Translation Software - Fluency by Western Standard Thread poster: Nataliya Yena (X)
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Nataliya Yena (X) 
Germany
Local time: 22:36
English to Ukrainian
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Dear Colleagues,
Who has experience with translation software Fluency by the company Western Standard (USA, Utah)? What do you think about it? Is it a useful tool to work with? How comfortable do you find it in day-to-day practice?
I purchased it a couple of days ago and now getting myself acquainted with it. I would like to exchange with those who already use Fluency.
Nataliya Yena
Conference Interp... See more Dear Colleagues,
Who has experience with translation software Fluency by the company Western Standard (USA, Utah)? What do you think about it? Is it a useful tool to work with? How comfortable do you find it in day-to-day practice?
I purchased it a couple of days ago and now getting myself acquainted with it. I would like to exchange with those who already use Fluency.
Nataliya Yena
Conference Interpreter and Translator
www.yena.de ▲ Collapse
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You should see the demo.
i am still learning.There's a webinar,in which you get all topics discussed.
You can collaborate.
i am starting to buy it too.
i am freelancer.On 7 feb.there's a webinar from utah.
www.westerstandard.com you ask for dimitree lee.
it is very impressive to me.
william dollimore rotterdam, freelance tra... See more You should see the demo.
i am still learning.There's a webinar,in which you get all topics discussed.
You can collaborate.
i am starting to buy it too.
i am freelancer.On 7 feb.there's a webinar from utah.
www.westerstandard.com you ask for dimitree lee.
it is very impressive to me.
william dollimore rotterdam, freelance transaltor. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Nataliya Yena (X)
Germany
Local time: 22:36
English to Ukrainian
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TOPIC STARTER
Hello William,
Thank you for the information about the webinar. Unfortunately I missed it because it was yesterday and I read your message about the webinar only today, 8 Feb. I hope there will be other occasions. But any way I will contact Dimitree Lee and enquire about the next opportunity. I may even post this information here in the thread if Western Standard doesn't mind.
Best wishes,
Nataliya
| | | | | Fluency Pro user since January 2012 | Mar 5, 2012 |
Hi Natalyia and William,
I've been using Fluency Pro since January. I saw the webinar, and have had a couple of training sessions with Western Standard's customer help. I also find the User Manual and Video Tutorials available in the 'Help' options useful.
Basically I wanted software that would enable me to save TMs and exchange them with a colleague who uses Trados. I can also export 'unclean' files in Word and Excel format. Of course Fluency has other, more sophistica... See more Hi Natalyia and William,
I've been using Fluency Pro since January. I saw the webinar, and have had a couple of training sessions with Western Standard's customer help. I also find the User Manual and Video Tutorials available in the 'Help' options useful.
Basically I wanted software that would enable me to save TMs and exchange them with a colleague who uses Trados. I can also export 'unclean' files in Word and Excel format. Of course Fluency has other, more sophisticated functions, which I still have to look into. I find it clear and user-friendly.
Western Standard's customer assistance is prompt and helpful, so if you have any issues just write them an email.
Sarah ▲ Collapse
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| happy customer | Mar 25, 2012 |
I own a copy of Fluency Suite 2011, I am still used to use Trados but Fluency is 1000 times faster, lighter, more user-friendly, more stable and with more functions at half of Trados' grotesque price. It's really sad that there's so many better companies out there but still Trados owns the market. Well anyway, I'm using Fluency since some weeks to handle IDML files (Adobe InDesign format), something my (quite old) Trados doesn't do. It works perfectly, no problems importing/exporting TMs, target... See more I own a copy of Fluency Suite 2011, I am still used to use Trados but Fluency is 1000 times faster, lighter, more user-friendly, more stable and with more functions at half of Trados' grotesque price. It's really sad that there's so many better companies out there but still Trados owns the market. Well anyway, I'm using Fluency since some weeks to handle IDML files (Adobe InDesign format), something my (quite old) Trados doesn't do. It works perfectly, no problems importing/exporting TMs, target files looking perfect. Layout's very basic but filled with options. Basically it's exactly like any other pro CAT tool, just lighter and cheaper. Plus, their support team is really helpful. They really need to be more famous and appreciated. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Nataliya Yena (X)
Germany
Local time: 22:36
English to Ukrainian
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TOPIC STARTER | Happy customer | Mar 25, 2012 |
Gianluca Attoli wrote:
I own a copy of Fluency Suite 2011, I am still used to use Trados but Fluency is 1000 times faster, lighter, more user-friendly, more stable and with more functions at half of Trados' grotesque price. It's really sad that there's so many better companies out there but still Trados owns the market. ... Plus, their support team is really helpful.
