Introducing myself
I am an engineer (electronics designer) turned interpreter turned technical writer turned translator. I am not a programmer but tend towards computer and software tinkering. So I am naturally looking for tools that help speed up the tedious repetitive aspect of translating (more on that later). Similis is my first contact with Translation memory (TM) programs, therefore please forgive the erring ways and naiveté typical for a novice.
Interests and potential conflicts
I haven't received any payment or bonus (apart maybe from Proz brownies) for writing this essay, nor any free copy of Similis, although Lingua et Machina (LM), the editor of Similis based in France, granted me an extended temporary license to test it. So I don't feel muzzled at all.
First contact
Go to www.similis.fr or www.lingua-et-machina.com (English and French) to get first impressions, find animated demos, hints, FAQ, beginner's guide (E + F) and user's guide (French only). The latter are difficult to find as some areas of the pages are not completely visible on my 1024 x 768 display. So go to words and look for tabs on the uppermost top of page.
I reformatted the beginner's guide, an 11 page long pdf file in a strange square format without margins into a usable 7 page Word file, sufficient to get started.
The demo, release 2.6.5b (in fact the full program with a time limited license for 5000 treated words), weighs 160 MB.
words
Similis words (words) is first rate, quick, proactive, professional, open to suggestions and really helpful. Let's hope it will remain the same even after the number of their customers grows.
Unzipping
Because the zipped file comprises another zipped folder, it's best to place it in an empty folder and right-click the Unzip here command.
Installation and conflict with antivirus software
Similis Freelance-2.6.5b-Setup.exe attempts to install itself in the C:Program FilesLingua et MachinaSimilis folder but stalled on my computer during the process. Preventing Bit Defender Antivirus Plus v10 to start at boot did not help. With the active involvement of words, a workaround was found: install simply in a C:Similis folder.
But Bit Defender anyway dislikes two files (kill.exe and pskill.exe) it considers as infected with Prockill.I and Prockill.C respectively (I found on Google that McAfee similarly dislikes kill.exe found in other products). I had to exclude the C:Similis folder from my watchdog's scrutiny but it nevertheless moves these ominous files into quarantine when running a scan. words claims these files are "not very important" for the program but I preferred to restore them (move them back to their initial place) after the scan.
The full installation takes 1.6 GB because many dictionaries for linguistic analysis are present.
First steps
Similis works between files in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish, extracting a TM from existing translations, but it does not build a memory when you translate a document from scratch (as far as I know). So you choose which translated files to use as a basis for forthcoming jobs. I choose my first German/French pair of files and the job to be processed more or less haphazardly, aligned the resulting table and sent it to the job for "pre-translation".
Pre-translation happens in a specially formatted Word window split in 3. On top, the source file, on bottom the target and in the middle the suggested matching expression. It's "my" Word customized with all my preferences, macros etc. plus one Similis menu heading replacing the Window item. You do jog along the target (the source moves in synchronism) and accept the suggestion (color coded if fuzzy) by clicking in the middle window or with a shortcut directly in the target. You can also automate the pre-translation by accepting the 100% matches and then the fuzzy ones.
The screen is a bit crowded (a display bigger than 19" would help because of my not optimum vision) but there are no tags to nag you - I know tags to be nuisance… from hearsay, I have yet to meet one! Trados fans, please forgive me.
Because of my first choice, the result was poor as could be expected.
I went to the other extreme for my second choice, took a file pair (issue A of a User manual for a wireless remote control unit) as TM source and the slightly revised issue B to be translated. The TM before manual alignment was impressive and the result after pre-translation really overwhelming - but not conclusive because my test was overly easy (in a sense). Word's tool of comparing/merging two files (efficient from the 2003 vintage onwards) would help greatly for this kind of task.
Pulling out all stops
Up to now, I could experiment relying mainly upon the beginner's guide. But I definitely needed the Similis guide (68 pages, French only alas) to move to the third step. I hope the English only readers will nevertheless feel tempted to experiment for themselves!
