I’m a happy Ubuntu user, but the reality is that there are still a lot of Word files flying around in the commercial environment. A combination of Open Office and OmegaT seems to handle them quite well, but on my latest job I experienced a number of formatting difficulties that had to be corrected manually, which was both time-consuming and introduced a new potential source for error.
Open Office crashed on me recently, just as I was tweaking a final .docx file before sending it off. Its automated recovery process then recovered the file to a previous version, causing errors to be reintroduced that had already been corrected in a proofing stage. This was vexing, and required another round of corrections.
One obvious way to avoid such problems in future would be to use the industry standard proprietary solutions. I priced this today: Microsoft Office plus SDL Trados Studio 2009 would be at least 650 euros, a considerable overhead given prevailing market rates for translation.
The decision for the time being is to upgrade to the latest and greatest LibreOffice, and persist with OmegaT, but it’s under review. Version control problems caused by software crashes are most unwelcome.
I like Wordfast – much cheaper than SDL Studio. There is a freestanding version which handles pdfs and docx very reliably – though I have found a final tweak is necessary in Word .docx for things like dashes, quote marks, and other fiddly punctuation. There is also “wordfast anywhere” – which is web-based. And free.
Fine if you have constant internet.
Right now I’m using MemoQ and I like it (the free trial version). Very intuitive. Bit pricier than Wordfast. I agree that SDL is grossly overpriced considering how difficult it is to make a living translating.
I’m interested in your remark that you find MemoQ intuitive. I follow Kevin Lossner’s Translation Tribulations blog so I’m aware of MemoQ, but it’s nice to get the point of view of view of someone who’s a regular translator rather than a tech enthusiast.
In fact this post is someone dated now. I continue to be delighted by OmegaT. Development is coming along very well: the 2.5.3 version I use is excellent with many new features, though the latest version is now 2.6.x. Most importantly, OmegaT now imports and exports .docx files without the tag soup and post-translation format dramas that would so often happen with a .doc/.odt/.doc conversions using Open/Libre Office. My netbook dual boots to Windows or Ubuntu, so my pragmatic solution has been to buy Word and use it to convert any .doc files to to .docx before any translation takes place.
I’ve also experienced the joy of getting good matches from my translation memory thanks to a series of jobs I did translating some fairly standardized psychology reports. I also got the glossaries and dictionaries going thanks to a one day OmegaT course organised by the Société Française de Traducteurs featuring Didier Brel.
I agree with you that it is very difficult to make a living from translation alone: I enjoy what I do, but I’m very glad of the editing work that I do for academics locally. I pity new entrants to the global translation market, who, fearful that they will not “be compatible with the agencies” buy Trados, only to find that it is the agency, using the Trados analysis software for pricing each job, who will profit from any repetitions, not them.
Actually, if you’re competent, willing to take even the most absolutely mind-numbing jobs, and work very hard, I think it’s possible to earn well from translation: but it sure ain’t easy!