Proofreading is a very important part of translation. Every translator makes mistakes and typos and therefore must proofread all their work. There are several ways to help make sure that you don’t get an angry call from your client, along with various software you can use to avoid this too.
CAT Tools, for example, are all packed with dictionaries to help you find errors and typos. As well as these, there are also external software like Xbench that do a very good job at spotting inconsistencies. However, we all know that true proofreading takes place on our good old pal Word (or Pages, depending on which side of the Force you’re on).
It happens that, in order to avoid complications, some translation agencies only provide their translators with bilingual files like XLF or project packages like SDLPPX. Why do they do this? Because with these files, no matter which CAT you’re working on, you will always be able to export a bilingual file or package, and they will always be able to put that same file into their own CAT tool, thus avoiding problems with compatibility between different software or software versions.
Problem: if you receive an XLF from a client, you may have noticed that in some cases you cannot export a Word document, even if the source file was one. If you want to revise your work on Word, this is a real problem… Or is it?
There’s actually a very simple way around this: your CAT tool should be able to produce a bilingual Word document for review.
In Trados, in order to do this, you need to:
- Go to the Projects view, right-click on the project, and then, in the context menu, select Batch Tasks > Export for Bilingual Review.
- On the Batch Tasks page, of the Batch Processing wizard, select Next.
- On the Files page, select the files that you want to send for review, and select Next.
- On the Settings page, select Language Pairs > All Language Pairs > Batch Processing > Export for Bilingual Review.
- In the Location box on the right, modify where you want the exported files to be located. By default, they are exported to an External Review folder within the project folder structure. This folder contains separate subfolders for each target language.
- Select how the translated content will appear in the exported file:
- In the Layout type box, select side-by-side to view your source and target segments side-by-side or select top-down to view source segments above their corresponding target segments.
- In the Segment Match Highlighting Colors section, modify the colors used to indicate the different type of matches from the translation memory.
- Select Finish.
- When the wizard has finished generating the files, select Close.
- A prompt is displayed, asking if you want to open the folder containing the exported files. Select Yes. The External Review folder is opened and the files (
*.review.docx) are located within the target language subfolders.
(source and more info click here)
In MemoQ:
- Select the “Documents ” tab and click on the arrow below the “Export” button.
- Click on “Export Bilingual”
- Select “Two Column RTF”
- Click “Export”
- Choose the location where you want to save it
- Click “Save”
(source and more info click here)
You may end up with a document that has a table with the source text and the target text side by side, or the target text with some tags, or some other form of bilingual document. What matters is that you will now be able to run MS Word’s spellcheck and proofread in a different environment that may help you to look at the text with fresh eyes. You may even want to print this file, if you prefer to proofread on paper.
Don’t forget to update the translation on your CAT Tool if you happen to find something that needs changing.
Did you know about this trick?
Drop me a message on Facebook chat if you have any suggestions.