace All) when I am done translating, which is somewhat annoying...
Does anyone have a clue about that?
Thanks a lot,
Xavier
Collapse


 
RWS Community
RWS Community
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:24
English
For now... May 4, 2015

... perhaps this article will help.

AutoCorrect will be part of Studio 2015 for anyone who's interested.

Regards

Paul
SDL Community Support


 
Dominique Pivard
Dominique Pivard  Identity Verified
Local time: 15:24
Finnish to French
Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator May 4, 2015

Xavier Amouyal wrote:
I thought that maybe there was a way to configure Trados and/or Windows so as to write curly apostrophes automatically.

A radical way that works throughout Windows is to hack your keyboard layout, using the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator.

I normally use a Finnish keyboard layout, but I’ve created my own custom Finnish layout in which the apostrophe key gives me a curly apostrophe right away. Just in case, I can get a straight apostrophe via AltGr+apostrophe.

This is what I have for Text Services and Input Languages:



Note that even though Microsoft lists "Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 2" as the system requirements for its Keyboard Layout Creator, it works just fine with Windows 7 (and probably 8 & 10 as well).

The use of Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator isn’t particularly intuitive, but if you were able to make sense of Studio, you should manage.


 
Gerard de Noord
Gerard de Noord  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 14:24
Member (2003)
English to Dutch
+ ...
Namaste, my guru May 4, 2015

Dominique Pivard wrote:
A radical way that works throughout Windows is to hack your keyboard layout, using the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator.


This might actually be the only way to stay sane as a typographically conscious translator.

Thanks for the tip,
Gerard


 
Xavier Amouyal
Xavier Amouyal  Identity Verified
Israel
Local time: 16:24
Member (2013)
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
thx for your answers! May 5, 2015

I will try that asap

 
Sandra & Kenneth Grossman
Sandra & Kenneth Grossman  Identity Verified
Israel
Local time: 16:24
French to English
+ ...
Macro in Word May 5, 2015

I wouldn't complicate my life with either the QuickInsert procedure or the MS Layout Creator for this minor issue. Simply record a basic Find-and-Replace macro, put an icon in the toolbar, save your Normal template and you're ready to go.

Next time you have a similar job, just press this button before starting your final read. You don't have to remember anything or change any settings.

HTH,

Sandra


 
Walter Blaser
Walter Blaser  Identity Verified
Switzerland
Local time: 14:24
French to German
+ ...
It's not a question of "specific" jobs May 8, 2015

Sandra& Kenneth wrote:

I wouldn't complicate my life with either the QuickInsert procedure or the MS Layout Creator for this minor issue. Simply record a basic Find-and-Replace macro, put an icon in the toolbar, save your Normal template and you're ready to go.

Next time you have a similar job, just press this button before starting your final read. You don't have to remember anything or change any settings.

HTH,

Sandra


Sandra

What you call "a similar job" is daily routine when you translate to French because the standard rule for French is to use a curly apostrophe and not a straight one.
I mean that the SW should insert a curly apostrophe every time you hit the corresponding key on the keyboard. MS Office does this right, but Studio does not.
SDL should fix Studio to insert the correct characters instead of requiring the user to find workarounds such as AutoCorrect or macros. This is a feature we have been asking for since long time already.

Walter


 
Dominique Pivard
Dominique Pivard  Identity Verified
Local time: 15:24
Finnish to French
Curly apostrophes Jul 12, 2015

SDL Community wrote:
AutoCorrect will be part of Studio 2015 for anyone who's interested.

Indeed. This is File > Options > Editor in Studio 2014:



and in Studio 2015:



Like in MS Word (and unlike in memoQ), Replace straight quotes with smart quotes also causes straight apostrophes to be converted into curly apostrophes, which people translating into French will appreciate (well, curly apostrophes also look nice in English genitives...).

For those who are still using Studio 2014 or older (or other tools that don't autocorrect apostrophes), here is how to obtain curly apostrophes:

http://wordfast.fi/blog/cat-tools/2015/07/11/how-to-modify-keyboard-layout-for-curly-apostrophes/
or
https://youtu.be/O9Gai7gRb5k (watch it at 1080p definition)


 
Terry Ezra
Terry Ezra  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 14:24
Dutch to English
Ridiculous... Sep 28, 2015

Ridiculous that we have to wait till 2015 for a fairly fundamental functionality in a CAT like SDL Trados, which sometimes makes me wonder if the people who design these programmes actually talk to translators. It's not just French where it's a problem, curly apostrophes are often preferred in English.

 
Daniele Heinen
Daniele Heinen  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 09:24
Member (2006)
English to French
+ ...
Curly apostrophe Sep 28, 2015

Agreed with the ridiculousness of this not being in Studio 2011 or 2014 yet. If you send back a word file, you do a Search and Replace all as part of your proofing process. If you send sdliff files, whoever extracts the translation at the Clients's will need to deal with the situation themselves. I always let them know.

 


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curly apostrophe in Trados 2014







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