At STP, the main tool both in-house and freelance translators
use is memoQ. Here are 11 tips directly from STP in-house translators about
using memoQ to your advantage.
Some sections are more to do with the way things are done at
STP, others are more general features. Hopefully they will all make life a
little easier for you!
1) Glue source files together
You
know when you open a new project and there are dozens upon dozens of little
files? The answer to this mess is Views.
Use Views always when you have more than one file in a job. This way you
don’t need to open each file individually, but more importantly, features like Auto-propagation
and Ctrl + Shift + F will be much more useful (more on those later).
Press Ctrl + A in the Documents tab of the
Translations pane to select all files. Right-click and select “Create View”,
give a name to the view and press OK. You can find the view you created in the
Views tab in the Translations tab.
You’ll go from this...
...to
this
Now that’s more like it.
2) Use different term bases
STP is using term bases more and more. In
addition to term bases sent by our clients (we all know how lovely and “varied”
those can be), we have client-specific ones we create and add to and our own
domain-specific term bases we are adding terms to, bit by bit.
Your PM will add term bases to your
project, but you can add them, too! Just search in the Term bases tab in memoQ
and tick the one you want to add.
Every project has a project term base: this is your playground. You can add and remove
terms to the project term base to your heart’s content. MemoQ will suggest term
base terms through Predictive typing, which means that you save yourself the
trouble of typing the same term 200 times in one project.
Term base hits are marked with blue in the
Translations results pane – it’s often worth clicking the term for more
information!
Here’s how to recognise who has sent or
compiled the term base (or TM): http://kb.stptrans.com/Article.aspx?p=625
Here’s some tips for those who struggle
with making memoQ term base settings co-operate with languages that have case
endings and other suffixes: http://kb.stptrans.com/Article.aspx?p=694
Here’s how to set up predictive typing: http://kb.stptrans.com/Article.aspx?p=554
And here’s some information
about STP’s Terminology strategy: http://kb.stptrans.com/Article.aspx?p=868
3) Look up terms (or What To
Do When the Client Doesn’t Know How CAT Tools and Translators Work?)
Sometimes, the PM has
attached a term base but you are not getting any hits. This is
usually because the original glossary is a mishmash of upper and lower case
terms (and sometimes also varied from a grammatical point of view). If you want
to check a term, highlight it in the source and use the shortcut Ctrl+P. It might well already be in a
term base!
4) Use the concordance search for consistency
Think
a term or a phrase might already have been translated in the past? Highlight it and check by using Ctrl
+ K. The concordance search will check all translation memories attached to
the project.
Be sure to use the asterisk (*) if you’re
not sure what case or number the term would be in! Try different combinations
of “Put selected text in quotes” and “Add wildcards to selected text” in the
Concordance window to fine-tune the results.
5) Lower the threshold for TM hits
Are you
sure you’ve translated a similar segment, but there’s no hit? The
default setting for translation memory hits showing up in the Translation
results pane is 75%. Often you can still get very good hits that are below
that, so it’s worth dropping the threshold to 50%, basically in every project.
You can do this in the Settings tab for
each project (go to TM settings and tick STP
Default (50%) (DT 10% penalty)). What’s a DT penalty, you ask? Read the
next tip!
6) Declutter your project – detach unnecessary TMs
Are
your concordance results being overwhelmed by rubbish hits from a domain-specific
translation memory (DT)? Are relevant concordance
hits from the Project TM (STPXXX), the end-client TM (EC) and the external TM (X)
nowhere to be found (or buried at the end of the list)?
You can try to sort the concordance results
in different ways by clicking the Meta-information header in the Concordance
results window. You can also simply disconnect the DT TM culprit from the
project in the Translation memories tab. Harsh, but if it’s getting in the way,
it has to go.
7) Manage tags with shortcuts
You can add the next tag simply by pressing
F9 and remove all tags from the
target with the shortcut Ctrl + F8
(and insert them all by using Alt + F8,
if you wish).
While we’re on the subject, here’s a list
of memoQ shortcuts: http://kb.stptrans.com/Article.aspx?p=565
8) Only confirm the segments you’ve touched (when revising)
Unless your PM tells you otherwise, only
confirm those segments you’ve made changes to when you’re revising.
This way, it’s clear who’s done what and
the name of the last person to modify the segment is saved with it in the
translation memory.
9) Filter for a harmonious target
Already
seen this term but it’s not in the term base? Change your mind about a term? Use the filtering function: highlight the term or phrase in the
source and filter by using Ctrl + Shift
+ F. Use the same shortcut again to deactivate the filter (or click the
icon highlighted below).
10) Auto-propagate
Is
auto-propagation really worth it? We think so!
Here’s why:
- It makes spotting (and jumping
over) repeated segments much easier, both in one file and in a view that
includes several files
- The reviser will thank you for
it, as they can safely skip all segments with that nifty down arrow (we’d
rather have it colour-coded and flashing if we had our way ;))
- Any changes you make to
identical segments you only have to make once
Sometimes, the same translation will not
work for all identical segments. When this happens, just disable
auto-propagation temporarily.
Here’s information on auto-propagation
settings: http://kb.stptrans.com/Article.aspx?p=552
11) Use the Quick access toolbar for, well, quick access.
Can’t
get used to the ribbons user interface in memoQ? You
can add the functions you use most to the Quick Access Toolbar. This is an area
to the left of the memoQ window title bar, at the very top.
- Locate the tiny blue and white
help icon (question mark) in the memoQ program window title bar (or any other
icon already there)
- Right-click the icon to reveal
a menu and click “Customize The Ribbon”.
- A window opens. In the
right-hand pane, click the plus symbol next to “Quick Access Toolbar”.
- Move your favourite functions from
the categories in the left-hand pane to the right-hand pane using the “Add
>>” button in the middle.
- From now on, your favourite
functions will always be at the top of the memoQ window, just one click away
& always in the same place, no matter which ribbon happens to be selected!
That’s
it from us! Hope you picked up a thing or two, but
please feel free to peruse the Knowledge Base articles and ask your PM if
you’re not sure about something.