Five reasons to buy MemoQ 2015
Earlier this week Kilgray released MemoQ 2015. I am using the software since about 5 years and have always been excited about the logic and intelligence of the CAT tool, but less about the usability. In fact I even called MemoQ a “container” because of it’s bold interface. However, many has been changed since then. Perhaps that’s the reason why so many agencies I work for are slowly moving to it (mainly using the server feature).
Working on an offline project in MemoQ 2014 I decided to give MemoQ 2015 a try and yes, I’m more excited than ever.
In this blog post I described the three main reasons why I would recommend to upgrade to it – and yes, only one of them is really new. But read on to know why I would suggest to download MemoQ 2015.
Reason #1: Starting translation projects faster than ever
One of the reasons I love Trados Studio (which will release Studio 2015 soon) so much is that it offers an option to open files quick. Using Ctrl+Shift+O offers the option to open a single document for translation. A clean and fast wizard will be shown then which enables you to select/create a TM. That option was unavailable in older versions of MemoQ, but now Kilgray has eliminated that caveat for good.
The start screen shows an area in which you can drag and drop files. Drop your file there and select the option to translate the file. You will then be presented a wizard in which you can select the project folder and the TM. MemoQ 2015 will then open the translation screen and you can start quickly. It still doesn’t work as smooth Trados, but it’s a first great step. And it avoids the multitude of files that are generally generated once you create a new MemoQ project.
Reason #2: More customization options than ever
Since MemoQ 2014 the old and unclean menu bar is replaced with a ribbon. That made the interface better, while all features at the same time became more accessible than ever. MemoQ 2015 offers even more and better options and you can customize almost every part of the ribbon. That’s nice when you prefer to group your favorite buttons and features or when you dislike the sleek buttons that are introduced in this new version.
Reason #3: Smart compilation of segments
One of the best features in MemoQ 2015 I discovered until now is the smart compilation of segments – Kilgray calls it “Match Patch”. MemoQ already used a smart algoritm that learned from all translated segments and from all TB terms and that merged them into a sentence with the quality of an average machine translation. Now MemoQ 2015 is even able to judge which words in a fuzzy match should be replaced, compilating a new sentence which in many cases does not need to amended anymore – in a major project I am currently working on I even noticed that the right articles were used.
Smart compiled segments can be recognized by the exclamation mark in front of the match rate. This smart feature can speed up your work even more!
Reason #4: Importing reviewed clean files
This feature was already present in MemoQ 2014 and it is still present in MemoQ 2015. Trados was missing it, but I believe they recently tweeted they will introduce it in Studio 2015: importing reviewed clean files. This feature allows you to export a clean file, make amendments and then import the file without segmentation back into MemoQ. MemoQ will then match the segments itself and apply the changes. Very nice if you won’t work with review files or when you decide to apply some changes in a later stage. It can be a bit fuzzy for bigger files, but until now I was unable to find errors in the process.
Reason #5: Several builds on one computer
MemoQ 2015 can be installed without the need to remove previous builds. That’s one of the big advantages of the software because some clients are using older versions and some newer versions of MemoQ have proven not to be entirely compatible shortly after their introductions. Unfortunately Trados will not support more versions alongside each other, but MemoQ does and that can be of great help in times when the software does not work the way you expected.
Bonus reason: Great compatibility
I have worked with Trados on at least 85 percent of all my projects. I like the software, but I think MemoQ is going to pick some share after the introduction of this new version. One of the biggest advantages of MemoQ is the great compatibility: it can even handle native SDL file formats which Trados Studio is unable to open. If you buy MemoQ you can rest assured that you can open almost all file formats clients will send you. For the price of about € 550 that is a great assurance for the years to come!
MemoQ 2015 video
Kilgray recently published a video with some highlights of MemoQ 2015 on YouTube. It’s not revolutionary, but have a look below to see how it works and look likes.
Willem Wunderink
I was a very enthousiastic user of MemoQ too, but lately there are some stupid issues that are not handled well or not handled at all by MemoQ service.
One huge problem they refuse to repair: a full match of a term is ignored, if more recently a part of the term is translated otherwise.
Example (ENG=>DUT):
hate = haat
hat = hoed
If both terms are in the term base but ‘hat’ has been translated in the current or later project, than it will translate hate = hoed (hat).
Any school kid can recognize the lack of logic here and can imagine that the standard result will be wrong.
But the product manager will not change the logic.
Completely illogical, plain stupid!
The business rule should clearly be here, that if two IDENTICAL source terms are translated into two different target terms, the latter used should be selected.
Gonzalo Fernandez - Kilgray
Hi Willem,
Have you reported this to our Support department? If so, could you please let me know your ticket ID. I will follow up on this!
I hope we can bring the enthusiasm back on you!
Cheers,
Gonzalo Fernandez
Kilgray Translation Technologies