Compiled blog

Five proofreading techniques every talented writer should know

2012-02-09T10:32:00.003+02:00

Professional proofreaders use a number of proofreading techniques in order to produce the most polished and error-free results for their clients. These methods allow them to maintain their concentration on the material while ensuring that it is thoroughly checked for mistakes and necessary corrections. By adopting these proofreading techniques, authors and small business owners can improve the quality of their written communications.
Double check. Most professional proofreaders check each project at least twice in order to ensure that no mistakes have been overlooked during the first pass. This can also help proofreaders to detect errors that may have been caused during the correction process itself, offering additional protection against mistakes at every stage of the proofreading process.
Take a break. One of the most underrated proofreading techniques is also one of the most obvious; taking a break during the proofreading process can be exceptionally helpful in maintaining the necessary focus on the task. By stepping away from the project for a few minutes, proofreaders can often achieve a better perspective on the work both as a whole and in terms of spelling, grammar and punctuation. This can allow them to detect errors more efficiently and effectively.
Look it up. A number of online proofreading resources are available to proofreaders in need of spelling clarification or grammatical help. Google can be useful in cases in which a word has been misspelled in a way that makes it difficult to identify. A dictionary is another obvious source of spelling information. By looking up any words that appear questionable or unfamiliar, proofreaders can ensure that the finished work is of the highest possible quality.
Divide and conquer. Splitting the proofreading process into various stages can help keep the process fresh and the proofreader alert. Spell checking typically constitutes one phase, with grammar, style and punctuation each comprising one of the other three stages of the process. The same effect can be achieved by a multi-tier approach; by approaching the material first word-by-word, then by the sentence, then by the paragraph and finally in sections, the proofreader can achieve optimal results. This strict method of ensuring repeated viewings of the same material can provide surprisingly effective proofreading results.
Call for backup. Even professional proofreaders consult with each other on long and complex projects. Small business owners and individuals can achieve the same results by enlisting the help of a professional proofreading firm. These professionals can often identify mistakes that might otherwise go uncorrected, creating a final document that presents the information in the most professional manner possible. Source: proz.com

Specialist or generalist: what’s your route to success?

2012-02-09T10:09:00.003+02:00

The beginning of a new year is always a good time to take stock of your business, and plan your direction for the coming year. Some freelancers work toward building up a name for themselves within a niche; others intentionally avoid focusing too much in one area.
Here’s a breakdown of the pros and cons of each approach.

The Specialist: Establishing Yourself in One Market Area

You might have been a financial guru in the past, and naturally kept that route when you opened your freelance business. Or maybe you started out covering many markets, but your best client was in real estate, and you found yourself getting established in that area. However it happens, building a name for yourself as a specialist has its benefits, including:

You’ll build knowledge of the vocabulary, trends, and who’s who in the market, enabling you to jump in faster, and potentially complete jobs quicker and easier.
Customers in similar markets will get wind of your work and contact you.
With a specific target audience in mind, you can slant your marketing efforts and materials appropriately.
You can establish yourself as an expert through speaking engagements, teaching, writing articles, or hosting a blog.
Your proven track record can help you negotiate higher compensation.

But along with the good comes the bad. Reasons not to get too comfy might include:

A slump in your chosen market can send you into a dry spell.
Known as a specialist in one area, you may find it difficult seeking a job out of that circle.
You may become bored or experience burn out.

The Generalist: Keeping Your Finger in a Variety of Markets

Remaining a generalist is a chosen path for many freelancers, and with good reason: wider options bring more opportunity. Advantages of keeping abreast of a handful of differing markets include:

No need to panic if one of your markets goes dry; you can compensate by pursuing another area.
You’ll learn new things routinely and work with a variety of people.
Varying audiences will have different personalities, enabling you to use different styles and remain creative.
You can avoid markets that you don’t want to work with.

And the cons:

Just like the Chinese restaurant that also serves pizza, customers might question where you excel.
You may face overhead issues maintaining various versions of a resume or web site.
You may become frustrated dealing with the ramp-up time of a new project, particularly if facing a tight deadline. Source: proz.com

Cheat sheet for SDL Trados Studio 2009 Editor

2012-02-09T09:54:00.001+02:00

File extensions
Translation package .sdlppx
Translation project .sdlproj
Return package .sdlrpx
Translation file .sdlxliff
TM .sdltm
Termbase .sdltb

Description	Menu	Shortcut
Open project	Double-click .sdlproj > go to Projects view > double-click project name
Remove project	Projects view > right-click > Remove from list
View analysis	Projects view > Analysis Statistics
Open file	Files view > select files > right-click > Open for Translation/Review/Sign-Off
Save file	File > Save	CTRL + S
Save all files	File > Save All	CTRL + SHIFT + S
Close file	File > Close	CTRL + SHIFT + F4
Close all files	File > Close All	CTRL + F4
Open segment	Click on first target segment
Commit segment to TM and move to next segment	Translation > Confirm and Move to Next Segment	CTRL + ALT + ENTER
Commit segment to TM and move to next unconfirmed segment	Translation > Confirm and Move to Next Unconfirmed Segment	CTRL + ENTER
Move to next unconfirmed segment without confirming	Edit > Move to Next Segment	CTRL + DOWN
Move to previous unconfirmed segment without confirming	Edit > Move to Previous Segment	CTRL + UP
Copy Source to Target	Translation > Copy Source to Target	CTRL + INS
Clear target segment	Translation > Clear Target Segment	ALT + DEL
Select match from TM		ALT + 1/2/3/4 etc.
Toggle between source and target segment		F6
Source concordance	Translation > Concordance Search	F3
Target concordance	Translation > Concordance Search	CTRL + SHIFT + F3
Browse previous/next concordance search results	Left & right arrow buttons in Concordance window	N/A
Insert placeable or tag		CTRL + ALT + DOWN ARROW, CTRL + ,
Insert tag pair around highlighted word		CTRL + ALT + ,
Toggle formatting tags view
Expand segment	Select segment numbers > right-click > Merge Segments	Select segment numbers (use SHIFT to select multiple) > CTRL + ALT + S
Shink segment	Click in target > right-click > Split segment	ALT + SHIFT + T
Filter segments	Display > select filter
Change segment status	Select segment numbers (use SHIFT to select multiple) > right-click > Change segment status	N/A
Activate termbase term recognition	View > Term recognition	Customise keyboard shortcut in Tools > Options > Keyboard shortcuts > Editor
Activate termbase search	View > Termbase Search	Customise keyboard shortcut in Tools > Options > Keyboard shortcuts > Editor
Insert term from termbase (or from autosuggest dictionary)		CTRL + SHIFT + L
View formatting marks shortcuts (en/em dash, hyphens)	Tools > Options > Keyboard shortcuts > Editor > QuickInsert Toolbar
Add comment	Edit > Add Comment	CTRL + SHIFT + N
Go to next comment	Edit > Go to Next Commentt	CTRL + M
View Comments	View > Comments
Print	File > Print Preview	CTRL + P
Spellcheck one file	Tools > Check Spelling	F7
QA check current file	Tools > Verify	F8
QA check all open files	File > Batch tasks > Verify Files	N/A
Editor/ QA Checker settings	Tools > Options	ALT + T + O
Display tags (no tags, partial, full)	Format > Tag display mode	CTRL + ALT + D

Source: http://www.stpnordic.com

Translating SDL Trados TTX Files in Déjà Vu X

2011-12-24T08:31:00.002+02:00

This procedure describes how to translate SDL Trados TTX files with Atril's Déjà Vu X (DVX). Doing so enables users to take advantage of the superior CAT features of DVX for translation assembly, content filtering, etc. If you are a Trados user or in possession of an appropriate trial copy of Trados, you have all the tools needed to prepare and post-process the files. If you cannot obtain at least a working trial copy of SDL Trados of the version needed, then you will have to rely on someone else, such as your customer, to prepare and post-process the files for you.

When working on TTX files in DVX, be especially careful with the placement of codes and look carefully at a printed copy, PDF reference file, etc. of the original document to aid in understanding context and the function of these codes.

Step 0: Preparing the source files
Before creating a TTX file and presegmenting it for translation in DVX, it is a very good idea to take a look at the file and clean up any "garbage" such as optional hyphens, unwanted carriage returns or breaks, inappropriate tabbing in the middle of sentences, etc. This will ensure that your work will not be burdened by superfluous tags and that the uncleaned file after the translation will have good quality segmentation.

Step 1: Segment the source files
If the source files are of types which Trados handles only via the TagEditor interface, then they may be pre-translated directly by Trados Workbench to produce the presegmented TTX files. If they are RTF or Microsoft Word files on the other hand, you must first launch TagEditor, open the files in that environment and then save them to create the TTX files, which are then subsequently pre-translated using Trados Workbench.

Important Trados settings: In Trados Workbench select the menu option
Options -> Translation Memory Options… and make sure that the checkbox option "Copy source on no match" is marked. In the dialog for the menu option Tools -> Translate, mark the option to "Segment unknown sentences".

After the settings for Trados Workbench are configured correctly, select the files you wish to translate in the dialog for the Workbench menu option Tools  Translate and pretranslate them. This will create the "presegmented" files for import into DVX.

If the job involves a lot of terminology in a MultiTerm database, which cannot be made available for the translation in the Déjà Vu environment (perhaps due to password protection or no suitable MultiTerm installation on the computer used for DVX work), you might want to consider selecting one of the Workbench options for term translation. I usually don't do this, as I clear unmatched segments in DVX and run MultiTerm as a separate reference tool.

You may want to inspect the segmented files in TagEditor to ensure that the segmentation does not require adjustment. No changes to the Trados segmentation whatsoever may be made in DVX, though segments can be combined to produce better TM content in the DVX environment (do NOT delete any codes!). If undesirable Trados segmentation is noted in DVX, it is best to mark these places with a comment or otherwise indicate the problem and make the corrections using TagEditor after the uncleaned files are exported from DVX.

Note that if you fail to perform this step or if the option to segment unknown sentences is not selected, all or some of the source content will fail to import.

Step 2: Import the segmented source files into DVX
Set up a DVX project using the Wizard and import the files from the appropriate Wizard page or later using the Project Explorer. DVX will automatically identify the TTX file type. You shouls select the additional option "Prevent segmentation" to ensure that each DVX segment will initially correspond to exactly one Trados segment in the TTX file.

Step 3: Get rid of the "No Match" content (optional)
This is one step that differs radically from the procedure for translating Trados pre-segmented RTF and Microsoft Word files. With these files, the DVX filter for Trados Workbench ignores all "No Match" content, showing nice, empty cells in the DVX grid. The TTX filter, on the other hand, imports everything. This can be inconvenient if you use DVX's Autoassemble feature.

Here is how to get rid of the unmatched content in the TTX files to make them a little "friendlier" for the translation work:

Open the file or, if all the files in the project are TTX files, open all the content by double-clicking the project icon in the File Navigator window.
In the drop-down filter in the center of the translation window just above the grid, select "All Unpainted Rows". This will hide all fuzzy matches.
Right-click on the translation grid and choose "Clear All Translations" from the context menu. Note that only the visible content will be erased.
Choose "All Rows" in the filter box, and all the content will be shown ready to translate. Any fuzzy matches from the pretranslation with Trados Workbench will still be there.

Step 4: Translate the files as you normally would in DVX
Note that pre-segmentation in Trados brings with it some of the disadvantages of working with Trados, such as the fact that numbers and dates are ignored if they do not occur with other characters. This omission due to Trados segmentation will have to be remediated by post-editing the translation in TagEditor or a text editor. Depending on the client’s workflow, you may want to do this post-editing on the uncleaned or the cleaned file. (Some clients like to edit the uncleaned files and then generate a final translated version by cleaning the file they have edited; if you correct only the numbers, dates, etc. in the “cleaned” file, these changes will have to be made again.)

Changing segmentation as you work: While working in DVX, you may find that Trados has segmented the source file an inconvenient manner in some places. As long as you never delete a code, you can combine or split segments in DVX without affecting the integrity of the Trados TTX file.

Step 5: Export the finished translation(s) from DVX
The “product” of the DVX export is an uncleaned Trados TTX file.

Step 6: Cleaning the file(s) for delivery
If you have a working copy of Trados, files may be cleaned using the corresponding menu function in Trados Workbench or using the Save Target As… function in the File menu of TagEditor. If you do not have a working copy, then your client or someone else with a working copy of Trados will have to generate the final translated files.

What have you gained by going to all this trouble?

If you are a DVX user without Trados skills, you have possibly been able to take on a job you could not have done otherwise. This may be important for those in need of a “competitive advantage”.
You have probably saved time and made more money (considered from an hourly rate perspective), especially with a long translation, especially if there are a lot of repeated structures in the text. The ability of DVX to assemble using partial segments from the TMs, the termbases and the Lexicon is a huge advantage. Typical work metrics I have recorded over the past 5 years point to a 20 to 30% greater efficiency when translating in Déjà Vu versus Trados. This means much better earnings per hour!
With this approach you have “fully compatible” parallel TMs. If a job is done purely with DVX and a Trados TM export is made from the DV translation memory databases, differences in segmentation will result in some “loss” of TM compatibility. However, one must balance this disadvantage against the advantage of number and date handling by DVX in some cases. Source: proz.com

Translation and Localization Style Guides

2011-12-16T22:29:00.001+02:00

Effective translation style guides can vary in length and detail, as exemplified by the following downloadable style guides from the technology industry:

Google’s Translation Style Guide: a single guide for all languages that is simple and concise
Oracle and Sun’s Language Style Guides: guides in 8 languages, each of at least moderate length, French, Spanish, German, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Swedish
Microsoft’s Language Style Guides: guides for 90+ languages, each of varying length

Other international organizations and governments with respectable translation teams have also made their translation style guides available online for download:

The World Bank Translation Style Guide: English, French, Arabic, Spanish,Russian
The European Commission Translation Style Guides: English, Danish, Finnish,Portuguese, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish, and other languages

Windows Key Shortcuts

2011-12-16T22:17:00.005+02:00

These shortcuts utilize the Windows Key which is located at the lower left hand corner and, the lower right hand corner of your keyboard between the Ctrl and Alt keys. If it is not there, then you do not have a Windows keyboard: Ctrl Windows Key Alt

The keyboard image effects that you see above and below are being controlled through an external .css (Cascading Style Sheet) file. These are not actual images, but a carefully thought out list of CSS attributes that gives the appearance of a key on a Windows keyboard.

Windows Key + E Opens a new Explorer Window. Probably one of the hottest Windows keyboard shortcuts. This one gets a lot of hoorahs!
Windows Key Displays the Start Menu.
Windows Key + D Minimizes all windows and shows the Desktop.
Windows Key + D Opens all windows and takes you right back to where you were.
Windows Key + F Displays the Find all files dialog box.
Windows Key + L Lock your Windows XP computer.
Windows Key + M Minimizes all open windows.
Windows Key + Shift + M Restores all previously open windows to how they were before you Minimized them.
Windows Key + R Displays the Run command.
Windows Key + F1 Displays the Windows Help menu.
Windows Key + Pause/Break Displays the Systems Properties dialog box.
Windows Key + Tab Cycle through the buttons on the Task Bar.
Windows Key + U Displays the Utility Manager with accessibility options; Magnifier, Narrator and On-Screen Keyboard.
Alt + Tab Toggle (switch) between open windows.

L10nworks links

2011-12-16T22:16:00.003+02:00

Organizations

The Localization Industry Standards Association

The Unicode Consortium

Globalization & Localization Association

Localization World

Worldware Conference

Localisation Research Centre (LRC)

W3C Internationalization (L18N) Activity

Translation Automation User Society

Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards

American Translators Association

Institute of Localisation Professionals (TILP)

Monterey Institute of International Studies

Blogs

Global WatchTower
Common Sense Advisory’s blog. Commentary on trends and tools in the globalization industry.
Lexiophiles
For all those word-lovers out there: a compilation of the best language-related blogs on the web.
Blogos
Multilingual’s blog. News and views on all aspects of language, translation and technology.
Translate My Word
Localization Best Practices. A blog for those involved in global marketing.
Microsoft Translator Official Team Blog
News and views from the Microsoft translator team in Microsoft Research.
Global by Design
A Microsoft employee blogs about web globalization.
Planet Web
A blog hosted by W3C, which compiles posts from a variety of blogs on web internationalization software.
i18n Blog
A software internationalization blog with a focus on Romanian translation.
Ilya Butenko - Localization Blog
A program manager blogs about trends in localization.
About Translation
An Italian translator talking about his experience in the language industry.
ImTranslator
Smart Link Corporation’s blog on various translating software.
Localization, Localisation
Practical and concise answers to common questions in G11N, I18N and L10N
Terminology, Computing and Translation
A blog for translation agencies, translators and language professionals.
Translation Journal
A Publication for translators by translators about translators and translation
Translator's Shack
A collection of news, reviews, links and opinions on translation technology.

Others

OpenTran - Consistency Matters
A collection of the translations of miscellaneous software projects, with an eye on improving consistency among open source software developers.
Translation Glossary and References
A collection of previously-released glossary files on mozilla.org. A reference for improving the level of consistency between different translation projects.
Translator's Tools
A useful compilation of translation tools.
Internazionalization Downloads
A collection of tools and resources for localization projects on Mac: varying from software like AppleGlot and ADViewer, to a collection of Mac glossaries.
Proz.com
Reputedly the largest online community of translators, complete with networking resources and discussions on translation issues and technologies
DGT Multilingual Translation Memory
A translation memory database released by the Directorate-General for Translation (DGT) of the European Commission. It is a complete collection of all of the European Union’s legislation, with parallel texts in 22 languages and 231 different language pairs.
I18NGuy
Information about cultural differences, internationalization (i18n), localization (l10n), globalization (g11n), translation and software engineering.
OpenTag
This site is dedicated to the tools and technologies used in the localization of software, on-line help and documentation.
i18nGurus
Open directory of links to internationalization (i18n) resources and related material.

Publications

A collection of publications on localization, internationalization and globalization. This is a work in progress, so if there are any publications you’d like to see on the list, please let us know.

Magazines

Client Side News
A magazine that puts the spotlight on solutions for clients in the globalization, internationalization, and localization industries.

MultiLingual
MultiLingual Computing (co-producers of Localization World) brings you its eponymous masterpiece: a magazine with a focus on technological innovations in the internationalization industry. Each issue (published in both print and digital formats eight times a year) comes loaded with information on language technology, industry commentary, business tips and other interesting language-oriented highlights.

