What do translators do?
In case you’re curious, here I’ll describe the process briefly from my own vantage point (with other professional translators it’s roughly the same): I receive a file from you either by email or otherwise online. I plan my time for the hours or days I’ve projected to spend on the translation project. I set the project up in some special software (what translators call a “CAT tool,” a computer-assisted translation program). I open up other resources that I might need: various online dictionaries and other references, perhaps a glossary of relevant terminology, other reference materials for the project, my ongoing notes on the project, and the source text itself. (My browser typically has over twenty tabs open while I’m working on a project.) Then I get started, translating one sentence at a time, typing my translations in the CAT tool. Within the CAT tool I might see similar sentences I’ve translated previously in a translation-memory pane. Another pane displays machine-translation results, and another pane shows any terms from my glossaries that occur in that segment of the text. While translating, I have all of this information available to me within the CAT tool, as well as the online resources and the other files I've opened, as mentioned. In cases where it’s useful, I can copy some text from the translation memory or the machine translation to use in my translation.
After I finish translating the text, I look through it all a second time, comparing my translation to the source text in the CAT tool, segment by segment. If I have not yet made a final decision on which word to use for a certain term, I make that decision at this point and apply it as I go through the text. After I finish editing my translation in this way, I use the CAT tool to generate the target document, and I carefully proofread it to ensure there are no errors, inconsistencies, or stylistic problems. Then to finish the project, I glance it all over and make sure it all looks fine overall. In the course of this whole process I translate about 200-300 words per hour, depending on the size and other details of the project. Some people not familiar with translation work might think that sounds slow, but the source text probably was not written any faster. I work to craft each word and sentence so that it accurately conveys the meaning from the source text, and so that it’s clear and easy to understand in English, just as if it had been written originally in English. Now I’m ready to send the translated file to you.
Regarding the CAT tool, I most often use one called OmegaT. Out of the dozen such tools that I've tried, I’ve found that OmegaT works best and most efficiently for me. But I sometimes use other tools, called MemoQ, Crowdin, and Trados.
Regarding the CAT tool, I most often use one called OmegaT. Out of the dozen such tools that I've tried, I’ve found that OmegaT works best and most efficiently for me. But I sometimes use other tools, called MemoQ, Crowdin, and Trados.
