Tips

MultiTerm is unable to create the termbase 

This error sometimes flies out in Trados Studio when you try importing a WSXZ package exported from SDL WorldServer. 

The reason for this error is simple: there is no target language in the structure of the termbase in the package. In other words, this is not the terms in the target language you lack but the language itself. Thus, you can simply delete the termbase—it won’t be at all helpful during translation. No termbase, no problem. 

The method for getting rid of this error is easy:

• Change the extension of the WSXZ package to ZIP.
• Unzip the resulting ZIP archive.
• Delete the terminology_data.tbx file.
• Archive the resulting set of files into a ZIP file.
• Change the extension of the ZIP file into WSXZ. 

If you use Total Commander, you can remove a file from the archive directly, without renaming and unzipping. 

After these operations, the WSXZ package will open without issues in Trados Studio.

Trados Studio is a source of numerous errors, which sometimes turn out to be quite exotic. Troubleshooting methods are [or should be] described in the help section of the SDL portal. Many of them are gathered by hashtag #tradosstudio on our website.

If you encounter a mysterious error, try checking the main trouble spots before diving into help sections and forums. The general method for removing puzzling errors in Trados Studio elaborated in the process of suffering lots of bumps and bruises looks like as follows:

• Check that the general length of the path to the SDLXLIFF files of the project is not too big. The total length should not exceed 255 symbols.
• Check that the names of the folders and files do not contain symbols that are not inherent to the languages you usually work with (hieroglyphs, letters of RTL languages, all kinds of letters with superciliary and suprailiac dashes, circles, etc.). Studio is suspicious of them. For example, the The specified project name is invalid. The name should not contain any invalid characters such as: \ / : * ? " < > | error is caused by the presence of Cyrillic symbols with wrong character encoding in the project name.
• Check that the project files, particularly SDLXLIFF and SDLTM, are not flying in the air, i.e., are not in the standard folders of Dropbox, Google Drive, etc. When you work directly from the cloud, any change of the file will make Trados Studio and the local cloud application fight to be the first to process it, and the translation process will suffer.
• Check the state of the working translation memory (TM) in the imported package:
• it must be present—sometimes users simply forget to add it;
• it must be active—the corresponding checkbox in the project settings must be checked;
• the language direction of the TM must match that of the current SDLXLIFF file;
• the translation memory file (SDLTM) must not have the Read Only attribute, and in the case of the online memory, a connection to the server must be established.
• Repeat this for the termbase.

* * *

If it doesn’t help, try looking for the cause of the error with the help of an exact search through the text of the error message.

While opening certain packages, Trados Studio gives you a mysterious unsupported culture message, something like this:

In this case, there is only one thing clear about this message—it says that Trados Studio package can’t work with the Norwegian language (NO-NO is the code for Norwegian). But what does this language have to do with the package if it is English-Ukrainian translation?

This message appears because of the conflict between language identifiers of SDLXLIFF files and in the termbase connected to the package.

The only way to get rid of this error we know is to remove the ill-fated termbase. To do this, choose Project Settings > on the left panel choose Language Pairs > choose All Language Pairs > Termbases > unmark the term base check box > press ОК:

In some occasions, Trados Studio shows a frightful message “general massive catastrophic system failure.” This can happen in different versions of Trados Studio.

The message is really horrible: you may seem that planet Nibiru will crash into the Earth soon and it is a right time to panic. Ironically, despite of a “catastrophe,” Trados Studio  continues to work smoothly after that. The only problem is term recognition: it stops.

But the panic is premature. There are at least two ways to resolve this.

The first one: Detach all termbases attached to the Trados Studio project, restart Trados Studio and attach the termbases again.

But sometimes that is not enough, and the message returns. Then, the second way should help.

With a 99% probability, the operating system on your PC is “pure” Windows 7, without service packs installed. Install them :) In particular, install the Service Pack 1.

In general, it is recommended to install updates on OSes :)