Books

A Practical Guide to Localization by Bert Esselink
This book can serve as a comprehensive guide for those just getting started in localization, and also as a handy reference tool for old-timers in the industry. Esselink’s book delves into all the key roles involved in the localization process, including information for translators, engineers, and project managers. A large part of its focus is on localizing software under Windows, however it does touch briefly on other operating systems.

Internationalization and Localization Using Microsoft .Net by Nick Symmonds
This book is a guideline for developers and IT managers on how to internationalize their software using Microsoft’s .NET platform. It is a comparatively readable book in a notoriously unreadable genre, but more of a general introduction than a detailed technical treatise.

Developing International Software by Dr International
This book/CD-ROM explains how to localize applications for Windows XP and 2000, determine important culture-specific issues, avoid international pitfalls and legal issues, and use the best technologies and coding practices.

XML Internationalization and Localization by Yves Savourel
This book addresses the ways in which XML can help document producers to overcome the obstacles inherent in internationalizing (and then localizing) their content. It is complete with a section that details and compares a wide array of different translation tools and techniques.

International User Interfaces by Jakob Nielsen and Elisa M. Del Galdo
This book is composed of a series of articles on internationalizing user-interface design. It is compiled to confront the problems UI developers face in rendering their products more accessible to a global audience.

Business Without Borders by Donald A. de Palma
This book is a highly-lauded treatment of how and why companies ought to go global, touching on every aspect of the globalization process. It is a comprehensive guide full of strategy and insight for overcoming the challenges e-businesses will invariably meet in launching their international marketing campaigns.

CJKV Information Processing by Ken Lunde
This book is a thorough introduction and exhaustive reference for those interested in either developing or localizing software that supports East Asian character sets (namely Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese). The author not only helps to familiarize his audience with significant historical information regarding these writing systems (including methods of input and output at the onset of the computer age), he also delves deeply into modern encoding and programming methods, complete with page after page of handy character tables and example source code—available in Java, C, and Perl.

Read Me First! A Style Guide for the Computer Industry by Sun Technical Publications
This book helps acquaint its readers with professional practices relating to all aspects of creating technical documentation. Its advice ranges from how to create grammatically and stylistically appropriate writing guides, to graphical user interface techniques, and then on to advice dealing with glossary and index creation, the use of hyperlinks, as well as the clarification of often-misused terminology.

Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications by Microsoft Corporation
This book is widely recognized as a must-have for anyone in the technical publication field. In addition to assisting its readers in developing industry-standard writing style guides for their companies or organizations, Microsoft’s manual also helps to standardize nettlesome issues regarding technical- and computer-related terminology—making for clean, consistent publications and user interfaces that, in turn, can be more painlessly internationalized at a later date.

Java™ Look and Feel Design Guidelines by Sun Microsystems Inc.
This book is a style guide aimed at teaching its readers how to design more professional, clean, and intuitive graphical user interfaces for Java applications. It does not explore the coding aspect of programming applications, but rather is a manual for helping designers to create more useful and aesthetically pleasing interfaces, dealing specifically with topics like utility windows, menus, dialogs, buttons, and many other components that affect the usability of Java programs.

Computer-Aided Translation Technology: A Practical Introduction by Lynne Bowker
This book focuses on introducing the medley of CAT tools and technologies that translation professionals are likely to encounter in the course of their work. It delves into the ways in which translators might interact with and benefit from the different computer-aided translation tools available, and how said tools might affect and improve the translator’s workflow. While not promoting any specific approach to translation, Bowker’s book is an attempt at familiarizing its readers with what technologies are out there and how they can help you.

Computers and Translation: A Translator’s Guide by H.L. Somers (editor)
This book is composed of a collection of articles on translation technology: touching on machine translation, computer-aided translation, and translation memory, complete with some historical sketches and notes on the future trends thereof. This collection is aimed at delineating the limitations of technology’s role in translation, and thereby clarifying how computers can be used to help, not replace, the translator.

Machine Translation: Its Scope and Limits by Yorick Wilks
This book is a discourse on the history of machine translation and its development—spread across forty years and three continents—into contemporary models. In this volume, Yorick Wilks, the Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Sheffield (not to mention a stock of other scholarly appellations), discusses the many conflicting approaches to MT technology over the years, and rounds things off with suppositions regarding the roles that new models in A.I. and other fields will play in the future of machine translation technology.

Translation and Globalization by Michael Cronin
This book is a critical examination of the role and function of translation in the context of an ever-globalizing world. Michael Cronin seeks to investigate the effects that changes in global economic and social infrastructures have had on translation and, by extension, translators themselves. With a primary focus on non-literary translation as a uniquely-positioned lens through which we can examine globalization and what it means for the future of people and their respective cultures, Cronin’s book aims to impress on readers the importance of translation not only as a useful product, but as an illuminating process.

The Global English Style Guide by John R. Kohl
This book is a style guide for instructing writers in all disciplines how to produce English documents that are better suited to translation (both machine and human), and that are more catered toward facilitating reading-comprehension among non-native speakers of English. The author delves into problems relating to style, syntax and terminology, and offers concrete examples that will help writers to gain control over more explicit, simple, consistent, and translatable English.

Technical Translation: Usability Strategies for Translating Technical Documentation by Jody Byrne
This book is an introduction to technical translation and the usability of technical documents. Going beyond mere concerns with terminology, Jody Burn addresses the process of managing document usability and translation from the perspective of cognitive psychology and technical communication, aiming to help readers develop skills more suited to the creation of usable (and thus marketable) documents in a field more demanding and extensive than ever.

Software

A selection of translating tools ranging from machine translation (MT), to computer-aided translation (CAT) and terminology management software (TMS). As always, this is a growing compendium. If there are any tools that ought to be added, please let us know.

Across Language Server

A translation platform that incorporates multiple-format translation memory and TMS tools into a workflow management system. This allows service providers and their customers to interact more intimately throughout the entire “linguistic supply chain.”

An-Nakel Al Arabi Translator

An assortment of machine translation systems developed by CIMOS, dealing primarily with bi-directional Arabic-to-English, Arabic-to-French, and English-to-French projects. Their software comes with specialized subject dictionaries, and can be used as a stand-alone product, as a web-based server, or can be embedded within your application of choice.

Alchemy CATALYST

A visual localization support tool developed by Alchemy Software. This software environment integrates all phases of the localization workflow—from project management to translation, as well as engineering and testing—into an easy-to-use visual system that allows users to focus more on the quality of their work, free from the distractions of its underlying technology.

Déjà Vu

A translator workstation developed by ATRIL. Déjà Vu combines translation memory with a terminology management system. This CAT has the ability to perform example-based machine translation (EBMT), which helps to increase productivity and consistency for both corporate and freelance translators alike.

ESTeam Translator

A machine translation system combined with customizable a translation memory system. This multilingual software supports bi-directional translations between all official languages of the European Union.

ForeignDesk

An open source CAT environment released by Lionbridge. Their technology combines a translation memory system with terminology management tools—as well as a project assistant—allowing users to streamline the translation process. Their software is TMX-compliant, and features fuzzy match applications.

Heartsome Translation Studio

A CAT tool designed to be compatible with a wide array of other localization products, and developed completely around open standards of language technology (TMX, SRX, TBX, UTF-8, etc.). Its integrated interface allows translation memory and terminology management to be handled within the same application, a process facilitated by configurable software functions and hot-keys.

LogiTerm

Developed by Terminotix, Logiterm Professional is primarily a terminology and parallel text search engine, but also includes different tools for generating dictionaries, creating glossaries and aligning documents.

MemorySphere

A translation memory system developed by AppTek. Their product offers automated document alignment combined with a translation memory database that supports multiple language pairs. Complete with a document management application in which users can directly manage their source documents.

MetaTexis

A CAT system that runs in Microsoft Word. They offer translation memory and terminology management systems with full Unicode support in an already-familiar interface—users won’t have to become acquainted with a new software environment, as all of its functions can be accessed right there in Word.

Multilizer 2009

A software localization support tool. Multilizer’s product offers a visual editing interface combined with a translation memory system for companies looking to localize their PC, internet and mobile software. Its features are designed to streamline the translation process in an expansive array of file formats.

MultiTrans 4

A translator workstation developed by MultiCorpora. Their software provides translators with a document alignment application, along with translation memory and terminology management systems. Translators can manage their workflow with MultiTrans’ analysis agent, as well as access others’ translation memory databases online.

Omega T

An open source computer-assisted translation tool developed by Didier Briel and team. OmegaT is a translation workstation, fully equipped with a translation memory system, project support, a bitext aligner/converter, as well as a TMX validator, paragraph segmentation capabilities and many other tools to assist language professionals in their translations.

PeTra Expert

A machine translation system developed by SyNTHEMA. Their MT system is combined with translation memory technology to offer the complete and automated translation of documents. Their software is compatible with most industry-standard desktop publishing and CAT environments.

ProMemoria

A translation workstation developed by BridgeTerm. ProMemoria is a combination of translation memory, terminology management, and dictionary creation tools that integrate with Microsoft Word. It can also handle machine translation based on users’ own custom-made subject dictionaries.

Trados Studio Professional

A translator workstation developed by SDL International. Provides all the features users need to optimize their translation workflow: terminology management, translation memory, and project management, all complete with help wizards to assist users along the way. SDL’s software also includes an automated quality assurance feature to help translators keep their translations clean, professional and consistent.

Similis

A translation memory system developed by Lingua et Machina. Similis can either run in Word or as a standalone translation environment. It helps users to reuse already-translated words and segments, while automatically updating their TM databases. This software can also automatically align documents and extract new terminology in the process.

Tr-AID

A translation memory system developed by the Institute for Language and Speech Processing. Tr-AID is embedded in Microsoft Word for user convenience, and comes with customizable terminology management features.

TransWhiz 10

A machine translation system developed by OTEK. They offer both bi-directional English/Chinese and Japanese/Chinese MT systems. Transwhiz 10 can translate in batches or integrate with Microsoft Word as a translation memory system, as well as automatically translate RSS news feeds and instant messages.

Tstream

A translation workstation and terminology manager developed by Xplanation. Tstream can be used on all platforms and has the ability to integrate with a web-based project management system. Its translation environment works independently of all word processors, so there’s no need to learn new interfaces, spend money on new software nor waste time on continuously updating it.

Visual Localize

A localization support tool developed by AIT. Visual Localize is a CAT system designed primarily for localizing software and graphical user interface. As a completely visual aid that incorporates translation memory technology, it allows translators to view their work in context.

WordFast Pro

A translation memory system that works on all platforms (Mac, Windows, and Linux). Wordfast Pro is a standalone program that provides a customizable translating environment, while also assisting users in broadening their TM databases.

MemoQ

A translation workstation developed by Kilgray. MemoQ is a fully-integrated CAT environment—with a wide range of file format support—that provides users with a customizable visual workspace, as well as access to a variety of remote translation memories and term bases. Some of its more distinguished features include a sophisticated alignment function, and the ability to perform group translations, where different members of a team can translate and proofread the same document simultaneously.

Lingobit Localizer

A tool for localizing software, predominantly MFC, .NET, WPF, Delphi and Java-based applications. Lingobit Localizer utilizes translation memory technology in combination with a visual user interface in order to assist users in focusing on their translations without the hassle of dealing with source-code. It also includes tools for quality assurance and project management.

RC-Wintrans

An environment for localizing graphical user interfaces in conjunction with Win32, Microsoft .NET, Java and XML software. RC-WinTrans offers built-in support for Trados’ translation memory system and comes equipped with context viewers to assist users in the software localization process.

WorldServer

A web-based CAT tool developed by Idiom Technologies. WorldServer provides translators and end-clients alike with a centralized platform to streamline the localization process. Complete with a system of centralizing and ensuring consistency among translation memory and terminology databases.

Passolo 2009

A software localization tool developed by SDL International. Passolo 2009 comes equipped with an array of features to save its users time, including a completely customizable working environment, the ability to revert to previous versions of a workflow, and an improved glossary search.

WordFisher

A free translation memory system that integrates with Microsoft Word. WordFisher is similar to commercial TM environments in that it provides users with the ability to align and synchronize their documents, customize glossaries, expand upon their TM databases and check for translation consistency.

Tramigo

A tool for localizing Flash files, developed by Avral. Tramigo assists users by extracting translatable text from SWF files, protecting content that doesn’t need to be translated, and by generating a newly-translated version of the original SWF file after the translator has done his work.

Anaphraseus

An open source CAT tool. Anaphraseus allows users to create and modify translation memories. Its main features include text segmentation, terminology management, fuzzy match TM search, and TMX import/export capabilities.

AnyMem

A translation memory system developed by AIT. AnyMem’s CAT engine is loaded with features: TM database and terminology management systems, selective search and translate functions, integration with Microsoft Word, a configurable interface display, and Unicode support.

ApSIC Xbench

A terminology reference tool developed by ApSIC. This is an internal software solution that ApSIC is offering to the public for download. Xbench helps translators to customize the display of their bilingual information, with support in a variety of different CAT formats. It also comes equipped with features to aid translators with quality assurance, ensuring clean and consistent work.

SynchroTerm

A terminology extraction engine developed by BridgeTerm. SynchroTerm enables users to extract terms from parallel texts and other translation memories. It automates the extraction process and allows users to build, enlarge and edit their terminology databases.

A terminology management tool developed by acrolinx. IQ seeks to minimize linguistic variation and maximize content reuse by providing users with a host of quality assurance features that introduce consistency in spelling, grammar and style into the translator’s workflow.

AlignFactory

A tool for aligning documents developed by Terminotix. AlignFactory automates the document alignment process and seeks to outperform the capabilities of the built-in alignment functions found in many commercial CAT workstations.

PowerGlot

A localization tool for Mac software, developed by Florent Pillet. Powerglot extracts translatable text for its users and provides them with a TM system to aid in the translation process. After users are finished translating, PowerGlot will automatically reconstruct the now-localized application.

iLocalize

A tool for localizing Mac applications, developed by Arizona Software. iLocalize comes with a variety of features to help users localize their Mac applications. Its TM-glossary can treat multiple languages within the same project, while checking consistency and applying smart filters to the source code—making sure that users can find and translate what needs to be translated.

MadCap Lingo

A CAT tool for localizing documents, developed by MadCap Software. MadCap Lingo allows users to import translatable material in a broad range of file formats, where they can view source and target texts side-by-side in a visually-oriented translation environment. It comes equipped with a translation memory system and tools for creating and editing TM databases, as well as functions that help translators create statistical reports about their various projects.

Snowball

A simple and intuitive CAT tool, developed by Total Recall Software. Snowball integrates with Microsoft Word, automatically analyzing and updating translation memory databases in the background while translators do their work. In the Pro and Freelance versions, Snowball supports TMX import and export, and provides access to multiple databases.

Transit

One of the first CAT tools on the market, developed by the STAR Group. Transit supports a wide range of languages and file formats, combining translation and terminology management functions with project management and quality assurance utilities.

XTM Suite

A web-based translation management system developed by XML-INTL. XML Suite can be used as a standalone TMS, or can be split into separate working modules that can be integrated into existing systems. Its different applications help users to manage all aspects of the localization process, from workflow management, to quality assurance and terminology management. XML Suite is scalable and customizable according to its users’ needs.

GlobalSight

An open source initiative sponsored by WeLocalize. GlobalSight is a highly customizable translation management system that supports collaborative editing and management models through its own imbedded crowdsourcing application, CrowdSight.

Wordbee Translator

A completely web-based CAT tool developed by Wordbee S.A. Wordbee Translator is based on a collaborative model in which translators can work on the same project, remotely and at the same time—all of which can be tracked by its real-time tracking system. This CAT tool can process most common file formats, including Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint (including graphics), Adobe InDesign, OpenOffice documents, RTF, XML, and HTML. It can be subscribed to for a monthly fee.

Google Translator Toolkit

A free web-based CAT tool developed by Google. Google’s Translator Toolkit supports most common file formats, like html, txt, doc, and rtf, etc. With Google’s application, TM import and export is performed in TMX format, whereas glossaries are exported in Google’s custom CSV format. Professional translators and other users are encouraged to take a careful look at Google’s Terms of Service before availing themselves of this technology. Source: http://www.l10nworks.com

