App Happy in Trados Studio — Translation

This is the third of our Project Management Blog posts from our Translations and Training Manager Gemma Smith. Following on from the two previous posts on Glossaries and Project Management Apps. 

This blog post complements the latter, focusing this time on apps that assist with more translation-oriented tasks (though there is some cross-over as some apps fall under both categories). As a little recap, at Alexika we use Trados Studio 2021 and enjoy extending its features by using the SDL App Store. Let’s have a look at those apps that might be helpful in the role of translating.

1) IATE Real-time Terminology

If you are a fan of looking up terminology on IATE (Interactive Terminology for Europe), then this app might be up your street. Once you’ve downloaded the IATE Real-time Terminology app, the IATE Terminology Provider option will become available under Use when adding termbases to projects. Click it and the app will ask you if you want to search in Subdomains and, if so, which ones along with Term Type, as you see in IATE itself when searching online.  

How does the app work?

If a term in the source segment is found in IATE, Trados Studio will recognise it in the same way it would for a term found in the termbase, using a red line over the term in the source segment and it will also appear in the Term Recognition window. Start typing the first few letters of the translated term to have it suggested in the QuickPlace list where you can then use the Tab or Enter key to insert the term into your target segment.

Tip: Ensure you follow the instructions and first download the SQL Server ExpressLocal DB as instructed on the IATE App Store webpage. It includes an RWS Community Wiki link which gives further information along with the link to download.  

When could it help me?

Although terminology is easily looked up online, the repeated clicks and re-typing each term into IATE saved by this app will leave you with more time to focus on translating the actual text. Very handy.

2) Glossary Converter

As one of the most popular apps on the App Store for years, I am pretty sure the Glossary Converter needs little introduction, even its name is fairly self-explanatory. Basically, it converts glossaries in non-MultiTerm format to MultiTerm format (and vice-versa) for use with projects in Trados Studio or as standalone termbases in MultiTerm. The most common input format for conversion is Excel (.xlsx), but it can work with other file types, such as .csv and .txt.  

How does the app work?

A very simple and neat interface, you simply drag and drop your file for conversion onto the converter (shown below), and the app begins the conversion. There are more settings that you can tweak, for example if you’re converting from .sdltb to .xlsx, you can choose how to handle synonyms on the spreadsheet tab.

Tip: Make sure your file is closed before dragging it into the app, otherwise the conversion will fail.

When could it help me?

If your client sends you a list of terms to use in a project, then this app can be used to easily convert the terminology into MultiTerm format that will work with Trados Studio. It’s then just a matter of assigning your newly converted termbase to your project, and Term Recognition will recognise any terms present in the glossary using a red line above the term in the source segment in question as you translate. If you are a patent translator, try using the Glossary Converter to convert a list of reference signs and associated terms in your source and target languages into a small termbase to help with consistency during translation of a specification or set of claims. Or you could use it for user manuals where there needs to be consistency with terminology appearing on a user interface (UI) of a device.

3) Wordlight

Whilst it is possible to enable highlighting of words in Trados Studio ‘out of the box’, it does take several clicks and can be a little fiddly to set up. In comparison, the Wordlight app does the same thing, yet is very fast and efficient. 

How does the app work?

Once installed, you can use it in 3 different ways. With all methods, make sure you select your word/phrase first. The first way is to use Highlight Word available on the right-click menu. A second way is to use the ribbon button available on the Home tab. This way is very neat as it allows you to change the colour by clicking the arrow on this button, a choice of 15. If you forget which colour you’ve set, just look at the colour coming out of the torch symbol on the ribbon. The third way is to set up a keyboard shortcut for even faster highlighting. Wordlight can be used across all file types in Trados Studio, but note that the highlighting only stays on in the target file (i.e. Word) when working with Word or PDF source files.

Tip: It works neatly with the Advanced Display Filter 2.0 in Trados Studio 2021. On the Content tab of the filter, next to the Target box type ‘highlight=’ and the colour (without a space in the case of 2-word colours, e.g. (‘highlight=lightgray’). Hover your cursor over the colour on the ribbon to find the exact name of the colour to use. Now tick Search in tag content and Search only in tag content.

