Comparison between Memsource and Trados Studio
Thread poster: Thomas Johansson
Thomas Johansson
Thomas Johansson  Identity Verified
Peru
Local time: 21:24
English to Swedish
+ ...
May 25, 2018

I understand there is a paid desktop version of Memsource, the "Team Start" version, which allows freelancers to use their own TMs and termbases.

I was wondering how efficient that version of Memsource is in comparison with Trados Studio (as a translation tool from the point of view of a translator).

Is it slower to work with and, if so, how much slower?

(Please try to give a percentage if possible, for instance, "25% slower". One of my clients wants me to
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I understand there is a paid desktop version of Memsource, the "Team Start" version, which allows freelancers to use their own TMs and termbases.

I was wondering how efficient that version of Memsource is in comparison with Trados Studio (as a translation tool from the point of view of a translator).

Is it slower to work with and, if so, how much slower?

(Please try to give a percentage if possible, for instance, "25% slower". One of my clients wants me to use Memsource and I'm trying to figure out what would be a reasonable adjustment of my rate for this tool.)

[Edited at 2018-05-25 09:56 GMT]
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Michael Beijer
Michael Beijer  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:24
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
50% faster May 25, 2018

Hi Thomas,

I find that Memsource is actually far more efficient then Trados Studio. I should mention though that I don't recommend using the Memsource Online Editor, only the Memsource Desktop Editor. The online editor suffers from too much lag to work comfortably, most notably when moving to the next segment or adding terms to the termbase.

I have used pretty much every CAT tool under the sun, and currently own up-to-date licences for the latest version of: SDL Studio,
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Hi Thomas,

I find that Memsource is actually far more efficient then Trados Studio. I should mention though that I don't recommend using the Memsource Online Editor, only the Memsource Desktop Editor. The online editor suffers from too much lag to work comfortably, most notably when moving to the next segment or adding terms to the termbase.

I have used pretty much every CAT tool under the sun, and currently own up-to-date licences for the latest version of: SDL Studio, memoQ, Déjà Vu, CafeTran and Memsource. However, for many months now I have done all of my translation in the Memsource Desktop Editor, as I find it much more responsive than SDL Studio. I think its UI is also MUCH better designed. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it has the best UI of any CAT tool currently available.

Apart from the brilliant UI, the desktop version of Memsources is also extremely responsive, and I am continually amazed at the size of translation memories and termbases that can be attached to a project without slowing you down whatsoever. This is simply impossible in most other CAT tools. I think the trick here is that Memsource resources (i.e. translation memories and termbases) are stored in the cloud, so even though you may be using their (very light) desktop editor, you get to benefit from the extremely powerful computers that Memsource users to host your resources.

Anyway, enough compliments. As you can see I am a big fan.

Michael
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Taglish_Anne
 
John Fossey
John Fossey  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 22:24
Member (2008)
French to English
+ ...
Doing Memsource jobs in another CAT tool May 25, 2018

You can download the bilingual .mxliff file from the online Memsource and do the actual translation work in another tool such as SDL Trados Studio or MemoQ, then upload the finished job back into Memsource. I do it all the time with MemoQ. In this case, there's no real difference in the overall time it takes.

I don't have any experience with the paid version of Memsource because I have not seen any need.


 
José Henrique Lamensdorf
José Henrique Lamensdorf  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 23:24
English to Portuguese
+ ...
In memoriam
Server issues? May 25, 2018

Michael Beijer wrote:

I find that Memsource is actually far more efficient then Trados Studio. I should mention though that I don't recommend using the Memsource Online Editor, only the Memsource Desktop Editor. The online editor suffers from too much lag to work comfortably, most notably when moving to the next segment or adding terms to the termbase.


For the record, I've never used Trados of any kind.

I have Wordfast Classic, however I have no objection to using client-provided portable licenses of other CAT tools for the duration of the project.

My first was a series of projects with Passolo, so long ago, that I don't remember the details.

The second case was with MemoQ, a relatively long series of giant projects, teams of 15-20 translators per language pair, scattered everywhere, working online. The PM/agency owner was a keen one, located in Florida. She provided portable MemoQ licenses to all those who didn't have their own.

Her server was in Toronto. Most - though not all - translators in my team were located in Brazil. Speed was no issue at all. I'd move from one segment to the next, about as fast as WordFast does it on DOC/DOCX files (it's MUCH faster on XML files).

Then a snowstorm caused a major power outage. In two hours the PM (without leaving Florida) rented a truck-mounted generator, got it there, and moved her server from Toronto to Los Angeles via cloud, and got us back to work. Again, speed was excellent, and we - in the team - were using each other's matches as they were added.

More recently - the third case - I got a new client who has a similar setup with Memsource, the server being somewhere in Europe. I tried it on a weekend, and speed was just a tad slower than local WordFast.

But when they sent me the actual job on Monday, every segment took 8-10 seconds to cross the Atlantic and move to the next one. My first (2½ hours) late delivery ever!

So now I'm working on the offline version of Memsource for them

I don't know on whose cloud that Memsource is, i.e. the client's own or Memsource's. However it seems that it is a slow/overloaded server, if I'm not the only one facing this issue.


 


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Comparison between Memsource and Trados Studio







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