Inge Schumacher 

A few things first:

What version of Trados Studio are you using?

Inge Schumacher said:

I got a return package with 3 different files and 4 different TMs (the initial TM and 3 others).

You mean they sent you a new package? I think you may be calling it a return package because they sent you another one by return.  Just checking because a "return package" is a special package that is created by the translator after receiving a package.  The package they send back to the project manager is a return package and it only contains the translated sdlxliff files.

Inge Schumacher said:

how should I manage this translation, and in particular the TMs?

If the project created from the package contains the TMs then just use them if you find them useful.  You don't have to do anything particular with them since the return package you create won't contain them anyway.  You only send the translated sdlxliff files back in a return package and the project manager will update their TMs from your translated files once they have had them reviewed and are happy with them.

Inge Schumacher said:

I also have problems with DeepL translation provider (the agency asked me to use it), which doesn't detect all the segments when they contain punctuation such as semicolons, colons, etc.). It can't handle the German format of the dates: 31/03/2003 instead of 31.03.2003, the format of the inverted commas "anglais" instead of „deutsch“, transforms the infinitive verbs like "gehen" into imperatives (formal or informal) "machen Sie" oder "mache"), and I have to reword a lot of sentences to get something grammatically correct!

Ultimately DeepL is a machine translation.  Your job as the professional translator is to use it when it's right, and correct the translation when you think it's wrong. I'm surprised it doesn't find sentences at all, but that's also why I asked what version you're using.

Can you reproduce that problem by creating a new test file with a sentence structured to cause the same issue?  Then we can validate it and even fix a problem if there is one to fix.

Dates are best solved by letting the software do what it wants and then running a search & replace using regular expressions at the end to correct them all in one go.  So if you are getting 31/03/2003 instead of 31.03.2003 it's easily corrected by searching for:

(\d{1,2})/(\d{1,2})/(\d{4})

and replacing with this:

$1.$2.$3

Inge Schumacher 

A few things first:

What version of Trados Studio are you using?

Inge Schumacher said:

I got a return package with 3 different files and 4 different TMs (the initial TM and 3 others).

You mean they sent you a new package? I think you may be calling it a return package because they sent you another one by return.  Just checking because a "return package" is a special package that is created by the translator after receiving a package.  The package they send back to the project manager is a return package and it only contains the translated sdlxliff files.

Inge Schumacher said:

how should I manage this translation, and in particular the TMs?

If the project created from the package contains the TMs then just use them if you find them useful.  You don't have to do anything particular with them since the return package you create won't contain them anyway.  You only send the translated sdlxliff files back in a return package and the project manager will update their TMs from your translated files once they have had them reviewed and are happy with them.

Inge Schumacher said:

I also have problems with DeepL translation provider (the agency asked me to use it), which doesn't detect all the segments when they contain punctuation such as semicolons, colons, etc.). It can't handle the German format of the dates: 31/03/2003 instead of 31.03.2003, the format of the inverted commas "anglais" instead of „deutsch“, transforms the infinitive verbs like "gehen" into imperatives (formal or informal) "machen Sie" oder "mache"), and I have to reword a lot of sentences to get something grammatically correct!

Ultimately DeepL is a machine translation.  Your job as the professional translator is to use it when it's right, and correct the translation when you think it's wrong. I'm surprised it doesn't find sentences at all, but that's also why I asked what version you're using.

Can you reproduce that problem by creating a new test file with a sentence structured to cause the same issue?  Then we can validate it and even fix a problem if there is one to fix.

Dates are best solved by letting the software do what it wants and then running a search & replace using regular expressions at the end to correct them all in one go.  So if you are getting 31/03/2003 instead of 31.03.2003 it's easily corrected by searching for:

(\d{1,2})/(\d{1,2})/(\d{4})

and replacing with this:

$1.$2.$3

Hi Paul,

Thank you for your reply and your advice.

My answers:

1. What version of Trados Studio are you using? => I have Studio 2022 now, but I'm only discovering the program, I've never worked with it before.

2. I didn't receive the package in Trados Studio, but via Filezilla. I think the additional TMs might be fragments of the initial TM, since the initial file was split in 3 parts, and I now have 4 TMs, the initial one and 3 new ones. It's just that the PM, who works with Trados every day, couldn't explain the existence of the additional TMs, and I was a bit worried about that. I've encountered so many problems while working on this project, and I have the feeling it will never come to an end!

3. DeepL "I'm surprised it doesn't find sentences at all" => Well, it doesn't, at least from French to German and only when there are colons or semicolons in the segment. When I replace the colon, semicolon by a full stop, it works fine. Anyway, I think DeepL are aware of these issues, this is the reply I received from the support team: 

"Nous regrettons d’apprendre que vos traductions contenaient des erreurs.
Notre service n’est pas encore tout à fait infaillible. Nous transmettrons vos commentaires à nos développeurs afin qu’ils puissent éventuellement les prendre en compte dans les améliorations à venir."

4. You: "Can you reproduce that problem by creating a new test file with a sentence structured to cause the same issue?  Then we can validate it and even fix a problem if there is one to fix."

=> Yes, I certainly can. But what do you mean by "create a new test file"? Please let me know what to do. I don't think that this problem comes from Trados, though. I have this when translating directly on the DeepL website as well, so I don't think you can fix this.

Thank you for the help for the formatting issues. 

Kind regards,

Inge

Inge Schumacher 

Inge Schumacher said:

I didn't receive the package in Trados Studio, but via Filezilla.

That's ok... there is no mechanism in Trados Studio to receive a package unless it comes via Language Cloud or GroupShare.  But if you received it via Filezilla did they provide only the *.sdlppx file or did you get something else?

Generally I wouldn't worry about additional TMs unless they could contain matching sentences that are actually inappropriate for the context and thus cause confusion over what should be used if you were advised to always use matches from the TM.  I think I painted an unlikely scenario there but you never know!

Inge Schumacher said:

I don't think you can fix this.

ok - I won't worry about it then :-)

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, when I received the package via Filezilla, there were other documents (2 old translations (doc.), the manual in French (PDF) and a glossary (xls)), together with the .sdlppx files and the TMs. 

Actually, speaking about receiving/returning packages via Trados Studio: I remember I couldn't create a Return Package in my Trados Studio! This is the reason why the agency had to find another way for me to return the file (80000+ Mo). 

So, these are problems I encountered with Trados Studio 2022, and the PM doesn't understand either:

- impossible to create a return package

- impossible to edit the source, although the option has been enabled by the PM, and which would have been extremely helpful for my work as the source contains all sorts   of errors (spelling, grammar, punctuation (especially semicolons, and there are thousands) and syntax) and is sometimes so badly worded that it's almost impossible to understand, even for a human translator, so just imagine a machine!

- to merge or split segments. Working with the new file, this is possible now.

As far as the additional TMs are concerned, no, I think these are only fragments of the initial one and contain parts of the first one. But you're right, one never knows! :-)

Please let me know about the problem with the source editing. As for the return package, I haven't tried to create one again. 

Kind regards,

Inge

Oh, another thing: When confirming very short repetitive segments (headers, etc.), the whole program just seems to go mad and changes all the (similar) segments that come afterwards, going back to a "former" translation (you know that we may edit our own initial translation). So, I have to change these segments again. Is this normal?