Wordfast Pro Step by Step Translation Session

Today, we are going to discuss the basics of using Wordfast Pro
and some tips to avoid common mistakes
Great! Let's start
To start using Wordfast Pro...
you have to create a new project
What is a project?
Do you mean a file?
You can think of the project as a container for organizing your files
You can translate any number of files in the same project
as long as they are of the same language pair
Enter a unique "Project name"
and select the source and target languages
Click "OK"
The Translation Memory preferences dialogue box appears
Do not confuse the two buttons:
"Add TM"
and "Create TM"
Oh! Sometimes I confuse the two buttons
and get error messages
Could you please explain the difference between them
Click "Add TM" if your client sent you a translation memory file
or if you already have a translation memory on your computer
My client sent me a translation memory
So I am clicking "Add TM" and then "Browse"
to locate the translation memory file
Wordfast Pro established a connection to the translation memory
I can also create a new empty translation memory
by clicking "Create TM"
and then "Browse" to determine where to save the new translation memory file
and give it a name
Do you mean I must use multiple translation memories?
Can I use only one translation memory?
You can use only one translation memory
or any number of translation memories
Most importantly, any translation memory you want to use during translation must be selected
So if I want to get matches from a translation memory
I have to select the checkbox "Selected"
but what if I want to make it read-only?
If a translation memory is only "Selected"...
you can both retrieve translation matches from it
and add new translation units to it
On the other hand, if a translation memory is marked as both "Selected" and "Read Only"...
you can only get matches from it
However, it is not writable
Remember that you should have at least one writeable translation memory
to store your new translated segments
Now, let's open the document to be translated
by opening the "File" menu
and clicking "Open File"
As far as I can see...
Wordfast Pro has split the text into numbered segment
Could you please show me the source document
Does such segmentation depend on some punctuation marks?
By default, Wordfast Pro segments text after:
paragraph marks
full stops
colons
question marks
and exclamation marks
As I have a translation memory sent by my client...
I can pre-translate the document by clicking the toolbar button:
"Translate All"
Great! I notice that it has offered only matches of high rates
Can I get matches of lower rates?
You can lower the "Fuzzy Match Threshold" by opening...
"Edit" menu
"Preferences"
"Translation Memory"
and changing the value of...
"Fuzzy Match Threshold"
By default, it is 75%
The value must be an integer between 40 and 100
This makes Wordfast Pro retrieve matches of lower similarity rates from the TM, if any
Can I filter segments to make it easier to reach them?
You can use the "Outline" layout to filter segments based on their status
For example, you can filter "Exact Matches"
"Fuzzy Matches"
or "No Matches"
and you can reach any segment by clicking on its link on the "Outline" layout
I see
By the way I notice that the path of the file now includes a different extension
What is TXML?
TXML is the Wordfast Pro bilingual file
Once you have been the source document in the Wordfast Pro and save it...
The TXML file is generated in the same folder as the source document
Actually, it is the file that you are translating now
Okay
What should I do to translate the rest of the file?
You should type the translation in the right column
Let me try that
Oh! Once I started typing the translation, the background colour changed into pink
Pink indicates that this segment has been modified
and not saved to the translation memory
I want to change the case of the word
Usually, I use Shift+F3
in other applications
In Wordfast Pro...
you can use Shift+F3
to toggle the case of text to the lower case or the upper case
Great! What should I do now?
How can I move to the next sentence?
You should click the toolbar button:
"Next Segment"
or press Alt+DownArrow on your keyboard
to store the current translation unit into the translation memory
and search the translation memory for matches for the next segment
Now, the background colour has changed into purple
Purple indicates that this segment has been stored into the translation memory
When I close and reopen the TXML file...
I notice that all the purple segments have become pink again
Is that a problem?
Pink and purple are...
session-related colours
so there is no problem...
if those translation units have been already stored in the translation memory
Well, once I clicked the toolbar button
"Next Segment"
the translation was copied to segment No. 6 as well... why?
It is a repeated segment on the same document
Please refer to the video about the Auto-Propagation feature
Okay
{ut1} What is this grey code for?
This is called a "placeable"
and you should insert in its proper position of the target segment
Placeables are useful for keeping the format and structure of the file
To select a placeable, click the toolbar button:
"Next Placeable"
or press Ctrl+Alr+Right on your keyboard
To insert the selected placeable...
click the toolbar button
"Copy Placeable"
or press Ctrl+Alt+Down
continue translating as usual
and do not forget to press Alt+Down to commit your translation unit to the translation memory
Okay
Actually, I used Alt+Down to move from segment #6 to segment #7
How was this translation inserted?
This is a Fuzzy Match
retrieved from the translation memory
What is a fuzzy match
and why is it on a yellow background?
