The Trados Trade-Off

Computer Assisted Translation (CAT) - Sounds great! But only a little bit of research and the pitfalls become clear. They are really expensive (Trados is 695 Euro) and their usefulness is somewhat limited since they only remember sentences that they've seen before. That means that if you are translating a text that is just a dash more creative than the phone book, it is unlikely that you'll have any matches at all. On the other hand, if you're translating standard, repetitive legal or technical texts, whole sentences, if not paragraphs, are given to you as freebies. Very nice, since we get paid by the word.

But I have to admit, I've never felt motivated enough to shell out to buy it. The fact that there a experts known as "Trados trainers" deters me. If you need a specially trained professional to teach a translator (generally a computer savvy breed) how to use software, you know it's complicated. That doesn't mean it's not worthwhile, but it does mean that its not the kind of purchase you rush in to. Rather, you wait for the right moment, and for a busy translator, that moment may never arrive.

I still believe I'll buy it one day, if not for my own sake then at least so I'll be able to tell my students if it's worthwhile. But up to this point, I've only used the free CAT options, and there are a few. I'll discuss what I've learned from this experience in my next post.

(PS. In case you are dying to hear more about Trados from a translator who actually uses it, check out this link to the AboutTranslation blog. Note that he prays fervently for it's demise, but doesn't stop using it. Sounds like the love-hate relationship many of us have with certain other software.)