Translating FM files into Japonese

[Harro de Jong]

Stephen O'Brien wrote:

...

> The translator is charging reasonable translation costs and then there is an
> additional 12$/page cost because the files are from FrameMaker. When we
> questioned that cost, he asked if we could provide files in Trados format.
> Maybe he is not familiar with FrameMaker files.
> 
> Anyway, I find this strange as in the past I have always provided FM files and
> the company doing the translation took care of everything else on their side. I
> received my Fm files translated into the target language from which I made
> PDFs.
> 
> Can anyone familiar with translating FM files explain why the individual is
> requesting files in Trados format? Can that be done - just pay a company to
> generate Trados files from FM files?


The additional cost would be to import the translated files into FrameMaker and check the page layouts, correct the pagination, set up a Japanese template etc.

Trados can import and export MIF files, but not .fm files. If you provide the MIFs to the translator and he sets up Trados appropriately [1], he should be able to translate the files, then it's up to you to convert them back and do the layout checks. 


1: there are some settings he needs to do so that Trados can differentiate between editable text and FM tags. If this isn't done correctly, the translator can corrupt autonumbering, cross-references etc. 




Harro de Jong
Triview