Pretty much exactly a year and a half after Alchemy Software released the first version of Publisher it has now released version 3. I had a chance to look at the new incarnation and talk to the folks in charge, but it may be helpful to see what I wrote back then. Here are some extracts:

Anyone who has ever worked with a recent version of the localization tool Alchemy Catalyst will recognize the interface as being from the same maker -- it looks very, very similar, but the functions are not. While Catalyst is primarily a development tool with some translation abilities, with Publisher the translation abilities stand in the foreground. It supports a number of text-based software file formats (rc, resx, Java formats, etc.), some compiled software formats (exe, dll), HTML, XML, Word, Excel, FrameMaker (as original fm files -- no need to save them to the mif format, but you do need an installed version of FrameMaker for this), InDesign and Quark (if saved with the CopyFlow plug-in). And, to my great delight, it also includes the Catalyst ability to translate HTMLHelp files without having to decompile and later recompile them. (...)  Just like its big brother Catalyst, Publisher can directly connect to Trados and Wordfast translation memories. So in the case of Trados, you don't have to export into some kind of an interchange text format -- just connect to your original TM. You can use TMX translation memories as well. (...) The WYSIWYG -- what-you-see-is-what-you-get -- format that has made Catalyst what it is today is available only for certain file types, including software and HTML files. It is not available for documentation formats (...).

And then I talked about some of the properties of the FrameMaker translation process -- a feature that still makes Publisher unique since it's the only tool that allows for a direct translation of FrameMaker files without the need to convert them first. This used to be the main thrust of its marketing campaign.

Now, however, it seems to me that the marketing push has changed a little. This may be a reflection on FrameMaker's slow loss of some of its relevance as an authoring tool, or the fact that Alchemy understands that there needs to be more than an emphasis on the increased support of one format. So this time around Alchemy is emphasizing a more well-rounded suite of features. Plus, the main target audience is corporate Catalyst users who are either looking to switching their current tool for documentation files or would like to have a more seamless going-back-and-forth between their localization tool and their TEnT of choice -- which is supported by a third Alchemy product, the Alchemy Language Exchange translation memory server.

Still, given that primary target market, Publisher is surprisingly translator-oriented.

As in many other tools, translation files are stored in projects, in this case the proprietary PPF format. What's new in this version is that you can mix and match any number of supported file formats in one project file. Not surprisingly, there are a number of new file formats that are supported. Aside from more esoteric ones, there are now PowerPoint files and PDF files.

Here, though, was my first disappointment: I looked for a way to show the PowerPoint files in WYSIWYG during translation, but that's not available (I was promised that it is "in the works"). Instead, there is a new thumbnail feature that shows live thumbnail images of the (partially) translated files, but those are, as the name says, rather small thumbnails and not as helpful as a real-time view would be. Considering that many other tools (for instance, Trados and memoQ) now offer previews for Office files, I would love to have seen this in this version of Publisher.

As in many other tools, the PDF support is through a third-party conversion tool. Publisher uses the same third-party tool as corporate sibling Wordfast (by BCL Technologies). Like Wordfast Pro, this tool works well for easily structured PDF files and not so well for heavily formatted files -- but this certainly has been an overarching theme in the last few newsletters so you already know what I'm talking about.

On a side note, I got this communication from Heinrich Pesch about my PDF article in the last newsletter:

Your description of the PDF conversion is accurate, but unfortunately these specifications will be misleading for the majority of our customers and colleagues: "It says here that Trados Studio can translate PDFs!" As a result, it will be increasingly difficult to ask for surcharges for PDF conversions, once again turning this functionality into a disadvantage for translators and an eventual lowering of prices." (translation by me)

I see what Heinrich is saying, and the marketing hype from tool vendors about PDF support should probably be toned down a bit or at least changed -- it's fine to talk about new features, but it's also important to maintain realistic expectations for everyone.

Back to Publisher. Here are some other cool new features:

• The keyword feature allows you to lock untranslatables and exclude them from both translation and word counts (you will have to know how to compose regular expressions to add those).

• The internal translation memories are now stored in XLIFF format rather than the simple text format they used to be in. I think this is very interesting and quite forward-looking: XLIFF was originally not intended as a TM exchange format, but all indications point to XLIFF becoming just that (aside from being the format to exchange the actual translation files). (By the way, don't be surprised if you "create" a translation memory and seem to retrieve matches from it but then can't find it on your computer. The project-specific, external translation memory is only created once the project is "cleaned up," and up to that point the project itself serves as its own memory.)

• ezType is an auto-suggest feature that gives you suggestions on the basis of previous translations and the translation memory(s).

• TBX is now the preferred termbase exchange standard in Publisher.

• And of course: We now have integrated machine translation ability, first by Google Translate but also through an integration with PROMT.

I'm intrigued with this tool. In a way it's quite easy to use and get started with it, but in other parts you can recognize that the developers are very technical at heart. (For instance, try to import an Excel file -- nothing for the faint-hearted there.) Still, overall it's a tool that in this latest release is trying to emphasize some translation-related productivity, and it's also a tool whose makers are eager to please and are quick to respond. (I already mentioned that they promised to have preview features extended to more file formats, and they also promised things like a streamlining of the concordance search when I talked to them.) So let them know when you see things you don't like. But then, with the current third-of -the-normal-price offering, this might be a good alternative that will give you much of what other tools provide plus the ability to translate help systems or some software development files.

In the premium edition of my last newsletter I commented on the recent rush to integrate machine translation in TEnTs:

One new feature that memoQ does not have is an integrated machine translation -- a feature that most other tools at this point do offer. Quite honestly, I find this refreshing. I have a strong feeling that most tools -- really almost any of the major TEnTs -- have this "cheap" MT connection to Google Translate because it's an easily scored sales point (for the project manager or the company owner), but it really provides very little value to the translator. Don't misunderstand me: Machine translation can offer a lot of value, but so far not through the generic Google or Bing Translate.

First of all, I stand corrected -- memoQ does actually offer machine translation integration in its enterprise versions. But what surprised me was the relatively strong response from readers, despite the fact that only a subset -- the Premium subscribers -- got to read this.

Here, for instance, is what Marinus Vesseur wrote in response:

I read your comment on Google Translate integration in TEnTs and I feel I must disagree. I've been using it in [Trados] Studio and it helps me a lot, specifically for English into Dutch and specifically when the subject matter is not my specialization, which is unavoidable sometimes. It's like someone giving you his take on the matter, a different way of saying it, which I find very helpful at times. Plus it usually comes up with the proper legal vocabulary that I just don't master, but sometimes need. Must be careful not to lean on it too much, but that's why it can be switched on and off on demand. It keeps making grave errors as well, of course, and I'm kinda glad it does.

SDL Support assured me that Studio is not feeding my translations back into The Googol, so I see no reason not to use it as long as it doesn't cause distraction.

I would be interested in more readers' opinions on this. With the exception of projects for which I know the generic machine translation engines have "expertise" -- such as relatively short software strings, which the Microsoft engine (not Google!) in my language combination (EN>DE) does reasonably well -- I have failed to see any professional benefit. Especially, and this is where I was particularly puzzled by Marinus' comments, when it comes to subject matter that I am not familiar with. I'd be interested in what you think.

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