Exporting a RTF for translators that do not use any CAT Tool and importing it back in MemoQ
Thread poster: sebdea
sebdea
sebdea
Romania
Local time: 23:55
Jan 7, 2020

Hi there,

I am working for a couple of translating agencies. Most often I am confronted with the following issue:

1. I prepare an IDML file for translating.
2. The translating agency s asking for an MS Word file because some of their translators do not use any CAT Tools.
3. Agency is providing translated MS Word file which I have to Copy/Paste in my original InDesign file.

It is a very time-consuming process.

Therefore, my questions
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Hi there,

I am working for a couple of translating agencies. Most often I am confronted with the following issue:

1. I prepare an IDML file for translating.
2. The translating agency s asking for an MS Word file because some of their translators do not use any CAT Tools.
3. Agency is providing translated MS Word file which I have to Copy/Paste in my original InDesign file.

It is a very time-consuming process.

Therefore, my questions are as follows:

1. Is there an option in MemoQ to import my IDML file, export it as RTF so translator(s) may work on it?
2. After translating the RTF is there an option/solution for the agency to import it back to MemoQ and export it back to me as IDML?

Thank you in advance.

Regards,
Sebastian
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Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 22:55
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Absolutely! Jan 7, 2020

This is everyday business in memoQ! You can easily import the IDML file into a memoQ project and produce a bilingual RTF document that contains a column for translation.

This bilingual RTF document can be pretranslated with the translation memory as to reuse any reusable content and to provide translators with previous translations that could be useful, even if not 100% matches. The match level is also indicated in the bilingual RTF files so that translators can easily see what tran
... See more
This is everyday business in memoQ! You can easily import the IDML file into a memoQ project and produce a bilingual RTF document that contains a column for translation.

This bilingual RTF document can be pretranslated with the translation memory as to reuse any reusable content and to provide translators with previous translations that could be useful, even if not 100% matches. The match level is also indicated in the bilingual RTF files so that translators can easily see what translations in their translation column come from the memory and, if not 100%, have to be checked against the new source text.

After translation, this RTF file is reimported very easily into memoQ for later stages, like proofreading, QA checks (in case a translator missed some tag, for instance), etc.

All this is extremely easy to manage in memoQ and those of us who use external translators in the same way do it very frequently.
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sebdea
 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 22:55
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@Sebastian Jan 7, 2020

sebdea wrote:
1. I prepare an IDML file for translating.


What do you mean by "prepare for translating"?


 
Hans Lenting
Hans Lenting
Netherlands
Member (2006)
German to Dutch
No bilingual DOCX? Jan 7, 2020

Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT wrote:

This is everyday business in memoQ! You can easily import the IDML file into a memoQ project and produce a bilingual RTF document that contains a column for translation.


Doesn't memoQ provide a bilingual DOCX table? (Not all CAT tools can handle RTF.)


 
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 22:55
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Options are... Jan 7, 2020

Hans Lenting wrote:
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT wrote:
This is everyday business in memoQ! You can easily import the IDML file into a memoQ project and produce a bilingual RTF document that contains a column for translation.

Doesn't memoQ provide a bilingual DOCX table? (Not all CAT tools can handle RTF.)

I could have mentioned that memoQ can produce:
- Bilingual XLIFF files that are compatible with CAT tools that use XLIFF files
- Bilingual Word files in Trados style (with the traditional markup)
- A RTF file in proprietary memoQ format (looks like the one I attached)
Captura

[Edited at 2020-01-07 09:51 GMT]


Hans Lenting
 
Stepan Konev
Stepan Konev  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 00:55
English to Russian
Save rtf as docx Jan 7, 2020


Doesn't memoQ provide a bilingual DOCX table? (Not all CAT tools can handle RTF.)

You can save rtf as docx (for a reason that is out of my understanding). Once you're done with translation, just save docx as rtf again and import it with the same effect as if it was never saved as docx.
However, I don't see any difference. All those files have their unique structure. For example, Memsource splits its bilingual table after each next batch of 1000 segments.
You cannot use the Memsource docx with any tool other than Memsource, can you? If no, then why docx is better than rtf?

[Edited at 2020-01-07 10:32 GMT]


 
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 22:55
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...
You can hide the parts you do not need... Jan 7, 2020

Stepan Konev wrote:

Doesn't memoQ provide a bilingual DOCX table? (Not all CAT tools can handle RTF.)

You can save rtf as docx. However, I don't see any difference. All those files have their unique structure. For example, Memsource splits its bilingual table after each next batch of 1000 segments.
You cannot use the Memsource docx with any tool other than Memsource, can you? If no, then why why docx is better than rtf?

Exactly. If you want to use another CAT tool with a memoQ RTF file, you can basically hide whatever you do not want to work on in the memoQ RTF file, save it as a DOC/DOCX, then work with any CAT tool on the non-hidden parts. Once finished, unhide the hidden parts, save as RTF, import to memoQ.


Stepan Konev
John Fossey
 
sebdea
sebdea
Romania
Local time: 23:55
TOPIC STARTER
Tide up IDML files means: Jan 7, 2020

Samuel Murray wrote:

sebdea wrote:
1. I prepare an IDML file for translating.


What do you mean by "prepare for translating"?



It means to tide up the IDML for lots of possible errors such as but not limited to outside text frames that are not related to project itself, adding text boxes over images that have some text on them but are not editable, adding text boxes for pieces of text or headings that are outlined, converting so-called tables that are designed with tabs or infinite spaces into proper tables etc. You would be surprised how some Indesign files are designed.


 
sebdea
sebdea
Romania
Local time: 23:55
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you. Jan 7, 2020

Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT wrote:

This is everyday business in memoQ! You can easily import the IDML file into a memoQ project and produce a bilingual RTF document that contains a column for translation.

This bilingual RTF document can be pretranslated with the translation memory as to reuse any reusable content and to provide translators with previous translations that could be useful, even if not 100% matches. The match level is also indicated in the bilingual RTF files so that translators can easily see what translations in their translation column come from the memory and, if not 100%, have to be checked against the new source text.

After translation, this RTF file is reimported very easily into memoQ for later stages, like proofreading, QA checks (in case a translator missed some tag, for instance), etc.

All this is extremely easy to manage in memoQ and those of us who use external translators in the same way do it very frequently.


I really appreciate your input. So, in the end the main question is why the agency is asking me for a bilingual MS Word table along with an IDML if they can do it themselves in MemoQ? I have to talk to them.


 
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 22:55
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Established custom is not necessarily good custom... Jan 7, 2020

sebdea wrote:
I really appreciate your input. So, in the end the main question is why the agency is asking me for a bilingual MS Word table along with an IDML if they can do it themselves in MemoQ? I have to talk to them.

That would be interesting to know. To me, it looks like they have a custom of asking for both formats in order to have a backup should the reimport fail for some reason.


Jorge Payan
 


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Exporting a RTF for translators that do not use any CAT Tool and importing it back in MemoQ






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