Poll: Has your investment in CAT tools paid off? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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| | Mary Worby 
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:18
German to English
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When I first bought a CAT tool many many moons ago, it was quite a large initial investment. I worked out what proportion of my annual income it represented and therefore what percentage it needed to improve productivity in order to pay off. It worked out as roughly 10 % of my income, so I needed a 10 % improvement. It paid off much more than that within the first year alone, and has done every year since.
Typo edited!
[Edited at 2015-01-30 08:40 GMT]
| | | | Michael Harris
Germany
Local time: 17:18
Member (2006)
German to English
| Yes, definately | Jan 30, 2015 |
It paid itself off after 1 month when I was translating on the side.
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It's not much of an outlay in the first place, however much we grumble, so it really doesn't take long to pay off.
That said, I don't normally give customers discounts for matches.
If I agreed to agencies' discount matrices, then CAT wouldn't pay, because all the efficiency gains would then accrue straight to them, which is plain wrong, and I wish the rest of the profession also had the spine to resist this.
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Mario Freitas
Brazil
Local time: 14:18
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
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| Fully agreed, Chris | Jan 30, 2015 |
Chris S wrote:
It's not much of an outlay in the first place, however much we grumble, so it really doesn't take long to pay off.
That said, I don't normally give customers discounts for matches.
If I agreed to agencies' discount matrices, then CAT wouldn't pay, because all the efficiency gains would then accrue straight to them, which is plain wrong, and I wish the rest of the profession also had the spine to resist this.
Indeed I wish we would all resits to that, as an insult to us.
Other than that, yes I think it pays off, since many clients are requiring a TM of their work. We can't just try to bypass the market practices, or we'll be out of it soon.
| | | | | Yes, but to a certain point | Jan 30, 2015 |
I began using WordFast Classic when it was free, then bought the license, some 10+ years ago.
My typical job is less than 5% repetitions, no fuzzy matches. However WFC preserves formatting in Word, and that's priceless... enough to outweigh WFC's $19.99-shareware interface and user-unfriendliness.
As a PageMaker power user, to me text formatting with MS Word resembles playing pinball on a machine mounted on a truck going at high speed on a dirt road. After having used c... See more I began using WordFast Classic when it was free, then bought the license, some 10+ years ago.
My typical job is less than 5% repetitions, no fuzzy matches. However WFC preserves formatting in Word, and that's priceless... enough to outweigh WFC's $19.99-shareware interface and user-unfriendliness.
As a PageMaker power user, to me text formatting with MS Word resembles playing pinball on a machine mounted on a truck going at high speed on a dirt road. After having used countless word processors since the days of the Apple II, Microsoft Word is by far the #1 worst word processor ever, and it keeps getting worse at every new version. However it is the market standard. As the French say... Hélas!
I tried WordFast Pro, and gave up. It added a whole new dimension to software sluggishness. I've used MemoQ and Passolo on client-provided licenses, and they work all right as CAT tools, however they don't address MS Word's shortcomings so directly.
SDL once sent me a very detailed questionnaire on my everyday translation work. I tried my best to answer it accurately. Their expert opinion was clear: It would take Trados 13 years (sic!) to pay for itself in my case, not including the mandatory upgrades once a year.
For a comparison, I recall my very first laser printer, I think I bought it in 1989. It cost USD 7,000 and paid for itself in three months. ▲ Collapse
| | | | DianeGM
Local time: 18:18
Member (2006)
Dutch to English
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| Yes ... but oddly | Jan 30, 2015 |
I has used WF when it was free but I brought my first CAT in 2007 on proposal from an agency for a large technical project. They also provided some tech support so even though the project was huge it went really smooothly. It paid for itself from the first project and has paid for itself many times over since
Oddly though, I had put updating my CAT as in my business plan for this year and for some reason or other .... I am finding it really hard to put my hand in my pocket ...
| | | | Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 17:18
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
I use Word Fast Pro and it has paid itself off within a very short time.
However, since I am the one paying for the renewal of my license, discounts are given only at my discreation. I never accept a client's "demanded" discount rate for repetitions and/or matches. Accepting it would mean working for free while fixing the fuzzy matches and, especially in German, the repetitions. Frankly accepting payments of 0.00 for repetions and allegedly 100% matches would mean being charitable b... See more I use Word Fast Pro and it has paid itself off within a very short time.