When could it help me?

A simple feature, but one that is really useful in all manner of scenarios. Use it to highlight certain parts of text for a colleague if you work in a translator-reviewer partnership; or as an internal reminder to double-check a particular translated term; or even as a way of making certain parts stand out for the client.

4) SDLXLIFF Toolkit

As its name suggests, this is one app that many translators say they wouldn’t be without. The SDLXLIFF Toolkit can perform many tasks, both on single files and multiple files (either in a project or in a particular folder).

How does the app work?

Well, there is a whole range of things this app can do, which explains the app’s massive popularity with translators since it was first created. You can:  

• Use the Search and Replace tab to find and replace terms in either/both the source and target. You can also just use the Search part. There is also the option to use regular expressions (regex) too.
• Use Sliceit! to create a new SDLXLIFF containing only the segments you’ve specified. This could be handy if there is a list of key phrases within a document, as this partial SDLXLIFF could be translated first and then the translated segments recognised by Uplift when translating the remaining segments. 
• Use Changeit! to change the selected segments to one translation status, to lock or unlock the segments, or to copy source to target. Say for example you have mixed Draft and Translated segments but want to change all to Translation Reviewed.
• Use Clearit! to remove translations from the target segments based on your selection criteria. For example, set it to Draft, click Clearit! and all segments set to Draft mode will be cleared.

Tip: Try out the Reverse selection button.

When could it help me?

There are so many use cases for this app, although personally, I find the Search and Replace functionality the best (it can be quicker than using the Find and Replace feature in the Editor) to make speedy terminology changes. Clearit! is also helpful – specifically if I’ve run the Pre-translate feature when creating a project, but then realised that PerfectMatch would have been useful. PerfectMatch works on empty segments, so this is where Clearit! comes in handy and saves me having to re-create a project. 

5) Apply Studio Project Template

The Apply Studio Project Template app allows you to take some or all of the settings from one project (.sdlproj) or project template (.sdltpl) and apply them to another project (or several projects).  

How does the app work?

Once installed, it can be used in 3 ways: 1) right-click menu option Apply Studio Project Template, 2) large icon of the same name on the Add Ins tab of the ribbon, or 3) via the keyboard shortcut CTRL + ALT + T. 

You will then see a pop-up displaying all the settings that you can choose to overwrite, merge or keep (note that merge is only available for some settings). Next to Apply this template, choose the project or template from the dropdown (or browse for it by pressing the Templates button). You can choose whether to apply this to the Active project (the one showing in bold in your Projects list) or to selected projects (you have to select them first by CTRL and click before bringing up this settings box). Now it is just a case of looking through the settings and choosing what you want to overwrite/keep/merge. 

As an example, clicking merge on Translation Memory and Automated Translation, means that the TM(s) of the project/template will be added to the TMs of your Active project or selected projects, whilst also retaining the TM(s) of your current project. In simpler terms, let’s say that my project has a TM called ‘Project TM 1’ and the template I’m applying to it has a TM called ‘Template TM to add’. If I choose merge, both TMs ‘Project TM 1’ and ‘Template TM to add’ will be added to the project.  You can do the same with termbases. You can even choose to apply Verification settings from a template/project to your project, and that’s not to mention various other settings. Have a play around and see what works best for you.

Tip: When you first open the settings box, all will be set to Keep – so no changes will be made until you start changing the options. A bit of a safety net to avoid all settings being overwritten straight away!

When could it help me?

This could be ideal for freelancers receiving packages from LSPs where the translator wishes to add their own carefully created resources along with the resources included already by the LSP. Open the package as normal, then use this app to apply settings from your own template. 

If you persevered with my previous Project Management apps blog post, no doubt you will have been prepared for another epic episode. Thank you for making it to the end! 

I would love to know if you have any Trados Studio apps that you find useful for translation? Or have you got more usage scenarios to add for the above apps? I would be interested to hear your suggestions. Send me a tweet or start a LinkedIn conversation with me.

Gemma Smith, April 2021