Use Trados to Reduce Foreign Language Typesetting Costs

January 2005

Use Trados to Reduce Foreign Language Typesetting Costs
By Yi Zhang


Trados is a translation memory (TM) tool. It counts the repetition in your text. Usually translation agencies offer a discounted rate for various degrees of repetition if the text is to be translated. This seems obvious. It is one main function of what TM tools were designed to do. Another less known feature of Trados is its ability to work in conjunction with various Desktop Publishing (DTP) programs. Trados is able to extract text from software and preserve all the formatting information. When the translation is finished, the user is able to simply flow the translation back into the software, make a few adjustments and their DTP task is complete. It saves the copy and paste work where it is not only slow, but also prone to mistakes. Using Trados would reduce your DTP cost by at least 50%. An average 10-hour typesetting job could be reduced to 4-5 hours. When a publication produced in DTP software needs translation (perhaps into more than one language) you might decide to use the team of translators you have always been using, and find a service provider afterwards to help you place the translation into the software. This can be done. If you are, however, looking for a better way to get the job done; there is a way that is not only more efficient -- resulting in faster turnaround -- but also more cost effective. Find a service provider that can provide you with not only translation, but also DTP services, and inquire about the use of Trados. If they use Trados and prove to be professional and experienced, you are in for a treat. Not only should you get a discounted rate for translation (provided there is repetitive text), but you should also receive a much lower quote for DTP services. Even better, if you plan to update your publication next year, you should only need to pay for translating those updates. The translation agency will usually store the translation memory for you, if noted ahead that the publication might need updates. A good service provider is not easy to find. However, I urge you to make the efforts and to do the research. It would be worthwhile. A good service provider would reduce your cost in the long-run, eliminate the need to deal with both translators and DTP service providers, and also, offer you peace of mind.

New Year Around the World
By Felicia Bratu Those familiar greetings: “Merry Christmas,“ and "Happy New Year!" must have been spoken and heard in the last weeks thousands of times, everywhere -- on the bus, in the mall, on TV… I’ve personally received and sent a lot of greeting cards with these same sentiments by email or regular mail. I have also sent emails to some people who do not even celebrate these two events. How embarrassing. In order to make sure that I won’t be repeating this same mistake next year; I decided to do a little research on the Internet, and to share with all of you what I’ve learned. It seems that not everybody celebrates the New Year at the same time, or in the same way, and not everyone celebrates Christmas. This is because of different religions, and different calendars. Some of these calendars are based on the movement of the moon, others are based on the sun’s position, or the sun and moon together. Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year; is celebrated on the first day of the first month of the Chinese calendar, which is usually the day on which the second new moon after the winter solstice occurs. This year, February 9th is the first day of the new year. It will be the Year 4702 by Chinese calendar. Jewish New Year is called Rosh Hashanah. The date varies each year, as they use their own calendar. The New Year takes place in the month of Tishri (September and October on the Gregorian calendar). In 2005, the Jewish New Year will be celebrated between the sunset on October 3rd and the nightfall on October 5th. It will be the Jewish Year 5766. The Muslim calendar is based on the cycles of the moon. The calendar consists of 354 days, so the date of Muslim New Year is eleven days earlier each year. Muharram is the first month for the Muslim year and its first day is celebrated as New Year’s Day. In 2005, Islamic New Year will be celebrated on February 10th. The estimated Year for Muslims is 1426. Although all Eastern European countries use the Gregorian calendar, their Orthodox churches refuse to accept the lunar part. Also, the solar part was only accepted by some Orthodox churches, so -- in Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Poland, and Bulgaria; Christmas is celebrated on the 25th of December. But, in Russia, Serbia and Georgia; Christmas is celebrated on the 25th of December Julian (or, the 7th of January Gregorian, until 2100). Only Serbian New Year is different, and it, is celebrated on January 14th. In Punjab, the New Year festival is known as Baisakhi and is celebrated on the 13th of April. In countries like Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Laos; the New Year is celebrated for three days in spring.

TRANSLATION JOKES

A linguistics professor was lecturing his class the other day. "In English," he said, "a double negative forms a positive. However, in some languages, such as Russian, a double negative remains a negative. But there isn't a single language, not one, in which a double positive can express a negative." A voice from the back of the room retorted, "Yeah, right."



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