What is a proper file format for test translations?
Thread poster: anastasiawhite
anastasiawhite
anastasiawhite  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 04:16
English to Russian
+ ...
Sep 24, 2018

I'm a new freelance translator and I have a question about test translations. I just got a short test translation sent as a .png photo. Is this to make sure I don't use a CAT tool to translate it? How should I translate it if I can't even copy words to look them up?

 
Fiona Grace Peterson
Fiona Grace Peterson  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 12:16
Italian to English
No "proper" file format Sep 24, 2018

There is no "proper" file format for test translations, although the few I have done have been in Word format.

There are many ways to tell how serious an agency is, and the way they handle tasks like this is one of them! This tool is free and appears to convert png to Word format (https://www.zamzar.com/convert/png-to-doc/), however bear in mind that this conversion process will
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There is no "proper" file format for test translations, although the few I have done have been in Word format.

There are many ways to tell how serious an agency is, and the way they handle tasks like this is one of them! This tool is free and appears to convert png to Word format (https://www.zamzar.com/convert/png-to-doc/), however bear in mind that this conversion process will take you time which I presume you will not be paid for, so you might want to bear that in mind for future tests.

I very much doubt the agency is trying to prevent you from using a CAT tool for a test translation, it wouldn't benefit them in any way.

I don't understand what you mean by your last question - could you clarify?
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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
anastasiawhite
anastasiawhite  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 04:16
English to Russian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Zamzar Sep 24, 2018

I tried to convert it with Zamzar and I still can't edit the document. Would it be reasonable to ask the client to send it to me in a word doc?
And by the last question, I meant that I don't know how to translate some it if I can't even copy and paste words I don't know into wordreference.com or something like that, since it's just a photo of the text.


 
Fiona Grace Peterson
Fiona Grace Peterson  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 12:16
Italian to English
Initiative Sep 24, 2018

anastasiawhite wrote:

I tried to convert it with Zamzar and I still can't edit the document.


Have you tried looking for an alternative?

anastasiawhite wrote:
Would it be reasonable to ask the client to send it to me in a word doc?


You can always ask! I certainly would - at worst they will say no. I'm not sure what you mean by "short" - test translations shouldn't exceed 300 words, generally speaking, which shouldn't be too much extra work if they do say no.

anastasiawhite wrote:
And by the last question, I meant that I don't know how to translate some it if I can't even copy and paste words I don't know into wordreference.com or something like that, since it's just a photo of the text.


There's nothing to stop you simply typing the translation without having the original in an editable format, or from typing words into a search engine without having copied them first. It is, after all, what translators used to do. Everything depends on how much you trust the agency, and how much you want to work with them


Joe France
K T Chamberlain
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
 
DZiW (X)
DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
same Sep 24, 2018

First, there's no proper (fair) free tests for a decent client could assess one's proficiency and style seeing a portfolio.
Second, if it wasn't discussed, then translator should return the job in the same format by default.

Anyway, sometimes they check not only (1) the translation adequacy, (2<
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First, there's no proper (fair) free tests for a decent client could assess one's proficiency and style seeing a portfolio.
Second, if it wasn't discussed, then translator should return the job in the same format by default.

Anyway, sometimes they check not only (1) the translation adequacy, (2) the typeface and (3) the text structure, but also (4) the translator's persistence, (5) research skills, and (6) communication skills.

So, if it's rather short, I would either overtype translation right in Paint, or just print it out and translate in Word; otherwise, it's high time for OCR or free WordWast Anywhere (FreeTM.com) and other services.



P.S. When done in a text processor, you could use Alt+Print Screen shortcut and paste the picture, say, to Paint, saving it in the same format (.PNG).
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Katalin Horváth McClure
Katalin Horváth McClure  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 07:16
Member (2002)
English to Hungarian
+ ...
Chinese source text, that's why you want to copy/paste, right? Sep 25, 2018

Fiona Grace Peterson wrote:

anastasiawhite wrote:
And by the last question, I meant that I don't know how to translate some it if I can't even copy and paste words I don't know into wordreference.com or something like that, since it's just a photo of the text.


