Fluency's adoption rate Thread poster: Dominique Pivard
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I'm moving the discussion started in this thread of the Across forum to this forum, since it's related to Fluency, rather than Across:
Georgi Kovachev wrote:
Dominique Pivard wrote:
The only CAT tool I'm aware of that comes with a built-in dictionary for your language pair is Fluency, a tool hardly used by anyone (just check its forum and you'll see nearly no activity there).
Dominique's statement could create a wrong impression about Fluency. That fact that there is nearly no activity in the forum about Fluency support does not necessarily mean it is a poor tool. It could be that this product is relatively new and/or that it has great support, which really is the case, but this is another topic.
I'm not saying Fluency is a poor tool (I wouldn't know about that), just that its adoption rate among translators is very low. Yes, forums and mailing lists are a good way to tell how many or few people are using a given CAT tool. Nearly all CAT tools have their dedicated mailing list and/or ProZ forum, and widely used tools just have more active lists and/or forums, no matter how good or bad they are (I simply won't buy the argument that a tool could be so good no one would ever have problems with it, or that a company's tech support is so good no one would ever bother to ask their peers for help).
Georgi Kovachev wrote:
I can tell that when I tried the demo versions of memoQ, Deja Vu X2 and Trados 2011 back in 2011 or 2012, I found out that they had very poor spellcheckers for Bulgarian — I could be wrong about the last piece of software. In addition to the built-in dictionary for Bulgarian, Fluency also has a dictionary of synonyms, which even my licensed copy of Microsoft Word 2010 (with Bulgarian user interface by the way) does not offer. Mind you, about 10 m people around the world speak Bulgarian.
OK, good to hear Fluency works well for you, and offers clear advantages for a Bulgarian speaker.
One thing several people have been complaining about Fluency is their hard sale tactics (a salesperson calling you on the phone after you've downloaded a trial version and pitching you into buying it), something no other CAT tool vendor does, not even SDL (known for its pushy marketing). The high number of reviews in the "software comparison tool" also looks suspicious (like it was masterminded by the vendor).
| | | | Michael Beijer 
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:53
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
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| it's an American thing | Nov 19, 2014 |
Yeah that calling you on the phone after you download their trial is an American thing. IMO the absolute dumbest thing you can do is call me and try to sell me sth. I immediately switch off all friendly feelings I might have had and go into mistrust mode.
Michael
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I've been using Fluency Pro for over a year and so far I haven't really had any problems with it.
Since I am also a tech and work with systems, networks, and so forth I've never used their support.
What I do find interesting about Fluency is the fact that there are ALMOST DAILY updates to the program.
I've actually run into an importing difficulty with an .XLSX file and by the end of the day there was an update that took care of it! I really thought that was amazing... e... See more I've been using Fluency Pro for over a year and so far I haven't really had any problems with it.
Since I am also a tech and work with systems, networks, and so forth I've never used their support.
What I do find interesting about Fluency is the fact that there are ALMOST DAILY updates to the program.
I've actually run into an importing difficulty with an .XLSX file and by the end of the day there was an update that took care of it! I really thought that was amazing... especially since I didn't even have to contact support!
There are of course a few minor rough edges and one or two things I wish it did (for example the ability to filter segments so that they can be viewed based on whether they were already translated or not with the related wordcount displayed), but overall I have no complaints.
So far it's been one of the better investments I've made. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 11:53
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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| On using mailing lists to guage usage | Nov 19, 2014 |
Dominique Pivard wrote:
Yes, forums and mailing lists are a good way to tell how many or few people are using a given CAT tool.
My experience is that some tools experience a period during which there is a lot of growth on the mailing list and a lot of traffic as well. This comes partly due to new users gaining a certain level of expertise and then aggressively taking care of questions that they think they can answer. But after a while, a tool's mailing list may stagnate even though the tool hasn't.
Take the Wordfast mailing lists, for example. The current traffic on the WFC and WFP lists combined seem like a fraction of what it was when WFC version 4 and 5 were the rage. The Trados mailing lists are similarly quiet.
Don't forget also that it really matters what type of user a tool has, when it comes to judging the tool by its mailing list membership and/or traffic. Some tools attract more inventive, power users than others.
Nearly all CAT tools have their dedicated mailing list and/or ProZ forum...
Truth.
..., and widely used tools just have more active lists and/or forums,
Assumption.
(I simply won't buy the argument that a tool could be so good no one would ever have problems with it...
Sockpuppet.
, or that a company's tech support is so good no one would ever bother to ask their peers for help).
No, I think it depends on the support stream that is most effectively organised and/or promoted by the company. Tools with a higher degree of corporate backing will need to resort less to freebie mailing lists and fellow-users to provide support.
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| About Fluency | Nov 19, 2014 |
Fluency is the first CAT tool I tried, with the hope that I will like it as I like the dictionary provided therein. I used it for serious projects, and it turned out that I liked it less than OmegaT. Fluency hanged several times as well.
I am glad I did not face that hard sale tactics myself. No one called me
| | | | Georgi Kovachev
Bulgaria
Local time: 12:53
Member (2010)
English to Bulgarian
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| Thank you all for the input | Nov 20, 2014 |
@ Dominique
Thank you for moving this discusstion.
Dominique Pivard wrote:
(I simply won't buy the argument that a tool could be so good no one would ever have problems with it, or that a company's tech support is so good no one would ever bother to ask their peers for help).
I did not imply that and I have not checked the relevant CAT tools forums – I have just shared my experience.
The method of selling is, to a certain degree, a cultural thing – what Americans consider normal practice, could be regarded as offensive by others. (I feel the same like Michael when receiving unsolicited calls or emails.)
@ Samuel
You always provide interesting points of view or facts; I read your comments on a regular basis.
@ Kamonchanok
FYI, when I used Fluency on my old laptop (1.6 GHz, single-core processor, 2 GB RAM), it also hanged. When I changed the computer, I did not have any problems of the kind. You could try the other CAT tools as well (if you have the time and will) and check if you face the same problem again.
No implications intended.
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