Open Translation Tools

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Anaphraseus
Anaphraseus is a CAT (Computer Aided Translation) tool, OpenOffice.org 2 macro set similar to famous Wordfast. Works with Wordfast Translation Memory format (*.TXT). Supports text segmentation. Features: Term Recognition. Fuzzy Search. Unicode support.
Apertium
Apertium is a machine translation platform, initially aimed at related-language pairs, but recently expanded to deal with more divergent language pairs (such as English-Catalan). The platform provides a language-independent machine translation engine, tools to manage the linguistic data necessary to build a machine translation system for a given language pair, and linguistic data for 21 language pairs, with more under development.
The platform also includes cell phone applications, blog plugins, web services and several graphical user interfaces. Apertium may translate plain text, web sites or documents without loss of formatting.
Autshumato ITE
Autshumato Integrated Translation Environment (ITE) is a free computer aided translation application. It provides a single translation environment that contains translation memory, machine translation and a glossary to facilitate the translation process.
Although Autshumato ITE is specifically developed for the eleven official South African languages, it is in essence language independent, and can be adapted for translating between any language pair.
bitext2tmx Bitext2tmx is a cross-platform Java application to align bitext (of a corresponding original text and its translation) and generate a TMX translation memory for use in computer-assisted translation.
CollaboDict
Web-based software for collaborative creation of dictionaries.
Cross Lingual Wiki Engine
The Cross Lingual Wiki Engine project aims to design, develop and test lightweight wiki tools that can be used to translate content in wikis. At present the project is implemented as part of TikiWiki.
Dict.org Dict.org is a hosted dictionary. It is based on the GPL software GCIDE.
dotSUB in 6 toolboxes
dotSUB is a browser based tool enabling subtitling of videos on the web into and from any language.
Fantasdic
Fantasdic is a DICT client. It is multi-platform and written in the Ruby programming language. It retrieves definitions from the internet via the DICT protocol instead of from a file on the local hard drive.
Gaupol
Gaupol is a software tool for the Windows operating system that translates subtitles on video from one language to another. Focused on being accessible to the user, Gaupol emphasizes simplicity and ease of use and can work in many subtitle file formats.
Created to translate previously-created subtitles, Gaupol is not the best tool for initial subtitle creation or editing the original subtitles in the video. However, as a translation tool, Gaupol is effective and simple to use for text-based subtitles with many small but useful features like the ability to find and replace text, framerate conversion and previews of the edits in an external video player.
Gaupol is designed so that users can easily translate a group of subtitles at the same time and assign each to a specific time in the video.
gedit-pomode
gedit-pomode is a plugin for convenient editing of PO files in the gedit text editor.
Gengo
Gengo is a full featured plugin that provides multi-language blogging for WordPress 2.5+. It allows for an unlimited number of translations and summaries for any post and provides template tags to display language information. It allows you to edit translations side by side, detects and filters by language automatically when a visitor comes to your site and automatically generates semantic information for links and content blocks.
Global Translator
Global Translator is a free and open source Wordpress Plugin which is able to automatically translate your blog in the following different languages:
English, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Greek, Dutch, Norwegian, Bulgarian, Czech, Croat, Danish, Finnish, Hindi, Polish, Rumanian and Swedish.
GlobalSigh
GlobalSight is a collaborative, open source initiative to develop a flexible and sustainable Translation Management System (TMS) that leverages the best ideas and addresses the true needs of the industry. GlobalSight embraces an ecosystem of enterprise clients, translators, language service providers, technology suppliers, universities, research institutions and individuals alike!
Glossmaster
Glossmaster is the multi-lingual terminology tool developed for ANLoc, the African Network for Localization.
Glossmaster contains a core list of 2500 information technology terms that have been selected from a wide variety of software applications originally written in English, with definitions for each term in English, as well as other information that will help clarify the underlying technical concepts.
GNOME Dictionary
GNOME Dictionary is a DICT client written in C by Emmanuele Bassi and others. It is part of the open-source GNOME desktop software suite, inside the gnome-utils meta-package. It allows users of GNOME to look up words on dictionary sources.
GNOME Subtitles
GNOME Subtitles is a subtitle editor for the GNOME desktop. It supports the most common text-based subtitle formats and allows for subtitle editing, translation and synchronization.
GNU Aspell
GNU Aspell is a Free and Open Source spell checker designed to eventually replace Ispell. It can either be used as a library or as an independent spell checker. Its main feature is that it does a superior job of suggesting possible replacements for misspelled words.
gtranslator
gtranslator is a GNOME2 application intended to make editing PO files
easy for language translators.
Hunspell
Hunspell is the default spell checker of OpenOffice.org and Mozilla Firefox 3 & Thunderbird.
Image Localization Manager in 3 toolboxes
Image Localization Manager helps you to streamline your image localization process by presenting all the information needed for translating and editing image files in the same window. We hope you love the image preview feature!
Ini Translator
Ini Translator is a utility program to translate ini-style language files, with a look and feel reminiscent of poEdit.
Ispell
Ispell is a program that enables users to correct spelling and typographical errors in a file. When presented with a word that is not in the dictionary, Ispell attempts to find near misses that might include the word you meant.
jDictionary
jDictionary has an intuitive user interface and is able to upgrade itself, upgrade its plugins, and provide news and information about new plugins.
jubler Jubler is a tool to edit text-based subtitles. It can be used as an authoring software for new subtitles or as a tool to convert, transform, correct and refine existing subtitles. The most popular subtitle formats can be used. Preview of the subtitles in realtime or in design time, spell checking, translation mode and styles editing are some of the main features.
Kartouche
Kartouche is a web-based translation tool - it allows translations to be submitted via a browser-based interface. Kartouche's sister application, Omnivore, stores the completed translations in a searchable store to which comments and corrections can be added.
KBabel KBabel is a set of tools for editing and managing gettext PO files.
Kyfiethu Kyfiethu is a web-based Welsh translation workflow tool. It is based on Kartouche.
Launchpad Translations
Launchpad Translations (codenamed "Rosetta") is a platform for open source application translation on the internet. It lets anybody help translate their favorite open source application into their favorite spoken language. Launchpad supports most localizable open-source applications.
Lingro Lingro is an online multilingual dictionary tool. Lingro's mission is to create an on-line environment that allows anyone learning a language to quickly look up and learn the vocabulary most important to them. Lingro is not open source software, but all content on Lingro is licensed under Creative Commons.
Linguas OS GNU/Linux operating system adapted for translators. Linguas OS is a remaster of PCFluxboxOS built for translators.
LOGON The LOGON infrastructure (and source tree) is a collection of software, grammars, and other linguistic resources to facilitate experimentation with transfer-based machine translation (MT).
Moses
Moses is a statistical machine translation system that allows you to automatically train translation models for any language pair. All you need is a collection of translated texts (parallel corpus).
Okapi
The Okapi Framework is a set of interface specifications, format definitions, components and applications that provides an environment to build interoperable tools for the different steps of the translation and localization process.
OmegaT
OmegaT is a free translation memory application written in Java. It is a tool intended for professional translators.
OmegaWiki A collaborative project to produce a free, multilingual resource in every language, with lexicological, terminological and thesaurus information.
Open Translation Engine The OTE is an open source project developing language translation and dictionary tools for the internet community. This prototype system currently supports Dutch to English translations.
Open-Tran.eu Translation service for software developers: easily find translations into many different languages for interface texts used by other software
OpenLogos Opensource machine language translation tool.
PCLOS-trans
PC-LOS-trans is now Tuxtrans.
A desktop system for translators created on the basis of the gnu/linux distribution Ubuntu 10.04.
Tuxtrans is a full fledged desktop system meant as a replacement for the widely known OS. But it is not just an operating system, it is an OS including a collection of software applications which allows a translator to do his/her job most efficiently and in line with the latest standards.
Poedit
Poedit is cross-platform gettext catalogs (.po files) editor. It aims to provide more convenient approach to editing catalogs.
Pootle
Pootle is a web portal that simplifies the translation process. It allows online translation, work assignment, gives statistics and allows volunteer contribution.
Project Open
Project Open is a general-purpose project management system with a translation module. The source license is a GPL hybrid, and the translation module is FL (“Free License”), which is “pseudo FOSS”, with extensive limits on redistribution of code.
Qt Linguist
Qt Linguist is a tool for adding translations to Qt applications.
Subtitle Editor
Subtitle Editor is a GTK+2 tool to edit subtitles for GNU/Linux/*BSD. It can be used for new subtitles or as a tool to transform, edit, correct and refine existing subtitles. The program also displays sound waves, making it easier to synchronize subtitles to voices.
TinyTM An open-source translation memory tool.
Traduki
Traduki is a suite of open source linguistic software. Originally intended to be "just" a machine translation software, Traduki got its author so involved that it eventually grew into a much larger scale project.
Transifex
Transifex is a scalable localization platform with a focus on integrating with the existing workflow of both translators and developers. It aims to make it simple for content providers to receive quality translations from big translation communities, no matter where the project is hosted.
Translate Toolkit The Translate Toolkit is designed by localisers for localisers. Its aim is to make localisation easier and of higher quality. The toolkit can convert between various different translation formats and makes it possible to stay in one format across all localisation tasks.
translatewiki.net A community project where open source software is internationalised and localised. Translatewiki.net is where Wikipedia is localised, this results in a community with localisation in over 150 active languages.
Translatewiki.net does localise other software as well when the software is freely licensed and when there is active support for the internationalisation of the software and when localisations are updated in a timely fashion
Transolution
Transolution is a Computer Aided Translation (CAT) suite supporting the XLIFF standard with features to improve translation efficiency and quality. The suite provides an XLIFF Editor, translation memory engine and filters to convert different formats to and from XLIFF.
Vertimus
Vertimus is an open source web tool for managing workflow for translations. Each translation has a status which changes at each step, and users can create an account, book any translation and communicate with a team. An example of Vertimus in action can be found at http://gnomefr.traduc.org/suivi. The first release provides support for localization between English and French.
Virtaal Virtaal is a graphical translation tool. It is meant to be easy to use and powerful at the same time. Although the initial focus is on software translation (localisation or l10n), it is definitely useful for other forms of translation.
Wiktionary Wiktionary is a collaborative project to produce a free-content multilingual dictionary. Designed as the lexical companion to Wikipedia, Wiktionary has grown beyond a standard dictionary and now includes a thesaurus, a rhyme guide, phrase books, language statistics and extensive appendices.
Wordforge The Wordforge Off-line Localization Editor, previously known as Pootling, is an intelligent, platform-independent offline localization tool developed specifically to allow translators to get the most out of the XLIFF file format.
WordNet
WordNet is a large lexical database of English, developed under the direction of George A. Miller. Nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs are grouped into sets of cognitive synonyms (synsets), each expressing a distinct concept.
Worldwide Lexicon The Worldwide Lexicon enables people to create translation communities around any website, blog or topic. WWL combines automatic machine translation with people, who edit and improve machine translations.
WPML
WPML is a WordPress plugin that can turn any WordPress or WordPressMU site into a full featured multilingual content management system.Source: http://socialsourcecommons.org

TMS (Translation Management Systems)

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ForeignDesk

ForeignDesk - Integrated Translation Environment

Directory Categories: Software»TMS (Translation Management System)

Open Internet Lexicon initiative

The Open Internet Lexicon initiative collects popular Internet and Web words and phrases for your multilingual web sites.

Directory Categories: Software»TMS (Translation Management System)

Campsite: the free and open multilingual web publishing tool

CAMPSITE is a Unicode-based, mulitlingual web-content-management system designed for medium-to-large-size news publications. Issues, copy flow, back archives, as well as subscription management are fully implemented features. At the core of CAMPSITE is CAMPFIRE, the Java Editor supporting Unicode, which allows contributors and editors to publish content and control layout online in their native alphabets. Formatting can be altered in a similar way as in editors such as Wordpad, that is, no HTML knowledge is necessary for formatting text.

Directory Categories: Software»CMS , Software»TMS (Translation Management System)

Localizer

Localizer is a Zope product that provides a set of facilities to develop multilingual Web applications. It offers solutions to internationalize user interfaces and manage multilingual content.

Directory Categories: Software»TMS (Translation Management System)

i18n package

The i18n package is a punch of classes for internationalization. It gives you the possibility to maintain multilanguage webpages more easily. The translation strings are stored in flat text files, special Gettext files which are basically precompiled translation files or in a MySQL database. And it works independently from PHP’s setlocale function.

Directory Categories: Software»TMS (Translation Management System)

Open Translation Engine (OTE)

Open Translation Engine (OTE) is a translation toolset written in PHP with XML dictionaries. Tools: Multiple word-for-word lookups, random word, dict viewer, and a Worldwide Lexicon client. Dictionary: English / Dutch / Italian / etc

Directory Categories: Software»TMS (Translation Management System)

Translation Memory eXchange (TMX)

Translation Memory eXchange (TMX) is a vendor-neutral, open standard for storing and exchanging translation memories created by Computer Aided Translation (CAT) and localization tools. The purpose of TMX is to allow easier exchange of translation memory data between tools and/or translation vendors with little or no loss of critical data during the process.

Directory Categories: Software»TMS (Translation Management System)

LTC Organiser Multilingual Management and Workflow Control Software System

Multilingual projects are becoming increasingly more complex and are placing even more stringent demands on project resources and management. Now there is no longer any need to use several different software programs to manage the various stages and aspects of multilingual projects: LTC Organiser is a one-stop comprehensive and integrated solution that does it all! This advanced project management and workflow control tool has been specially developed to meet the specific needs of specialists in the language industry. With included MS Access and SQL back-end database, the LTC Organiser scales to fit any small to medium size multilingual firm or in-house Human Translation department.

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Alis' Language Technology Solutions

Alis' Language Technology Solutions group guides you step-by-step with tools and processes to internationalize your unilingual or bilingual software. The whole procedure is tied together with professional project management and unsurpassed linguistic expertise.

Directory Categories: Software»TMS (Translation Management System)

PHP-Langadmin

It's a webinterface for editing PO files created by the xgettext program of the GNU gettext utilities. The messageids will be stored in a MySQL database. The user can add a translation for different languages for any messageid. PHP - Langadmin can create the appropriate PO file for a selected language which the user has already translated.

Directory Categories: Software»TMS (Translation Management System)

Translation Memory Tools

Translation Memory software promises that you will never have to translate the same word (or phrase, or sentence, or paragraph) twice. It puts everything you translate into a data structure that sits in the background of your editor (Microsoft Word, for example) and prompts you when it finds a match or near match translation for the current work. Exchange of TM data is possible between some systems using the TMX interchange standard.

Directory Categories: Software»TMS (Translation Management System)

eTranslates

eTranslates offers its Translation Management Solution (TMS), which allows multilingual content site owners to track the impact of English content changes on language Web sites. The system indices the content from all sites and aids in identifying paragraphs in each language site that is effected by changes in English content. The Translation Management System isolated the effected paragraph and prepare its for translation. A Dynamic Translation Organiser (DTO) auto sends an email to designated translator (internal or external) to notifying of an incoming translation. Translators in house or translation agencies can log on to the Dynamic Translation Console (DTC) and perform the translation. Only the impacted paragraphs are retranslated.

Directory Categories: Software»TMS (Translation Management System)

RosettaWerks Globalization (G11N) Suite

RosettaWerks Globalization (G11N) Suite is a set of programs/components that deal with the Localization (L10N), Internationalization (I18N) and Translation (T8N) process.

Directory Categories: Software»TMS (Translation Management System)

Internationalization and Localization with PHP

While everyone who programs in PHP has to learn some English eventually to get a handle on its function names and language constructs, PHP can create applications in just about any human language. Some applications need to be used by speakers of many different languages. PHP's internationalization and localization support makes it easier to make an application written for French speakers useful for German speakers.

Directory Categories: Software»TMS (Translation Management System)

RedDot CMS

Translation Editor Supports Content Translation Processes
The RedDot Translation Editor gives the global enterprise with translation tools to assist with the deployment of multilingual sites. Translators are notified via workflow e-mail when content has been created or modified and that content needs to be translated into the language that s/he is responsible for. The RedDot Translation Editor gives the translator a split-screen text editor with one side displaying the original content and the other a text editor ready for the translator to input the content in the language needed.

Directory Categories: Software»TMS (Translation Management System)

DOgrel Translation Management. (DOTM)

We at n DOGREL Translations regard the efficient management of translations and localizing projects as one of the most important aspects of our work. And we have given our most important work a name, too. DOTM - DOgrel Translation Management.

Directory Categories: Software»TMS (Translation Management System)

SDLWorkFlow

Provides everything you need to build, sustain, and grow concurrent International - Multilingual content:

Friendly and easy to use system.
Easy process to ensure consistency across multilingual content.
Reduces the time to market of multilingual content.
Reduces multilingual content maintenance and support time.

Directory Categories: Software»TMS (Translation Management System)

Multilingual Architecture Primer

This article explains the issues of software localization, proposes three concrete aproaches and explains the differences between them.

Directory Categories: Software»TMS (Translation Management System)

WebPlexer

WebPlexer is a multilingual content management system for Web sites and is Language Automation's flagship product.

Directory Categories: Software»TMS (Translation Management System)

RedDot Content Translation Editor (CTE)

The RedDot Content Translation Editor (CTE) provides a global enterprise the translation tools necessary to assist with the deployment of multilingual sites. Content can be automatically adopted by other languages, sent to a translator for translation or not sent to the other variants. Translators are notified when content has been created or modified, alerting them that content requires their translation.

Directory Categories: Software»TMS (Translation Management System)

MultilingualWiki @ Usemod.com

Many wikis cater to a single language target audience. When enough users decide they want to use the wiki in their own language, an offshoot of the original wiki is started (eg. WikiPedia). The various offshoots can be more or less tightly integrated with the original (eg. using InterWiki).

Directory Categories: Software»TMS (Translation Management System)

ZPTInternationalizationSupport

This document is a proposal to extend Zope Page Templates to provide internationalization support. Note that statements of fact below should be read as proposals.

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Module de traduction

Dans ce chapitre, vous avez converti votre site unilingue en un site internationalisé et potentiellement accessible par tout le monde dans sa langue préférée.

Directory Categories: Software»TMS (Translation Management System)

Roxen CMS

The multilingual functionality is a seamlessly integrated part of Roxen CMS, making it very easy to understand and use:

Handle multiple character sets
Language control on a per-file basis
All files have language support
Integrated translation aids
Graceful fallbacks

Directory Categories: Software»TMS (Translation Management System)

Base18 Multilingual Portal

Base18 is a Zope product which allows to build multilingual portals. It uses Localizer and extends the Zope CMFDefault product to provide a way to translate documents at a sentence per sentence level.

Directory Categories: Software»TMS (Translation Management System)

http://www.phpbuilder.com/mail/php-i18n/

PHP php-i18n mailing list (PHP internationalization project.)

Directory Categories: Software»TMS (Translation Management System)

Gettext by Joao Prado Maia

The majority of open source projects, such as Xchat and others, use Gettext to translate the messages and strings shown in their user interface to several languages. The same concept can easily be applied to a Web site or Web application, and that is the objective of this article.

