Poll: Do you feel like the tools/programs clients request slow down your work pace? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you feel like the tools/programs clients request slow down your work pace?".
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The only software I have been asked to use that would slow me down is XTM. My response has always been straightforward: please export a XLIFF file so I could use my own CAT tool, or just send me a source file and I will send you a translation; if you are unwilling to do that, there will be a 25% surcharge.
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The pace at which I work is dictated by myself, not by tools or programs requested by clients. I am my own boss, I have the freedom to decide what my working hours are and what tools I use in my business…
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Depends on the tools they ask me to work with. I strictly refuse to work with XTM, Smartling or, in fact, any other browser/cloud-based tool than Phrase because those have horrendous UIs and inept QA functionalities that really do slow me down. Studio, memoQ, WordFast and Phrase are perfectly fine.
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I only have to use them for odd jobs for a couple of agencies, but it's been my main gripe with CAT tools from day 1, which is now a very long time ago: they are designed to help with repetitive texts so why do they make people use them for non-repetitive texts?!
And don't start me on their invoicing systems.
Yesterday morning, urgent, urgent, the CEO wants his 200-word intro ASAP before he jumps on a plane, can you do it literally right away, oh brilliant, you're a lif... See more I only have to use them for odd jobs for a couple of agencies, but it's been my main gripe with CAT tools from day 1, which is now a very long time ago: they are designed to help with repetitive texts so why do they make people use them for non-repetitive texts?!
And don't start me on their invoicing systems.
Yesterday morning, urgent, urgent, the CEO wants his 200-word intro ASAP before he jumps on a plane, can you do it literally right away, oh brilliant, you're a life saver, now just wait 15 minutes for me to prepare the file... ▲ Collapse
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About eight years ago, a university asked me (told me) to send them some documents by fax. They would accept no other method. My fax machine had broken down but I needed to buy a new printer, so I bought one with a fax. That was the last time I ever sent a fax. Time waster and money waster.
State-run museums, universities and government departments tell me to fill in and sign anti-money-laundering, anti-mafia, anti-something else documents, which are all time-wasters. Sometimes I al... See more About eight years ago, a university asked me (told me) to send them some documents by fax. They would accept no other method. My fax machine had broken down but I needed to buy a new printer, so I bought one with a fax. That was the last time I ever sent a fax. Time waster and money waster.
State-run museums, universities and government departments tell me to fill in and sign anti-money-laundering, anti-mafia, anti-something else documents, which are all time-wasters. Sometimes I also have to register as a supplier on their sites and provide information about myself that only my accountant knows.
Twenty-one years ago, an agency asked me to use their CAT tool. I said no. I've never worked for any client that requires the use of a CAT tool. No money lost and no time wasted here.
Some clients have started using WhatsApp - at first I didn't much like it but it doesn't bother me now and it certainly doesn't waste time.
To be honest, I probably waste more of my clients' time than they waste mine, for I often ask them to transcribe videos or audio recordings themselves rather than have me do it. And I ask them to send me their files in formats that I can use, so they have to convert them. ▲ Collapse
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Potential clients often ask - or rather: require - me to work in their tools, which would definitely slow me down. In this case, I decline the work. Fortunately, many of them are willing to send me files that I can use in my own CAT software, which helps to make them my actual clients 
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 03:59
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
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Most of my customers work with my favourite CAT tool, which is Studio. On rare occasions I'm asked to work in Phrase, XML or MemoQ. I dislike every single one of them (in my humble opinion they are all sub-optimal compared to Studio), but it's not the end of the world. One customer has it's own proprietary online CAT tool, but he fortunately gives me the option to download and finally upload a Studio file.
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Baran Keki 
Türkiye
Local time: 05:59
Member
English to Turkish
When I first started out freelancing, a certain 'perfect' lifesciences agency insisted, after a lengthy and tedious onboarding process, that I install and run their own anti-virus and file encryption programs at all times. They would even send emails to let me know that their anti-virus program was disabled on such and such dates and it behooved me to run it at once, or else...
Needless to say, both programs slowed down my already old desktop and thus my work pace. As I remember, I've neve... See more When I first started out freelancing, a certain 'perfect' lifesciences agency insisted, after a lengthy and tedious onboarding process, that I install and run their own anti-virus and file encryption programs at all times. They would even send emails to let me know that their anti-virus program was disabled on such and such dates and it behooved me to run it at once, or else...
Needless to say, both programs slowed down my already old desktop and thus my work pace. As I remember, I've never got any work from them despite running their wretched programs for months. They must have been watching my every move online... To be honest, I did get some requests from them during that time, but the rates they offered were almost, if not less than, half of what we agreed in the first place (later on they suggested I should 'haggle' with the PMs to 'improve' the rates). So I ended up not working with them at all. I uninstalled their bleeding programs, and unsubscribed from their email list after some months.
I wonder if they still ask people to install their programs. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Ventnai
Spain
Local time: 03:59
German to English
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I normally use Trados but some clients have their own tool and two have recently switched to MemoQ - I presume due to reasons of cost, although they tell you otherwise. I don't know what the licensed version is like as it is not worth my while investing in it with the volume of work I have with MemoQ. I use the online version which is very basic and not user-friendly. I miss so many features from Trados. The way things are set up, I have no choice but to use the online version.
| | | | Baran Keki
Türkiye
Local time: 05:59
Member
English to Turkish
Ventnai wrote:
I use the online version which is very basic and not user-friendly. I miss so many features from Trados. The way things are set up, I have no choice but to use the online version.
Ask them to provide you with a temporary license for the desktop version. MemoQ is rubbish in general, and its online version is even worse.
| | | | Kay Denney
France
Local time: 03:59
French to English
A while ago there was a spate of clients insisting that we translate in their special translation interface. I found myself having to type sentences in little boxes. No way of telling how far I'd got in the translation, no way of doing a spell check, sometimes you couldn't even go back to check how you'd translated a term that was cropping up again. They were the worst waste of time ever and I refused to ever do that again.
Since there is very little repetition in the kind of text ... See more A while ago there was a spate of clients insisting that we translate in their special translation interface. I found myself having to type sentences in little boxes. No way of telling how far I'd got in the translation, no way of doing a spell check, sometimes you couldn't even go back to check how you'd translated a term that was cropping up again. They were the worst waste of time ever and I refused to ever do that again.
Since there is very little repetition in the kind of text I translate, CAT tools are mostly a waste of time for me. The few instances where a few words need to be translated the same each time are rare enough for my brain to keep track of all of them. The liberty of being able to completely rewrite paragraphs, putting information in a different order, greatly outweighs any CAT tool benefits. ▲ Collapse
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 03:59
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
More often it’s the proofreaders/reviwers they use that slow down the process, as the clients expect me to respond to their silly remarks and provide numerous lengthy explanations/justifications for free. Now that’s the prima level of extending the process endlessly.
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