French proofreading software comparison: Antidote / Myriade-Prolexis / Le Robert correcteur
Thread poster: Claudia Oxman
Claudia Oxman
Claudia Oxman
Argentina
May 17, 2018

Hi / Salut,

I would like to start working and purchasing one or all the various software that are offered for proofreading and more on French but I'm a bit lost because I don't know whether they all have the same functionalities or if each one serves a different purpose. Feedback is greatly appreciated.

Have a great day!

Claudia.


 
Valérie Ourset
Valérie Ourset
Spain
Local time: 22:09
English to French
+ ...
I do not know any of these but... May 18, 2018

I just bought le correcteur Le Robert as there is a special discount for it at the moment, which is quite good. The discount is available until the 22nd of May midnight. I found out via Twitter. Hope you receive more valuable information until then so that you can make your own choice more easily.

 
Jean Dimitriadis
Jean Dimitriadis  Identity Verified
English to French
+ ...
tour d'horizon May 18, 2018

Hello Claudia,

To respond to your query, one would need to have experience with all the programs you mention.

I don’t. I only use Antidote. But the information is publicly available, so a quick overview is just a few clicks away.

MYRIADE

Myriade (https://www.prolexis.com/produits/myriade) does not seem to offer a corrector, if that’s what
... See more
Hello Claudia,

To respond to your query, one would need to have experience with all the programs you mention.

I don’t. I only use Antidote. But the information is publicly available, so a quick overview is just a few clicks away.

MYRIADE

Myriade (https://www.prolexis.com/produits/myriade) does not seem to offer a corrector, if that’s what you are looking for. It is a collection of six dictionaries. The dictionaries are: French language (including definitions, synonyms/antonyms, phrases, expressions and proverbs, word combinations and conjugations), World Atlas, Municipalities of France, Medical, Latin phrases and Bilingual. This page shows you can request a demo: https://www.prolexis.com/demo-myriade Works on Mac and Windows, integrates with various software.

PROLEXIS

Prolexis (https://www.prolexis.com/produits/prolexis) is a professional corrector for catching orthographic, syntactic and semantic as well as typographical/punctuation errors. It includes an English module as well. A demo can also be requested: https://www.prolexis.com/demo-prolexis Works on Mac and Windows, integrates with various software.

LE ROBERT CORRECTEUR

Le Robert correcteur https://www.prolexis.com/produits/lerobert-correcteur combines a full corrector (orthography, grammar, punctuation, typography, also informed on context and word usage frequency), 8 dictionaries as a writing aid (definitions, synonyms/antonyms, phrases, word combinations, quotes, proverbs and conjugation), as well as a 6 linguistic guides (orthography, grammar, typography, style, vocabulary, and conjugation).

Offers a 30-day demo, available here: http://robert-correcteur.lerobert.com/demo.php
Works on Windows and Mac and integrates with various software.

ANTIDOTE

Antidote (https://www.antidote.info/fr/antidote) combines a fully configurable corrector (which also offers various text analysis tools, the choice for French/English regional variations, and the option to apply the standard orthography or the newer “rectifications orthographiques” that are recommended), dictionaries and linguistic guides, just like Le Robert correcteur.

Antidote has been around for quite some time now. It is being developed by a company (Druide) in Quebec. While its corrector is newer, Le Robert is one of the biggest dictionary editors in France.

Is seems these two programs share many similarities, although there surely are some differences in the devilish details.

A list of Antidote features can be found here: https://www.antidote.info/fr/antidote/caracteristiques

Antidote also offers a separate English module (which can be combined in one program) as well as a visual dictionary (again as a separate module). It integrates with various software, including office programs, text editors, email clients, browsers, etc.

It does NOT offer a demo, though.

One big difference for me is that Antidote has versions for Windows, Mac, but also GNU/Linux.

Working on a PC with GNU/Linux, I was happy to discover I can use Antidote natively on my computer.

As for my opinion, to make a long story short: Antidote is easily one of the best investments I’ve ever made. I use it daily in my translations.