However, since I am the one paying for the renewal of my license, discounts are given only at my discreation. I never accept a client's "demanded" discount rate for repetitions and/or matches. Accepting it would mean working for free while fixing the fuzzy matches and, especially in German, the repetitions. Frankly accepting payments of 0.00 for repetions and allegedly 100% matches would mean being charitable beyong my means.
[Edited at 2015-01-30 10:49 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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| Reduced earnings thanks to CAT tools | Jan 30, 2015 |
I don't use any CAT tool as I've never really seen any need for it with the types of documents I translate. But agencies actually (attempt to) apply CAT tool 'discounts' for 100% and fuzzy/partial matches even so. It's a joke. And the discounts they demand are ridiculous. 10 to 30% of the full rate. Fine, if it's just copy/paste with no checking. But I've always reduced the charge anyway if whole chunks of a text are repeated. If it's just a matter of a word or term reappearing several times in ... See more I don't use any CAT tool as I've never really seen any need for it with the types of documents I translate. But agencies actually (attempt to) apply CAT tool 'discounts' for 100% and fuzzy/partial matches even so. It's a joke. And the discounts they demand are ridiculous. 10 to 30% of the full rate. Fine, if it's just copy/paste with no checking. But I've always reduced the charge anyway if whole chunks of a text are repeated. If it's just a matter of a word or term reappearing several times in a text, then demanding a reduction is just ludicrous and practically insulting. Clearly the sales pitch used to sell CAT tools to agencies is not the same one used to lure translators. ▲ Collapse
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I use Wordfast PRO and would not want to do without it.
I accept clients' match discounts if they are not unreasonable.
| | | | | It paid off immediately | Jan 30, 2015 |
With the first job I used to get my teeth into Trados
I'm pretty good with software - says be blushing - since I've translated 1'000's of manuals so I know what's coming around the corner.
It was OJT and, quite frankly, it was a doddle.
Just why do I just looove these kinds of techy things. 
On another note, why would you invest in something that wouldn't pay for itself in the first pla... See more With the first job I used to get my teeth into Trados
I'm pretty good with software - says be blushing - since I've translated 1'000's of manuals so I know what's coming around the corner.
It was OJT and, quite frankly, it was a doddle.
Just why do I just looove these kinds of techy things.
On another note, why would you invest in something that wouldn't pay for itself in the first place 
Small edit
[Edited at 2015-01-31 08:17 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Yes, definitely | Jan 30, 2015 |
Especially since my lovely CAT isn't as expensive as some on the market, and it doesn't require payment each year for a licence. I paid once, I use it.
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Yaotl Altan
Mexico
Local time: 10:18
Member (2006)
English to Spanish
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Yes, with the first 2 projects.
| | | | | Yes - with the first project | Jan 30, 2015 |
But I cheated, I had already won the project before I bought the CAT tool.
| | | | Mario Chavez (X)
Local time: 11:18
English to Spanish
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| Chunks of text | Jan 30, 2015 |
writeaway wrote:
I don't use any CAT tool as I've never really seen any need for it with the types of documents I translate. But agencies actually (attempt to) apply CAT tool 'discounts' for 100% and fuzzy/partial matches even so. It's a joke. And the discounts they demand are ridiculous. 10 to 30% of the full rate. Fine, if it's just copy/paste with no checking. But I've always reduced the charge anyway if whole chunks of a text are repeated. If it's just a matter of a word or term reappearing several times in a text, then demanding a reduction is just ludicrous and practically insulting. Clearly the sales pitch used to sell CAT tools to agencies is not the same one used to lure translators.
Not all repetitions hold the same value in a document. For example, a phrase in a series of bullet points may also be a heading or a graphic caption.
The way technical writers write English documents these days is appalling: sure, they use short sentences, but they often appear disjointed to the point that I have to add connectors or transitional words so that they make sense in a paragraph in Spanish.
I won't begrudge a translator for not using a CAT tool, but one feather in anyone's cap is knowing how to discuss the pros and cons of such tools with a customer or an agency, especially when they want to impose discounts.
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