Omega T vs. Déjà Vu X
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【Abstract】In this essay, based on the use of these two Translation Memory (TM) tools, I will analyse the differences of omegaT and D j vu X Professional, in terms of their key features and functionalities, trying to assess their comparative benefits and drawbacks so as to finally recommend the most practical and suitable one for using.
【Key words】Translation Memory (TM) tools features functionalities benefits and drawbacks practical.
一、Introduction
In this essay, I will analyse the differences among OmegaT and Déjà Vu X Professional regarding their key features and functionalities, and try to assess their comparative benefits and drawbacks so as to finally recommend the most practical and suitable one for using.
二、Comparing & Evaluating Functionalities
1.TM Management
According to Austermühl, translation memories are databases that store translated texts together with the corresponding original texts, allowing translators to retrieve the information stored in the database for use in the new translation so as to reduce time as well as improve quality and consistency, particularly useful for translating texts that contain large numbers of repeated words or terms, extended phrases and even sentences. Therefore, it is indispensable to explore and compare how OmegaT and DVX support this important functionality.
First of all, DVX Professional can easily create a TM project from scratch following the instructions of the wizard. Alternatively, existing translations can be aligned and saved as translation memories through the alignment projects. However, OmegaT does not offer so many ways to create TMs. OmegaT will automatically produce its translation memories only after creating the translated document.
In DVX Professional, translation memories can be improved and expanded by importing various accepted files, including Plain Text, Excel, Access, TMX and Trados Workbench .txt files. To use existing TMs in OmegaT, you have to copy the TMX files either created from alignment projects or exported from projects in other tools to the TM directory, and reload them when starting a project. Nevertheless, only two translation memories can be added to a project in DVX Professional while OmegaT will use unlimited translation memories in their projects.
DVX Professional has options of AutoSearch, AutoPropagate, and AutoSend which enables itself to search the translation memory for a segment, to automatically insert the translation and to send each pair of source and target segments to the translation memory during translation, but only the pairs of segments that have been validated will be sent. Translators can also maintain the translation memory by sending the entire translation project into the TM at the end of the translation. However, no segment will be sent to the TM during translating in OmegaT unless Save is clciked.
In DVX, users can view and edit the source and target segments in TMs as well as add new pairs of segments. One of its most advanced features is that translators are allowed to merge two identical source sentences with translations into different languages so as to gain a multiple-language translation memory. Therefore, although only one source language can be viewed at a time in DVX, the option of TM merging makes it helpful and time-saving for its users, especially those translators working in multiple languages. However, translation memories of OmegaT can only be viewed in Notepad, not in OmegaT itself. If you make any changes to the translation, you have to save and create translated documents as so to update the translation memory, which is quite time-consuming to translators. One translation memory of OmegaT usually contains only one pair of languages.
2.Terminology Management
As Austerm hl stated, most TM tools are programmed with the functionality of terminology management, helping to store and manage a large amount of terminology as well as to provide fast and easy access to the data stored. Therefore, it is also essential to evaluate their functions of terminology management.
In DVX Professional, the process of setting up a terminology database is very similar to that of setting up a TM, either by following the instruction given by the wizard or by importing existing glossaries into the terminology database. But these glossaries should be in the following formats: Plain Text, Excel, Access, D j Vu X Professional terminology databases or D j Vu 2 or 3 terminology databases.You can't create a glossary or extract terminology in OmegaT, as it contains no internal glossary editor. You can set up tab-delimited files in other editors or use the tab-delimited files exported from the glossaries of Trados, Wordfast or DVX, but glossary files for OmegaT can be either in system default encoding which should have .tab extensions or encoded in UTF-8 with .utf8 extensions. For example, glossaries exported from Trados Multiterm can be used as OmegaT glossaries without further modification, provided they are given the file extension .tab and the source and target term fields are the first two fields respectively.
Many glossaries can be imported into DVX's terminology database, and you can add, edit the database as well as merge identical entries as in TM management, but only two terminology databases can be added to a project for using. To use an existing glossary in OmegaT, you can simply place it in the glossary directory after creating the project.
DVX Professional will automatically search terminology databases for any portions of a segment while translating, but you have to manually send a pair of translated terms to the database. OmegaT automatically detects glossary files in the directory when a project is open, but only exact matches with the glossary entry will be displayed in the Glossary window. Although new terms can be added to the glossary using other editors while translating, OmegaT will not recognize these newly added terms until the project is reloaded.
3.Coverage of File Formats
In this part, focus will be paid to the file formats supported both by the translation environment and the alignment module.
