Retaining tags/attributes when converting TMX to Excel and back
Thread poster: annapals
annapals
annapals  Identity Verified
Iceland
Local time: 22:21
English to Icelandic
Nov 24, 2014

Hi.

I am translating a TMX file from English into Icelandic. This is the process I used:

1) To be able to translate it in Wordfast Pro, I converted the TMX file into a tab-delimited text file by using Okape Olifant.
2) I opened the text file in Excel (File A).
3) I copy/pasted the EN-column into a new Excel file (File B).
4) Then I translated the Excel file in Wordfast Pro.
5) I saved the translated file (File B) in Wordfast Pro.
6) I cop
... See more
Hi.

I am translating a TMX file from English into Icelandic. This is the process I used:

1) To be able to translate it in Wordfast Pro, I converted the TMX file into a tab-delimited text file by using Okape Olifant.
2) I opened the text file in Excel (File A).
3) I copy/pasted the EN-column into a new Excel file (File B).
4) Then I translated the Excel file in Wordfast Pro.
5) I saved the translated file (File B) in Wordfast Pro.
6) I copied the new IS (Icelandic) column in File B and pasted it into the proper column in File A.
7) I saved Excel file A as a tab-delimited text file.
8) I converted the tab-delimited text file back to TMX by using Olifant.

Somewhere along the way, important attributes were lost. These are, for instance "tu tuid=" etc. (I had to skip the html tags as this forum does not support them). As I don't know much about attributes, I'm not sure what the function is of these, but my customer needs them to stay where they are.

Am I doing something wrong? Is there a simpler way to guarantee that no attributes are lost? I would appreciate some help. I have downloaded XBench, but I'm still not sure if it offers better "safekeeping" than Olifant.

Thank you, Anna Heida
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Tony M
Tony M
France
Local time: 23:21
Member
French to English
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
No expert, but... Nov 25, 2014

I work with Wordfast Classic only — and the thought that immediately springs to my mind is "why are you going via Excel at all?"

I can't see why you can't do exactly the same manœuvre, only going via Word, using a table structure. This is what I do all the time — in fact, if I get an Excel file in, I convert it to Word first!

Also, there's no reason why you can't start off with 2 columns with your source text in, and simply set the left-hand ('source') column with
... See more
I work with Wordfast Classic only — and the thought that immediately springs to my mind is "why are you going via Excel at all?"

I can't see why you can't do exactly the same manœuvre, only going via Word, using a table structure. This is what I do all the time — in fact, if I get an Excel file in, I convert it to Word first!

Also, there's no reason why you can't start off with 2 columns with your source text in, and simply set the left-hand ('source') column with the 'don't translate' attribute, so that Wordfast will simply translate the right-hand 'target' column and leave your original untouched; this saves you one step, and has the advantage of always presenting the columns 'in step'.

I have no idea if this would help, but I'd have thought that generally Word was more likely to preserve you attributes better than Excel
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FarkasAndras
FarkasAndras  Identity Verified
Local time: 23:21
English to Hungarian
+ ...
Say what? Nov 25, 2014

I'm not sure if you realize, but tmx was never designed to be translated. Why did your client give you a tmx file to translate? What is the whole point of this workflow? It is completely unreasonable and fraught with exactly the kind of trouble you ran into. It is a virtual certainty that whatever aim people are trying to achieve here can be achieved better in a simpler workflow.

If you really want to translate the tmx file and leave everything as is, you'll probably have to
a
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I'm not sure if you realize, but tmx was never designed to be translated. Why did your client give you a tmx file to translate? What is the whole point of this workflow? It is completely unreasonable and fraught with exactly the kind of trouble you ran into. It is a virtual certainty that whatever aim people are trying to achieve here can be achieved better in a simpler workflow.

