xliff.ai teacher kit · For students

The exercises

Six exercises, English into German. Open each file on xliff.ai in Chrome or Edge; quick-start.html has the keys.

Exercise 1 · about 20 minutes

First translation

Files: 01-garden-visitor-guide.xlf

  1. Open 01-garden-visitor-guide.xlf on xliff.ai: drop it on the page, or choose it.
  2. The client's brief: visitors read this guide on their phones at the gate, so keep it friendly and short.
  3. Translate the 12 segments into German. Ctrl+Enter confirms a segment and takes you to the next one.
  4. Press Ctrl+/ and switch the keyboard layout to Trados Studio or memoQ. Which keys changed, and which stayed? Then switch back to xliff.ai: the quick-start sheet and the other exercises use its keys.
  5. When all 12 segments are confirmed, choose Export (Ctrl+S).

Hand in: The exported 01-garden-visitor-guide.xlf.

Exercise 2 · about 20 minutes

Tags and placeholders

Files: 02-app-release-notes.sdlxliff

  1. Open 02-app-release-notes.sdlxliff. The numbered chips in the source are tags: bold, italic, a link, an icon and two keys. Every one must be in your translation, around the right words.
  2. Ctrl+, inserts a tag at the caret. Ctrl+Alt+Insert inserts the next tag your target is missing.
  3. {0}, {1}, %s and {{user}} are placeholders the app fills in later. Copy them exactly, wherever German word order puts them.
  4. Segments 7 and 8 were one paragraph in the original; the file splits it into two segments.
  5. Before you export, choose QA: no tag or placeholder issue may be left.

Hand in: The exported 02-app-release-notes.sdlxliff.

Exercise 3 · about 25 minutes

Find the errors

Files: 03-grinder-guide.mqxliff, 03-grinder-terms.tbx

  1. A colleague translated this quick guide and the client says it is “not quite right”. Open 03-grinder-guide.mqxliff, then load 03-grinder-terms.tbx in the Glossary panel.
  2. Choose QA in the top bar. Fix every issue it reports; clicking an issue takes you to its segment.
  3. Then read every segment against its source. There are ten errors in all.
  4. Write down each error you found, and which ones QA did not report. Why could it not see them?
  5. Export the file, and the QA report (.xlsx) from the ▾ beside Export.

Hand in: The exported 03-grinder-guide.mqxliff and its QA report, with the list of errors.

Exercise 4 · about 20 minutes

Translation memory

Files: 04-garden-visitor-guide-2027.mqxliff, 04-garden-memory.tmx

  1. This is next year's edition of the visitor guide from exercise 1. Open 04-garden-visitor-guide-2027.mqxliff.
  2. In the Memory panel, choose Load a translation memory and pick 04-garden-memory.tmx: last year's translation. (Or load the TMX you exported from your own exercise 1, from the ▾ beside Export.)
  3. Look at each segment's match. 100% means the source is the same as last year's; anything lower is a fuzzy match. Write down what changed in each fuzzy match.
  4. Use Pretranslate in the Memory panel with the minimum match rate at 75%. Which segments did it fill, and which did it leave empty?
  5. Check every pretranslated fuzzy match against the new source and correct it, translate the rest, and export.

Hand in: The exported 04-garden-visitor-guide-2027.mqxliff, with the list of changes.

Exercise 5 · about 20 minutes

Terminology

Files: 05-bike-share-help.sdlxliff, 05-bike-share-terms.tbx

  1. Open 05-bike-share-help.sdlxliff, then load 05-bike-share-terms.tbx in the Glossary panel. Terms in the source are marked, and the panel shows the German term to use.
  2. Translate. One concept allows two German terms, and two concepts have a term the client forbids: the panel says which.
  3. Choose QA and read the term warnings. Is each one a real error? Decide before you change anything.
  4. Export.

Hand in: The exported 05-bike-share-help.sdlxliff.

Exercise 6 · about 20 minutes

Review in Excel

Files: 06-bakery-newsletter.xlf, 06-client-review.xlsx

  1. A colleague translated this newsletter and the client reviewed it in Excel. Open 06-bakery-newsletter.xlf, then choose Import review workbook from the ▾ beside Export and pick 06-client-review.xlsx.
  2. Read the line the import shows: how many decisions were accepted, modified and rejected, and was any not applied?
  3. Open 06-client-review.xlsx in Excel too, and read the client's comments.
  4. Act on each one: apply by hand the fix that was not applied, keeping its tag; check the modified segment (it is back to Draft) and confirm it; revise the rejected one as the comment asks.
  5. Choose QA, then export.
  6. In pairs: export a Review workbook (.xlsx) of your exercise 1, swap it with a partner, review theirs in Excel (Reviewer decision, Suggested fix, Reviewer comment), swap back and import your partner's review.

Hand in: The exported 06-bakery-newsletter.xlf.

Free to use, copy and adapt under CC BY 4.0: xliff.ai teacher kit, Terratra OÜ. The texts were written for this kit, and the places, products and businesses in them are invented. Trados and memoQ are trademarks of their respective owners. xliff.ai is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to them.