Dear Gianluca,
Thank you very much for your positive feedback! I hope I will enjoy Fluency as much as you do. (I also have Fluency Translation Suite 2011.) Well, I'm already doing it. However, a couple of weeks after purchase have lapsed and I make the experience that I'm using it only sporadically since I'm mainly interpreter and don't translate as much. I fairly often translate small texts with virtually no repetitions and I don't need Fluency for them. But I believe that I will need it for larger texts like the Power Point Presentations of between 30 and 100 slides each with repetitive terminology I've translated a few months ago when I didn't have Fluency jet. My problem then is since I don't have a routine in using Fluency I'm not so familiar with its options and I'm a bit worried whether my translation process will go smoothly when I need to use it. Is Fluency self-explanatory enough for such cases? Does it have interfaces that could be navigated intuitively?
Thank you in advance,
Nataliya
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Hi,
yes, I think you may even just open it and leave all you see as it is, just open the file you need to translate and accept eventual tips/suggestions/prompts that may appear... I personally find it quite user-friendly! I never changed any option or other "advanced" stuff so far, I found it much ready-to-use. Of course it depends on the type of files you have to process (for example I never translated PowerPoint files with that... but well, you'll probably just have to let Fluency import... See more Hi,
yes, I think you may even just open it and leave all you see as it is, just open the file you need to translate and accept eventual tips/suggestions/prompts that may appear... I personally find it quite user-friendly! I never changed any option or other "advanced" stuff so far, I found it much ready-to-use. Of course it depends on the type of files you have to process (for example I never translated PowerPoint files with that... but well, you'll probably just have to let Fluency import them) and on the eventual experience you may have with CAT tools. Maybe I find it easy to use also because I am already familiar with CAT functions. Anyway don't be afraid to ask Western Standard for support, they're really nice and helpful and will surely give you some tips and information!
[Modificato alle 2012-03-27 11:49 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Robin Meurer
Germany
Local time: 22:36
English to German
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| Hello! About Fluency!? | Jul 3, 2012 |
Hello!
I saw that you were discussing "Fluency" here. I`m thinking about buying it but i still don't know if it's 100% the right tool for me.
I like the in-built "terminology/dictionary" but it seems to me that this only really works well (and shows extended glossaries) when you are translating from and to English.
So, does this software (and its in-built/downloadable dictionaries) work as well with e.g. Spanish-German or French-German?
And which version did you get? Fre... See more Hello!
I saw that you were discussing "Fluency" here. I`m thinking about buying it but i still don't know if it's 100% the right tool for me.
I like the in-built "terminology/dictionary" but it seems to me that this only really works well (and shows extended glossaries) when you are translating from and to English.
So, does this software (and its in-built/downloadable dictionaries) work as well with e.g. Spanish-German or French-German?
And which version did you get? Freelancer or Professional (is it worth it?) ? And how many language pairs?
Thank you for your feedback!!
Kind regards,
Robin ▲ Collapse
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Tapsa
Local time: 23:36
English to Finnish
| About Fluency | Jul 27, 2012 |
Having used only the demo version, I can't say very much, but anyway...
There are some nice and some not so nice features in Fluency.
One of the best features for me is the preview pane that manages to display even a pseudo realtime preview of Indesign files. Although it shows Indesign files only formatted as separate paragraphs (indentation in first row) and nothing more, it is of great help when translating books - at least for me - as one can easily see how fluent th... See more Having used only the demo version, I can't say very much, but anyway...
There are some nice and some not so nice features in Fluency.
One of the best features for me is the preview pane that manages to display even a pseudo realtime preview of Indesign files. Although it shows Indesign files only formatted as separate paragraphs (indentation in first row) and nothing more, it is of great help when translating books - at least for me - as one can easily see how fluent the translation is. Being able to distinguish different paragraphs by eye is very important for fluent reading and translation. I was surprised to see how this small feature helped me to better my translation on the fly.
In e.g. Studio, MemoQ and Deja Vu there is no such a feature (I mean realtime pseudo preview of Indesign - or whatever files - not reatime preview of Word documents). Lack of this simple, yet very helpful feature in mainstream programs is very, very strange. I give Fluency a very big plus for this.
I'm seriously considering to buy Fluency for this feature, as a side by side tool for my other cat tools.
I also find the lookup/concordance search implementation very nice, as it reminds me very much of the old Trados (which was my first cat tool). Also on the plus side are the integrated web searches and to someone (not to me) automatic translation.
There are quirks, also.
Although Fluency "speaks" of different translation memories, there is only one. It is a single file from which you can select different translation units grouped by a filter. It may grow (eg. if you import all those free memories) to a very big file. Seriously? One file! The memory problems in computers/operating systems... to start with.
And the "hailed" termbase system (user and bult-in). Nice thought, but in my main langueage pair "en-fi", mostly stupid nonsense. In real life, if you really want to buld a term base with all the different meanigs of terms etc., Fluency does not add up.
It provides just one user termbase which is basically just a list of terms with a few additonal fields.
