SDL Trados Studio 2011 - How to Calculate the Word Count

We recently hired some translators to translate some documents using SDL Trados Studio 2011 and   found out that they were curious about the word count the SDL Trados Studio 2011 could display. Some were having more serious problems; they did not even know how to calculate the word count using this platform and how much they exactly got for the translation project they were handling.

We took this as a serious problem and would kindly discuss with them on this. It is a simple matter, but has great effect on our good relationship with our freelancers at most. Let us show you how to calcaulate the word count in SDL Trados Studio 2011 from the most initial process.

• Displaying the word count using SDL Trados Studio 2011

Step1: Open your SDL Trados Studio 2011.



Step 2: Go to File -> New -> Project or you can press Ctrl+N from your keyboard to directly create a project.



Step 3: The (New Project) dialog box should appear and you can directly click Next.



Step 4: The dialog box should appear and you are prompted to Name your project and locate your to-be counted file; click Browse to do this process. Click Next when you are done.



Step 5: Select your source and target languages. Click Next when done.



Step 6: The dialog box should appear and you can add the file you want to count from here. Click Add Files... and the other dialog box should appear. Locate your file and click Open.



Step 7: The dialog box opens and you will see the file you select. Then click Next to continue.



Step 8: The Translation Memory dialog box should appear and you can locate your TM by clicking on Add and File-based Translation Memory... or create one if it is new project (Click here to know how to create TM).



Step 9: The next dialog box should open and you can locate your TM here. Click Open when done. See picture below.



Step 10: Check the checkbox of the TM you would use and click Next to continue.



Step 11: The dialog box should open and click Next.



Step 12: The Project Preparation dialog box should open and go to Task Sequence and click Analyze Only then click Next to continue.



Step 13: The Batch Processing Settings dialog box should appear and click Next to continue. 



Step 14: The Project Summary dialog opens and click Finish to finalize the process.



Step 15: The Preparing Project dialog should open and click Close to display the word count and analysis of the file.



Step 16: It goes back to Studio Home. Go to Projects View icon.



You will be directed to the view below.



Step 17: There you can see the Project Details to see the detail of the project, Confirmation Statistics to see the status of the translation, Analysis Statistics to know the word count and Task History to see the history of the project processed.



Step 18: Click the project name and click which of the following features you want to see: Project Details, Confirmation Statistics, Analysis Statistics and Task History. Note that those features will not work if you do not click the project name; click once only.



Click Project Details to see the detail of the project.



Click Confirmation Statistics to see the status of translation.

Click Analysis Statistics to see the match/repetition percentage of the file you are going to work on. Here, you will see the matches and repetitions. SDL Trados has created the percentage by default and it is normally used by the outsourcer and the translator to propose the project cost.



Click Task History to see history of the project or file processed in the platform.



Please note that you can also keep a Project just for analysis and just add the files you wish to analyse to it-it saves creating a project every time. Instead of summary view at the bottom of the view shown in this article, you can select the Reports View to get the full analysis and here you can right-click on it and save it to excel or you can do the Ctrl+S from your keyboard. You can see the simple steps below.

Figure 1



Figure 2



We would like to express our great thanks to Paul Filkin, Client Services Director for SDL Language Technology for adding this. You can check his handy tutorial at http://goo.gl/GteUs or go down to the comments section of this blog to see his comments on this.

Now, the analysis work is done and you can then propose your project cost to your client or you can reconfirm the project cost proposed by your translator/outsourcer. :-)

We will be providing you with how to propose project cost to your client later this week. Stay tuned!

Again, we are here to help and you can contact us anytime using any contacts found in our blog and website. You can also visit our office in Pasuruan - Indonesia to get a FREE hands-on training on this. We will provide you with a free cup of coffee as well.