Sometimes all you need is a simple, clean bilingual table. Tools like Trados Studio have options to export a file as a Word table (the bilingual review file), but that table carries additional information the reader may not need, such as segment IDs, status, match percentages and a comments column, plus a set of styles and macros that make the document fragile if someone edits it. Other tools have similar exports, each with its own layout. When the person on the other end only wants to read the source and the translation side by side, all of that can get in the way.
I recently had this specific need: an end client asked for bilingual tables for a project with dozens of files so their DTP team could double-check that everything was where it was supposed to be in the final files.
I didn't want to give them bilingual review files, so I created a small but powerful tool for this specific task.
It is called Bilingual Table Maker, and this post explains what it does, how
to use it and where you can get it.
What it does
Bilingual Table Maker takes the bilingual files from your CAT tool
and produces a Word document with two columns: source text on the left, target
text on the right. That is all the table contains. No IDs, no match values, no
status. You can get either one row per segment or one row per paragraph.
It
reads these formats:
•
SDLXLIFF (Trados Studio)
•
MXLIFF (Phrase)
•
MQXLIFF (memoQ)
•
XLIFF 1.2 and 2.0, including
Wordfast TXLF
•
TMX
The app runs in your browser from a local file. There is nothing to install, you don't need to upload your documents anywhere, and the app doesn't use AI. The files are read and
converted on your computer.
How to use it
1. Open the app by double-clicking the HTML file* you will download. It opens in your default browser. Even though you can use any browser, I recommend you use Chrome or Edge,
for a reason I'll explain below.
2. Drag your bilingual files onto
the page. You can drop one file or several, and they can be in different
formats. Each file becomes its own Word document.
3. Check the options. They apply
to the whole batch:
– Tags: remove them for clean text, or keep them as numbered markers so a
reviewer can see where formatting sits.
– Row numbers: none, a simple count, or the position of each segment in the
original file, which helps when a reviewer refers to “row 37”.
– Rows: one per segment or one per paragraph. This depends on file segmentation.
– File name suffix: each document takes the name of the original plus a suffix. The
default is *_bilingual, so Report.sdlxliff* becomes Report_bilingual.docx. You can change this to anything you want.
4. Preview any file in the batch
before you save it. The preview shows the table exactly as it will appear in
Word. A dropdown in the Preview pane lets you pick a different document to preview if you're processing more than one.
5. Save the documents. In Chrome
and Edge, Save all to a folder writes every document to a folder you
choose, with no download dialog. In any other browser, download them one by
one. You can also download files individually in Chrome and Edge.
If the Keep bold, italic, underline, superscript and subscript
option is on, that formatting carries over from the bilingual file. Fonts,
sizes, colors and layout do not, since they are not part of the bilingual file.
If
you drop a new set of files, the list clears and the new set is processed.
If you ever need to review what each option does, the Help button at the top right explains every
feature in detail.
A note on tags
Clean text is the default because that is what most readers want, but there is an option to number rows if needed. The markers are small and unobtrusive, and they match between
source and target, so it is easy to see whether a tag went missing in the
translation.
Where to get Bilingual Table Maker
Read more about the tool and get it here. You will get a downloadable HTML file. Save it to a folder on your computer and open it from there whenever you need to use it.
I truly hope you find this tool as useful as I have!
* An HTML file is the same kind of file a web page is made of. You
can keep it in any folder on your computer, and when you double-click it, it
opens in your browser like a web page would, except that it comes from your own
disk rather than from the internet. It does not need an internet connection and
it does not install anything. If you ever want to remove it, you delete the
file.
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