SDL Translation Software Roadshow - What We Learned

Alexika has been using SDL Trados translation management software for almost 20 years now, and choosing it has been very much one of our better decisions – it remains at the heart of our business after all that time. We use SDL Trados Studio as our home translation environment. It is the place where translation, editing and proofreading tasks are carried out, where we create and manage translation memories for efficient storage of translation work and it is our means of working with a vast range of file formats. It is the clear market leader, which means that many of our colleagues work on the same platform.

One of our team often goes along to SDL Trados roadshow events, and this time it was Mark’s turn to go to London. So, apart from the useful – essential even - techy updates, what did he learn? This time it was more about reaffirming some old truths:

- Linguists are an interesting bunch. Whenever professional translators and translation project managers gather together in one place, there is a fascinating mix of nationalities, interests, stories and personalities. After a warm welcome from Patrice of SDL (from the Loire Valley originally), the day started by sitting with a Slovenian, a German, a Spaniard and also a Brit who had lived in Germany and the Middle East.A new contact from Turkey wandered over for a chat. What a delight it is to hear all these international perspectives!

- Technology at work is at its best when it enhances the natural human workflow. This happens time and time again with this technology – the human translator forgets things, but the technology remembers and recalls them in just the way that the human brain would if it could. The human could faff about for hours and would no doubt eventually find a way to process many different types of document – the software just does it. At its best, there is no need to create new and complicated ways of doing things, technology should just help you do your work stuff more easily.

- Technology at work is at its best when it is customisable – up to a point. SDL Trados technology can be customised endlessly. And then, a bit like an app store for a smartphone, you can add lots of extras so that it can do even more. This is all wonderful but at the same time, part of you just wants to turn it on and go. Software designers must spend hours pondering on this conundrum.

- London is great, if you have money and time to be part of it.

A huge thank you to SDL for an interesting and useful day, with some excellent presentations. One of us will be there for the next one. Alexika is an Approved Training Centre for SDL Trados technology – please Contact Us for news on upcoming courses.