Not just for corrections, but as a writing aid as well: while it does not offer a bilingual dictionary (that would be great), its monolingual ones are just perfect.

Jean

[Modifié le 2018-05-18 22:31 GMT]
Collapse


 
Claudia Oxman
Claudia Oxman
Argentina
TOPIC STARTER
on comparison of Antidote / Myriade-Prolexis / Le Robert Correcteur May 19, 2018

Thank you both, Valérie et Jean, for your replies.

Indeed, I've tried le Robert correcteur and I've been reading in detail all descriptions. The point is that I was hesitating on what to purchase since I've seen all the samples Prolexis-Myriade have (such as tracking repetitions, offering a wide range of synonyms and even a series of expressions related to the word or phrase at stake) but I got lost on what to purchase because of the high price of Prolexis and also because I did w
... See more
Thank you both, Valérie et Jean, for your replies.

Indeed, I've tried le Robert correcteur and I've been reading in detail all descriptions. The point is that I was hesitating on what to purchase since I've seen all the samples Prolexis-Myriade have (such as tracking repetitions, offering a wide range of synonyms and even a series of expressions related to the word or phrase at stake) but I got lost on what to purchase because of the high price of Prolexis and also because I did want to know whether Antidote (very highly praised on the web) offers the same resources. I'm not sure though, Jean, if you checked the specifications of Prolexis on the web and compared them to Antidote (alas, no way to see the product until you purchase it...).
Lastly, I was very much confused by Prolexis and Le Robert Correcteur, since it appears displayed as Prolexis - Le Robert Correcteur, and it's not easy (at least for me) to understand if it's the same product with a different label or not. According to the screenshots displayed on Prolexis description it is not, but this equal naming is so confusing! And then Myriade offers 6 dictionnaires (Définitions, Synonymes, Contraires, Locutions, Combinaisons, Conjugaisons, but it's a separate product from Prolexis.

In short, my question is: does Antidote perform the functions of Prolexis and Myriade together, or at least most of them? If it were the case it should be a huge deal, since Antidote costs some 120 Euros whereas Myriade plus Prolexis cost 369 Euros!

Thank you very much,

Claudia
Collapse


 
Jean Dimitriadis
Jean Dimitriadis  Identity Verified
English to French
+ ...
Further comparison May 22, 2018

Hello Claudia,

I forgot to subscribe to this topic, so I was not notified of your response.

I hope a colleague chimes in with experience in both Prolexis and Antidote. They would be in a better position to provide a meaningful comparison.

In general, I think that Antidote and Le Robert Correcteur are more comparable, and seem to target mostly the same public. Since you already know what Le Robert Correcteur looks like, if you want to see some screenshots fo
... See more
Hello Claudia,

I forgot to subscribe to this topic, so I was not notified of your response.

I hope a colleague chimes in with experience in both Prolexis and Antidote. They would be in a better position to provide a meaningful comparison.

In general, I think that Antidote and Le Robert Correcteur are more comparable, and seem to target mostly the same public. Since you already know what Le Robert Correcteur looks like, if you want to see some screenshots for Antidote: https://www.antidote.info/fr/antidote/ecrans

I won’t compare those two here, but will focus on what you’ve asked.

SOFTWARE INTEGRATION AND COMPATIBILITY

Prolexis offers connectors not only for office programs (office suites, text editors, email clients), but also for DTP software (InDesign, Illustrator, QuarkXpress).

If you use DTP, then you’ll have to buy Prolexis or ask for a demo to see for yourself.

For office programs, I think Antidote covers the same ground, and then some.

Antidote also features an SDL Trados Studio plug-in, a big plus if you use Trados (although, at any rate, you can export files for bilingual review in Word on most CAT tools).

Plus, as Le Robert Correcteur, Antidote offers integration with all major web browsers. Prolexis does not seem to do so. If you use online CAT tools, that may be an advantage to consider.

