Any free CAT tools for beginners? Thread poster: George Avila
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George Avila
Mexico
Local time: 00:53
New user
Spanish
+ ...
I have one month of previous experience working as a freelancer, I worked for a AI testing company so I never was introduced or knew CAT tools were a thing until now
I am very naive in this topic and I noticed there's CAT tools required for certain jobs but they're under subscriptions, I currently don't have the revenue to purchase these subscriptions so I was wondering if there's any CAT tools or translating, editing tools to try out for free to help me start out in the Translating... See more I have one month of previous experience working as a freelancer, I worked for a AI testing company so I never was introduced or knew CAT tools were a thing until now
I am very naive in this topic and I noticed there's CAT tools required for certain jobs but they're under subscriptions, I currently don't have the revenue to purchase these subscriptions so I was wondering if there's any CAT tools or translating, editing tools to try out for free to help me start out in the Translating profession
I currently have Phrase and MemoQ.
I hope this post also helps future freelancers to get what they looking for and build their new path in this profession. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | | Samuel Murray 
Netherlands
Local time: 06:53
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| Free vs for beginners | Dec 20 |
George Avila wrote:
I have one month of previous experience working as a freelancer...
Welcome to the world of translation. You can start simple but eventually you'll have to learn how to deal with different file formats.
I currently don't have the revenue to purchase these subscriptions so I was wondering if there's any CAT tools or translating, editing tools to try out for free to help me start out in the Translating profession.
All CAT tools have a learning curve, and whether they are easy to use or suitable for beginners depends on the person's technical skills.
- OmegaT is free. It's a bit of a geek tool but it has a loyal following, so I encourage you to give it a go.
- Wordfast Anywhere costs $10 per month. We can debate about what "full featured CAT tool" means but I think Wordfast Anywhere would come close to it. Wordfast Anywhere was designed to have the same or similar features as Wordfast Pro.
- MateCat is a free online CAT tool. Its features are a bit more limited, but do give it a try.
I currently have Phrase and MemoQ.
Yes, some agency clients will give you access to a CAT tool temporarily for the duration of a project. MemoQ can also be purchased separately but it is horrendously expensive. Phrase is not really intended for freelancers -- you can only really use it as part of an agency's translation project.
Some CAT tools offer indefinite free trials or "demo" modes, with TM size restrictions. These include:
- Cafetran. Restrictions are 1000 TUs and 500 glossary terms. Keep in mind that you can create a new TM and new glossary for every new project, so this really restricts you to projects with fewer than 1000 sentences only. I believe there is also an MT restriction of 50 segments. I'm not sure if you can actually translate files of more than 1000 sentences, but I imagine you should be able to -- it simply won't add more sentences to the TM after 1000 (I'm guessing here).
- Wordfast Pro. The main restriction is 500 TUs. You can use it to translate projects with more than 500 sentences, but it won't add new sentences to the translation memory after 500.
OmegaT is an opensource tool that was developed by a number of developers over the years, mostly on a non-profit basis. CafeTran is developed by a single person, I believe, but he develops the tool actively and has a loyal following. Wordfast is the only tool in this list that is a truly commercial-grade tool that was and is being developed with commercial intent. It is also a tool that was developed with input from large translation agencies (notably TransPerfect, who currently owns it). I don't know the history of MateCat.
[Edited at 2024-12-20 09:57 GMT]
| | | | | OmegaT or Wordfast or CafeTran | Dec 20 |
OmegaT has excellent documentation and is extremely fast and easy once you get the hang of it. It really is much more powerful and feature-rich than I ever though. (Combined with Okapi Framework's Rainbow to handle translation packages, it might be the only duo of tools you will ever need, and they are both free and open-source.)
Wordfast also has very good documentation and offers a rather generous free version.
CafeTran also has a free version that you can use for rea... See more OmegaT has excellent documentation and is extremely fast and easy once you get the hang of it. It really is much more powerful and feature-rich than I ever though. (Combined with Okapi Framework's Rainbow to handle translation packages, it might be the only duo of tools you will ever need, and they are both free and open-source.)
Wordfast also has very good documentation and offers a rather generous free version.
CafeTran also has a free version that you can use for real work, but its documentation is seriously lacking. ▲ Collapse
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Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 06:53
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
George Avila wrote:
I hope this post also helps future freelancers to get what they looking for and build their new path in this profession.
I'm not sure that relying on free tools because of a complete lack of financial resources is the way to build a new path in this profession. If it is, the road will be extremely bumpy. You will have to earn a living (doesn't sound too difficult at first glance, but as a newbee it will be a challenge to avoid the predators that will be happy to let you work for a snack), but on top of that you will need to make extra money for investments that you basically should have done before you really start.
Good luck, anyway.
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And there is the heavily promoted (😎) PlusTools: https://www.wordfast.net/PlusTools/
Currently for free (just like WordFast Classic was in the beginning). But eventually the developer will monetize it.
| | | | Philippe Locquet
Portugal
Local time: 05:53
Member (2013)
English to French
+ ...
| That's how we roll | Dec 20 |
Hans Lenting wrote:
And there is the heavily promoted (😎) Plus Tools ...
Love it! LOL
With free Chat GPT bundled I'd say Yves is burning money to keep warm this winter.
More seriously, I could see that as beginner-firendly approach (never used to teach yet, so, grain of salt). As you start a translation easily in no-hassle mode, you can start seeing benefit of TM, what happens with MT, Ai etc. and then once ready, open the settings and start adding a glossary, be master of your setup etc. Why not.
If someone starts learning CAT tools on +Tools, once they are familiar with it, please contact me I'd love to hear your feedback.
To get started, here's a video among others: https://youtu.be/M9yc-ejOP7w?si=Jijum8qe9p1cEX-y
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