Pages in topic: [1 2 3] > | MemoQ delivering totally wrong analysis Thread poster: Daniel Arnold (X)
| Daniel Arnold (X) Australia Local time: 13:09 German to English
Dear Colleagues, MemoQ seems on the rise and many of my clients have switched from other CAT tools to MemoQ. I quite like working with it I have to say, I really appreciate its QA functions and that I dont have to send return packages anymore, but I have a pretty troubling problem with the way memoQ analyses the documents. What I mean is the analysis that my customer, the translation agency, runs on their memoQ and that forms the basis for what I am paid for the translation (you kno... See more Dear Colleagues, MemoQ seems on the rise and many of my clients have switched from other CAT tools to MemoQ. I quite like working with it I have to say, I really appreciate its QA functions and that I dont have to send return packages anymore, but I have a pretty troubling problem with the way memoQ analyses the documents. What I mean is the analysis that my customer, the translation agency, runs on their memoQ and that forms the basis for what I am paid for the translation (you know the list of new words, repetions, fuzzies etc.) I have recently had not one but a number of projects in memoQ where the analysis was just completely wrong. There were segments counted as "80%" that in reality had nothing in common with the TM than a few "is" or "here" or alike. The sentence had 18 words, three were "real" matches like the ones I have just described, and the other 15 words were no match at all. Yet memoQ tells me it's 80%. I even had segments were I was told it's a 60% match and there wasn't a single word that would have matched. This worries me because those of us who work a lot for agencies get paid on the basis of the analysis the agencies run with their memoQ. And if it's wrong I have more work than the analysis says and don't get paid a fair rate for the job. Did anyone have similar experiences ? What did you do about it? Thanks, Dan ▲ Collapse | | | Reproducible? | May 19, 2018 |
Can you reproduce such a sentence without violating an NDA? | | | Different possibilities | May 19, 2018 |
They could have included a translation memory that isn't attached to your project. Or there is some sort of error in the original analysis, which may have been run in different software. I recently had a case like that. Some segments in the TM had the source filled in as target, and had been counted as 100%. When there is more than marginal difference between the result of my own analysis in MemoQ and the client's, I ask for an explanation. There is usually a reason. I ... See more They could have included a translation memory that isn't attached to your project. Or there is some sort of error in the original analysis, which may have been run in different software. I recently had a case like that. Some segments in the TM had the source filled in as target, and had been counted as 100%. When there is more than marginal difference between the result of my own analysis in MemoQ and the client's, I ask for an explanation. There is usually a reason. I don't blindly accept an incorrect analysis. ▲ Collapse | | | Daniel Arnold (X) Australia Local time: 13:09 German to English TOPIC STARTER
Here is an example of a segment that MemoQ says is a 62% match. If you look at it, it's clear that it's not anywhere near that. | |
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Daniel Arnold (X) Australia Local time: 13:09 German to English TOPIC STARTER | Totally wrong | May 19, 2018 |
This happens here too. Plus, the total reported by the count function is different from the one reported by the analysis function, and has been since memoQ 2015... As if these were not enough, in my most recent big project, consisting of a large bilingual Excel file, the count showed 15,000 fewer words before I selected the option to segment text inside cells. And I based my quote on it... Conclusion: don't trust memoQ for your word counts. The quality of this app ha... See more This happens here too. Plus, the total reported by the count function is different from the one reported by the analysis function, and has been since memoQ 2015... As if these were not enough, in my most recent big project, consisting of a large bilingual Excel file, the count showed 15,000 fewer words before I selected the option to segment text inside cells. And I based my quote on it... Conclusion: don't trust memoQ for your word counts. The quality of this app has decreased markedly in the past few years. PS: I can see in your screenshot that your LSC is broken, too. The default setting for LSC hits (the orange ones) is to only show hits of more than 3 words and more than 16 characters. But memoQ totally ignores the setting and lists a long list of tiny, single-word fragments... Again, this behaviour is present both in version 7 (2015) and version 8.
[Edited at 2018-05-19 22:41 GMT] ▲ Collapse | | | More like a 38% match | May 19, 2018 |
Your new sentence has 21 words. The one in your TM has 7 words in common with the new one: one-third. So, 62% must be the difference, not the similarity! Possibly a careless programmer reversed the calculation somehow... If this is confirmed, it must be the most serious bug I have ever seen in a CAT tool, and it speaks volumes of the apparent lack of QA in Kilgray's DevOps pipeline.
[Edited at 2018-05-19 22:57 GMT] | | | Same experience | May 20, 2018 |
I see this sort of thing all the time. Luckily the client I work with on MemoQ mostly only asks for discounts on repetitions and 100%/101% matches. | |
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Lian Pang Netherlands Local time: 13:09 Member (2018) English to Chinese + ... Only for reference | May 20, 2018 |
TM can only be seen as a source of reference. In different contexts, the same word or texts can have totally different meanings. Like " clear the room" in a military context and in a household context. I am reluctant to work for agencies or clients who ask for a discount for fuzzy matches. The word "reluctant" is a bit of an understatement. I just reject them. | | | Not only 'for reference' | May 20, 2018 |
Translation memories are a valuable asset if they are appropriately set up. Using 'big mama' TMs will be of very little value. But using targeted TMs, based on: - a specific subject matter
- a specific end client, or
- a combination of translation agency and end client (which is an 'account' from the perspective of the freelance translator)
will be of immense value. But let's not continue ... See more Translation memories are a valuable asset if they are appropriately set up. Using 'big mama' TMs will be of very little value. But using targeted TMs, based on: - a specific subject matter
- a specific end client, or
- a combination of translation agency and end client (which is an 'account' from the perspective of the freelance translator)
will be of immense value. But let's not continue this discussion here, as it is off topic. ▲ Collapse | | | Daniel Arnold (X) Australia Local time: 13:09 German to English TOPIC STARTER Not the only one | May 20, 2018 |
Seems I am not the only one with this experience. I do allow my agency clients for the usual discounts, but I will have to review this in light of what memoQ is doing here. It also distorts the view on your work progress and the workload of a job. I must say I am quite annoyed by this and would love to hear from someone at Kilgray here in response to this thread. | | | One fix coming | May 20, 2018 |
As I complained recently about the discrepancy between the total in the count and the total in the analysis, they had a look and they said they fixed it. Let's see if they include it in the next build of memoQ 8. I will stay with memoQ 2015, though. | |
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Here is the only way to go by | May 21, 2018 |
Georgie Scott wrote: I see this sort of thing all the time. Luckily the client I work with on MemoQ mostly only asks for discounts on repetitions and 100%/101% matches. and it should be the ONLY "discount" we accept (if we do). More than that means we agree to shoot ourselves in the foot! | | | Daniel Arnold (X) Australia Local time: 13:09 German to English TOPIC STARTER Second example | May 22, 2018 |
Just for the sake of documentation in the case someone from Kilgray looks at this thread, here is another example. Different job and different client. Completely wrong fuzzy percentage. | | | Daniel Arnold (X) Australia Local time: 13:09 German to English TOPIC STARTER | Pages in topic: [1 2 3] > | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » MemoQ delivering totally wrong analysis Trados Studio 2022 Freelance | The leading translation software used by over 270,000 translators.
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