How can I proofread separate source/target files along with a glossary file?
Thread poster: Mark Sanderson
Mark Sanderson
Mark Sanderson  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:34
Chinese to English
Jan 18, 2018

Hello,

I have been assigned a large proofreading project where I have the source and target files in separate Word documents. I also have an Excel file with a glossary of terms that I need to check.

What would be the best way to approach this task? I have tried to align the files in Trados, however they didn't align correctly and I don't know if it is worth my time to fix the alignment. I guess I could try and align them in MemoQ?

I do have three monitors s
... See more
Hello,

I have been assigned a large proofreading project where I have the source and target files in separate Word documents. I also have an Excel file with a glossary of terms that I need to check.

What would be the best way to approach this task? I have tried to align the files in Trados, however they didn't align correctly and I don't know if it is worth my time to fix the alignment. I guess I could try and align them in MemoQ?

I do have three monitors so I can put the source, target, and glossary on three different screens; however, is this the most efficient way to work?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Mark
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Silke Walter
Silke Walter  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 16:34
Member (2014)
English to German
Source & Glossary/Termbase vs. Target Jan 18, 2018

Hello Mark,

I would suggest to open the source text in Trados Studio and use the glossary as termbase, so you can click through the text and the glossary entries are shown for each segment automatically, which then can be compared against the target (in a separate window or screen).

HTH,

Silke


 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 16:34
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Align Jan 19, 2018

Mark Sanderson wrote:
I have been assigned a large proofreading project where I have the source and target files in separate Word documents. I also have an Excel file with a glossary of terms that I need to check.


I would have aligned the two files into a bilingual file that can be loaded into a CAT tool, and then check it against the glossary.

I have tried to align the files in Trados, however they didn't align correctly and I don't know if it is worth my time to fix the alignment.


Alignment in Trados (I have 2015) is meant for creating TMs. If you try to align files that are not guaranteed to align nearly perfectly, you'll end up spending too much time with it. I'm astounded at how user-unfriendly it is to move, merge and split segments with the Trados aligner.

I always use PlusTools. Yes, the alignment process always involves "fixing" -- it rarely happens that two files align perfectly right out of the box. PlusTools generates a table in MS Word with two columns, so you'll have to figure out how to convert that into a format you can use.

I do have three monitors so I can put the source, target, and glossary on three different screens; however, is this the most efficient way to work?


Well, if you do that, then I would suggest first highlighting all glossary words in the source and target file, using a macro. There is one that works, here. You do know how to add macros to MS Word, right?


[Edited at 2018-01-19 11:03 GMT]

[Edited at 2018-01-19 11:06 GMT]


 
Diana Obermeyer
Diana Obermeyer  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:34
Member (2013)
German to English
+ ...
Personally, ... Jan 19, 2018

I can't really be bothered with uploading the files.
I do get a fair amount of proofreading jobs where the source file is a scanned PDF, so I guess you get used to doing it manually, and just highlight the glossary items in the source file. Print-out if necessary.

If you're set on using a CAT tool and the alignment is the issue, TM town has an alignment tool that's meant to be quite user-friendly? (I haven't used it myself)... See more
I can't really be bothered with uploading the files.
I do get a fair amount of proofreading jobs where the source file is a scanned PDF, so I guess you get used to doing it manually, and just highlight the glossary items in the source file. Print-out if necessary.

If you're set on using a CAT tool and the alignment is the issue, TM town has an alignment tool that's meant to be quite user-friendly? (I haven't used it myself)
https://www.tm-town.com/blog/uploader-and-alignment-redux
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Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 16:34
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@Diana Jan 19, 2018

Diana Obermeyer wrote:
I guess you get used to doing it manually, and just highlight the glossary items in the source file. Print-out if necessary.


But if the glossary contains, say, 1000 terms, and you are required to check that all terms were translated according to the glossary, how would you accomplish that "manually"? I mean, what is the cut-off point for glossary size before "doing it manually" becomes impossible?


 
MollyRose
MollyRose  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 10:34
English to Spanish
+ ...
I would align and use the glossary ... Jan 19, 2018

... in MultiTerm as already suggested. I don´t know about better alignment tool options, but some have already been mentioned in this thread and also on other threads in ProZ. I do know that the Professional Trados 2014 alignment tool is awful, but I still have Professional Trados 2011 on my computer and use that alignment, and it works. You will have to check it and make corrections, but not nearly as much as you would with Trados 2014. I don´t know about later versions of Trados.
<
... See more
... in MultiTerm as already suggested. I don´t know about better alignment tool options, but some have already been mentioned in this thread and also on other threads in ProZ. I do know that the Professional Trados 2014 alignment tool is awful, but I still have Professional Trados 2011 on my computer and use that alignment, and it works. You will have to check it and make corrections, but not nearly as much as you would with Trados 2014. I don´t know about later versions of Trados.

Before doing the alignment, I suggest that you open the source and target docs and replace any carriage return in the middle of sentences (such as at the end of a line) with a space, so when you do the alignment in Trados, it will keep whole sentences together. And while at it, fix any other oddities in the Word formatting that would cause extra work in Trados.

I hope this helps.
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Mark Sanderson
Mark Sanderson  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:34
Chinese to English
TOPIC STARTER
Didn't align but put it in Trados to use the glossary Jan 22, 2018

Thanks for all the replies. In the end I followed the first suggestion and put the file in Trados to use the glossary in MultiTerm and just checked the Word file against the individual segments.

 


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How can I proofread separate source/target files along with a glossary file?







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