Poll: When you work, do you take full advantage of your CAT-tool?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Jan 22, 2021

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "When you work, do you take full advantage of your CAT-tool?".

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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 17:13
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Other Jan 22, 2021

I’m one of those dinosaurs who don’t use CAT tools. To be truthful, I do use XTM for one of my clients, but that's the exception not the rule, and as I’m not tech-savvy at all, I’m probably not using many functions.

I've been translating for over 40 years, well before the CAT era and… the computer era! I used Trados for a while (two years) when I was working in-house and I've dropped it as soon as I started freelancing after my retirement. Most of my work consists of tran
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I’m one of those dinosaurs who don’t use CAT tools. To be truthful, I do use XTM for one of my clients, but that's the exception not the rule, and as I’m not tech-savvy at all, I’m probably not using many functions.

I've been translating for over 40 years, well before the CAT era and… the computer era! I used Trados for a while (two years) when I was working in-house and I've dropped it as soon as I started freelancing after my retirement. Most of my work consists of transcreation jobs, texts of journalistic nature and documents for EU institutions and UN agencies and I continue to get all the work I need without using CAT tools.

Anyway, I prefer helping my brain work well and improve my own memory than be confronted with text fragments.
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Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 18:13
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Mostly Jan 22, 2021

I doubt if anyone takes "full advantage" of their CAT tool. I use several advanced features of the CAT tool, however. I use project templates, TMs, glossaries and placeable features aggressively. On the other hand, my CAT tool has some autocomplete features that I simply don't use because they're more of a hindrance than a help.

Liena Vijupe
Samara Serralheiro
expressisverbis
Aline Amorim
ahartje
 
Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei
Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei  Identity Verified
Ghana
Local time: 17:13
Japanese to English
Don't understand Jan 22, 2021

Samuel Murray wrote:

I doubt if anyone takes "full advantage" of their CAT tool.

What does "full advantage" even mean?


Josephine Cassar
 
Kevin Fulton
Kevin Fulton  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 13:13
German to English
Use most features Jan 22, 2021

I started using CAT tools in the late 1990s because the nature of my work then (manuals, product descriptions, parts lists, other repetitive documents). Since then I've continued to use these tools for almost all projects.
However, I've found that I don't take advantage of or even need some of the current developments in the software. Consequently I've resolved not to upgrade my CAT tools since I'm largely satisfied with their performance, apart from speed, which I don't expect to improve
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I started using CAT tools in the late 1990s because the nature of my work then (manuals, product descriptions, parts lists, other repetitive documents). Since then I've continued to use these tools for almost all projects.
However, I've found that I don't take advantage of or even need some of the current developments in the software. Consequently I've resolved not to upgrade my CAT tools since I'm largely satisfied with their performance, apart from speed, which I don't expect to improve as more features are added. The consequences of this decision will be minimal, since at my age I'm only a few lottery numbers away from retirement.
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Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Absolutely not Jan 22, 2021

A gentleman never takes advantage.

Anyway, what more is there beyond type some text and go to the next segment?


expressisverbis
Philip Lees
 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 18:13
Spanish to English
+ ...
No Jan 22, 2021

I use WF Classic, but I don't really use all the features. In the beginning, I started building glossaries, but soon gave up. I've never really managed to use the placeables function either, and I don't really understand what a termbase is, although I've googled it and read definitions, but it doesn't seem to be something that I would be interested in using.
However, I do like the fact that it obliges me to segment the text and work from beginning to end, because it seems more orderly that
... See more
I use WF Classic, but I don't really use all the features. In the beginning, I started building glossaries, but soon gave up. I've never really managed to use the placeables function either, and I don't really understand what a termbase is, although I've googled it and read definitions, but it doesn't seem to be something that I would be interested in using.
However, I do like the fact that it obliges me to segment the text and work from beginning to end, because it seems more orderly that way, and I do leverage my TMs, which I keep organised per client as well as by subject matter. I'm quite happy getting by with my own modus operandi without becoming an expert in all the bells and whistles.
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Christopher Schröder
Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 14:13
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
I use many of them Jan 23, 2021

But I'm well aware that there are several others I don't know or haven't learned yet. I have a list with some of the ones I want to learn as soon as I can.
For example, Regular Expressions are an excellent feature, but I'm only a newbie in this resource. It takes quite some time to learn how to use them in an advanced level. I hope I will.


Elena Feriani
expressisverbis
 


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Poll: When you work, do you take full advantage of your CAT-tool?






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