Directory Categories: Software»TMS (Translation Management System)

Across Language Server
AIT Projetex
Alchemy Language Exchange
Beetext Flow
CrossGap FastBiz
Elanex EON
Kilgray MemoQ
Language Line Services/Lingo Systems LingoNET
Language Networks Espresso
Lido-Lang XTRF Enterprise
Lingotek
Lionbridge Freeway
LTC Worx
MultiCorpora MultiTrans
Plunet BusinessManager
Prisma Online (POL)
]project-open[
Sajan GCMS
SDL Idiom WorldServer
SDL TRADOS Synergy
SDL Translation Management System (TMS)
thebigword LanguageDirector
Translations.com GlobalLink
Welocalize GlobalSight
XML-INTL XTM

Examples of useful DejaVU SQL Statements

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Punctuation (full stop)	Source contains a full stop, target not	source like "." and target_XXXX not like "."
Punctuation (bracket)	Source contains a full stop, “(“ or “)” is missing in target	source like "()" AND ((target_XXXX like ")" and target_XXXX not like "(") OR (target_XXXX like "(" and target_XXXX not like ")*"))
Punctuation (bracket)	“(“ or “)” is missing in target	(target_XXXX like "(" and target_XXXX not like ")") OR (source like ")" and target_XXXX not like ")")
Uppercase	Source starts with uppercase, target not (all segments must be translated)	((asc(left(Source,1)) between 97 and 122) AND (asc(left(Target_XXXX,1)) between 65 and 90)) OR ((asc(left(Source,1)) between 65 and 90) AND (asc(left(Target_XXXX,1)) between 97 and 122))
Edited today	Target segment has been edited today	LastModified_XXXX >= Date()
Character length	Number of characters in target is bigger than in source	LEN(target_XXXX) > LEN(source)
Character length	Number of characters in target is bigger than 42	LEN(Target_XXXX) > 42
Non translatable	Segments containing non translatable texts (product name or version, including numbers and letters. E.g.: “A3000IH”).	Source LIKE '[0-9][a-z]' OR Source LIKE '[a-z][0-9]'
Double spacing	Target segments containing double spaces	Target_XXXX like "* *"
Source = Target	Source and target segments are identical	target_XXXX = source

Customer service for translation agencies

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The basics – Delivering the translation on time and to a standard that is fit for its intended purpose is obviously job number one. No amount of service can compensate for a job poorly done in the first place.
Communicate – Do not drop off the face of the earth (it happens more regularly than you might think); reply to emails fairly promptly, with all the information required.
Email organisation – Keep all the emails for a particular project in a single ‘conversation’; don’t start a new thread for each phase of the project from quote, to query, to delivery, to invoicing. Keep the customer’s reference number or wording in the email header so they can search back through their emails and have the whole project’s correspondence in one place.
File naming – When you send back the files, label them clearly and using the original file name plus your language code (and the file type if need be). For example, if the source file is “99835 – Commercial Lease’, the bilingual target file should be something like “99835 – Commercial Lease_EN_unclean”. Do not under any circumstances send back a file labelled “Translation” or it could easily get lost or mixed up with other files.
Queries – PMs generally welcome queries from translators, as long as they are done in a timely and well organised way. Sending through queries one-by-one in emails just before the deadline is a big no-no. A simple Excel table detailing the troublesome source text and the relevant problem, sent well in advance, will have your PMs singing your praises. After all, you’re saving them a job and making their life easier.
Service with a smile – It’s a pain to do business with ungrateful or unfriendly suppliers, even if their translations are top-notch. Address your customers by name in most emails, say thank you, please and be generally polite. A bit of personality never goes amiss either: a PM may deal with 50 different linguists on a given day, so being interesting and interested will go a long way to keeping your name fresh in their mind.
Deal with amendments with good grace – If your translation comes back with changes and queries, do not immediately go on the defensive. Deal with them calmly and professionally and be prepared to admit your mistake and apologise if you get something wrong.
Formatting – Make an effort to keep the formatting coherent with the source, and generally neat and tidy. No PM wants to spend their afternoon re-formatting your translation.
Invoicing – Send your bills promptly, either after each project or at the end of the month, with all of the relevant project details (PO number, project name, rate, words, fee) and all your payment details, tax codes, etc.
Choose your clients carefully – That’s all well and good, but what if your clients don’t do their bit? What if they are rude, unbelievably demanding on your time and pay you late? I reckon you’re better off without them; move on and get clients that you’re actually happy to work with and serve every day.

Keeping translated files in order

2011-12-16T21:00:00.000+02:00

1. Use a designated document folder
Leaving documents wherever they got downloaded is not a good idea. Using a designated folder helps in keeping all documents in one place, and you don’t have to go looking for them on your whole HDD.
2. Use a consistent method for file and folder naming
If you work for different client and agencies, you can easily get lost with what you did for whom and when. Try to think of a clean structure for your folders, for example categorising documents not only by the agency name, but also by the dates, end client, or word count?
3. Keep names short
Long names can cause problems in browsing, and it is much more likely that you’ll remember a shorter name, and you won’t have to resort to searching. It is also a good idea to use abbreviations.
4. Separate ongoing and complete work
It is extremely important for translators to keep their current and past projects separately. Just don’t forget to move your completed projects to your archive!
5. Keep similar things together
If you prepare templates for translation, keep them all in one folder and try to group them. What about keeping English certificates all together?
6. Use shortcuts instead of copies
If you have a document that belongs to different folders, create a shortcut instead of copying the file. You’ll be able to maintain consistency and ensure that you always work on the most complete version of your document.
7. Consider online storage
Despite our security considerations, it is a nice idea to think of storing some of our documents in the cloud. Thanks to that, you can access your documents from different locations and computers, without the need to create copies.
8. Clean up regularly
Move documents to the right folders, delete those that you don’t need anymore, create archives for stuff you don’t use. Depending on your workload, you should spend some time on arranging your files at least once in every 2 weeks.

Terms and conditions for translators

2011-12-16T19:34:00.002+02:00

Terms and conditions regulate the business between you and your customer. They protect your rights, limit your liability and provide you with security.
Doing business is not only about getting paid on time or agreeing on delivery format.
In general, terms and conditions cover the following aspects:

Costs (how much they have to pay you)

Cancellations (what happens if they decide to cancel the project when you’re half way through)

Delivery arrangements (what if they suddenly change their mind and want it in Trados when you’re almost finished)

Payment terms (what if it’s a 50,000 word project and you want half of your money before you start)

Credit limits and periods (what if they want to pay you within the next 150 days)

Managing late payments (what will happen if they won’t pay you when you asked them to)

Disputes on quality (what if they are not satisfied)

Copyright (so who owns that translated text)

Confidentiality (you’re not going to tell the whole world what they want to do next)

Liability (what if they want to blame YOU for their failed £1,000,000 negotiations)

There are model terms and conditions prepared specifically for translators out there. ATA’s website contains a Model Contract for Translators which can be used as it is, or changed into a terms and conditions document. Also, the Institute of Translation and Interpreting issued their recommended Model General Terms of Business for commissioned Translation Work. You can use them as they are, or adapt them to your own business.
Remember that your clients need to be aware of your terms of business before they accept your offer. How do you do that?

Send your terms and conditions to your client as a separate document with your quote and make them aware that they’re bound to abide by them on accepting your offer

Attach your terms and conditions to your invoice

Have your terms and conditions on your website and make your clients aware that it’s their responsibility to read them

Present your own T&Cs to agencies before you agree to work for them.

Here a model:

Definitions

1. Translator shall mean the party providing a translation in the normal course of business.

The translator shall normally be the creator of a translation unless the Client has been explicitly informed that the act of translation (the translation task) will be subcontracted, or the Translator customarily trades as an intermediary.

Translation task shall mean the preparation of a translation or any other translation-related task such as revising, editing, etc., which calls upon the translation skills of a translator, but not copywriting or adaptation.

Client shall mean the party commissioning a translation in the normal course of business.

The parties may he natural or legal persons, including, as examples only, private individuals, associations, partnerships, economic interest groupings or corporate entities. A Translator may act as an intermediary. A relationship involving an intermediary of any nature acting in the normal course of business shall comprise two (or more) direct and discrete Translator/Client contracts.

Source material shall be understood to mean any text or medium containing a communication which has to be translated, and may comprise text, sound or images.

Copyright in Source Material and Translation Rights

2. The Translator accepts an order from the Client on the understanding that performance of the translation task will not infringe any third party rights.

The Client undertakes to keep the Translator harmless from any claim for infringement of copyright and/or other intellectual property rights in all cases.

The Client likewise undertakes to keep the Translator harmless from any legal action including defamation which may arise as a result of the content of the original source material or its translation.

Fees: (binding) Quotations and (non-binding) estimates

3. In the absence of any specific agreement, the fee to be charged shall be determined by the Translator on the basis of the Client’s description of the source material, the purpose of the translation and any instructions given by the Client.

No fixed quotation shall be given by the Translator until he/she has seen or heard all the source material and has received firm instructions from the Client.

Where VAT is chargeable it will be charged in addition to the quoted fee if the Translator is VAT registered.

Any fee quoted, estimated or agreed by the Translator on the basis of the Client’s description of the task may be subject to amendment by agreement between the parties if, in the Translator’s opinion on having seen or heard the source material, that description is materially inadequate or inaccurate.

Any fee agreed for a translation which is found to present latent special difficulties of which neither party could be reasonably aware at the time of offer and acceptance shall be renegotiated, always provided that the circumstances are made known to the other party as soon as reasonably practical after they become apparent.

An estimate shall not be considered contractually binding, but given for guidance or information only.

4. Subject to the second paragraph of clause 3 above, a binding quotation once given after the Translator has seen or heard all the source material shall remain valid for a period of thirty days from the date on which it was given, after which time it may be subject to revision.

5. Costs of delivery of the translation shall normally be borne by the Translator. Where delivery requested by the Client involves expenditure greater than the cost normally incurred for delivery, the additional cost shall be chargeable to the Client. If the additional cost is incurred as a result of action or inaction by the Translator, it shall not be borne by the Client, unless otherwise agreed.

6. Other supplementary charges, for example those arising from:
- discontinuous text, complicated layout or other forms of layout or presentation requiring additional time or resources, and/or
- poorly legible copy or poorly audible sound media, and/or
- terminological research, and/or
- certification, and/or
- priority work or work outside normal office hours in order to meet the Client’s deadline or other requirements, may also be charged.

The nature of such charges shall be agreed in advance.

7. If any changes are made in the text or the Client’s requirements at any time while the task is in progress, the Translator’s fee, any applicable supplementary charges and the terms of delivery shall be adjusted in respect of the additional work.

Delivery

8. Any delivery date or dates agreed between the Translator and the Client shall become binding only after the Translator has seen or heard all of the source material to be translated and has received complete instructions from the Client.

The date of delivery shall not be of the essence unless specifically agreed in writing.

Unless otherwise agreed, the Translator shall dispatch the translation in such a way that the Client can reasonably expect to receive it not later than the normal close of business at the Client’s premises on the date of delivery.

9. Payment in full to the Translator shall be effected not later than 30 days from the date of invoice by the method of payment specified.

For long assignments or texts, the Translator may request an initial payment and periodic partial payments on terms to be agreed.

10. Settlement of any invoice, part-invoice or other payment shall be made by the due date agreed between the parties or in the absence of such agreement within the period stipulated in Clause 9.

Interest shall automatically be applied at the rate of 8 % per annum over base rate (or such rate as is determined by statute, the latter prevailing) to all overdue sums from the date on which they first become due until they are paid in full.

Where delivery is in instalments and notice has been given that an interim payment is overdue, the Translator shall have the right to stop work on the task in hand until the outstanding payment is made or other terms agreed.

This action shall be without prejudice to any sums due and without any liability whatsoever to the Client or any third party.

Copyright in Translations

11. In the absence of a specific written agreement to the contrary, copyright in the translation remains the property of the Translator.

The translator may use and sell or resell any non-confidential translation or any part or record thereof not covered by copyright, the Official Secrets Act, legal professional privilege or public interest immunity.

Where copyright is assigned or licensed (formally in writing as required by § 90 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, to take valid effect in law, or informally without writing but taking valid effect in equity outside the 1988 Act) this shall be effective only on payment of the agreed fee in full.

Copyright in any completed or residual part of a translation shall remain the property of the Translator, and the conditions applicable to assignment of copyright and the grant of a licence to publish shall be as specified above in relation to a completed translation.

12. Where the Translator retains the copyright, unless otherwise agreed in writing, any published text of the translation shall carry the following statement: “© (English or other) text (Translator’s name) (Year date)” as appropriate to the particular case.

13. Where the Translator assigns the copyright and the translation is subsequently printed for distribution, the Client shall acknowledge the Translator’s work in the same weight and style of type as used for acknowledgement of the printer and/or others involved in production of the finished document, by the following statement: “(English or other) translation by (Translator’s name)”, as appropriate to the particular case.

14. Where a translation is to be incorporated into a translation memory system or any other corpus the translator shall license use of the translation for this purpose for an agreed fee.

Such incorporation and use shall only take place after the licence for the purpose has been granted by the translator in writing and the agreed fee has been paid in full. It shall be the duty of the Client to notify the Translator that such use will be made of the translation.

15. All translations are subject to the translator’s right of integrity.

If a translation is in any way amended or altered without the written permission of the translator, he/she shall not be in any way liable for amendments made or their consequences.

If the translator retains the copyright in a translation, or if a translation is to be used for legal purposes, no amendment or alteration may be made to a translation without the Translator’s written permission. The right of integrity may be specifically waived in advance by the translator in writing.

Confidentiality and Safe-keeping of the Client’s Documents

16. No documents for translation shall be deemed to be confidential unless this is expressly stated by the client.

However the Translator shall at all times exercise due discretion in respect of disclosure to any Third Party of any information contained in the Client’s original documents or translations thereof without the express authorisation of the Client.

Nevertheless a third party may be consulted over specific translation terminology queries, provided that there is no disclosure of confidential material.

17. The Translator shall be responsible for the safe-keeping of the Client’s documents and copies of the translations, and shall ensure their secure disposal.

18. If requested to do so by the Client, the Translator shall insure documents in transit from the Translator at the Client’s expense.

Cancellation and Frustration

19. If a translation task is commissioned and subsequently cancelled, reduced in scope or frustrated by an act or omission on the part of the Client or any third party the Client shall except in the circumstances described in clause 21 pay the Translator the full contract sum unless otherwise agreed in advance.

The work completed shall be made available to the Client.

20. If a Client goes into liquidation (other than voluntary liquidation for the purposes of reconstruction) or has a Receiver appointed or becomes insolvent, bankrupt or enters into any arrangement with creditors the Translator shall have the right to terminate a contract.

21. Neither the Translator nor the Client shall be liable to the other or any third party for consequences which are the result of circumstances wholly beyond the control of either party.

The Translator shall notify the Client as soon as is reasonably practical of any circumstances likely to prejudice the Translator’s ability to comply with the terms of the Client’s order, and assist the Client as far as reasonably practical to identify an alternative solution.

Complaints and Disputes

22. Failure by the Translator to meet agreed order requirements or to provide a translation which is fit for its stated purpose shall entitle the Client to:

1) reduce, with the translator’s consent, the fee payable for work done by a sum equal to the reasonable cost necessary to remedy the deficiencies, and/or

2) cancel any further instalments of work being undertaken by the translator.

Such entitlement shall only apply after the Translator has been given one opportunity to bring the work up to the required standard. This entitlement shall not apply unless the Translator has been notified in writing of all alleged defects.

23. Any complaint in connection with a translation task shall he notified to the Translator by the Client (or vice-versa) within one month of the date of delivery of the translation.

If the parties are unable to agree, the matter may be referred by the more diligent party to the Arbitration Committee of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting. Such referral shall be made no later than two months from the date on which the original complaint was made.

24. If a dispute cannot be resolved amicably between the parties, or if either party refuses to accept arbitration, the parties shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the Courts of the Australia.

In any event these terms shall be construed in accordance with Australian law.

Responsibility and Liability

25. The translation task shall be carried out by the Translator using reasonable skill and care and in accordance with the provisions and spirit of the Code of Professional Conduct of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting.

Time and expense permitting, the translator shall use his or her best endeavours to do the work to the best of his or her ability, knowledge and belief, and consulting such authorities as are reasonably available to him/her at the time.

A translation shall be fit for its stated purpose and target readership, and the level of quality specified.

Unless specified otherwise, translations shall be deemed to be required to be of “for information” quality.

The liability of the Translator on any grounds whatsoever shall be limited to the invoiced value of the work, except where in connection with any consequences which are reasonably foreseeable:

the potential for such liability is expressly notified to the Translator in writing, and
such liability is restricted to an agreed limit of cover under the professional indemnity insurance available to Translators.

Unfair Competition

26. Where in the course of business the Translator’s Client is an intermediary and introduces the Translator to a third-party work-provider, the Translator shall not knowingly, for a period of 6 months from return of the last translation task arising from the introduction, approach the said third party for the purpose of soliciting work, nor work for the third party in any capacity involving translation, without the Client’s written consent.

However, this shall not apply where:

- the third-party work-provider has had previous dealings with the translator or

- the translator acts on the basis of information in the public domain, or

- the approach from the third party is independent of the relationship with the intermediary, or

- the approach to the third party arises as the result of broad-band advertising, or

- the third party is seeking suppliers on the open market, or

- the intermediary only makes isolated use of the Translator’s services.

Applicability and Integrity

27. These Model Terms shall be construed jointly with the Code of Professional Conduct of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting in order to be complete and effective.

They shall also be subject to any detailed requirements or variants expressly specified in the Order relating to a particular translation task.

No waiver of any breach of any condition in this document shall be considered as a waiver of any subsequent breach of the same or any other provision.

The Importance of a Termbase

2011-12-16T19:26:00.000+02:00

Termbases are an important part of the process of translating any sort of text, but they are especially useful, to the point of being essential, when working with technical texts. As a policy, a translation with complicated vocabulary or terminology needs to be done with techniques and procedures that can ensure a good level of quality and consistency.
Uploading a termbase in a translation tool, more specifically in a Trados translation memory in its various versions, is a simple task; yet not all translators know how. However, industry experience indicates that, once you learn how to load a terminology database (normally a matter of simply reading an online tutorial) and successfully implement it in your workflow, the translation becomes much more fluid and natural and reduces the time devoted to investigation of a particular term.
Depending on the client with whom you work (either as a freelance translator or translation agency), the possibility exists that they already provide these bases from the outset to incorporate in the terminology tools. This, of course, greatly facilitates the task of the translator, since simply loading this termbase is enough to start working. If, however (this is something that happens frequently), the client does not send any list or glossary of terms for reference, then you need to create one from scratch. This step is critical, especially in cases where you have to work on a text that is highly technical and quality control is necessary.
Creating a termbase from scratch is also a simple process to learn. The termbase can be created from: an Excel file with nothing more than two columns with the terms in the source and their definition in the target language in the respective columns; a tab-delimited .txt file (to be converted to .xml or .mdb); or using tools such as SDL Muliterm Extract, which allows a term extraction based on bilingual files.
You always have the possibility of creating a termbase, either from scratch or using a simple Excel file. While the latter is the most classic method, it is not the most dynamic or most effective. It is important to encourage people to find faster options, as having a specific glossary ensures a better translation quality, especially because in this way terms are unified that would otherwise be much harder and time-consuming to address.

