Tips

We already know how to quickly convert straight quotes into guillemets (chevrons) in Trados Studio and memoQ. Sometimes you get to do this not in the “cat” (that is not in the CAT tool, a computer-aided translation tool) but right in the so-called “monotext,” i.e., the text in the target language in Word.

The easiest way is to use regular expressions that are indispensable in such cases.

In Word, press CTRL+H. The Find and Replace dialog window appears:

Press the More >> button there. Additional parameters will appear in the dialog window:

In this window, select the Use wildcards check box; it turns on the mode of regular expressions. Next, enter in the Find field: request \"([!^13]@)\", and in the Replace field: code «\1»:

Like in Trados Studio and memoQ, this replacement should not be performed blindly. The text may contain unusual cases or simply mistakes, and blind autocorrect will “miss.”

In other words, pressing the Replace All button is reasonable only if you are 100% sure that all straight quotes in the text are actually used as quotes (and not as inch marks, for instance), that all of them are in pairs, etc. Generally, it’s better to go through all the cases one by one pressing the Replace button and checking whether the replacement is correct. Usually, there are only a few quotes in the text.

In the previous post, we learned to convert straight quotes into guillemets in Trados Studio at one blow. In this post, we’ll learn to perform the equivalent operation in memoQ. This is how it’s done.

Call the replace dialog box. Press CTRL+H and the Quick find and replace box will appear:

(The screenshots are taken in memoQ 8.7, they are similar in other versions.)

We need to access additional parameters; therefore, select Change these to unfold the dialog box (its name will change to Advanced Find And Replace):

Uncheck Source text (we need to perform the replacement in the translated text only) and click the button to toggle between plain-text and regular-expression search—the one with angle brackets to the right from the Find what field. The dialog box will transform again:

After that, enter "(.+?)" in the Find what field and «$1» in the Replace with field.

Precautions associated with the similar operation in Trados Studio are also valid here; this method fails in the following cases:

• When the text contains a mistake, and either opening or closing quote is missing.
• When the fragment is big, and the opening and closing quotes of the pair are found in different segments.
• When at least one quote is used as a symbol for inch.

However, during this replacement, unlike Trados Studio, the tags between the straight quotation marks remain; i.e., memoQ cares about them more than Trados Studio. Even though we don’t recommend selecting Replace all: it’s better to look through each case thoroughly in your interest.

From time to time, there is a problem: in the long text, you have to change all straight quotes ("") to chevrons, aka guillemets («»). It’s difficult to do with the help of Find and Replace feature: opening and closing straight quotation marks are the same symbol, whereas opening and closing chevrons are different symbols.

It’s difficult to determine whether a straight quote must be turned into an opening or closing chevron. Supposedly, this might be indicated with the help of spaces: the “space + straight quote” combination is to be replaced with the “space + opening chevron” option, and the “straight quote + space” structure must be converted into “closing chevron + space.” However, if you try to perform such a replacement, very soon you’ll find that this rule has so many exceptions that it is easier to change straight quotation marks to chevrons manually.

Nevertheless, there is a quick semi-automatic replacement method. It is based on the use of paired quotation marks: if the text contains one opening quote, there must also be the closing quote of this pair.

For fishing out paired straight quotation marks, we are going to use regular expressions. In Trados Studio, press the CTRL+H combination and customize the displayed Find and Replace dialog box as shown:

Enter "(.+?)" in the Find what field, put «$1» in the Replace with field, and don’t forget to select the Regular expressions check box in the lower part of the window.

Press Find Next, and Trados Studio will find the closest fragment enclosed in straight quotes. Press Replace to turn the quotes into chevrons (with the text inside remaining); after that, the next fragment will appear.

Of course, there are some exceptions. In certain cases, this request misses the mark:

• When the text inside the quotes contains tags (after the replacement, the text remains, but the tags are gone).
• When the text contains a mistake, and either opening or closing quote is missing.
• When the fragment is big, and the opening and closing quotes of the pair are found in different segments.
• When at least one quote is used as a symbol for inch.

Therefore, one can’t simply place their faith in the Replace All key. Go through all cases pressing Replace and ensuring correct replacement. This is faster than changing quotes manually anyway.