If you really want to translate the tmx file and leave everything as is, you'll probably have to
a) Overwrite text in place in a text editor
b) Open it as an xml file in a CAT tool. You may or may not be able to set up the import process so that your CAT correctly identifies translatable text (i.e. you may have to manually copy/skip stuff that has to be left untouched).
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Dominique Pivard
Dominique Pivard  Identity Verified
Local time: 00:21
Finnish to French
Weird workflow Nov 25, 2014

Your workflow sounds weird: as already noted by András, TMX files are not usually meant to be translated, but rather as help for translation. TMX files are translation memories (TMs) and Wordfast Pro can open them as TMs (via Translation memory > Edit/select TM > Add TM), like almost any other CAT tool out there. The only CAT tool I'm aware of that can open TMX files as translatable documents is memoQ: doing so can be useful for instance if you want to fix bad TMs. However, I suspect you were n... See more
Your workflow sounds weird: as already noted by András, TMX files are not usually meant to be translated, but rather as help for translation. TMX files are translation memories (TMs) and Wordfast Pro can open them as TMs (via Translation memory > Edit/select TM > Add TM), like almost any other CAT tool out there. The only CAT tool I'm aware of that can open TMX files as translatable documents is memoQ: doing so can be useful for instance if you want to fix bad TMs. However, I suspect you were not asked to translate a TMX. You should probably contact your client and check with them what is it they want you to do.Collapse


 
annapals
annapals  Identity Verified
Iceland
Local time: 22:21
English to Icelandic
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you for your advice but the problem remains Dec 8, 2014

Farkas and Dominique, I know it sounds weird, to have to translate a .tmx file. I used the same reasoning as you both do - that these are translation memories - but it is what the client needed and nothing else would do.

So now, I have translated all 16,000 units but can not deliver to the client. They are getting angry.

Farkas: I am very thankful for your LF-Aligner. It is a great tool. I see in another post from you that you have written a tool for converting TMX int
... See more
Farkas and Dominique, I know it sounds weird, to have to translate a .tmx file. I used the same reasoning as you both do - that these are translation memories - but it is what the client needed and nothing else would do.

So now, I have translated all 16,000 units but can not deliver to the client. They are getting angry.

Farkas: I am very thankful for your LF-Aligner. It is a great tool. I see in another post from you that you have written a tool for converting TMX into spreadsheets or tabbed text conversions, while retaining tags.
http://www.proz.com/translation-articles/articles/3194/1/Converting-translation-memories-into-spreadsheets-and-vice-versa

However, I cannot find the referenced grab-bag file.

The tags that are lost are, for instance "
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FarkasAndras
FarkasAndras  Identity Verified
Local time: 23:21
English to Hungarian
+ ...
Link Dec 8, 2014

annapals wrote:

Farkas and Dominique, I know it sounds weird, to have to translate a .tmx file. I used the same reasoning as you both do - that these are translation memories - but it is what the client needed and nothing else would do.

So now, I have translated all 16,000 units but can not deliver to the client. They are getting angry.

Farkas: I am very thankful for your LF-Aligner. It is a great tool. I see in another post from you that you have written a tool for converting TMX into spreadsheets or tabbed text conversions, while retaining tags.
http://www.proz.com/translation-articles/articles/3194/1/Converting-translation-memories-into-spreadsheets-and-vice-versa

However, I cannot find the referenced grab-bag file.

The tags that are lost are, for instance <tu tuid=-5>

I would much appreciate some help, as I know nothing about, for instance, html.

Thanks again,
Anna Heiða

Here is the link:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/aligner/files/grab_bag_1.7-random_tools_for_translators.zip/download
I haven't touched that code in ages so my memory of what it does exactly is hazy. It may or may not work for you.

[Edited at 2014-12-08 15:01 GMT]


 
Dominique Pivard
Dominique Pivard  Identity Verified
Local time: 00:21
Finnish to French
Use memoQ Dec 8, 2014

annapals wrote:
Farkas and Dominique, I know it sounds weird, to have to translate a .tmx file. I used the same reasoning as you both do - that these are translation memories - but it is what the client needed and nothing else would do.

OK, if you really have to translate a TMX, why don't you do it with memoQ? As I said, it supports TMX as a translatable format. I assume you don't have a memoQ license. If so, just download and install the trial version, it's fully functional for 45 days. If you prefer to do the actual translation in Wordfast Pro, you can export the document imported in memoQ as XLIFF, and open the XLIFF in Wordfast Pro.


 


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Retaining tags/attributes when converting TMX to Excel and back







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