We have translated a similar segment before
When we pressed Alt+Down...
it has been automatically retrieved from the translation memory
Fuzzy matches are a distinguished by a yellow background
You can also notice the match rate; it is less than 100%
Great! How can I know the difference between the current source segment...
and the one stored in the translation memory?
Differences are displayed on the TM Lookup pane
and marked in yellow
Edit the translation
and press Alt+Down to add the translation unit to the translation memory...
and to move to the next segment
Okay
I have already translated a similar segment but I have not gotten a match
You can search the translation memory for similar phrases
by selecting a phrase
and clicking the toolbar button:
"TM Lookup"
or pressing Ctrl+Shift+T on your keyboard
You can also enable the option:
"Perform TM Lookup automatically"
to search the translation memory
whenever you move to a segment using the mouse
or Ctrl+Down
If you find a TM Lookup result useful...
you can move it to the target cell
by clicking the option "Retrieve Selected Segment"
or pressing Ctrl+Alt+M
Great! In segment #9, there are numbers
Is there a quick way to move numbers from the source to the target
Let's try to translate this segment
Once I type "1", I get to a number suggestion
Moreover, I can use Ctrl+Tab to move words to my target
Just hold the Ctrl key...
and press Tab several times until you get the word you need
Here, I am just editing the word "September"
and using Shift+F3 to capitalize the first letter
Again, when I type "2", I get numbers suggestions
I can just move between suggestions using the arrow buttons
and press Enter to insert the one I need
This feature is called Auto-Suggest
and you can watch the video about it
That should be so useful
especially for long segments
however, for this specific segment...
can we just copy the source text to the target
and make the required changes?
You can use the toolbar button
"Copy Source"
or the shortcut "Alt+Ins"
Let's move to the next segment using...
Alt+Down
Here, we have another Fuzzy Match
I am editing it
and then moving to the next segment
Segment #11 is an Exact Match
Segment #12 is another Fuzzy Match
I can see the differences on the TM Lookup pane
and I have to edit it
Segment #13 is auto-propagated from a previous segment
repeated on the same file
I have a question related to segment #14
Sometimes, I have this problem numbers are not automatically replaced
and I get incorrect numbers
When the only difference between two sentences is in numbers...
you can check the option:
"Use Replaceables for higher TM matches"
This will automatically replace the numbers in such fuzzy matched
instead of offering them with incorrect numbers from old translated sentences
stored in the translation memory
That's great
Here, we have another Fuzzy Match
Actually, I see two fuzzy matches on the TM Lookup pane
How can I insert another match other than the first one
You can move between matches using
Alt+Right and Alt+Left
to display the next or previous matches
in order of match rating
Edit the segment as you like
and press Alt+Down
Okay
I remember that segment #18 was retrieved during the pre-translation process
How can I display the original translation unit
to check the differences?
You can use the toolbar button:
"Current Segment Leverage"
or Alt+Space
to retrieve a match for the current segment
We have now finished the translation
What should we do now?
It's recommended did you check the spelling of your translation
Click "Edit" > "Preferences"
"Spelling"
You have two options
"Hunspell" and Microsoft Office Spellcheck"
You can also select:
"Check spelling as you type"
To use the spelling checker, click
"Edit" > "Spell Check"
or press F7 on your keyboard
Select the correct suggestion
and click
"Change" or "Change All"
Okay
Do you recommend anything else
It's highly recommended that you check the TXML file
to make sure that all the placeables are properly inserted
Click "Edit" > "Preferences"
"Transcheck" and select "Placeables"
There are other options that you can select as well
click the toolbar button:
"Transcheck"
When you get an error message, correct the problematic segment
and make sure you use
Alt+Q or Alt+Down
to store edited segment into the translation memory
After you correct the problematic segment, click the toolbar button: "Transcheck"
again to continue checking the rest of the file
Great! As we have modified some segments now...
is there a quick way to store all the changes to the translation memory in one go
instead of pressing Alt+Q one-by-one
You can click the toolbar button:
"Commit to TM" or press Alt+End on your keyboard
It says:
"Document is ready to be closed"
I have to save it before closing, right?
Also, I would like to get my target document
Click the "Save" toolbar button to save your bilingual TXML file
On the other hand, to generate the target document...
in the same format as the source document...
Click "File" > "Save Translated File"
Is this for any file format
or for just word documents?
The command "Save Translated File" is for any file format supported by Wordfast Pro
It generates the translated version of the source file in the same format
I see the document is now ready to be sent to the client
What should I send to them exactly?
Send your client what they asked for
Most importantly, if you are requested to send the TXML file via email
make sure you compress it into a zip archive to avoid file corruption
What about the translation memory?
I am not sure which files I should send
Wordfast translation memory is a text (*.txt) file
and this is only what you are required to send
On the other hand, *.jtx and *.lock files are temporary files
that you do not need to send as WFP can generate them again on any machine, if needed
So we have successfully finished our translation session using Wordfast Pro
I am going to use all what I have learned