On the one hand, OmegaT itself can not do alignment, so it has to apply some other external alignment tools if it needs to align files. However, DVX is integrated with this function, supporting many file formats in its alignment projects. DVX will work with not only Plain Text, but also some other file formats such as MS Word and Excel.
On the other hand, DVX can translate a wider variety of documents than OmegaT does. OmegaT can import and export Plain Text files, OpenOffice Writer documents and HTML files. Microsoft Word and Excel documents can not be worked in OmegaT unless they are opened, edited and saved in OpenOffice Writer and Spreadsheet. Apart from that, OmegaT itself cannot convert OpenOffice files to Microsoft format and vice versa if no OpenOffice system is installed. Therefore, it is not so efficient to work with MS files in OmegaT, as it will take time to exchange the formats in advance. By contrast, MS files are fully accepted in D j Vu X Professional without format exchange. Furthermore, DVX also supports all the leading files, including some complex formats.
When translating complex files such as XML and HTML, they have different working process in dealing with the special formats. OmegaT works well with HTML, but tags can not be hidden or locked, so sometimes tags may be accidentally changed or deleted, so problems will arise when exporting the file. As translatable segments are not distinguished from the ones that don't need to be translated, translators have to keep the source file open so as to do the translation against the original.
DVX Professional presents a uniform interface, displaying only translatable text, so you can work comfortably without having to worry about overwriting formatting and layout information. You can concentrate entirely on the text without worrying about accidentally changing formatting information. Differently, source text will appear in its source window, so you can check the source file when doing translation in the target language window.
4.Project Management
Project management involves activities from creating a project at the early stage to delivering the target files finally, as well as sufficient contacts among clients, translators, and localization companies. It is crucial to choose the most suitable TM tools, as to some extent, they can help to guarantee the whole ongoing project to be implemented in a high speed and a good quality.
OmegaT will automatically create a folder consisting of subfolders of source, target, glossary and TM for a project, which provides the working environment in a good order. You should also specify the source and target languages of the current project, and copy your source files into the source folder. If you forget to add source text files to the source subfolder, or if you forget to convert Microsoft Word files to OpenOffice format, you'll get an error message. OmegaT only recognizes files it supports, all other file formats beyond its supporting will be ignored, so users have to ensure the filter for each file has been correctly set up, otherwise problems may arise in opening the file. As only one pair of languages can be specified in the project, OmegaT may be not so effective for localization projects. It seems to be practical for freelance translators working independently at home.
Compared with OmegaT, DVX has outstanding advantages with respect to the functionalities of creating and managing a localisation project. First of all, projects can be created the instruction given by the wizard. Secondly, DVX provides convenient ways for projects and databases to be passed on to team members including translators, editors, proofreaders and project managers. Thirdly, some other features are programmed to DVX Professional in preparing and managing a localization project.
5.Quality Assurance
Apart from the translation work itself, it is also important to check its terminological and stylistic consistency as well as spelling and formatting correctness before sending it to the client. Therefore, various features are provided in TM tools for quality assurance. OmegaT offers the feature of tag validating to check for any errors in internal tags before compiling the final output. Any error existing in the translation will corrupt the final OpenOffice or HTML documents. However, it is not yet able to detect mistakes in formatting fully automatically, so you have to compile the translation into the final file to check whether the entire file formatting is being preserved.
DVX Professional uses comparatively integrated features to assure the quality of its project. Several levels of consistency checks between source and target and different targets are available. For example, AutoCheck can be activated to automatically check your translation for consistency with your database as you translate. The status of each row is presented with a coloured indicator bar. If a row is translated with inconsistent terminology, you will be notified with a red exclamation mark. All the rows have to be confirmed with a blue indicator symbol after being translated. Empty or populated rows will not be allowed to export into External View unless they are commented. External View enables external proofreaders to make any comments on the translation, but translators have the right to accept or refuse any change to their translation before exporting the project. Furthermore, DVX Professional provides the spell checking function to some languages.
三、Conclusion
According to the comparisons above, it can be safely concluded that each TM tool has its own benefits and drawbacks, so that I can’t simply define one TM tool as the most effective one or recommend one system as the best solution for all users. Users have to choose a most suitable translation memory tool according to their own requirements and needs.
As for the freelance translators who would like to use TM tools without two much investment, OmegaT can be a wise choice, as it is free and supports some of the functions that might be needed during translation While as for those who are under time-pressure and would like to use TM tools without investing too much work in something that would take them away from their main priority, which is to translate, they may prefer to use an integrated system that enables them to compile a terminology database while translating with a translation memory. Therefore, DVX will be comparatively a better choice as it covers most useful range of the functions with a reasonable price.