Forum: CAT Tools Technical Help
Topic: Is there a need for multiple CAT tools?
Poster: Mario Chavez
Post title: No tool lasts forever
Whenever I'm using a software tool for creating a document or translating it, I'm reminded that tools have a short lifecycle. I started using WordPerfect 5.1 in the early 1990s and now I'm using Word 2016. The metaphors are the same: white screen like a sheet of paper, a menu bar or ribbon atop the screen, and action icons that are familiar to me after years of use.
But we tend to confuse the tool with the process. In a Spongebob Squarepants episode, he has to write a book essay. After writing the title, he gets writer's block and pleads with his pencil: Come on, pencil! Make up words!
One of my concerns is that, no matter what CAT tool or other software aid we use, we forget why we use them and end up modeling our process of translation and our thinking around the tool—good news for software developers but bad news for our brain in the end.
Anthony Pym has written about the effects of technology on the translation process: [url removed]
The reason I find knowing how to use different TEnT and CAT tools is that I have learned the following:
a) Compatibility issues and solutions between TM file formats
b) Portability issues and solutions (what if client has obsolete CAT translation memory?)
c) Offering solutions to client when you have a better tool for the job
And a few more things, of course. I recently convinced an always-Trados customer (one of my best clients) to let me use my tool of preference (in this case, Déjà Vu X3) to work on a medium-sized rush project. The client had her doubts but relented when I told her I could provide her with 1) a TMX file (translation memory exchange file) and 2) a Trados-like analysis sheet for invoicing purposes. I have used memoQ and DVX3 and they operate similarly and, in my opinion, they let me write faster than if I were using Trados, even though all three accept the same native file format.
So, my advice to DJHartmann is to keep using WordFast (he's already used to it) but don't get too enamored with the software, because there will be market conditions that will recommend a tool change down the road.