[翻譯工作坊 - 答客問之一]

『新單元介紹』- 針對翻譯工作上，本工作坊實際遇到的各種問題、現象（從徵人、客訴處理、客戶交涉到翻譯案件等等），乃至於錯譯、良譯等分享文，皆會在整理過後於此和大家交流，希望有助於大家對翻譯產業更為了解，或至少，有些幫助。

情境：常遇到來信應徵者或通過試譯的譯者回信表明，不會／不想使用任何工具接案，平常也只用 word 或 excel 處理案件，因此針對本工作坊詢問是否會使用哪些常見 CAT Tools (Trados, Wordfast, SDLX, Passolo, Idiom, etc.) 時，有些應徵者或譯者，會提出較為質疑的反應，甚至搞不懂這些工具是什麼。首先，會有這種反應者，多半不是翻譯本科出身 (不過，話說台灣也是近幾年才開始有這科系，實屬正常)，就是多半從傳統翻譯社接案，並不需要使用，當然也就對工具不甚了解。以下，便是一名譯者提出的疑問，以及本工作坊的完整回覆，供大家作參考。

Q: Required translation system:

Sorry, I am not familiar with your mentioning systems. Is all of them necessary? and what is the different of them from "Word"? And what is the estimated total cost to all systems to buy? Can you give me the cases better not to related to those systems in the beginning.

A: Those CAT Tools are frequently-used tools in Localization industry, so we recommend you try to learn and get familiar with them as many as possible in order to get more cases. As mentioned in previous email, Wordfast is the mostly applied in our studio that our main client requires this tool during the translation (we need to return the completed .txml file instead of a plain .doc file) and you can download the DEMO version via provided website. I believe there are many resources/information related not only about Wordfast but other CAT Tools for your research; sorry that we currently do not provide any CAT Tool learning Workshop. Certainly, you don't have to purchase all CAT Tools if you don't need them all; after all, it all depends on your decision. But we just talk based on the business perspective, if you only accept and/or can use Word to do the translation, it means the suitable cases we can assign to you are limited. In other words, you are not on the 1st priority request list for any coming cases. These CAT tools has TM (translation memory) and some other functions to make translation done much efficiently and consistently. Again, I do suggest you can research online about CAT Tools for more details. We are not a traditional translation agency in Taiwan; instead, we mainly work with international multilanguage localization company which requires many different CAT Tools to maintain long-term product line. So every time we get the cases from the client is a whole batch, including specific files created by a particular CAT Tool. Hope this helps you understand our working procedure a little bit more. Once again to remind this point, surely you can decide to accept Word-related cases, but it will definitely reduce your chance of receipt our request and further working relationship.

TX Further Feedback: Now, I got known about why CAT is important. I'll try to catch up those mentioning systems step by step through surfing the internet, but Wordfast first.

註：一旦祭出 "But we just talk based on the business perspective, if you only accept and/or can use Word to do the translation, it means the suitable cases we can assign to you are limited. In other words, you are not on the 1st priority request list for any coming cases." 雖為說明但實為威脅利誘之警語，多半譯者都會基於接案機會而買單，至少表面上如此。但對於態度仍是頗為高傲，應該實際上案子應接不暇，所以仍會採相應不理之回應；但這點我就不太明白還要來應徵的點在哪兒了。