Google Translate from command line

2011-11-19T08:31:00.001+02:00

translate(){ wget -qO- "http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/services/language/translate?v=1.0&q=$1&langpair=$2|${3:-en}" | sed 's/.*"translatedText":"$[^"]*$".*}/\1\n/'; }

2010-03-08 03:15:48

Usage:translate <phrase> <source-language> <output-language>Example:translate hello en es
See this for a list of language codes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ISO_639-1_codes

translate() { lng1="$1";lng2="$2";shift;shift; wget -qO- "http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/services/language/translate?v=1.0&q=${@// /+}&langpair=$lng1|$lng2" | sed 's/.*"translatedText":"$[^"]*$".*}/\1\n/'; }

allow multiword translations

cmd=$( wget -qO- "http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/services/language/translate?v=1.0&q=$1&langpair=$2|${3:-en}" | sed 's/.*"translatedText":"$[^"]*$".*}/\1\n/'; ); echo "$cmd"

2010-03-13 01:09:00

translate <phrase> <source-language> <output-language>works from command line

wget -U "Mozilla/5.0" -qO - "http://translate.google.com/translate_a/t?client=t&text=translation+example&sl=auto&tl=fr" | sed 's/\[\[\[\"//' | cut -d \" -f 1

tl = target language (en, fr, de, hu, ...);
you can leave sl parameter as-is (autodetection works fine)

substitute "example" with desired string;

curl -s -A "Mozilla" "http://translate.google.com.br/translate_a/t?client=t&text=Hi+world&hl=pt-BR&sl=en&tl=pt&multires=1&ssel=0&tsel=0&sc=1" | awk -F'"' '{print $2}'

Translates a phrase from English to Portuguese

Translates a string from English to Portuguese by using google translator web service. Source: http://www.commandlinefu.com

Free/open-source machine translation software

2011-11-19T08:29:00.001+02:00

Here’s a non-exhaustive list of links to existing free/open-source machine translation systems, which I will try to complete as I find about them. To the best of my knowledge, software listed here has:
either a free license as defined by the Free Software Foundation,
or an open-source license as defined by the Open Source Initiative.
Rule-based systems
Apertium, a free/open-source rule-based machine translation platform.
Matxin, a free/open-source rule-based machine translation system for Basque.
OpenLogos, a free/open-source version of the historical Logos machine translation system.
Anusaaraka, English-Hindi machine translation system.
Statistical machine translation systems
Decoders
Moses, a statistical machine translation system.
Marie, an n-gram-based statistical machine translation decoder.
Joshua, an open source decoder for statistical translation models based on synchronous context free grammars
Phramer, an open-source statistical phrase-based machine translation decoder
GREAT, a decoder based on stochastic finite-state transducers, which includes a training toolkit.
Training translation models
Giza++ is a tool to train translation models for statistical machine translation (see also the related mkcls tool to train word classes)
Thot is a toolkit to train phrase-based models for statistical machine translation. Read more. Source: DCU School of Computing

The copy command under DOS

2011-11-17T21:38:00.001+02:00

Syntax:

COPY [/Y|-Y] [/A][/B] [d:][path]filename [/A][/B] [d:][path][filename] [/V]
or
COPY [/Y|-Y] [/A][/B] [d:][path]filename+[d:][path]filename[...] [d:][path][filename] [/V]

Purpose: Copies or appends files. Files can be copied with the same name or with a new name.

Discussion

COPY is usually used to copy one or more files from one location to another. However, COPY can also be used to create new files. By copying from the keyboard console (COPY CON:) to the screen, files can be created and then saved to disk.

The first filename you enter is referred to as the source file. The second filename you enter is referred to as the target file. If errors are encounteredduring the copying process, the COPY program will display error messages using these names.

Unlike the BACKUP command, copied files are stored in the same format they are found in. The copied files can be used just as you would use the original (whether the copied file is a data file or a program).

COPY can also be used to transfer data between any of the system devices. Filesmay also be combined during the copy process.
NOTE:
Files can be copied to the same directory only if they are copied with a new name. If you copy a file to a different directory without specifying a new name, the file will be copied with the same name. If you attempt to copy a fileto the same directory without providing a new name, DOS will cancel the copy anddisplay the message

File cannot be copied onto itself

The COPY command was also discussed in Chapter 1, Introduction, in the downloadable book DOS the Easy Way.

Options

/Y - Causes COPY to replace existing files without providing a confirmation prompt. By default, if you specify an existing file as the destination file, COPY will provide a confirmation prompt. (In previous versions of DOS, existing files were simply overwritten.)

/-Y - Displays a confirmation prompt before copying over existing files.

/A - Used to copy ASCII files. Applies to the filename preceding it and to all following filenames. Files will be copied until an end-of-file mark is encountered in the file being copied. If an end-of-file mark is encountered in the file, the rest of the file is not copied. DOS will append an end-of-file mark at the end of the copied file.

/B - Used to copy binary files. Applies to the filename preceding it and toall following filenames. Copied files will be read by size (according to the number of bytes indicated in the file`s directory listing). An end-of-file markis not placed at the end of the copied file.

/V - Checks after the copy to assure that a file was copied correctly. If the copy cannot be verified, the program will display an error message. Using this option will result in a slower copying process.

Examples

The first filename you enter is the source file; the second file is the target file. To copy the file TEST.DOC from the current directory to drive B (with the same name), enter

copy test.doc b:

To copy the file TEST.DOC to the current directory with the new name, TEST2, enter

copy test.doc test2

To copy and combine (concatenate) the files TEST1.DOC and TEST2.DOC to a new file, TEST3, enter

copy test1.doc+test2.doc b:test3

You can also combine files by using wildcard characters (? and *). To copy all files with a .DOC filename extension on drive C to a new file ALLDOCS on drive B, enter

copy c:*.doc b:alldocs

Other, more complicated, combinations are also possible while copying. For example, to combine all files with a .TXT filename extension with all files thathave the same filename and a .DOC extension, copying the newly combined file to a new file on drive B with an .ADD extension, enter

copy *.txt+*.doc b:*.add

In this case, the file TEST.TXT will be combined with the file TEST.DOC resulting in a combined file with the filename TEST.ADD.

Create Batch File to Start or End Window Services

2011-11-17T21:17:00.001+02:00

The windows environment can be easily changed by starting or ending various windows services. For example, this method can be used to easily shut down multiple services for a performance boost during game playing.

Update: This article was original crafted for XP; however, I continue to use this technique on my Windows 7 and Windows 8 systems. On more recent Windows systems, the batch file will need to be run as administrator.
Warning: Manipulating windows services can have unpredictable effects on your system. You should create a system restore point before experimenting.
We all want to tweak or windows systems to the extreme to get the quickest, most powerful system possible. Many people will disable multiple window services manually before game playing. What a pain!
Many times people forget what the services do or forget to restart the important ones. Services can be easily changed by creating batch files.
The important commands are the following:
NET START – starts the service
NET STOP – ends the service
For example:
NET STOP "Error Reporting Service"
Output: The Error Reporting Service service was stopped successfully.
Knowing the commands, one can now easily create batch files called something like beforegame.bat and aftergame.bat.
Before.bat would contain all the NET STOP commands to end the nonessential services.
After.bat would be exactly the same except all the NET STOP commands would be replaced with NET START commands to restart all the common services.
A sample of the before.bat file might look something like this:

NET STOP "Error Reporting Service"
 NET STOP "FTP Publishing Service"
 SET STOP "IIS Admin"
 NET STOP "Messenger"

Likewise, the after.bat file might look something like this:

NET START "Error Reporting Service"
 NET START "FTP Publishing Service"
 SET START "IIS Admin"
 NET START "Messenger"

Source: http://www.tech-recipes.com

How To Email Photos To Your Free 25GB Windows Live SkyDrive

2011-11-17T21:15:00.001+02:00

While Picasa Web Albums and Flickr are incredibly popular free online photo-storage/sharing services for photos and other files among readers, the limitations of these services’ free accounts might (sooner or later) push you to either upgrade or search for alternative solutions so you won’t have to delete your data.For example, Picasa does integrate well with other Google services, but that also means that all the pictures you upload to Blogger and (the new social messaging tool) Buzz, in addition to Picasa, count toward the 1GB Picasa Web storage limit. As for Flickr, you’re probably already aware that you can only see 200 pictures of your non-pro Flickr collection.

The upgrade prices for extra online storage for photos in Google and Flickr, ($25/year for unlimited storage), aren’t too bad, but as your stream of photos grows every year, so will your premium-account costs. You could get a great deal in photo storage (basically 25GB for $0) in Windows Live Photos thanks to its integration with Windows Live Skydrive, which you already have if you own a Hotmail address or Windows Live ID (signup).

SkyDrive, one of our top 5 free Microsoft Products, will actually give you free online storage for more photos since any file under 50MB will be accepted, but we’ll focus on the SkyDrive-Windows Live Photos kinship as your go-to photo backup/online-storage/sharing solution. Let’s demistify the less-complicated upload option now.

Emailing Pictures To SkyDrive

The email feature is pretty hidden unless you frequently post on your Windows Live Space (the Windows Live equivalent of Blogger), but you can use this regardless of whether or not you’re actively blogging on Spaces. You do need to choose a name for your Space so head to the first option, Choose web address, where you can select a permanent web address.

Your Space URL will then be anynameyouwant.spaces.live.com. Now you can unleash the beauty and ease of e-mail publishing by pressing on Options on either the Photos or SkyDrive page, and selecting E-mail publishing.

Now enter your email, a secret word and choose a default album for your email uploads. Now you can see where naming your Space will come in handy, otherwise, you could have seen “AwfulLongIDnumber.secretword.albumcode@spaces.live.com.” Each album you have on SkyDrive will be assigned a random code so you’ll get to see all the codes on this page for you to copy to your Contacts in your email or phone. If you decide just to email “yourSpaceName.secretword@spaces.live.com” with your pictures, these will appear on your Space blog and on your Live Photos under the album name of Blog images.
Another tip, your email subject will become the photo’s caption, while the title of the photo will just be your photo’s name on your capturing device, but you can always change the cryptic DSCN0852 title of the photo on the website later.

Email is an easy and speedy way to share your mobile pictures (whether it be one or a couple of photos) or if you check your email often.

Other Ways To Upload To Windows Live Photos/SkyDrive

1. Using The Web Interface: Ideal For A Few Photos

After you log in at the Photos Live page, you’ll see that you can Create (a new) album or Add photos to an existing album. The process gets pretty straightforward, but if you’re on Firefox, you’ll miss the option to drag-and-drop your files (but you can individually choose up to 5 files) that you get in Internet Explorer after installing a plugin. There was this wonderful extension that enabled drag-and-drop for any attachment box but it was last updated in November 2009 so let’s hope the developer makes it FF3.6-compatible soon.

If you’re already on your desktop web browser, heading to the site to upload one or a few pictures will be a breeze (or a nightmare if you upload a lot of photos since this can take such a long time.)

2. Publishing Through Windows Live Writer: Ideal For An Album

The next couple of upload options are more “complicated” in that they will require downloading software, but don’t despair, because for example, the ones featured right next up are among Microsoft’s best free products. The first one is Windows Live Writer, number one in our list of top free Microsoft products, which is a super-easy-to-use and extensible blogging tool.

Writing a blog post at Windows Live Writer is too easy not to do. Our introduction and brief beginner’s guide should clarify more features so let us fast-forward to the main reason for including it here: publishing pictures to your Windows Live Space blog (make sure you select this when you’re setting up your accounts) through this blogging client means that your pictures will be uploaded to SkyDrive under Photos, in a new album with the name of your album title.

If you’re a blogger, this will come in handy. As a WYSIWYG editor, Live Writer makes it very intuitive to insert, upload and publish your photo albums (you can even install this plugin to send and share your blog posts to Twitter).

3. Publishing Through Windows Live Photo Gallery: Ideal for A Few Albums

Windows Live Photo Gallery is an improved version of the built-in Windows Vista photo viewer program (Windows Photo Gallery) that allows basic image editing, tagging, and publishing to Windows Live Photos and Flickr. With the right plugins, you can also publish to other popular sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Picasa, etc.

After you click on Publish and select whether you want to create a new album or add pictures to your existing albums (if you’re logged in with your Windows Live ID), WLPG will upload your pictures with an impressive speed. This process is really ideal if you have a lot of albums to upload. You can get Writer and/or the Live Photo Gallery here (just deselect the Windows Live Products that you don’t need.)

4. Using Third Party Apps: Ideal For Lots of Albums/Folders

There are also two really great third party applications (not developed by Microsoft) that make SkyDrive appear as a virtual drive on your computer so you can easily move and/or copy folders and files. This would be ideal to backup/upload and share lots of files and folders, including pictures. These applications, SDExplorer (formerly known as SkyDrive Explorer) and Gladinet may just make your backing up easier.
Summarizing the different upload options:

To upload a few pictures, you could either email your photos to SkyDrive, or upload them on the Windows Live Photos/SkyDrive website.
To upload and share a whole album, you can try any of the two featured Windows Live products.
To back up many albums/folders from your computer, use either Gladinet or SDExplorer. Source: http://www.makeuseof.com

Terminology Tools

2011-11-17T20:22:00.000+02:00

Terminology Tools

Free online storage apps

2011-11-01T20:09:00.001+02:00

Cloud computing oppens new opportunities for freelancers. One of them is free online file synchronization and storage. Nowadays you can sync your PC files and manage your documents on the go. Share files with your employer or other freelancers. Make an online backup or roll back to previous file version. All these actions are possible with modern online file sharing applications.
Here are the top ten online storage and file sync services that are suitable for freelancing document needs:
1. DROPBOX: Dropbox is a leading folder sync tool. Dropbox gives 2GB free online file storage, which may be increased up to 8GB. Install Dropbox software on PC, Mac, Linux, or mobile devices. Put files you want to store in your Dropbox folder, share a folder with someone, or sync files with other device. I think Dropbox is the easiest file sync software I’ve tried. It’s simple to setup and easy to work with.
2. BOX.NET: Box.net is cloud storage that enables you to store files online and collaborate on them within your team. A simple Box.net account offers 5GB web space for free with mobile apps access and advanced sharing options.
3. ESNIPS: Esnips provides 5GB free online storage for personal use. Upload files and share them publicly or keep documents in private mode. While online, you can search for other users’ public files or install a toolbar to get instant access to an Esnips account. One small disadvantage of the free Esnips account are the multiple ads in your working area.
4. IDRIVE: iDrive is a perfect tool for online backup. If you want to keep a copy of your important folder on a cloud server, then iDrive is what you are looking for. Download iDrive software, run the application and choose folders to sync. In case of a PC crash, you get your files back. There is 5GB free storage quota.
5. IFOLDER: iFolder is a free open source file synchronization program. To enjoy iFolder, you install the software on your server and on client side as well. iFolder is good software for a small team that is comfortable working with their own server. Thus you make sure that only team members have access to your private files. iFolder has necessary setup documentation for administrators.
6. SKYDRIVE: Windows Live SkyDrive is free online storage. Enriched with Windows Live Mesh, SkyDrive helps to sync PC folders with your web account. Unfortunately, Live Mesh is available for Windows 7 only. Recently SkyDrive was united with Office 365, so you may collaborate and store Word, Excel, PowerPoint documents online.
7. YOUSENDIT: YouSendit offers 1GB free online storage via email attachments or web folders. The drawback is the provision of your credit card/PayPal data at sign-up page. However, it’s not obligatory and a user can enjoy a Lite account without financial details. Besides, there is an option to purchase advanced security features on a pay-per-use basis. This is a great service for sending single documents to coworkers.
8. ZUMODRIVE: ZumeDrive is an online storage that grants 1GB free web space. However, you have a chance to raise your free quota if you pass a quest game. You can share documents, files and photos after Zumo software installation. But ZumoDrive installation looks a bit more complicated than Dropbox. Source: proz.com

Exploring New Languages

2011-11-01T19:32:00.000+02:00

Look up the right word, learn how to pronounce it and translate what you want to say into Hungarian.

It is all about understanding each other,François. Whenever we open up a dialogue with someone fromanother country, we are making an attempt to establish a commonground for communication, usually choosing one language both canunderstand or, if that fails, translating back and forth.
Quoi? Of course, you are right,mon ami. Sometimes it is difficult to makeyourself understood even by those who share your language. Thinkingyou know what a word means is no guarantee the person you aretalking to interprets that word in the same way. That is one of thereasons we have dictionaries—that andScrabble.
Ah, mes amis! It is good to see you all.Welcome to Chez Marcel, home of fine Linuxfare and great wines from the world over. Please sit and becomfortable. François and I were discussing the challengesof being understood and of properly getting your meaning across.François, as you already know all this, quickly go down tothe wine cellar and bring back the 1999 Napa Valley CabernetSauvignon we were tasting earlier—or rather submitting to qualitycontrol.
Words are important and the right wordseven more so, as every writer can tell you. This especially is truewhen you are trying to communicate with someone who doesn't shareyour language. Using your Linux system, you can take some joy inknowing that you are helping to improve understanding betweenyourself and others.
The meaning of words, true or otherwise, may be no more thana click away. If you are running KDE 3.0 or higher, try this trick.Let's say you want to find the definition of “cooking”. Open upKonqueror, then type dict: cooking in theLocation field. Press Enter, and Konqueror does a search for you inthe Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. To do athesaurus lookup, type ths: cookinginstead.
KDE has a nice, integrated dictionary application calledKdict, part of the kdenetworkpackage. You'll most likely find Kdict in your Utilities menu underthe KDE application launcher (the big K). You also can launch itfrom the shell with the program name kdict(Figure 1). Enter and Kdict connects to various on-linedictionaries to pull up the appropriate definition. Those resourcesinclude the Merriam-Webster Dictionary,Wordnet, The Jargon File,The Devil's Dictionary and others.

Figure 1. Kdict provides for easy on-line dictionary lookups.

For rapid-fire access to Kdict, you can pop a handy littleapplet into your Kicker panel. Here's how: right-click on the bigK, select Panel menu®Add®Applet®Dictionary. Now, youshould see a new program applet labeled Dictionary with three smallbuttons to the top right on your Kicker panel. On first start, onlythe C button is visible (define selected text), and the other twoare grayed out.

Figure 2. Rapid-Fire Access to Kdict

Enter text into the small window, either a word or a phrase,press Enter, and Kdict appears with that definition as collectedfrom the various sources. You also can select (double-click) a wordon a web page or document you are viewing and click that C buttonin the applet. Kdict automatically launches and provides thedefinition for the selected word.
If you aren't running KDE or if you prefer a simplerapproach, may I interest you in a lightweight, text-only clientthat does a similar thing? It's Vishal Verma'sedict; I wonder if he looked thatword up in the dictionary. You can get edict fromedictionary.sourceforge.net.The edict program is nothing more than a Perl script, but it doesthe job quite nicely. In terms of installation, there really isn'tmuch to do after extracting the tarred and gzipped bundle. You canrun the script from the directory in which it was extracted, butyou'll more than likely want to run a makeinstall to save the script to /usr/bin.
To run the program, type edict followed bythe word you want to look up. For a synonym lookup, typeethes followed by a word. If the word you arelooking for isn't found, alternatives are offered.
The ethes program is simply a symbolic link to edict.Consequently, a thesaurus lookup is essentially the same processbut with different results:

[marcel@mysystem edict]$ ethes program
edict - Your personal command line dictionary.
Verison 1.0.
Looking up "program" in Merriam-Webster Online
Thesaurus...
Entry Word: program
Function: noun
Text: 1 a formulated plan listing things to be done
or to take place especially in chronological order
<the program of a concert>
Synonyms: agenda, calendar, card, docket,
programma, schedule, sked, timetable
Related Words: bill; slate; plan
Idioms order of the day 2
Synonyms: COURSE 3, line, policy, polity, procedure

Speaking of dictionaries, what is there to say about speakingdictionaries? More to the point, what is there to say about JeffreyClement's MWSpeaker, which hedescribes as the “worst speech synthesis software ever”? Thoseare his words, mes amis, not mine. The idea issimple, if not a bit silly. You type in a word or a phrase andMWSpeaker reads it back in human speech. The speech in questioncomes from the Merriam Webster OnlineDictionary. In short, it finds each word's correspondingwav file, downloads it and plays it in sequence.
Given that MWSpeaker is a Python script, it requires nocompiling per se. Simply download the program fromwww.jclement.ca/Projects/mwspeaker,then unpack the tarred and gzipped bundle. Before you actually canuse the program, you need a few additional packages, most notablywxPython, pygame and PythonCard. To run the program,cd to mwspeaker-1.0 (where you unpackedMWSpeaker), and type the following:

mkdir data
python mwspeaker.pyw

The data directory is where the wav files are stored. The GUIis simple. Type a word or phrase, click Say it and wait. I say“wait”, because MWSpeaker downloads each word's wav file in turnbefore playing your selection. The results can be a lot of funbecause the voices saying the words aren't consistent. You wind upwith a strange mix of male and female voices.