I extracted TM's from two more User guides, one marketing Flyer and two Application notes for various products and merged the resulting memories, adding also a terminology I had built from the same customer's assignments (using Hermetic System's Word Frequency Counter Advanced software, more on that later), but with little visible benefit I think. The resulting aligned TM counts some 4400 segments. 10'000 to 20'000 segments is considered as a reasonable size.
I applied the TM to another, fairly resembling user guide as target. After automatic pre-translating, the target got two thirds of paragraphs cleanly translated (guesstimate mine). This sounds impressive, but I have yet to carefully compare the resulting file with the original, and this can be tedious and error prone also.
Overview and pricing
I found this test interesting and rewarding. I'm not the kind of personality spending hours on a user's guide before attempting to tinker with a program. Basic manipulations are rather simple but not entirely intuitive. For instance, I'm not sure to understand the difference between a TM and a glossary and their respective benefits and would not pretend to be aware of the full potential of such a program. More (how much more?) practice is needed.
The software is fairly fast (sorry for the vague statement, I run a 885 MHz Pentium 4 PC with 1.5 GB RAM under Windows XP). words advices to prefer a PC with only one CPU or one core: Similis cannot drive dual-core processors. As Similis draws heavily on databases, a fast disk with a big cache is also useful. Laptops often have very poor disks.
Similis Freelance with HTML and XML sells for 750 € plus a yearly fee (which I find intimidating; I hope the fee is due after one year only) of 195 € for words and upgrade. It wordss an unlimited number of projects and TM's (if I am well informed).
There is a "First Comer" license limited to 200'000 words without HTML and XML for 295 €. My tests consumed almost 40'000 words, so I would quickly bump into the limit. I haven't yet decided to buy it (see my Questions below).
My own "cheap" TM-less solution is based on Replsoft.com Useful File Utilities (sic!), boasting a customizable Batch Replacer for Word (plus non customizable Batch Replacer for Excel and PowerPoint) at US$ 40 (for office use) and on Hermetic.ch "Word Frequency Counter Advanced" software for US$ 53, both with lifetime upgrades free of charge. The combination amounts to a simple, dumb automatic word replacer, without any linguistic intelligence or regard for the context, but it saves time. Don't either forget Word's tool for comparing two files.
My wish list
I'm no mice lover and fond of using keyboard shortcuts (preferably user customizable) whenever possible. So I submitted a few suggestions to words:
- exclude headers and footers - and maybe numbers also - when extracting TM (to avoid clogging the alignment table with page and page numbers)
- move in the alignment table with Page Up/Down (presently arrow keys or scrolling)
- undo one operation at a time (presently all operations since the "validate the alignment" has been last clicked), with CTRL+Z as shortcut and CTRL+Y to restore
- add a F4 shortcut for "repeat the last operation"
- define CTRL+ shortcuts for the various alignment functions (align, merge, delete, insert a line, presently via mouse right-clicks)
- keep two merged cells in the alignment table pre-selected after the merge, because it's likely they will be aligned with a neighboring element, cells being selected via CTRL+Click
Questions
Similis claims exporting and importing compatibility to Trados TMs. Many internal *.fdb files (open source Firebird and InterBase database format) can be exported to .tmx, .csv or tsv (acronym new to me, tabulation separated values) for external processing in Trados or Excel and reimporting.
Trados buffs, could you please check the compatibility issue and reassure me that after being squeezed through Similis, the TM can really be reused in Trados without added queer characters or other malfunctions?
I have written this essay in order to stimulate the interest of the TM community for this relatively new program. I would be delighted to see my review, statements, opinions and conclusions challenged, qualified, refined, augmented and corrected by a host of informed and experienced reviewers and testers. I would be very pleased to find comparative reviews between Similis and competing tools. I plan also to run soon a test with Déjà Vu X Professional.
By Jean-Marc Tapernoux | Published 07/12/2007
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