Forum: CAT Tools Technical Help
Topic: MemSource vs. MemoQ
Poster: Huw Watkins
Post title: Memsource - absolute rubbish for an advanced translator requiring time saving features
This is the feedback I sent to a client after my first and second unfortunate encounter with Memsource, which really doesn't deserve the name CAT tool:
1) Complete lack of processing numbers automatically in terms of auto-confirming into the TM. I lost quite a lot of time trying to play with filters in order to batch confirm and the process was cumbersome and, in my opinion, not within the scope of the job I was being paid for. (In the second job, the numbers were not even pretranslated into the target segment...)
2) Complete lack of processing 100% and 101% matches in terms of auto-confirming into the TM. Like the numbers, they appeared in the pretranslation, but only a very few segments were assigned a % in the xliff files themselves. This rendered filtering impossible and thus batch confirming was not an option. As some matches were assigned 100% or 101% status, I assumed you were not certain of the segments that were not assigned a % and I therefore proof read them – huge amount of extra time and work and, again, not within the scope of the job I was being paid for. If this is a bug in Memsource, it is a big one and if I had the choice I would not use this tool again for this alone. If it is something that is easily fixed then I would highly recommend auto-confirming 100% and 101% matches at the pretranslation stage itself.
3) There is a complete lack of ability to change settings ‘under the hood’. This not only emphasised the issues raised in points 1 and 2, but also meant I could not add a TB to the project. Using a TB properly can save a lot of time with repeated terms and phrases. Studio’s autosuggest feature is a notable example. I also think that memoQ now has a similar feature too, although I’m not hugely familiar with that tool. Furthermore it meant I was not able to use and leverage any of my own TMs, TBs, MTs for this project etc etc etc. Also I now do not have a TM of the work I did on this project for future leverage I am unable to export a TMX.
4) Some more clunky user friendliness – i.e. inserting suggestions from concordance searches was not intuitive, having to delete an entire segment before being able to insert a better segment match and so on. Lesser issues perhaps - but all impact on productivity to varying degrees.
In short, I have hated my experience thus far with Memsource. I know it's free, but I can see why - I'd rather pay and get a decent CAT tool.
Huw
Topic: MemSource vs. MemoQ
Poster: Huw Watkins
Post title: Memsource - absolute rubbish for an advanced translator requiring time saving features
This is the feedback I sent to a client after my first and second unfortunate encounter with Memsource, which really doesn't deserve the name CAT tool:
1) Complete lack of processing numbers automatically in terms of auto-confirming into the TM. I lost quite a lot of time trying to play with filters in order to batch confirm and the process was cumbersome and, in my opinion, not within the scope of the job I was being paid for. (In the second job, the numbers were not even pretranslated into the target segment...)
2) Complete lack of processing 100% and 101% matches in terms of auto-confirming into the TM. Like the numbers, they appeared in the pretranslation, but only a very few segments were assigned a % in the xliff files themselves. This rendered filtering impossible and thus batch confirming was not an option. As some matches were assigned 100% or 101% status, I assumed you were not certain of the segments that were not assigned a % and I therefore proof read them – huge amount of extra time and work and, again, not within the scope of the job I was being paid for. If this is a bug in Memsource, it is a big one and if I had the choice I would not use this tool again for this alone. If it is something that is easily fixed then I would highly recommend auto-confirming 100% and 101% matches at the pretranslation stage itself.
3) There is a complete lack of ability to change settings ‘under the hood’. This not only emphasised the issues raised in points 1 and 2, but also meant I could not add a TB to the project. Using a TB properly can save a lot of time with repeated terms and phrases. Studio’s autosuggest feature is a notable example. I also think that memoQ now has a similar feature too, although I’m not hugely familiar with that tool. Furthermore it meant I was not able to use and leverage any of my own TMs, TBs, MTs for this project etc etc etc. Also I now do not have a TM of the work I did on this project for future leverage I am unable to export a TMX.
4) Some more clunky user friendliness – i.e. inserting suggestions from concordance searches was not intuitive, having to delete an entire segment before being able to insert a better segment match and so on. Lesser issues perhaps - but all impact on productivity to varying degrees.
In short, I have hated my experience thus far with Memsource. I know it's free, but I can see why - I'd rather pay and get a decent CAT tool.
Huw