MET workshops
memoQ: the secrets of a flexible CAT tool revealed
Translators often work with different computer-aided translation (CAT) tools, depending on the client and the job. All tools have their idiosyncrasies, which translators have to assimilate before they can use the tool productively. However, memoQ, one of the leading CAT tools today, offers a uniform environment for all translation jobs by making it possible to import bilingual files or packages from other CAT tools. Working in a single environment allows the translator to focus on the content to be translated without unnecessary distractions due to unfamiliar, client-imposed software, layout issues and scattered resources.
Developer and facilitator: Juliet Margaret Macan
Purpose: The purpose of this workshop is to familiarize translators as well as editors and translation revisers with this tool and illustrate how it can be configured for the best results. The facilitator will also describe some advanced functions, showing how these can be used to increase both productivity and quality.
Structure: We will start by setting up the translation environment and will then look at some distinctive functions of memoQ, such as LiveDocs, importing packages from other tools, filtering, sorting and comment options, track changes, roll-back and monolingual review. In the second half of the workshop, participants will engage in hands-on exercises to gain a better understanding of the tool’s enormous potential.
Who should attend? Translators and other language professionals who are curious to learn how memoQ can provide a comprehensive platform for language processing. The workshop is suitable for translators with or without experience of other CAT tools and also for editors who would like to include this type of tool in their workflow.
Outcome skills: Participants will be able to appreciate the advantages of working in just one translation environment without the need to switch between tools for different clients. They will also have gained an idea of the unique features that memoQ can offer to facilitate their work.
Pre-workshop information: Participants should bring their laptops with memoQ installed. A 30-day free trial can be downloaded from the memoQ website.
About the facilitator: After 20 years as a freelance medical and technical translator and reviewer from Italian to English, Juliet Macan started working with IBM Translation Manager, Trados and Déjà Vu in 1994. She gained experience in a translators’ cooperative by testing, troubleshooting and using CAT tools on a network and providing support for project managers and translators. After several years using Trados and SDLX and investigating QA and terminology tools, she adopted memoQ when it was launched in 2006. As a certified trainer she has given numerous workshops in Finland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the UK and introductory as well as customized advanced training courses with a very hands-on approach.
Juliet is vice-president of the International Association for Advancement in Language Technology (AsLing), which promotes research and technology in the field of translation. AsLing organizes an annual conference in London to debate the latest advances in “Translating and the Computer”.
