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Another grandparent of TM has recently undergone a major update. Star Transit. I found an interesting review at a really well maintained ATA Chapter blog the NCTA Translorial at http://translorial.com/. The article of interest can be found at
http://translorial.com/2009/12/01/star-transit—the-nxt-generation/.
I was pointed the other day to this informative new blog on the ups and downs of migration to SDLTrados 2009. Watch Tuomas Kostiainen as he masters his new domain… http://tradoshelp.wordpress.com/.
I have never tried Wordfast, but I know many translators swear by it. It can work with the SDL Trados segmented format and, from what I hear, is easier to use and learn than SDL Trados. It also runs on many different platforms (Windows, Mac and Linux).
The current version of Wordfast (5.5), which works inside MS Word like SDL Trados, is now being redubbed Wordfast Classic, and the company is launching a new version called Wordfast 6.0 which does not depend on the MS Word interface. If you purchase Wordfast 5.5 by the end of the year, for 250 euros, you will get a free license for Wordfast 6.0 when it is released.
And, if you live in a disadvantaged country, the price is cut in half. See the Wordfast site for more details.
Naomi de Moraes
I recently received the following email from SDL, which many of you may find interesting:
“From the 1st April 2008 our promotional pricing eligibility is changing for versions older than 3 years.
“If you are on versions Trados v6.5 or previous or SDLX 2004 and previous, we recommend you upgrade to SDL Trados 2007 now in order to retain discounted upgrade pricing for the software. From the 1st of April 2008 onwards, there will no longer be upgrade eligibility from these versions.”
See the SDL announcement page for complete details.
The previous policy was to allow users to upgrade even the oldest versions of SDLX or Trados, with upgrade price increasing with the age of the prior version. What do readers think of this?
Naomi de Moraes
As the old adage goes: “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.” When you are on the road with your laptop, chances are that the data on your hard drive is a good deal more valuable that the computer. And that does not even take into account all the dozens of NDAs and confidentiality agreements you signed. (Does “reasonable attorney fees” ring a bell?) On top of theft and leaving your laptop behind somewhere, you also have to worry about official snooping every time you enter the country.
Technology to the rescue. For paranoics like me, TrueCrypt is the ideal tool: industrial-strength encryption, partition or drive encryption, and (the cherry on top of the whipped cream) two levels of plausible deniability in case you are forced to reveal the password. Documented freeware, available for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.
Don’t forget your password, though!
Today (Feb. 19), Giveaway of the Day has a program, Reezaa, that converts different formats of sound file into MP3. I have actually been looking for a program to do this for a while! So, keep an eye out on the free offer each day to see something interests you.
Disclaimer: I have no idea if this program works well, but it is worth a try!
Naomi de Moraes
I was recently made aware of a site, Giveaway of the Day, that provides free copies of software that is not usually free. What’s the catch? Each giveaway lasts only one day, so you have to download the software on the day it is featured.
Appearing on the site provides publicity for the tools (usually PC utilities). Many of the utilities are what would be considered impulse purchases, but sometimes utilities turn out to be invaluable. You will have to sign up for their RSS feed to make sure you don’t miss out. (Click here to read a short explanation of how RSS feeds work, if you do not already know.)
Looking at the last few giveaways, I am sorry I missed a good text-to-speech tool, TextAloud, offered on December 20, 2007. I have also heard good things about EverNote, offered on December 27th. A few days ago a “help file authoring” tool was offered. I don’t often work with help files, but some translators do and it might be helpful.
I would be interested to hear from readers who have downloaded and used the software provided on this site. Note that the site also offers a free game every day, which could save you money if you have children (or are still a child at heart).
Naomi de Moraes
A colleague wrote me today to ask me how to count words in MS Excel files. Before I started using AnyCount, I just copied the spreadsheet contents to MS Word and let it count the number of words. Does anyone have a better (free) solution?
Naomi de Moraes
2010 Language Technology Division.
