Are tags/placeholders counted in word counts?
Thread poster: Heloísa Helena Benetton Costa
Heloísa Helena Benetton Costa
Heloísa Helena Benetton Costa  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 07:43
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Oct 16, 2019

Just occurred to me, after a huge job full of placeholders with long texts that scared the hell out of me!

Thank you!

Heloisa

[Edited at 2019-10-16 21:36 GMT]


 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 11:43
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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Sometimes... Oct 17, 2019

Heloísa Helena Benetton Costa wrote:
Are tags/placeholders counted in word counts? It just occurred to me, after a huge job full of placeholders with long texts [gave me a terrible fright]!


Sometimes, tags are counted as words, yes. But since tags are often placed, not typed, and often using either the mouse or a keyboard shortcut that is difficult to type blind, a tag "costs" the translator far more than just 1 word. Yet most analyses I've seen assume that tags do not really add a lot to translation time.

The worst offenders are CAT tools that consider segments to be 99% matches if only the tags differ, because fixing tag errors takes time. In fact, in some workflows where I'm usually the proofreader, the translators simply refuse to fix tag errors on 99% matches.


Philippe Etienne
 
Edward Potter
Edward Potter  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 11:43
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
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Is it faster using a CAT tool with tags? Oct 17, 2019

Heloísa Helena Benetton Costa wrote:

Just occurred to me, after a huge job full of placeholders with long texts that scared the hell out of me!

Thank you!

Heloisa

[Edited at 2019-10-16 21:36 GMT]


This issue doesn't seem to be discussed much here. Tags slow down the translator when using a CAT. However, this should be compared to your speed when working in the original document (often in Word). In this case you still have to move the cursor around a lot for doing the formatting. Most of the time the formatting is in the form of bolding, italics and numbering. In my experience, normally the time involved is about the same whether using Word or a CAT.


 


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Are tags/placeholders counted in word counts?







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