Figure 3. The Self-Proclaimed World's Worst Speech Synthesizer

All this is wonderful for the English language, but Linux andopen-source developers come from every part of the world, afterall, as do Linux users. It is true that an English languagedictionary is useful to those who don't count English as theirfirst language, but sometimes you must translate.
François, remplisser les verres de nosinvités, s'il vous plâit.
To translate French (or Italian, or Spanish, or German and soon) into English, you might find yourself looking for a Babel Fish.What is a Babel Fish, you ask? According to Douglas Adams, thecreator of the Hitchhiker's Guide to theGalaxy, it is a small yellow fish that, when put in yourear, simultaneously translates any language you hear into the oneyou normally speak. But as Douglas Adams wrote, “Meanwhile, thepoor Babel Fish, by effectively removing all barriers tocommunication between different races and cultures, has caused moreand bloodier wars than anything else in the history ofcreation.”
KDE's combination web browser, file manager and Swiss Armyknife, Konqueror, has hooks built in to AltaVista's Babel Fish.Surf on over to a foreign language web site, and you easily cantranslate the information you find there. For my example, Irandomly picked a German language newspaper, DieWelt, which I learned means “The World”.
When your page has loaded, click Tools on Konqueror'smenubar, select Translate Web Page, then select from one of thelanguage selections in the drop-down list. In my example above, Ichose “German to English”, et voilà!You now can read the information in a language that makes moresense to you.
For your own personal and local translation dictionary, youmay want to consider taking a look at Ricardo Villalba'swordtrans atwordtrans.sourceforge.net(Figure 4). Compiling wordtrans can be a little tricky, but itisn't a great problem. A visit to TuxFinder(www.tuxfinder.org)turns up quite a number of precompiled packages. I downloaded boththe base wordtrans package along with the wordtrans-kde packages inRPM format and installed them. If you are downloading packages, youdo need both. You may also find a wordtrans-qt and a wordtrans-webpackage.

Figure 4. wordtrans, Your Personal Translation Dictionary

By default, wordtrans comes with English, French, Italian,Portuguese and Spanish translation dictionaries, but more can beadded. You'll find links to other language files on the wordtransweb site and in the software itself. When you start up Kwordtrans,it may appear as though nothing happened, but look at your systemtray in the Kicker panel and you'll see a little gray book icon.Click here and the Kwordtrans interface appears. To select yourlanguage of choice, click Dictionaries in the menubar and choosefrom the list. Choose the direction of your translation (forexample, English to Spanish or Spanish to English), type in a wordand press Enter.
As I mentioned, you can add additional dictionaries byclicking View on the menubar and selecting Introduction for somelinks. This not only extends wordtrans' capabilities, but some ofthe dictionaries available for download are more extensive than thedefault ones. To add a downloaded language file, click Dictionarieson the menubar, select New and follow the instructions. Idownloaded and installed several fromwww.linuks.mine.nu/dictionarywith excellent results.
I'm afraid I do not speak Hungarian, mesamis, but apparently I would have to say azidõ lejárt, which my desktop translatortells me means “time's up”. It is indeed closing time, but thereis time enough for another glass of wine before you go. Raise yourglass and my faithful waiter, François, happily will takecare of you. As you can see, with a little exploration in our Linuxkitchens, we may one day be able to communicate effortlessly withthe world. Until next time, mes amis, let usall drink to one another's health. A votresanté! Bonappétit! Source: http://www.linuxjournal.com

Being a translator should be hard

2011-11-01T19:09:00.003+02:00

“Becoming a translator is easy
It’s no secret that translation has a low barrier to entry, and freelance work an even lower one.
Speak more than one language? Then set up an account on Proz.com, mass-email your CV to a list of agencies and voilà, you’re a freelance translator. If you want to be especially entrepreneurial, you might even take thirty minutes or so to set up a website, blog and Twitter stream.
There is nothing wrong with any of this. I don’t begrudge anyone their route into translation, nor do I believe a baptism of fire is a requirement to earn your wings as a “real” translator.
But I do think it’s what you do next, after you’ve emailed your CV, set up your LinkedIn profile or had your business cards printed, and every single day thereafter, over a period of weeks, months and years, that secures you a successful, sustainable career in translation.
But being one isn’t
A lot of people become freelance translators, but far fewer stay long in the profession. Translation communities are full of translators complaining about low rates, unfair conditions and clients who take advantage of them.
By my reckoning, these people do not have successful, sustainable careers in translation. So what can they do to change that?
As Aristotle apparently never said, we are what we repeatedly do, and excellence is not an act but a habit.
Significant results don’t materialise overnight – they require continuous (or at least continual) practice combined with a strategic approach, a long-term commitment and plenty of hard work.
Projects that are well paid, satisfying and regular, or clients that are reasonable, interesting and appreciative: there is no magic pill or single way to achieve these things.
They simply require that you put the work in, over and over again.” Source: proz.com

ASCII Table and Description

2011-11-01T19:07:00.002+02:00

ASCII stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. Computers can only understand numbers, so an ASCII code is the numerical representation of a character such as 'a' or '@' or an action of some sort. ASCII was developed a long time ago and now the non-printing characters are rarely used for their original purpose. Below is the ASCII character table and this includes descriptions of the first 32 non-printing characters. ASCII was actually designed for use with teletypes and so the descriptions are somewhat obscure. If someone says they want your CV however in ASCII format, all this means is they want 'plain' text with no formatting such as tabs, bold or underscoring - the raw format that any computer can understand. This is usually so they can easily import the file into their own applications without issues. Notepad.exe creates ASCII text, or in MS Word you can save a file as 'text only'

Extended ASCII Codes

Perl command line interface to Google Translate

2011-11-01T19:02:00.002+02:00

#!/usr/bin/perl
# By: Jeremiah LaRocco
# Use translate.google.com to translate between languages.
# Sample run:
# gtrans.pl --to french --from english This is a test
# Ceci est un test
#
use strict;
use warnings;
require LWP::UserAgent;
use Getopt::Long qw(:config pass_through);
use URI::Escape;
use HTML::Entities;
my %languages = ('french'=>'fr', 'spanish'=>'es', 'afrikaans'=>'af', 'albanian'=>'sq',
'arabic'=>'ar', 'belarusian'=>'be', 'bulgarian'=>'bg', 'catalan'=>'ca', 'chinese'=>'zh-cn',
'croatian'=>'hr', 'czech'=>'cs', 'danish'=>'da', 'dutch'=>'nl', 'english'=>'en', 'estonian'=>'et',
'filipino'=>'tl', 'finnish'=>'fi', 'french'=>'fr', 'galician'=>'gl', 'german'=>'de', 'greek'=>'el',
'haitian creole alpha'=>'ht', 'hebrew'=>'iw', 'hindi'=>'hi', 'hungarian'=>'hu', 'icelandic'=>'is',
'indonesian'=>'id', 'irish'=>'ga', 'italian'=>'it', 'japanese'=>'ja', 'korean'=>'ko',
'latvian'=>'lv', 'lithuanian'=>'lt', 'macedonian'=>'mk', 'malay'=>'ms', 'maltese'=>'mt',
'norwegian'=>'no', 'persian'=>'fa', 'polish'=>'pl', 'portuguese'=>'pt', 'romanian'=>'ro',
'russian'=>'ru', 'serbian'=>'sr', 'slovak'=>'sk', 'slovenian'=>'sl', 'spanish'=>'es',
'swahili'=>'sw', 'swedish'=>'sv', 'thai'=>'th', 'turkish'=>'tr', 'ukrainian'=>'uk',
'vietnamese'=>'vi', 'welsh'=>'cy', 'yiddish'=>'yi', );
sub usage {
    my $usage_str = <<END;
Valid command line arguments are:
   $0 [--to <language>] [--from <language>] text...
Optional arguments controlling translation languages:
   --to     Sets the language to translate to
The default value is English (en)
   --from   Sets the language to translate from
The default value is French (fr)
Languages can be specified by name (i.e. French) or by their abbreviation (i.e. fr).
Valid languages are:
END
    print $usage_str;
    my $curLine = '';

    for my $key (sort keys %languages) {
        $curLine = sprintf('%s %20s %7s ', $curLine, $key, '('.$languages{$key}.')');
        if (length($curLine)>100) {
            print "$curLine\n";
            $curLine = '';
        }
    }
    print "$curLine\n";
}
sub main {
    my $help;
    my $to = 'en';
    my $from = 'fr';

    GetOptions('help!'=>\$help,
               'to=s'=>\$to,
               'from=s'=>\$from);
    if ($help || $#ARGV==-1) {        usage;
        exit(0);
    }
    if ($languages{lc $from}) {
        $from = $languages{lc $from};
    }
    if ($languages{lc $to}) {
        $to = $languages{lc $to};
    }
    my @words = @ARGV;
    map uri_escape, @words;
    my $url = "http://translate.google.com/translate_t?langpair=$from|$to&text=" . join('+', @words);
    my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new;
    $ua->agent('');
    my $res = $ua->get($url);
    if ($res->is_success) {
        my $sentence = join(' ', @words);
        # my $translated = decode_entities($res->content);
        if ($res->content =~ /<span title="$sentence" onmouseover="this.style.backgroundColor='#ebeff9'" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor='#fff'">(.*?)<\/span>/) {
            my $translated = decode_entities($1);
            print "$translated\n";
        }
    }
    else {
        die $res->status_line;
    }
}
main;

How Google Translate works

2011-10-22T08:39:00.001+03:00

Using software originally developed in the 1980s by researchers at IBM, Google has created an automatic translation tool that is unlike all others. It is not based on the intellectual presuppositions of early machine translation efforts – it isn't an algorithm designed only to extract the meaning of an expression from its syntax and vocabulary.

In fact, at bottom, it doesn't deal with meaning at all. Instead of taking a linguistic expression as something that requires decoding, Google Translate (GT) takes it as something that has probably been said before.

It uses vast computing power to scour the internet in the blink of an eye, looking for the expression in some text that exists alongside its paired translation.

The corpus it can scan includes all the paper put out since 1957 by the EU in two dozen languages, everything the UN and its agencies have ever done in writing in six official languages, and huge amounts of other material, from the records of international tribunals to company reports and all the articles and books in bilingual form that have been put up on the web by individuals, libraries, booksellers, authors and academic departments.

Drawing on the already established patterns of matches between these millions of paired documents, Google Translate uses statistical methods to pick out the most probable acceptable version of what's been submitted to it.

Much of the time, it works. It's quite stunning. And it is largely responsible for the new mood of optimism about the prospects for "fully automated high-quality machine translation".

Google Translate could not work without a very large pre-existing corpus of translations. It is built upon the millions of hours of labour of human translators who produced the texts that GT scours.

Google's own promotional video doesn't dwell on this at all. At present it offers two-way translation between 58 languages, that is 3,306 separate translation services, more than have ever existed in all human history to date.

Most of these translation relations – Icelandic to Farsi, Yiddish to Vietnamese, and dozens more – are the newborn offspring of Google Translate: there is no history of translation between them, and therefore no paired texts, on the web or anywhere else. Google's presentation of its service points out that given the huge variations between languages in the amount of material its program can scan to find solutions, translation quality varies according to the language pair involved.

What it does not highlight is that GT is as much the prisoner of global flows in translation as we all are. Its admirably smart probabilistic computational system can only offer 3,306 translation directions by using the same device as has always assisted intercultural communication: pivots, or intermediary languages.

It's not because Google is based in California that English is the main pivot. If you use statistical methods to compute the most likely match between languages that have never been matched directly before, you must use the pivot that can provide matches with both target and source.

A good number of English-language detective novels, for example, have probably been translated into both Icelandic and Farsi. They thus provide ample material for finding matches between sentences in the two foreign languages; whereas Persian classics translated into Icelandic are surely far fewer, even including those works that have themselves made the journey by way of a pivot such as French or German. This means that John Grisham makes a bigger contribution to the quality of GT's Icelandic-Farsi translation device than Rumi or Halldór Laxness ever will. And the real wizardry of Harry Potter may well lie in his hidden power to support translation from Hebrew into Chinese. GT-generated translations themselves go up on the web and become part of the corpus that GT scans, producing a feedback loop that reinforces the probability that the original GT translation was acceptable. But it also feeds on human translators, since it always asks users to suggest a better translation than the one it provides – a loop pulling in the opposite direction, towards greater refinement. It's an extraordinarily clever device. I've used it myself to check I had understood a Swedish sentence more or less correctly, for example, and it is used automatically as a webpage translator whenever you use a search engine.

Of course, it may also produce nonsense. However, the kind of nonsense a translation machine produces is usually less dangerous than human-sourced bloopers. You can usually see instantly when GT has failed to get it right, because the output makes no sense, and so you disregard it. (This is why you should never use GT to translate into a language you do not know very well. Use it only to translate into a language in which you are sure you can recognise nonsense.)

Human translators, on the other hand, produce characteristically fluent and meaningful output, and you really can't tell if they are wrong unless you also understand the source – in which case you don't need the translation at all.

If you remain attached to the idea that a language really does consist of words and rules and that meaning has a computable relationship to them (a fantasy that many philosophers still cling to), then GT is not a translation device. It's just a trick performed by an electronic bulldozer allowed to steal other people's work. But if you have a more open mind, GT suggests something else.

Conference interpreters can often guess ahead of what a speaker is saying because speakers at international conferences repeatedly use the same formulaic expressions. Similarly, an experienced translator working in a familiar domain knows without thinking that certain chunks of text have standard translations that he or she can slot in.

Translators don't reinvent hot water every day. They behave more like GT – scanning their own memories in double-quick time for the most probable solution to the issue at hand. GT's basic mode of operation is much more like professional translation than is the slow descent into the "great basement" of pure meaning that early mechanical translation developers imagined.

GT is also a splendidly cheeky response to one of the great myths of modern language studies. It was claimed, and for decades it was barely disputed, that what was so special about a natural language was that its underlying structure allowed an infinite number of different sentences to be generated by a finite set of words and rules.

A few wits pointed out that this was no different from a British motor car plant, capable of producing an infinite number of vehicles each one of which had something different wrong with it – but the objection didn't make much impact outside Oxford.

GT deals with translation on the basis not that every sentence is different, but that anything submitted to it has probably been said before. Whatever a language may be in principle, in practice it is used most commonly to say the same things over and over again. There is a good reason for that. In the great basement that is the foundation of all human activities, including language behaviour, we find not anything as abstract as "pure meaning", but common human needs and desires.

All languages serve those same needs, and serve them equally well. If we do say the same things over and over again, it is because we encounter the same needs, feel the same fears, desires and sensations at every turn. The skills of translators and the basic design of GT are, in their different ways, parallel reflections of our common humanity.This is an extract from 'Is That A Fish In Your Ear: Translation and the Meaning of Everything' by David Bellos.

Top Web Conferencing Software for Linux

2011-10-22T08:35:00.000+03:00

In the age of globalization, working with people from different parts of the world is common for many industries. Employees often have to travel long distances, which are not only hectic, but also costly for the company. Thanks to the fantastic state of the current economy, companies can no longer afford to spend extra money on travel expenses and accommodation. Furthermore, since travel often involves shifting between different timezones, employees are jet lagged and they aren’t able to perform at their fullest potential. And finally, there’s the environmental crisis, which is forcing more and more companies to go green and to cut out any unnecessary activities that may affect the environment, which obviously involves travel too.

So, what’s the solution to this? Should we stop globalizing? The answer is No. Thanks to the marvelous advancement in modern computing, people from different parts of the world can now communicate without even leaving their own office. The technology I’m talking about is web conferencing. Web conferencing allows you to hold meetings, seminars (called webinars), annotate whiteboards, training events, lectures and more using the power of the Internet.

To hold a web conference at your own office, you’ll need decent web conferencing software. If you’re looking to buy/ download one, there are plenty of options out there. However, if you’re on Linux, your choices are a bit limited. Don’t worry though, read on as we cover the best web conferencing software out there for Linux.

OpenMeetings

OpenMeetings is an open source web conferencing application that allows you to instantly set up a conference on the web. This browser-based tool lets you use your webcam and microphone to hold meetings over the Internet. Other features include the ability to share documents on a whiteboard as well as screen sharing. If you need to review your meetings, you can also record those using OpenMeetings. Licensed under EPL, OpenMeetings is free to download and install on a hosted server.

FastViewer Confered

Here’s another propriety yet feature-laden web conferencing tool that works on Linux. FastViewer Confered offers great features like web collaboration, online training sessions, encrypted communication, mobile device support and more. Furthermore, the software also allows users to record meetings. One advantage that FastViewer has over other web conferencing software is that it allows AES 256-bit coded encrypted communication. FastViewer is proprietary and works on Linux in viewer-only mode.

Adobe Connect

Adobe Connect is Adobe’s web conferencing software that runs across almost all popular platforms. Despite being entirely Flash-based, Adobe Connect comes with an impressive set of features, which include: unlimited and customizable meeting rooms, breakout sessions within a meeting, VoIP, Video conferencing, polling, notes, chat and whiteboard. Adobe Connect runs on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris, and mobile. For Linux, the presenter/host has to be an Ubuntu 10 (or above) machine. The attendees on the other hand, can choose between Ubuntu, RHEL or Novell SUSE. Another important and annoying requirement is that the computers need to have Adobe Flash player 10.1 or higher. Even though it’s proprietary and Flash-based, Adobe Connect deserves a worthy mention on this list simply because of the impressive features it comes with.

