Case study: Preparing non-standard Word tagged file for translation in Trados TagEditor

I received a non-standard tagged file for translation. As I work exclusively with CAT (Trados, SDLX, etc.) and the file contained many repetitions and fuzzy matches, I was thinking how to prepare this file for convenient translation in Trados.
Sample of the source text:

<ARRAY nElems=36>
<STRING>Error Potentiometer Hip Left</STRING>
<STRING>Error Potentiometer Knee Left</STRING>
<PART order=0><LABEL><STEXT>Operator Switch<LF>
Light Curtain</STEXT></LABEL></PART>
<PART order=0><LABEL><STEXT>I confirm that I am aware that the XXX? system
may only be used if the mandatory maintenance and safety checks have been
carried out during the last 15 months by an engineer certified by the
manufacturer.<LF>
<LF>
These measures are necessary in order to guarantee your patients? safety
and the XXX system?s reliability. The mandatory maintenance and safety
checks are therefore due in no later than %0.f days.<LF>
<LF>
Contact your relevant XXX service center for further information, or
book the mandatory maintenance check, if you have not already done
this, via www.XXX.com.
</STEXT></LABEL></PART>

Text marked red was to be translated.

As you can see, this is not a standard HTML file that could be imported easily into TagEditor and translated. Here is how I prepared the file for translation in Trados.

1. Replaced “ with +++ (I do not want the double quotes interfere with the conversion process.)
2. Replaced <STRING> with <STRING>” (Texts are enclosed between <STRING> and </STRING> tags. I want the text for translation to be between double quotes, so this replacement adds the starting double quote.)
3. Replaced </STRING> with “</STRING> (Same as point 2. This one adds the end double quote.)
4. Replaced <STEXT> with <STEXT>” (Same as point 2.)
5. Replaced </STEXT> with “</STEXT> (Same as point 3.)
6. Replaced <LF>^p with LINEFEEDMARK (Some text to be translated contains the line feed tag and the Word hard line break. Again, this could interfere with the conversion, so I replace <LF>^p (^p stands for hard line break in Word) with LINEFEEDMARK.)
7. Replaced <LF> ^p with LINEFEEDMARKSPACE (Same as point 6. The difference is that there is additional space after <LF> tag that I want to include. Thus, I replaced <LF> ^p with LINEFEEDMARKSPACE.)
8. Replaced .^p”</STEXT> with .LINEFEEDMARK”</STEXT> (Sometimes the </STEXT> tag is moved to the next line. This could interfere with conversion, so I performed this replacement.)
9. Replaced .^p^p”</STRING> with .LINEFEEDLINEFEEDMARK”</STRING> (Same as point 8.)

Note that all replacements were performed globally throughout the file.

Run the following Macro in Word: t4WinPrepareRC (Main). If you need the macro, you may download a docm file containing this macro.

Now, the source file looked like this:

<ARRAY nElems=36>
<STRING>"Error Potentiometer Hip Left"</STRING>
<STRING>"Error Potentiometer Knee Left"</STRING>
<PART order=0 type=+++Text+++><LABEL><STEXT>"Operator SwitchLINEFEEDMARK
Light Curtain"</STEXT></LABEL></PART>
<PART order=0 type=+++Text+++><LABEL><STEXT>"I confirm that I am aware
that the XXX? system may only be used if the mandatory maintenance and
safety checks have been carried out during the last 15 months by an
engineer certified by the manufacturer.LINEFEEDMARKSPACELINEFEEDMARKThese
measures are necessary in order to guarantee your patients? safety
and the XXX system?s reliability. The mandatory maintenance and safety
checks are therefore due in no later than %0.f days.LINEFEEDMARKLINEFEEDMARK
Contact your relevant XXX service center for further information, or
book the mandatory maintenance check, if you have not already done this,
via www.XXX.com.LINEFEEDMARK"</STEXT></LABEL></PART>

And all tags were “tw4winExternal“.

Translated the resulting DOC in TagEditor.

Exported translated Trados bilingual TTX into DOC.

Performed the following steps to replace temporary tags (e.g. +++, etc.):

1. Replaced +++ with “
2. Replaced <STRING>” with <STRING>
3. Replaced “</STRING> with </STRING>
4. Replaced <STEXT>” with <STEXT>
5. Replaced “</STEXT> with </STEXT>
6. Replaced LINEFEEDMARK with <LF>^p
7. Replaced LINEFEEDMARKSPACE with <LF> ^p
8. Replaced .LINEFEEDMARK”</STEXT> with .^p”</STEXT>
9. Replaced .LINEFEEDLINEFEEDMARK”</STRING> with .^p^p”</STRING>

In Word, selected Ctrl+A (Select All).
Copied.
Created a new empty DOC.
Pasted.
Saved the DOC – this was the resulting translated file.