This is not of concern for some translators, but for me, I seem to be a different case.
For example, in en-fi, I might have a term "light" in English. Well, it can be at least a verb and a noun, and adverb, and it has different spellings (eg. for a verb: light, lighted, lighting and lights).
Add to this those tens of different meanings in my language (Finnish), and you'll end up in maybe ab a hundred of source-target pairs. Just for one term. Every one of these must be entered (if you truly want real matches), one by one in Fluency (even Deja Vu is better in this).
In Studio and MemoQ, this is of not much of concern, Studio being the most versatile cat tool I know, in this respect.
Fluency seems to think (also) with translation memory, that one source language sentence may have only one possible translation. Very stupid assumption (you can add different meaning by editing the translation memory, but beware of doing the remove duplicates function).
There are other aspects, but I guess my one cent was here for now.
[Edited at 2012-07-27 02:42 GMT]
[Edited at 2012-07-27 02:45 GMT]
[Edited at 2012-07-27 02:49 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Fluency vs. MemoQ? | Aug 2, 2012 |
Could anybody drop a word or two about what in particular Fluency does better than MemoQ, or, in other words why should I buy Fluency instead of MemoQ (apart from the difference in price which is not the issue for me)?
P.S. I have downloaded the demo, imported some of my TM's and tried to download a 52 pages Word 2010 document contaning a bunch of embedded pictures and thus "weighting" some about 11 MB. Fluency has advised to split such a big file into a number of smaller ones "bec... See more Could anybody drop a word or two about what in particular Fluency does better than MemoQ, or, in other words why should I buy Fluency instead of MemoQ (apart from the difference in price which is not the issue for me)?
P.S. I have downloaded the demo, imported some of my TM's and tried to download a 52 pages Word 2010 document contaning a bunch of embedded pictures and thus "weighting" some about 11 MB. Fluency has advised to split such a big file into a number of smaller ones "because it is more convenient" and this was the end of the story. Moreover, it refused to handle more than 750K units from my TM's (I have a total of approx. 2 million in approx 15 active TM's). I never had such troubles with MemoQ or SDL Studio 2009.
P.P.S. I have been using MemoQ since 2010. Being far from 100% happy with it I yet fail to find something better. Though hope dies last, of course. ▲ Collapse
| | | | gkita_fluency
United States
Local time: 13:36
English to Spanish
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| Fluency 2013 - Improved Features | Jan 17, 2013 |
Hi Valery,
I'm sorry to hear that you had some trouble using our Fluency trial.
I wanted to let you know that our new Fluency 2013 has been updated and improved on a lot of features, correcting some issue that you may have noticed.
Once thing in particular being the issue you had with TMs. Fluency used to only be able to handle up to 1 million TUs, but now in 2013 it will handle up to 5 million. In addition, it also utilizes SmartSpeed technology, which is ... See more Hi Valery,
I'm sorry to hear that you had some trouble using our Fluency trial.
I wanted to let you know that our new Fluency 2013 has been updated and improved on a lot of features, correcting some issue that you may have noticed.
Once thing in particular being the issue you had with TMs. Fluency used to only be able to handle up to 1 million TUs, but now in 2013 it will handle up to 5 million. In addition, it also utilizes SmartSpeed technology, which is able to better utilize all of your computer's cores, resulting in a faster, more efficient and less painstaking experience.
Let me know if you'd like to speak with us about trying our new Fluency 2013 software and I'll get a trial and demo set up for you.
Greg Kita
Western Standard Support ▲ Collapse
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I have checked the Fluency 2013 and I am happy now how it performs. I will buy a license via the ProZ Team Group Buy. Thanks.
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Jane Ellis
United States
Local time: 15:36
Member (2012)
French to English
| Fluency 2013 - Nicely straightforward to use | Jul 2, 2013 |
I have Fluency 2013 Freelancer (received as a free upgrade after buying Fluency 2011 as a group buy through ProZ).
I am very pleased with it, as it is straightforward to use and reasonably priced with no in-depth training required (unlike some CAT tools I could mention ).
The layout is intuitive, with ST on left, TT on right, and it is very helpful to have the terminology list and concordance searches all... See more I have Fluency 2013 Freelancer (received as a free upgrade after buying Fluency 2011 as a group buy through ProZ).
I am very pleased with it, as it is straightforward to use and reasonably priced with no in-depth training required (unlike some CAT tools I could mention).
The layout is intuitive, with ST on left, TT on right, and it is very helpful to have the terminology list and concordance searches all on the same screen. You don't have to leave your Fluency screen to research terms as it is possible to customize the concordance search by adding, e.g. a tab for the Linguee.fr website or Word Reference (just two examples).
However, I do not feel I am getting full use of Fluency - I am never sure whether my new terms etc., have been added to the database, and each translation I do seems to be completely from scratch.
So, a qualified thumbs up from me... ▲ Collapse
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