Poll: What percentage of your translation work do you do nowadays using a CAT tool?
Autor vlákna: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
PRACOVNÍK SERVERU
Sep 5, 2025

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "What percentage of your translation work do you do nowadays using a CAT tool?".

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Marwa shoaib
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugalsko
Local time: 05:31
Člen (2007)
angličtina -> portugalština
+ ...
0% Sep 5, 2025

25880488-sign-no-cats

Claudio Machado Junior
Oscar Núñez Alfaro
IrinaN (X)
Daryo
 
Lieven Malaise
Lieven Malaise  Identity Verified
Belgie
Local time: 06:31
Člen (2020)
francouzština -> nizozemština
+ ...
100% Sep 5, 2025

The importance of a CAT tool in my career can't be over-estimated. It allowed (and still allows) me to maintain competitive yet profitable rates and to create extensive translation memories over a period of more than 20 years with a treasure of terminology in every possible context.

Whereas technical, medical or legal texts of all kinds were a real challenge in the first half of my freelance career they nowadays simply aren't anymore. So my CAT tool obviously has had a huge impact o
... See more
The importance of a CAT tool in my career can't be over-estimated. It allowed (and still allows) me to maintain competitive yet profitable rates and to create extensive translation memories over a period of more than 20 years with a treasure of terminology in every possible context.

Whereas technical, medical or legal texts of all kinds were a real challenge in the first half of my freelance career they nowadays simply aren't anymore. So my CAT tool obviously has had a huge impact on my translation quality (terminological consistance that is way easier and, more importantly, faster to achieve with than without a CAT tool), translation speed and therefore profitability in the course of the years.
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Josephine Cassar
Hubert Schwarzer
Paulo Roberto
Antonio Contreras
Maria Laura Curzi
Stepan Konev
 
Rachel Waddington
Rachel Waddington  Identity Verified
Velká Británie
Local time: 05:31
nizozemština -> angličtina
+ ...
100% Sep 5, 2025

I'm a technical translator. I can't imagine working without a CAT tool any more.

Lieven Malaise
Hubert Schwarzer
Christine Andersen
Paulo Roberto
Oscar Núñez Alfaro
WolfgangS
Maria Laura Curzi
 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Dánsko
Local time: 06:31
Člen (2003)
dánština -> angličtina
+ ...
99% Sep 5, 2025

I still occasionally get a ´dead´PDF - typically a birth certificate or other document which is scanned and not machine readable.

Otherwise I will go to quite some length to prepare a source file that I can use in my CAT - it really is worth the effort.


Paulo Roberto
Sebastian Witte
Aitor Salaberria
Maria Laura Curzi
Siobhán Fulton
Stepan Konev
 
Oscar Núñez Alfaro
Oscar Núñez Alfaro  Identity Verified
Kostarika
Local time: 22:31
angličtina -> španělština
+ ...
0% Sep 5, 2025

I am not using CAT tools currently, but it is a great tool for productivity and consistency in our translation works.

 
Edith van der Have
Edith van der Have
Nizozemsko
Local time: 06:31
Člen (2016)
angličtina -> nizozemština
+ ...
99+% Sep 6, 2025

I occasionally do very small assignments of one or two phrases, max., in Word or by email (and sometimes even on my cell phone if not in the office). Otherwise, I use CAT software for everything.

Maria Laura Curzi
 
Jean Dimitriadis
Jean Dimitriadis  Identity Verified
angličtina -> francouzština
+ ...
Client work vs solo work Sep 7, 2025

This is interesting, and an excellent poll question.

I use a CAT tool for client (agency) work, although some is currently done in exported bilingual review mode (DOCX).

But for my own (non commissioned, but professional, mostly book) translation projects, I'm increasingly not using a CAT tool, but simple markdown.

Segmented text and context-less MT suggestions? No thanks…

Rediscovering the joy of reviewing my work without having to mentally
... See more
This is interesting, and an excellent poll question.

I use a CAT tool for client (agency) work, although some is currently done in exported bilingual review mode (DOCX).

But for my own (non commissioned, but professional, mostly book) translation projects, I'm increasingly not using a CAT tool, but simple markdown.

Segmented text and context-less MT suggestions? No thanks…

Rediscovering the joy of reviewing my work without having to mentally merge sentences and reconstruct the text and its flow.

Can always align later for bilingual reference.

[Edited at 2025-09-07 05:28 GMT]
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Denis Fesik
Denis Fesik
Local time: 07:31
angličtina -> ruština
+ ...
TM -worthiness Sep 8, 2025

Some translations have no worth for TM building: their highly specific and/or highly creative nature suggests no one will be able to use them productively in any future work. However, I like to see ordered pairs of segments when I'm working, so I'll still be using a CAT tool on a completely TM- worthless text unless it's really small (I have separate TMs for such work, reserved for my own use only). So, it's still 99% plus. I also don't mind working with MS Word tables where translations are pla... See more
Some translations have no worth for TM building: their highly specific and/or highly creative nature suggests no one will be able to use them productively in any future work. However, I like to see ordered pairs of segments when I'm working, so I'll still be using a CAT tool on a completely TM- worthless text unless it's really small (I have separate TMs for such work, reserved for my own use only). So, it's still 99% plus. I also don't mind working with MS Word tables where translations are placed side by side with source sentences. They are just as convenient, and some customers even require them. If, however, such a table is required but I know a CAT tool will be of great help, I just use the tool and then build a table manually. Sorry if I overlooked any blunders from Google keyboard. Maybe one day I'll find a keyboard with an autosuggest feature that's just a tad smarterCollapse


 


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Poll: What percentage of your translation work do you do nowadays using a CAT tool?






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