nightmare of form with embedded objects Thread poster: Anne Lee
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Anne Lee 
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:16
Member (2003)
Dutch to English
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Just before the week-end, I was asked to translate a very urgent form by overwriting it. It arrived as a Word template. I saved it as a Word document and checked that I could overwrite the heading before accepting the job. Then the nightmare began: the form contained pull-down menus which I could not overwrite and which closed down as soon as I clicked on a different window to enter my translation (which meant I had to write down the translation before typing it out, because I could not print of... See more Just before the week-end, I was asked to translate a very urgent form by overwriting it. It arrived as a Word template. I saved it as a Word document and checked that I could overwrite the heading before accepting the job. Then the nightmare began: the form contained pull-down menus which I could not overwrite and which closed down as soon as I clicked on a different window to enter my translation (which meant I had to write down the translation before typing it out, because I could not print off those menus either), I could overtype some cells but the content disappeared once I deleted the last letter of the source text, and some other cells would not even allow me to rest my cursor on them, let alone overtype them.
By then, I had accepted the job, so I had to make the most of it by overtyping as much as I could, and by translating the pull-down menus and the text which I could not overwrite in a separate document. I assume that the form was created in Visio or some other programme and then embedded into the Word template. I expect the result won't be satisfactory for the customer, who ends up with a half-translated form and a separate document listing all the other text in order, but I'm not too happy either because I feel I can only charge the agency for a fraction of the time I spent on it.
I tried to convert the document to HTML-format but that was no help. I'd like to warn others to be careful before accepting similar jobs, because it's not the first time that the awkward format of a document more than doubles the time required to translate it. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Henry Hinds
United States
Local time: 05:16
English to Spanish
+ ...
In memoriam
Before making any final decisions on a job, make sure you see the file you are going to work with, and ALWAYS clarify that any job is subject to receiving a file you can work with and what kinds of files these are.
Translation is a hard enough job in itself without having to deal with technical issues like that.
A bit of client education is often in order there, because it is possible that the person you are dealing with may not even be aware of what kind of file is goi... See more Before making any final decisions on a job, make sure you see the file you are going to work with, and ALWAYS clarify that any job is subject to receiving a file you can work with and what kinds of files these are.
Translation is a hard enough job in itself without having to deal with technical issues like that.
A bit of client education is often in order there, because it is possible that the person you are dealing with may not even be aware of what kind of file is going to be provided or the technical difficulties involved.
Even if it means more work for them to obtain a suitable file, you can counter with "yes, but once I send the job back to you it will be complete and in the proper format and you can work with it easily". ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Asking hourly rates for such | Sep 6, 2004 |
Early this year, I received a similar "nightmare," a survey form running some 20 pages, and full of fields (pulldowns, radio buttons, multiple choice checkboxes, etc.)
After inspecting the document, I declined and noticed my client that it is not a "regular" document, and that therefore a different pricing policy should be applied, and suggested two options: either 3 x regular price, or an hourly payment left at the client's discretion. They took the second option.
Tran... See more Early this year, I received a similar "nightmare," a survey form running some 20 pages, and full of fields (pulldowns, radio buttons, multiple choice checkboxes, etc.)
After inspecting the document, I declined and noticed my client that it is not a "regular" document, and that therefore a different pricing policy should be applied, and suggested two options: either 3 x regular price, or an hourly payment left at the client's discretion. They took the second option.
Translating such documents is really tiresome & requires a minimum knowledge on VisualBasic, or at least on working with VisualBasic IDE. Without this experience, it turns out quta a frustrating experience.
I feel that any translator receiving such documents has the right to decline and ask for a different rate if the client fails to mention that the document in question has such a format.
[Edited at 2004-09-06 17:05] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Heinrich Pesch
Finland
Local time: 14:16
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
+ ...
| Any technical advice? | Sep 7, 2004 |
Selçuk Budak wrote:
Translating such documents is really tiresome & requires a minimum knowledge on VisualBasic, or at least on working with VisualBasic IDE. Without this experience, it turns out quta a frustrating experience.
[Edited at 2004-09-06 17:05]
Could you please specify shortly, how to proceed when translating that kind of code? How to get the Virtual Basic code in editable form? Is it possible to export it as a text file or something like that?
Regards
Heinrich
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| No, you cannot | Sep 7, 2004 |
Heinrich Pesch wrote:
Could you please specify shortly, how to proceed when translating that kind of code? How to get the Virtual Basic code in editable form? Is it possible to export it as a text file or something like that?
Regards
Heinrich
Objects in a document cannot be exported as a plain text. Otherwise, all code is lost.
As far as I know, you have to go over each and every object on its own and edit the fields through the "Properties" tab.
Nevertheless, it is worth to give a try to exporting the document as a html (as suggested by the original poster), and attempt to translate it with TagEditor. If works, it means a quick and efficient way to translate such form elements. I will try it, and if successful, I will leave a note here.
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I have just tried.
Converted to document into HTML, even cleaned up with Dreamweaver MX, and opened the html document with TagEditor: NO AVAIL.
The things with tag editor seems more confusing: all form elements (checkboxes, etc) appear not as text, but as "tags."
Therefore, it seems that the best way is the difficult one: Edit the objects one at a time by using "properties" tab. (:
[Edited at 2004-09-07 09:48]
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