There's nothing to stop you simply typing the translation without having the original in an editable format, or from typing words into a search engine without having copied them first. It is, after all, what translators used to do. Everything depends on how much you trust the agency, and how much you want to work with them


I am assuming in this case the source text is Chinese. (I looked up Anastasia's profile and it is among her source languages.)
In this case, being able to copy-paste the source text into online dictionaries is a very definite need, because when you don't know the character, you don't know how to pronounce it, and then you don't know how to type it. Hence, you can't type it into a dictionary. In this case, the remaining options are counting strokes and use that to look up the character, or look up by radicals (standard building blocks) but these methods are very time consuming and frustrating.

As a better solution, there are some handwriting input interfaces that recognize kanji and return the character that then can be copy/pasted on the computer. You use the mouse to sort of "write" the kanji in the box (using the correct stroke order makes recognition easier) and you would get one or more "guesses" of the character. You look at them, and pick the right one, or if none match, try writing again.
Here is a website that does that:
https://www.mobilefish.com/services/chinese_handwriting_recognition/chinese_handwriting_recognition.php
But this method is also time consuming, and frustrating. Handwriting with a mouse is not fun...

I hope this helps.
Katalin
P.S: This is mostly for Samuel: Depending on the type of source text (area of specialization), there might be a considerable amount of unknown kanji (even for source-natives!!!), in which case working with non-editable source materials could be a nightmare. I usually reject such requests, or quote a price that includes having the text re-typed by a source-native typist.

[Edited at 2018-09-26 05:17 GMT]


 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 12:16
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
If uneditable, simply retype it Sep 25, 2018

anastasiawhite wrote:
I just got a short test translation sent as a .png photo. Is this to make sure I don't use a CAT tool to translate it? How should I translate it if I can't even copy words to look them up?


There may be many reasons why the client chose to send you a PNG file. Perhaps he wants to test if you can type the text or look up the words manually.

All professional translators can type or write the text in both the source language and the target language, or (in rare cases where they can't) are able to look up the words in dictionaries. If you want to be able to look up the words in a search engine or online dictionary, all you have to do is retype the text yourself. If you don't know how to type the text, or if you don't know how to look up words in a dictionary without typing the text, then you should not offer translation from this language.

(I did read what Katalin McClure wrote, but my opinion remains the same. After all, how would you translate handwritten texts or printed books otherwise?)


[Edited at 2018-09-25 07:55 GMT]


 
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Nikki Scott-Despaigne  Identity Verified
Local time: 12:16
French to English
Suggestions Sep 25, 2018

anastasiawhite wrote:

I tried to convert it with Zamzar and I still can't edit the document. Would it be reasonable to ask the client to send it to me in a word doc?



Yes, of course. Ask the client if they can provide the source document in an editable form. If they cannot, then unless there are special formatting requirements, you can still provide a Word version of the translation.



And by the last question, I meant that I don't know how to translate some it if I can't even copy and paste words I don't know into wordreference.com or something like that, since it's just a photo of the text.


You create a blank empty Word document and get typing! You don't need to copy/paste chunks of the source document in order to provide a translation.

[Edit: I have just read Katalin's post so if Chinese is involved, then it sounds like you still need to contact the agency. End edit].

Last but not least, as others have suggested, it might be a way for the agency to see how you handle this problem in terms of communication, liaising with the agency, and/or what conversion skills you have. It also allows you to test the agency. It is not uncommon for clients to provide source documents in formats you can not do much with in terms of conversion. Clients may also provide a source document that has been created using very specific software that they don't expect you to have. When that happens, they usually ask you to provide a Word file and they deal with converting and formatting when you return the translation.

[Edited at 2018-09-25 13:13 GMT]


 
Claudia G.
Claudia G.
Switzerland
Local time: 12:16
Russian to German
+ ...
Semi-Smartiverse Sep 27, 2018

You might want to try Pleco (application). The different input methods, including Pinyin, live/static OCR (optical character recognition) or handwriting can come in quite handy at times. It supports both traditional and simplified characters, and displays Zhuyin, Pinyin or English. You can easily backup/restore databases, save the files to a convenient location on your computer, then integrate the data into your workflow.

 


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What is a proper file format for test translations?







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