Best CAT Tools for Vietnamese Translation Projects
A CAT Tool, without any doubts, is an indispensable assistant to translators, helping them boost the working efficiency and quality of a translation project. While CAT Tools work really well in some popular languages like English or Spanish, translators in other languages might encounter some difficulties. GTE Localize has asked our team of linguists to find out what problems they are facing when using CAT Tools and we have received some feedback from our talented Vietnamese translators. Below is the list of challenges our Vietnamese translators are facing when using CAT Tools and a comparison among there popular CAT Tools used in Vietnam.
Challenges when using CAT Tools to translate into Vietnamese
If a source document is full of charts, pictures, and text formats, translators can seek help from CAT Tools to save time because CAT Tools support editing and formatting all these elements. However, this is not the case for translations from English into Vietnamese. Some fonts in CAT Tools don’t support Unicode or Vietkey, which are dedicated tools for typing the Vietnamese language with special accent marks (such as á, à, ả, ã, ạ). When the source text in English is typed in a non-Vietnamese-supported font, the target text will look messy since all the vowels with accent marks automatically change into a supported font. For example, all vowels in a Calibri-formatted text might be turned into the Time New Roman font while the rest of the text remains in Calibri font. In this case, linguists will have to spend hours editing the fonts before delivering the files to customers.
The Spelling Check function does not run in the Vietnamese language. It operates quite well in the English language so spelling mistakes can be avoided. For the Vietnamese language, the AutoCorrect function makes nO uPPERCASE by mistake or INitial CApital problems. Thus, English to Vietnamese translation projects takes translators more time and effort to review their translations to avoid any spelling mistakes. What’s more, when a source file contains a large volume of data, such as hyperlinks, programming codes, commands, etc., many typing errors occur. For example, some letters disappear or the source fonts are changed. Nevertheless, this error has been fixed in the latest version of CAT tools.
CAT Tools cost translators a large amount of money for purchase and upgrade. Generally, it takes US$ 800-900 to purchase and US$200-300 to upgrade a CAT tool. Thus, this expensive price makes translators with low rates prefer to use cracked translation-assisted software that can contain viruses or of which some functions may not run smoothly or not be activated.
Compare 3 popular CAT Tools for Vietnamese Translation Projects
The table below briefs several main points of three popular CAT tools in Vietnam:
| MemoQ | WordFast | SDL Trados Studio | |
| Price | – For freelance translators: €620 – $770 | – WF Studio: €500 – WF Classic/Pro: €400 |
– SDL Trados Studio 2019 Freelance – Ideal for freelance translators: €820/€980 – SDL Trados Studio 2019 Professional – Ideal for companies: €2495 |
| File formats | All possible file formats you could run into (80+), please see the full list. | MS Word MS Excel MS Powerpoint HTML XML ASP/JSP/Java INX (InDesign) MIF (FrameMaker TTX PDF). | Work with any file format and any project. View list. |
| License type | Perpetual | 3-year license | Perpetual |
| Operating system | Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 8. | Windows Vista, Windows 7, Mac OS X 10.4 and higher, Linux, Windows XP. | Microsoft Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10. |
| System requirements | .NET Framework Version 4.0 or higher. RAM: 1GB of memory (4GB recommended). Hard Disk Space: 110 MB. Screen resolution: 1024´768. Processor: 1 GHz. |
N/A |
Intel or compatible CPU-based computer with 2 GB RAM and a minimum screen resolution of 1024×768. For optimum performance, your computer should have 4 GB RAM and a recent Intel or compatible CPU. |
| Compatibility | Supports open standard file formats XLIFF, TMX, TBX & OLIF, and interoperability with Transit, Wordfast and SDL Trados. |
N/A |
Open standard file formats XLIFF, TMX, TBX & OLIF, interoperability with other CAT tools and an app store making it possible to integrate with any workflow. |
| Support and upgrades offered/included | Installation support, 1 year of free support and upgrades. | Free upgrades for the duration of license/Subscription. | Free installation and licensing support and free online community help from SDL employees, Paid support available for unlimited specialist support and free upgrades. |
| Languages supported | Practically all languages, the user interface in 10 languages. | Wordfast Pro supports any language that is supported by Microsoft Word. This includes Eastern European, Cyrillic, Asian, Right-to-Left, and various other languages. | Virtually any language combination that is also supported by Microsoft Windows. View list. |
GTE Localize is willing to pay for licensed software that could help us accelerate our efficiency and improve our quality. And of course, we provide better rates to our vendors who, with code of conduct and awareness of their reputation, use licensed CAT tools to deliver the best quality translation. That is the reason why our clients will not be concerned about getting target texts with format errors. Please visit Vietnamese translation services page so we can help you proceed with your translation orders.
