Forum: CAT Tools Technical Help
Topic: Lionbridge PMs can "detect" the use of SDL over their proprietary CAT tool?
Poster: Rolf Keller
Post title: Not surprising
[quote]Rebekah Olson wrote:
I don't understand why/how this can be
(...)
this issue occurs regardless of whether or not I change the LP codes; if I work on the .xlz file directly in Trados, with no changes made to the file[/quote]
It is to be expected, that Trados or a similar program makes changes even if you haven't changed anything. Actually, at least three programs are used for this: the Importer, the Translator and the Exporter. Importer and Exporter will never work exactly mirror-inverted, because that would be very difficult, costly and also unnecessary.
It is not only about the actual text, but also about the many additional data, of which the LP information is only a tiny part.
The Importer ignores/deletes certain data, from superfluous spaces to unknown/outdated/superflous attributes/tags, so that the Translator can work on a standardized data basis. Sometimes the Importer also changes/adds something. This way, it is easier for the Translator, who does not work with the .txt original, but with a standardized intermediate representation. The Exporter again writes everything completely new, starting from this intermediate representation instead from of the original .txt file.
BTW, the Exporter may insert certain information, e. g. "created by Trados version x.y on December, 24, 2022". ;-)
Just make a simple test where you modify absolutely nothing, except for a single letter in the very first word. Then compare the two .txt files (before Trados and after Trados) - probably they will differ in length ...
Topic: Lionbridge PMs can "detect" the use of SDL over their proprietary CAT tool?
Poster: Rolf Keller
Post title: Not surprising
[quote]Rebekah Olson wrote:
I don't understand why/how this can be
(...)
this issue occurs regardless of whether or not I change the LP codes; if I work on the .xlz file directly in Trados, with no changes made to the file[/quote]
It is to be expected, that Trados or a similar program makes changes even if you haven't changed anything. Actually, at least three programs are used for this: the Importer, the Translator and the Exporter. Importer and Exporter will never work exactly mirror-inverted, because that would be very difficult, costly and also unnecessary.
It is not only about the actual text, but also about the many additional data, of which the LP information is only a tiny part.
The Importer ignores/deletes certain data, from superfluous spaces to unknown/outdated/superflous attributes/tags, so that the Translator can work on a standardized data basis. Sometimes the Importer also changes/adds something. This way, it is easier for the Translator, who does not work with the .txt original, but with a standardized intermediate representation. The Exporter again writes everything completely new, starting from this intermediate representation instead from of the original .txt file.
BTW, the Exporter may insert certain information, e. g. "created by Trados version x.y on December, 24, 2022". ;-)
Just make a simple test where you modify absolutely nothing, except for a single letter in the very first word. Then compare the two .txt files (before Trados and after Trados) - probably they will differ in length ...