Software                                     

• XP Pro SP3/Windows 7 - MS Word 2003, 2010, Excel, Powerpoint
• SDL Trados Studio 2011
• Multiterm 2011
• ApSIC Xbench 2.9
• Babylon 9.0
• Visio
• Adobe Reader 9.0
• Dreamweaver
• ABBYY FineReader Professional 11 OCR software
• ABBYY PDF Transformer 3.0
• Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.
• Open Office suite
• Numerous dictionaries in book form and on CD-ROM
• PC Tools anti-virus software [up to date]

My policy regarding translations produced using Translation Memory software (i.e. Trados, Wordfast etc.)

I produce finished translations and charge the full price for total word counts, unless otherwise agreed for some special reason. I do not discount my prices for the use of TM products. My reasons are as follows:

1. The use of these tools requires heavy investment on the part of the translator, since they are usually expensive initially and cost even more when the translator has to keep on buying regular upgrades.
   
   
2. The translator has to acquire the skills to set up and use these programs, which involves time and loss of income while learning – another hidden cost.
   
   
3. I do not see the logic of charging less when there are “repetitions” in the text. After all, no one in the past counted the number of definite articles or repetitions of common conjunctions in a text and charged less for that!
   
   
4. For me Trados and similar products are simply tools for producing more accurate translations more efficiently . They are not a reason for charging less. The opposite if anything, since an experienced professional translator who has been using TMs over a long period will have acquired a corpus of material that will help produce top quality translations.