WebHuddle

WebHuddle is a Java-based cross-platform web conferencing application. The open source web application runs on any Java-based computer and transfers data encrypted by HTTPS. During installation, the client applet which is about 75 to 175 KB makes sure that it takes almost no space at all. Then, web conferencing can be started using the easy to use web-based tool. With a conveniently low set of requirements, WebHuddle makes it easy and economical for small businesses to carry out web conferencing. Since the tool is in beta, it is free to install and try out. Once out of beta, the company might charge for the service, though the model still remains open source.

Zoho Meeting

Zoho Meeting is a web-conferencing service from Zoho, the company that develops popular cloud-based office solutions. The application allows participants to see the screen of the presenter by using ActiveX, Flash or Java. A unique thing about Zoho Meeting is its Embed feature that allows corporate users to embed meetings into their webpage. For those concerned about security, Zoho encrypts all data that is transferred. Though Zoho Meeting works on Linux, its only limitation is that the presenter should be using a Windows computer. The service starts at $12 per 5 participants. The site also offers users to watch a free live demo before buying the service. Source: http://www.junauza.com

10 things to do before attending a conference

2011-10-22T08:26:00.003+03:00

The following list of items are taken from Adventures in Freelance Translation by Lingua Greca blog with some edits from proz.com site staff:
Sightseeing: If you’re traveling to a city you’ve never been to before, make sure to leave some time for sightseeing. Arrive a few days early or stay a bit longer. Research beforehand the places you want to see, which travel card or city pass is more suitable for you, based on the Points of Interest (POI) or attractions you want to visit. So yeah, sometimes I also research and plan for sightseeing, the rest of the times I barely see the new city I’m visiting…
Business cards: Review your business cards well before the conference. Maybe it’s time to update them or print a new batch of your existing cards. You should have at least 100 cards with you, more if you’re planning to attend several networking events or you’re a speaker at the conference. Most importantly, don’t forget to take them with you before you leave home!
Promotional material: By promotional material I mean flyers, brochures etc. about your translation business. Freelance translators don’t usually bother bringing such promotional material to big translation conferences, because there aren’t many direct clients there, but mostly translation agencies. The latter will be more impressed by a well-prepared resume than any other promotional material.
Résumé: Review and update your résumé. Make sure it’s not more than 1-2 pages and print it to check how it looks on paper. Then, choose a nice quality paper, preferably white or ivory, and print at least 50-100 copies. Keep some resumes at hand in case you meet someone (probably a translation manager) who asks you for one.
Elevator speech: Read this article “Promoting Your Practice in 60 Seconds or Less: Mastering the Elevator Speech” by Lillian Clementi, and then prepare and practice your elevator speech, which will be indispensable during networking events.
Contact existing friends and clients: Find out if colleagues you’ve met in previous conferences or representatives from translation agencies you already work with are attending the conference. But how do you check if they’re attending? Sometimes people mention attending a conference in their social media networks and agencies might include it in a newsletter. The easiest way is to email all the colleagues you want to meet and find out if they’re going to be there. If you get an affirmative reply, arrange to meet them at a scheduled networking event, during the conference or for lunch, coffee etc.
Contact new people you want to meet: If you want to meet folks you’ve interacted with on social networks, a translation manager you’d like start working with etc. – arrange to do so beforehand. You can also check the full list of attendees, which you receive upon registration one day before or on first day of the conference.
Organize your time: To make sure you’ll make the best of the conference, study the program and choose the sessions you don’t want to miss by creating an hourly schedule, along with backup options in case the sessions is canceled.
Clothing and accessories: Check the weather at your destination and pack accordingly. You’ll probably spent most of your day in the conference hotel, so bring an overcoat but don’t dress too heavily underneath because you’re going to be hot and uncomfortable. The ‘dress-code’ for the conference is business casual. You don’t have to wear a suit, but leave your flip-flops at home. Check if the hotel has a pool and/or a spa and if you’re interested, pack your swimming suit (the hotel usually offers everything else, such as robe, slippers, towels etc.)
Inform your clients you’ll be OoO: It’s next to impossible to work during the 3-day conference, so don’t forget to inform your clients well before you leave (at least 1-2 weeks) about your out-of-office dates. Also, write a nice OoO message to be sent to anybody that sends you an email during that period. If you have a smartphone, you’ll probably be able to check your inbox during the conference, but avoid spending too much time with your phone/tablet/computer when there are so many interesting things to learn and people to meet.

Add new file extension to right click context menu

2011-10-13T21:41:00.000+03:00

For some reason, the "New" option when right-clicking in Explorer did not show the .doc file anymore. Here is how to fix it. Create a simple text file, copy this content

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\docfile]
@="Word Document"
"FriendlyTypeName"=hex(2):40,00,3d,00,22,00,44,00,4f,00,43,00,20,00,66,00,69,\
00,6c,00,65,00,22,00,00,00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.doc]
@="docfile"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.doc\ShellNew]
"NullFile"=""

And then rename the file with the extension .reg and run it.

To delete the entry, repeat the procedure with the following content:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\docfile]
@="Word Document"
"FriendlyTypeName"=hex(2):40,00,3d,00,22,00,44,00,4f,00,43,00,20,00,66,00,69,\
00,6c,00,65,00,22,00,00,00

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.doc]
@="docfile"

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.doc\ShellNew]
"NullFile"=""

Unfortunately this method creates just a text file with a .doc extension, no real Word document, so beware!

How to split a single flac file into multiple tracks

2011-10-07T12:35:00.000+03:00

This tutorial will guide you through the steps required to split a single large .flac file into multiple tracks/songs.

If you’ve downloaded an album in .flac format, and it’s one big file, you can split it into multiple tracks (songs) via the .cue file that should be included in the download. There are a number of reasons for wanting to do this, the most common is to create individual MP3s of each track, rather than one long MP3 of the entire album. Once you’re done splitting the .flac file, you can use this tutorial to convert them to MP3s.

To get started, download and install Medieval Cue Splitter. The installation is very straight forward – you’ll click “Next” a few times and then you’re done. Launch it by double-clicking its Desktop icon, or from its entry in your Start menu.If .cue files are already associated with a program on your PC, you’ll be prompted with a message asking if you’d like to associate all .cue files with Medieval Cue Splitter. Click Yes or No based on your needs.

And now Medieval Cue Splitter will launch.

click to enlarge

From the top navigation window, select File and then Open CUE file… from the drop-down list.

Navigate to your .cue file, select it, and click the Open button.

click to enlarge

Medieval Cue Splitter will populate all the fields with the appropriate information. When you’re ready to split the large .flac file into individual tracks, click the Split button in the bottom right corner of the window.

click to enlarge

When prompted for a location to save the .flac files, select the location of your choice. I opted to save them in the same folder as the original large flac and its .cue file. Click OK

And now Medieval Cue Splitter will do its thing. The time it takes to split the file depends on the speed of your PC, but generally it’s a fast process. The green ’status indicator’ in the bottom right corner of the window will display the progress.

click to enlarge

Once completed, a small pop-up window will appear. Click OK.

And now you’ll have each track on the album as an individual .flac file. The original .flac file will remain as well – it’s not deleted. Source: http://www.simplehelp.net

Speaking more than one language may slow the aging process in the mind

2011-10-05T20:02:00.003+03:00

Children who speak a second or third language may have an unexpected advantage later in life, a new Tel Aviv University study has found. Knowing and speaking many languages may protect the brain against the effects of aging.
Dr. Gitit Kavé, a clinical neuro-psychologist from the Herczeg Institute on Aging at Tel Aviv University, together with her colleagues Nitza Eyal, Aviva Shorek, and Jiska Cohen-Manfield, discovered recently that senior citizens who speak more languages test for better cognitive functioning. The results of her study were published in the journal Psychology and Aging.
However, Kavé says that one should approach these findings with caution. “There is no sure-fire recipe for avoiding the pitfalls of mental aging. But using a second or third language may help prolong the good years,” she advises.
Exercising the Brain
A person who speaks more languages is likely to be more clear-minded at an older age, she says, in effect “exercising” his or her brain more than those who are monolingual. Languages may create new links in the brain, contributing to this strengthening effect.
The research was based on a survey taken in 1989 on people between the ages of 75 and 95. Each person was asked how many languages he or she knew, what his or her mother tongue was, and which language he or she spoke best. The researchers compared bilingual speakers to tri- and multilingual speakers.
Analyzing the results, the researchers found that the more languages a person spoke, the better his or her cognitive state was. A person’s level of education was also strongly associated with cognitive state, but the number of languages contributed to the prediction of cognitive fitness beyond the effect of education alone.
A Matter of Words, Not Degrees
Although the easiest way to explain the findings was to point out the relationship between higher education and number of languages, this was not the whole story. In fact, Dr. Kavé says, “We found that more languages were most significantly correlated with cognitive state in those people who had no education at all.” Source: proz.com

Pros and cons of free tests

2011-10-05T20:00:00.003+03:00

“An issue comprising two key points, namely a) why do tests and b) should they be paid for? Plus a third, subsidiary point which irritates yours truly beyond all reasonable measure, so we’ll come to that last.
So, a) “why do tests?”
I confess, I think “why do tests” is probably a little simplistic – it should be “what need drives clients to ask for tests and do tests meet that need?” – but I was looking for a short sub-heading.
Three reasons justifying requests for tests
The obvious first point is that clients ask for tests in order to test (naturally enough) that translators can deliver what they say can deliver. If you claim to be a legal translator, that you can translate a paragraph or two from a contract. If you claim engineering knowledge, that you can translate the description of a cable stay for a bridge, say. And so on. Unfortunately, the translation business is full of people with a misplaced confidence in their abilities, or who deliberately mislead clients, and anything in between. Your exams and credentials may be perceived as not having examined the specific subject area to the depth that a client may need. Or maybe the information about you in the public domain doesn’t really indicate much one way or the other. So they ask for a quick couple of paragraphs to prove capability to deliver.
The second point is that clients may ask for a test to check translators can follow simple instructions. I have limited outsourcing experience, and even I can tell you that some translators will get the document, and just jump into translating that document, before they have read the accompanying email all the way down to the inevitable “Regards….” bit. So asking people to start at the third paragraph (say), can just be used to test how much attention the translator pays.
Third, they may ask for test to see if you are actually able to meet technical or ancillary requirements. Can you handle XML? Provide a TM in TMX format for the client? Giving the translator a handful of HTML pages and receiving a nice Word document back, even if translated perfectly, may not be what is required.
Counter-arguments – valid
A common counter-argument to that first point is that samples demonstrate the same thing. True to an extent, and more so for a specialist. As a counter-counter-argument, I would say that I would expect a sample made available to be as near to perfect as a translation ever gets, and all it demonstrates is the ability to hone that particular text to the nth degree. It does not necessarily demonstrate the ability to deliver the specific type of text the client requires. And it in no way demonstrates the important additional ability to follow instructions. And neither do credentials, certificates, diplomas, membership of professional organisations, or indeed paid membership of popular translation websites. Some of these can indeed be easily forged, faked or presented in a misleading way, and also be a bit of a bugger to check, particularly from another country.
A more reasonable but conversely less universally-applicable counter-argument is that if you are being asked for a test, you probably don’t know the potential client from Adam, and the potential client also does not know you from any other character from the religious text of your choice. So we should be careful. It is certainly safer to acquire new clients by personal recommendation and referral, and the same is partly true of agencies using new translators. I have also heard the viewpoint that a client who is testing several people (not that we usually know how many are being tested at once) is likely to view each of them as interchangeable or disposable, initially at least, until they prove otherwise. Once again, a spot of (demonstrable) specialisation is your friend.” Source: proz.com

10 rules for writing numbers and numerals

2011-10-05T19:59:00.003+03:00

How do you express numbers in your writing? When do you use figures (digits) and when do you write out the number in words (letters)? That is, when do you write 9 and when do you write nine?
1. Number versus numeral. A number is an abstract concept while a numeral is a symbol used to express that number. “Three,” “3″ and “III” are all symbols used to express the same number (or the concept of “threeness”). One could say that the difference between a number and its numerals is like the difference between a person and her name.
2. Spell small numbers out. The small numbers, such as whole numbers smaller than ten, should be spelled out. That’s one rule you can count on. If you don’t spell numbers out it will look like you’re sending an instant message, and you want to be more formal than that in your writing.
3. No other standard rule: Experts don’t always agree on other rules. Two-word numbers should be expressed in figures. That is, they say you should write outtwelve or twenty. But not 24.
4. Using the comma. In English, the comma is used as a thousands separator (and the period as a decimal separator), to make large numbers easier to read.
5. Don’t start a sentence with a numeral. Make it “Fourscore and seven years ago,” not “4 score and 7 years ago.”
6. Centuries and decades should be spelled out. Use the Eighties ornineteenth century.
7. Percentages and recipes. With everyday writing and recipes you can use digits, like “4% of the children” or “Add 2 cups of brown rice.”
8. If the number is rounded or estimated, spell it out. Rounded numbers over a million are written as a numeral plus a word.
9. Two numbers next to each other. It can be confusing if you write “7 13-year-olds”, so write one of them as a numeral, like “seven 13-year-olds”. Pick the number that has the fewest letters.
10. Ordinal numbers and consistency. Don’t say “He was my 1st true love,” but rather “He was my first true love.” Source: proz.com

5 ways to earn a full-time income freelancing part-time

2011-10-05T19:58:00.003+03:00

This article is intended for freelance writers but it can also be useful for freelance translators:
Here are five tips for maximizing your working hours:
1. Never start the workday without a plan. When your hours are limited, you can’t afford to waste a minute figuring out a to-do list for the day. Before you even sit down to work, have a task list ready to go. I always make my list the last few minutes of the previous workday, when I’m in the zone and know the status of each project. The next time I start work, which depending on my schedule could be several days later, my list is ready and so am I. I dive right in and get a ton more accomplished.
2. Set revenue goals. Many freelancers hesitate to set revenue goals because income is so unpredictable. But the up-and-down nature of freelancing makes setting goals even more important. You’ve got to have a clear idea of how much money you want to make so you have something to aim for. Set a yearly goal, and then break it down by quarter and month. If your monthly goal is $5,000 but one month you make $4,000, you know you’ve got to ramp up marketing to make up the slack. If you don’t set and actively monitor revenue goals, your could get a surprise at the end of the year – and rare is the freelancer surprised at how much more she brought in than she realized. Revenue goals are even more important for part-timers. It’s too easy to think of freelancing income as grocery money or gravy. Take your work, and the amount you want to earn from it, seriously.
3. Develop anchor clients. Anchor clients, editors and corporate clients who use you again and again, are the foundation of a part-time freelancer’s house. Work you can count on helps make meeting revenue goals that much easier, which means you can spend less of your precious time marketing and more writing, and earning.
4. Be the best professional you can be. How do you get anchor clients? Editors and corporate clients will come back repeatedly if you turn in good work, make yourself available for and amenable to revisions as necessary and generally make their lives easier. Anticipate how to do that, or ask. I try to remember that my clients have their own pressures from bosses, clients and advertisers, and may have different goals for my copy than I do.
5. Set your sights high. If you don’t believe you deserve the big projects, the highest per-word rate, the feature stories, who will? Be humble, build up your body of work, and then go for the good stuff. Source: proz.com

Lack of language skills costing British firms £21 billion

2011-10-05T19:57:00.003+03:00

The Forum of Private Business is warning that poor foreign language skills cost British businesses £21 billion per year, leaving them behind large companies which are increasingly investing in multilingual staff.
Cardiff University’s 2007 ‘Costing Babel’ research revealed that UK businesses miss out on £21 billion annually in lost contracts.
It followed an earlier study showing that the demand for non-English language skills in large European companies is greater than the demand for English — often seen by UK small and medium businesses (SMEs) as the international ‘lingua franca’ of business.
The 2006 ELAN Project survey, which emerged from the European Commission’s 2000 Lisbon strategy to stimulate economic growth and employment, said there was evidence of ‘Anglophone complacency’ within small firms.
The report highlighted the importance of language skills, as well as an awareness of cultural differences, to export success.
Four elements of language management were found to be associated with successful export performance: having a language strategy, appointing native speakers, recruiting staff with language skills and using professionally qualified translators or interpreters.
An SME investing in these four elements was calculated to achieve an export sales proportion 44.5% higher than one without these investments.
The not-for-profit Forum has responded by launching a new language service for SMEs in conjunction with a translation agency.
Expert translators in all major languages with experience in a wide range of industries will be on hand to help translate tenders, contracts, manuals, corporate literature and websites, localised to suit specific markets, and provide face-to-face and telephone interpreting services.
In all, 73% of large companies responding to the ELAN survey had an established scheme for recruiting language-skilled employees, while a further 20% said recruiting these workers was common practice.
However, the report found that demand for skills in non-English languages over English was ‘significantly higher’ in these large companies compared to SMEs, which it found lose a ‘significant amount’ of business as a result, hindering both their existing and future export plans.
Many respondents viewed English as a key language for gaining access to export markets as a lingua franca for international business. However, the survey found that, while English might be used for initial market entry, the picture is far more complex and geographically variable. For example French is commonly used in trade negotiations in Africa and Spanish in Latin America. Source: proz.com

Internationalization versus localization

2011-10-05T19:56:00.002+03:00

i18n and L10n
Internationalization (also known in various circles as i18n — the 18 denoting the number of missing letters from the middle of the word) is designing a site, a piece of software or an application that can be adapted for many different cultures. It is a process that is generally only performed once during the creation process. In a sense it’s sort of a one-size-fits-all solution that paves a neat path towards…
…Localization (often abbreviated to L10n… the same rules apply), which is the actual adaptation of your design, interface, software, etc. for a particular area or culture. This includes translating the text into other languages, making sure pictures are culturally acceptable and removing references that may not be relevant. Where internationalization is a process that is done only once, localization is performed each time you want to target a particular culture/language set.
Internationalization
To internationalize, you need to be one step ahead. What features might you want to implement in the future? Even if you haven’t even thought about breaking into China or India yet, these are both up-and-coming countries with languages that are non-Latin script. Unicode is pretty much essential these days and can support all manner of scripts, languages and characters for when the time comes.
And this also involves the ways in which languages are read. Some scripts, like Hebrew or Farsi are read from right to left, which will affect all of your text, text entry controls and scroll bars. You can add markup in your DTD which will support bidirectional text (and thankfully Unicode automatically supports it too).
To this end, separating specific elements from your source code that you may need to localize later is certainly a must. By isolating these localizable elements, you can ensure that when you change these, the rest of the code remains untouched. Examples here might involve date and time formats or name and address inputs. Source: proz.com

Good proofreaders and bad proofreaders

2011-10-05T19:54:00.003+03:00

Your translation often needs to be checked to ensure its good quality. A person who checks a translation done by someone else can be called a reviewer, an editor, a proofreader or simply a checker. In this article, by the term ‘proofreader’ I mean the one who is usually hired by a translation company to check a translation against the source text for accuracy, completeness, linguistic and stylistic appropriateness, grammar, and spelling, although I am aware that some experts in our field may contend that a proofreader is only expected to check the spelling, grammar and style of the target document while an editor is expected to do more.
In some cases translations are checked by experienced and professional proofreaders. However in other cases, the work is corrected by bad and unfair proofreaders. These proofreaders often waste the time of the project manager, of the translator and even of themselves. They also bring about unpleasant feelings for both translator and the project manager.