TYPOGRAPHY

Antidote offers rich and configurable settings (including extensive typography ones), which you will want to fine-tune to your preferences. You may need to consult typography resources (among which the integrated Antidote guide) to do that. If you work with specific requirements, you’ll be able to meet them.

Prolexis seems to offer extensive and customizable typography settings as well. For French, its dictionary follows the rules of the French “Imprimerie nationale”.

For DTP, Prolexis integrates a Hyphenator, which Antidote does not offer.

In short, while Antidote is probably sufficient in most settings, if you work with French publishers, Prolexis might be a better choice.

CORRECTION

I have read a report that Prolexis is more efficient and quicker in the correction department, but Antidote has better dictionaries and references.

I’ve done a quick test in Antidote with the examples found in https://www.prolexis.com/correction-professionnelle and almost everything was picked up (for some, a correction was not offered, only a suggestion, more manual intervention may be needed).

Antidote offers corrections in three groups: Langue, Typographie and Style.

In Style, you can indeed check for: Répétitions, Tournures, Vocabulaire.

Also, as I said, Antidote offers various text analysis tools. I don’t know how the other tools fare in that department.

Both tools offer English modules and multilingual recognition.

Antidote is certainly sufficient in a professional translation setting. However, it is important to note that, whichever software you choose, you should not accept blindly its suggestions and will certainly encounter false positives.

REFERENCES / LINGUISTIC GUIDE

Like Le Robert Correcteur, Antidote integrates various Linguistic Guides, which are good reference material. Prolexis does not seem to offers this, but a demo would confirm that.

DICTIONARIES

Myriad: Définitions, Synonymes, Contraires, Locutions, Combinaisons, Conjugaisons
https://www.prolexis.com/languefrancaise

Antidote: Définitions (+locutions integrated), Synonymes, Antonymes, Cooccurrences (=combinaisons), Champs lexical, Conjugaison, Famille, Citations, Historique + the optional “Visuel intégré”
https://www.antidote.info/fr/antidote/caracteristiques

So, it would appear that Antidote is definitely comparable to Myriad and an excellent writing aid (more or less the same amount of definitions, although Myriad has more synonyms and combinations, as does Le Robert Correcteur by the way).

Please note Myriad also includes these separate dictionaries which Antidote doesn’t: Atlas mondial, Communes de France, Médical, Locutions latines, Bilingue

---

BOTTOM LINE

So from the above, unless you need a specific feature not covered by Antidote (or Le Robert Correcteur), I think you should first focus on these two, but that’s up to you.

Of course, if you mainly work as a proofreader/reviser, having more than one tool would make sense.

CORDIAL

Lastly, there is also another software you may want to consider (just found during a web search, also comes up in ProZ discussions): https://www.cordial.fr/index.php

Jean

[Edited at 2018-05-22 13:31 GMT]
Collapse


 
Claudia Oxman
Claudia Oxman
Argentina
TOPIC STARTER
Antidote is amazing May 25, 2018

Dear Jean,

Thank you so much for your detailed reply. I tried indeed Le Robert correcteur and wasn't much impressed.
I've just purchased Antidote and it really rocks ! An amazing tool indeed.

Thank you again, I was trying to solve tiny little things one by one but sometimes the human eye (and a tired brain) simply can't do things properly.

Claudia.

[Edited at 2018-05-25 12:06 GMT]


 


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:


You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

French proofreading software comparison: Antidote / Myriade-Prolexis / Le Robert correcteur







Protemos translation business management system
Create your account in minutes, and start working! 3-month trial for agencies, and free for freelancers!

The system lets you keep client/vendor database, with contacts and rates, manage projects and assign jobs to vendors, issue invoices, track payments, store and manage project files, generate business reports on turnover profit per client/manager etc.

More info »
CafeTran Espresso
You've never met a CAT tool this clever!

Translate faster & easier, using a sophisticated CAT tool built by a translator / developer. Accept jobs from clients who use Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast & major CAT tools. Download and start using CafeTran Espresso -- for free

Buy now! »