Analyses

This post ist superceded by MemoQ 4 posts. Please refer to the new documentation if you work with MemoQ 4. The launch date will be announced soon!

Analyses are done in order to evaluate the scope of a translation project. Before starting an analysis, make sure to have set the correct translation memories and term bases for the project. If you have checked that, select the files you want to analyse,right-click and choose “Statistics“. There, under “Select scope” choose either “Project” or “Selected docments“, according to your needs. In any case, make sure to have checked “Show results for each file“. When everything is set, click on “Calculate“.

Statistics

Now, the calculation is being done and afterwards, under the settings panel, you will see the results of the analysis. First, you see the counts like repetitive segments, segments not started etc. which are self-explenatory. If you scroll further downwards, you see the results of the analysis . They are given in percentages and correspond to what has been found in the translation memories . The match rates which give you a clearer idea about the exact scope of the translation are as follows:

Repetition:
Segments which are double and of which the translation will be auto-propagated.
101% match:
Source segments and context are identical to what has been found in the TM.
100% match:
Source segment and what has been found are identical but the context differs.
95% – 99% match:
Source segment and what has been found are identical but numbers, whitespaces, formatting tags, and punctuation may differ.
94%- x% match:
The majority of the segment is identical to what has been found but there are changes in the text and in the points stated above.

… ( the degree of identity decreases more and more)

No match:
The segments is unknown, nothing has been found in the translation memories.

In order to save the analysis, click on “Export“. In the next little window, choose the first option to create an HTML (.html) file containing the results. Now click on “Export” and set the file path and the file name and save the file. If you want to use the results of the analysis in TRADOS, choose the third option (CSV file, TRADOS-compatibe) and save the file as explained before.

Delivering a translated file in MemoQ

This post ist superceded by MemoQ 4.0 posts. Please refer to the new documentation if you work with MemoQ 4.0. The launch date will be announced soon!

Once a translation or edit has been finished on MemoQ some checks need to be done to ensure that everything has been covered and the best quality in the translation. Here are the steps to be followed:

• 1. Run the Spell Check by pressing F7. This will show a dialog window as the one shown below. Go through all the segments there are none to be reviewed.

Spell Check

• 2. Check that there are no errors shown in the status bar in the bottom. You will also notice them by the red circle with the exclamation mark to the right of the target column.Correct the error by going into the segment and adding the appropriate tags so as to have as many as in the source and in similar places and reconfirming the segments until the red circle disappears. See Handling tags in MemoQ and DV X.

Error in segment

• 3. Go back to the Project Manager tab and choose all those files that you want to export that are at 100% status, right click them and choose Export bilingual.

Export bilingual

This will create an MBD file that will contain both the source and target and will be the file used by the editor if you are translating, or by the PM to reexport if there’s any problem with the final file delivered.

• 4. Go back to the Project manager window and choose all those files that you want to export that are at 100% status, right click them and choose Export (dialog).

Export (dialog)

Deliver both of these files to the PM and editor (if applicable).

Handling tags in MemoQ and DV X

Sometimes in a document there is formatting that needs to be maintained but cannot be displayed on the translation view of CAT tools. MemoQ and DV X use the same solution to show these formatting changes: a tag is inserted there where there is a formatting change. These formatting tags look like this {1}. Files cannot be exported unless the same amount of tags appear in the source an in the target.

In DV X these tags can represent bold, italics, underlined, non-breaking spaces, superscript, hyperlinks and others. it is therefore important to place them somewhere that resembles their position on the source. For example:

La {1}voiture{2} de John est rouge

needs to be translated by putting the tags around the same word since it represents a formatting change specific to that word.

John's {1}car{2} is red

Putting both tags at the beginning of the segment one next to the otherwill give a result a translation where the formatting is lost.

{1} {2} John's car is red

This is to be avoided.

There are other cases when clearly the tag stands for a non breaking space. Such as when translating from French and a tag systematically appears before a question mark, or a colon. In that case, if the target language does not allow a space between the work and the question mark, the tag should be put after the question mark, or before the last word. For example:

Où est la voiture{0}?

should be translated

Where is the car?{0}

or

Where is the{0}car?

This will ensure that the translation is grammatically correct on the target language too.

In MemoQ the same thing applies, however since MemoQ allows the use of bold, italics, and underlined tags should be fewer. The use of MemoQ’s preview will also help the translator know where to place a specific tag.