Translation tools – Wordfast Anywhere

Founded in 1999 by Ives Champollion, Wordfast soon developed a suite of translation memory (TM) solutions for different user needs. The focus of this article will be on Wordfast Anywhere.

It is a free tool, browser-based that allows you to securely store and access your TMs, glossaries, and documents. You can collaborate in real-time with colleagues to translate, edit, and proofread your documents. It supports all major file types, including InDesign, Framemaker, XLIFF, Open Office, HTML, and PDF.

Wordfast Anywhere (WFA) puts TM server technology into the hands of anyone, everywhere. With WFA it is possible to share a centralized remote TM among several translators to ensure consistency of terminology.

If you are a project manager you can benefit from advanced file management options to split documents, hide 100% matches, assign docs for translation or review, track completion, and run quality control reports. WFA also offers a free PDF conversion tool that uses an internal OCR engine to automatically convert the file and an alignment tool that allows you to upload source documents and target documents at once and it automatically creates a TM for you.

The limitations of WFA are:

• Lack of WYSIWG editor where you see text in bold, italics, etc. meaning that you must deal with tags for internal formatting.
• You require internet access as the solution is cloud-based.
• There is a maximum of 10 documents at any given time. However, as you finish translating you can delete the documents and have room for new ones.

If you are worried about confidentiality, Wordfast will never use or disclose your data.

This tool is ideal for new translators who are reluctant to invest in a costly TM tool. It can be a good ally for projects involving multiple people.

WFA has no cost, the only thing you should invest is time to learn how to use it.

A huge thanks to Jensen Localization for offering us this space in their blog.