Correcting approach

The job of a proofreader is to correct a translation, but good proofreaders and bad proofreaders have different approaches to doing it. Except spelling or typo issues that require immediate changes, a good proofreader will hesitate to change anything until he is sure that the change will serve a purpose, such as help clarify a certain meaning, fit the client’s style sheet or terminology, avoid misunderstandings or enhance the naturalness of the message. A bad proofreader usually hurries to change anything that he thinks does not match his own stylistic preference. Many bad proofreaders even tend to rewrite everything in their own words, falsely believing the more changes they make, the more competence they can show, at least, to a project manager. While a good proofreader tends to focus on errors that can obfuscate the clarity of meaning or result in misunderstanding of a text, a bad proofreader often concentrates on the minor details. Needless to say, a good proofreader often reviews all the changes he makes before submitting the edited work to the client. A bad proofreader does not review changes or does this in a careless way. Not long ago, I received back an edited version of my translation in which I realized that the proofreader used the ‘find and replace’ function so carelessly that he replaced many correct terms including the original name of company and its original website address! Source: proz.com

Freelancing stress

2011-10-05T19:52:00.005+03:00

Some stress has always been a part of freelancing and will likely always be a part of freelancing. Here are some of the usual suspects that cause freelancers to experience stress:
Project Deadlines (crunch time)
Finances (or lack thereof)
Finding Work (also known as the feast or famine cycle)
Illness (sometimes caused by stress)
To be honest, many of these stressors exist for non-freelancers too. For example, non-freelancers may face project deadlines, have trouble with their finances, or get sick. Everyone, whether they are freelancing or not, has to deal with some stress in life.
The usual suspects have been stressing us out for a long time and aren’t likely to go away any time soon.
The New Players
In the past year, or so, global factors have emerged that may cause freelancers to experience additional stress that they may not have experienced in the past.
The Economy. It’s no secret that the global economy is floundering. The effects of a weakened economy can be felt in the freelance marketplace. I am seeing more and more “freelancers” state that they have been forced to turn to freelancing after losing a traditional job. (I hate to think of someone being “forced” to become a freelancer if they don’t really want that lifestyle for themselves.) A weakened economy also means more freelancers competing for fewer opportunities.
The Technology. Technology is changing more rapidly than ever before. Not only are there constantly new software tools a freelancer must learn to use and master, but also new hardware and new platforms as well. In fact, things are changing so rapidly that it is nearly impossible to keep up. Plus, we are constantly being bombarded with information that we can’t use and don’t need and it takes time to filter through everything we are exposed to.
The Social Clutter. One of the greatest relational changes that humankind has faced has occurred in the past ten years. I’m talking about social media. Before social media, must adults were lucky if they met two dozen new people in a year. Maybe, if they really worked at it, they could meet three dozen new people in a year’s time. Suddenly, through social media magic, all of us are getting to “know” not dozens, but possibly hundreds of new “friends” each year from all over the world. This sudden access to the multitudes has stretched and strained what friendship really means. Source: proz.com

Translator/interpreter becomes top profession for 2012

2011-10-05T19:52:00.001+03:00

In today's information society, communication is more than just important. It's crucial. Every business and political message runs the risk of being misinterpreted, especially when it comes to complex ideas, and the results of misinterpretation can range from a failed business agreement to the collapse of government talks. In short, there never has been more demand for specialists in translation and interpretation, which makes these two jobs hot prospects for the coming years.
If you're fluent in two or more languages, you may find this career area of great interest to you, perhaps as you explore an entirely new vocation or if you're just starting your career after college. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, translators and interpreters will experience faster-than-average employment growth through 2018.
What's the difference between translators and interpreters? Translators work with the written word, whereas interpreters work with the spoken word. Many corporations are in great need of professionals in both aspects of the field, as are government agencies and other employers.
For instance, the American Translators Association is composed of more than 11,000 members -- including translators, interpreters, teachers, project managers, Web and software developers, language company owners, hospitals, universities and government agencies -- in more than 90 countries.
Dawn Rosenberg McKay, the career planning guide for About.com, says, "Most employers will only consider candidates who have bachelor's degrees, as well as specialized training from a formal program."
Visit Salary.com to find out income ranges in your region.
Should you decide that your language fluency, education and experience make you a suitable candidate, visit the American Translators Association's website (www.ATAnet.org) for information on taking the test to become a credited member of the organization. You can take practice tests before paying the $300 test fee and signing up to take your exam.
You will need to provide proof of your education and work experience to qualify to take the test, which is a three-hour proctored exam in a specific language pair of your choice. The ATA currently offers exams for your proficiency in translating into English from Arabic, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish, as well as from English into Chinese, Croatian, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Ukrainian.
Be aware that the test is challenging. The current overall pass rate is less than 20 percent, but when you do pass, you earn entry into the ATA, as well as your designation as a certified interpreter or translator, ready to launch into your new field.
How Will You Work?
The next consideration is this: Do you wish to work for a company or organization, or do you wish to be an independent contractor? The former requires that you locate in-house job opportunities -- a perk of belonging to the ATA -- and go through the process of interviewing in order to land your dream job.
Some companies maintain their employees in an office, and some send their employees into the field to interpret and translate. Consider the travel implications as an important factor in your job search.
If you wish to be an independent contractor, you will need to establish your own business, with resources from the ATA and the U.S. Small Business Administration, set up your home office, apply for a state license (if required), pay quarterly taxes, set up an organized bookkeeping system, market yourself and set your own prices, among other requirements for the self-employed. The ATA reports that it can take up to two years to fully establish your own business.
Ongoing Training
Just as with any other job, you will need to take smart steps to maximize your career's potential and advancement. According to the ATA's website, here are some advised steps:
- Take courses to keep up-to-date on trends in your field and learn new terminology.
- Join professional organizations to find out more about and network within your chosen specialties.
- Travel abroad, if at all possible.
- Read often, in all your languages, to hone your skills.
- Subscribe to trade magazines in your areas of expertise.
- Add to your hardware/software collection and learn new programs.
- Check your local community college for classes in accounting, taxes, business management, marketing, etc.
- Check out assistance from women's or minority business organizations if you fit those categories. Source: www.lvrj.com

What are localization and other scary words people use?

2011-10-02T07:55:00.000+03:00

Newbies in translation and localization industry may be fascinated – or scared – by the terms pros use, like localization (or localisation in British English), globalization, internationalization etc. What exactly do these fancy terms mean and how are they different?
Localization (commonly abbreviated as l10n, first and last characters of the word plus 10 characters between them) means not just translating software but making it look and feel like it was originally written for the target market. Apart from the translation, the following issues must be taken into account.
Date formats; for example, for December 8^th 1994 in United States we write 12/08/94, in Spain 08/12/94, in Germany 08.12.1994, in Japan 94/12/08. We should watch this very carefully, as these issues may lead to user confusion.
Time formats; in USA the AM/PM format is used but in most of European and Asian countries the 24-hour format is preferred.
Number formats; for example, in USA the thousand separator is a comma (2,244), in Germany it’s a period (2.244) and in Russia a space (2 244)
Address formats
Currency, telephone numbers, paper sizes, units of measurement
Cultural peculiarities; for example, some colors or signs/symbols may have different meaning in different Countries and cultures: white in Japan symbolizes death whereas in Western cultures it symbolizes purity.
National symbols and flags, appropriate country information
Idioms and proverbs of the local culture
Web links and addresses; for example changing http://www.google.com tohttp://www.google.fr for France
Product and brand names. Note that most software applications are developed in English and when translating products names in most cases trademarked names are left in as-is (e.g.Microsoft, Nikon, Nokia). but service names may need to be translated, for example Google Books is translated into German as Google Bücher, into Spanish as Google Libros etc.
Locale indicates the combination “language_country”, for example “en_us” is English language for US users, “en_gb” is English language for Great Britain. Other examples are Spanish for Argentina (“es_ar”), Urugay (“es_uy”) or Spain (“es_es”). When it comes to software development, language codes usually follow the ISO 639-1 standard, while Country codes follow the ISO 3166 standard. Language and Country codes are separated by a dash or by an underscore, depending on the development platform.
Software localization consists in the translation of all UI items and help information, if available.
Internationalization aims to make the product more general and support usage in multiple languages and different cultural environments, ready for localization. In most cases it is recommended to be done during the software development phase. Read more. Source: blog.amanuens.com

How to assign a Word command or macro to a toolbar or menu

2011-10-02T07:31:00.000+03:00

Choose Customize on the Tools menu.
On the Commands tab, where it says “Save In”, select the template in which you want to save the changes you are about to make; or accept the default, which is usually to save them in your Normal.dot template (which will make your customisation global). If you are new to this, you will probably want to accept the default:

For the sake of older hands: the “Save in” box defaults to “Normal.dot”, unless the current document is another template or add-in, in which case it defaults to that template or addin. If the current document is attached to a template other than Normal.dot, then you will be able to select that template by pulling down the “Save in” List, thus allowing you to make your customisation specific to documents based on that template, if that's what you want.
If you want to make the changes in an add-in, you need to open the add-in as the current document before you start.
If you want to create a new Toolbar, click on the “Toolbars” tab, click New, give the new toolbar a name, and choose which template you want to store the toolbar in:

Figure 1

Or, if you want to create a new menu, click on the “Commands” tab. In the Categories list, click New Menu. In the Commands list, drag the “New Menu” item onto the Menu Bar (or onto a toolbar – any toolbar can act as a menu bar):

Figure 2

Then right-click on your new menu, and rename it.
Put an ampersand (&) just before the character which you want to be the shortcut key (the underlined character) – for instance if your menu is called “/font>My macros”, and you want the user to be able to invoke it using Alt+M, you should name it “My &macros” or “&My macros”.

FFigure 3

Or, if you want to assign the command or macro to a shortcut menu (otherwise known as a “right-click” menu), click on the “Toolbars” tab, and select “Shortcut menus” in the list of toolbars. The “Shortcut menus” toolbar will be displayed, and you can modify the menus on that in the same way as any other menu:

Figure 4

Once you've done that, select the Commands tab
In the Categories list, choose All Commands to assign a Word command, or choose Macros to assign a macro. Then in the list on the right, choose a command or macro and drag it onto the menu or toolbar you want it to be part of.
If you are customising a menu (including a shortcut/right-click menu), you will need to hold the mouse still until the menu drops down. Then position it, and only release the mouse when you have the command where you want it:

Figure 5

Note: If customising shortcut (i.e. context-sensitive right-click) menus, you may be surprised by how many menus you actually have to customise! For instance, if you want to add a command to the context-sensitive “Table” menus, you may well need to amend all of the menus shown in Figure 6. The trick here is, customise just one menu to start with. Then, when you're sure you've got it right, you can drag your new button, with your Ctrl key held down, to copy it from one menu to another. That way, you won't need to rename your buttons, or assign Tooltips or button images to them, more than once.

Figure 6

For a more detailed illustration of how to modify a shortcut menu, see also:
How to fix the Word 2000+ Cell Alignment buttons

Right-click on your new menu or toolbar button, and rename it (see Figure 3).

If you've dragged the command or macro onto a toolbar and only want an icon to appear, right-click on it, and change it from “Text only” to “Default Style”.
Then you can select “Edit button Image”, or “Change button image”; or “Paste button image”. In order to paste a button image, obviously you have to copy one first: You can copy an image from the document, or from another button; or from a graphic in a graphics package. For much more detail on this, see the article: Assigning custom button images to your toolbar and menu buttons.
If you've dragged the macro onto a menu, put an ampersand (&) just before the character which you want to be the shortcut key (the underlined character) – for instance if your button is called “Heading Numbering”, and you want the user to be able to invoke it by pressing N, you should name it “Heading &Numbering”. And again, see also: Assigning custom button images to your toolbar and menu buttons.

Click Close.

Hold your Shift key down and select File + Save All, in order to save the changes in your template or add-in.
If it is a macro that you're assigning, and if you capitalise your macro name so that the first letter of each “word” is capitalised and the rest is lower case, then the Tooltip will automatically have spaces between the “words”; so that a macro called “HeadingNumbering” would automatically have a Tooltip of “Heading Numbering”.
Whether it's a macro or a command that you're assigning, if you want to change the Tooltip text which appears when a user hovers over the button, you have to run a line of code such as the following – but this is a one-off – you only need to run the code once (you could run it from the Immediate Window – press Ctrl+G, or select View + Immediate Window):

CommandBars("MyCommandBarName").Controls("NameOfMyNewButton"). _
TooltipText = "My tooltip text"

Or if your button is on a menu you'd use something like:

CommandBars("MenuBarName").Controls("NameOfMenu"). _
.Controls("NameOfMyNewButton").TooltipText = "My tooltip text"

Then select b> File + Save All again.

If it is a macro that you're assigning to a menu button, and if you want the menu to display the keybaord shortcut that's been assigned to your macro (in the same way that the File + Save menu button displays Ctrl+S, over on the right), see: How to get a menu button that is assigned to a macro to display the keyboard shortcut on the menu.Source: http://word.mvps.org

How to Find Anything Under Linux

2011-10-02T07:20:00.002+03:00

The Linux find, grep, and awk commands are amazing power tools for fine-grained file searches, and for finding things inside files. With them you can find the largest and newest files on a system, fine-tune search parameters, search for text inside files, and perform some slick user management tricks.

Find Largest or Newest Files

The find command can do nearly anything, if you can figure out how. This example hunts down space hogs by finding the 10 largest files on your system, and sorts them from small to large in human-readable form:

# find / -type f -exec du {} \; 2>/dev/null | sort -n | tail -n 10 | xargs -n 1 du -h 2>/dev/null
1.2G	/home/carla/.local/share/Trash/files/download
1.3G	/home/carla/sda1/carla/.VirtualBox/Machines/ubuntu-hoary/Snapshots/{671041dd-700c-4506-68a8-7edfcd0e3c58}.vdi
2.2G	/home/carla/.local/share/Trash/files/dreamstudio.iso
[...]

These results remind me why I don’t like having a Trash bin, because when I delete something I mean it, by cracky. This command is a brute-force search of the entire filesystem and may take a few minutes to run, so use it as an excuse to go have a quick healthy walk outside. Of course you can modify the command to search whatever directories you want; for example, use find /var/ to hunt down obese logfiles.
Let’s dissect the command. find / -type f means “search all files in the entire root filesystem.” The -exec option is for incorporating other commands, in this case du, the disk usage command. -exec du {} \; means “run the du command on every file to get its size in bytes.” 2>/dev/null sends all error messages to the bitbucket, so they don’t clutter up your results. You can delete both 2>/dev/null occurrences and rerun the command if you’re curious about what you’re missing. sort -n puts all the files in order by size, and tail -n 10 displays the last 10, which thanks to the sort are the largest. You could stop there, and then your output would look like this:

1206316	/home/carla/.local/share/Trash/files/download
2209784	/home/carla/.local/share/Trash/files/dreamstudio.iso

xargs -n 1 du -h adds the final refinement, converting the file sizes from bytes to an easy-to-read format.
You can easily find all files on your system that were changed in the last five minutes:

# find / -mmin -5 -type f

This command finds all files changed between 10 and 20 minutes ago:

# find / -mmin +10 -mmin -20 -type f

+10 means more than 10 minutes ago, and -20 means less than 20. If you do not use a plus or minus, it means that number exactly. Use -mtime to search by 24-hour days. If you want to find directories, use -type d.

Searching Multiple Directories

You can list multiple arbitrary directories in which to search like this:

# find /etc /var /mnt /media -xdev -mmin -5 -type f

- xdev limits the search to the filesystem you are in and will not enter any other mounted filesystems. By default find does not follow symlinks, so you only need to include -xdev to stay inside a filesystem and not go wandering through network shares and removable devices.

Excluding Directories

You can narrow your searches by excluding directories with the prune option. prune is a little weird; you have to think backwards. This example searches the whole filesystem except for the /proc and /sys pseudo-directories:

# find / \( -name proc -o -name sys \) -prune -o -type f -mmin -1

First you name the directories to exclude, where -o means “or,” and escape the parentheses. Then -prune -o means “don’t look in the previously named directories.”
I like to use prune to exclude web browser caches, because they clutter the results. The following example does that, and also prints the date and time for each file:

$ find / \( -name proc -o -name sys -o -name .mozilla -o -name chromium \) -prune -o -type f -mmin -10 -printf "%Ac\t%p\n"
Wed 28 Sep 2011 10:34:54 AM PDT	/home/carla/.local/share/akonadi/db_data/ib_logfile0
Wed 28 Sep 2011 10:34:54 AM PDT	/home/carla/.local/share/akonadi/db_data/ibdata1
Wed 28 Sep 2011 05:21:48 PM PDT	/home/carla/articles/findgrep.html

The printf option is “print format.” Use printf when you want to control the formatting of your output. You get to specify newlines, date and time formatting, and file attributes such as permissions, ownership, and time stamps. %Ac prints the date and time, \t inserts a tab, %p prints the full filename, and \n inserts a newline.
As you can see, find has a lot of built-in functionality that people often add the ls command for.

Finding File Types

Searching by file extension is easy too. This example searches the current directory for three different types of image files:

$ find . -name "*.png" -o -name "*.jpg" -o -name "*.gif" -type f

Use the -name option to search on any part of a filename; either the extension or part of the name. For example, to find mysong.ogg you could search for mys*, or any part of it, using normal shell wildcards. Use -iname for a case-insensitive search.

Finding Duplicate Files

You can find duplicates files in a couple of ways. This command checks MD5 hashes:

$ find . -type f -exec md5sum '{}' ';' | sort | uniq --all-repeated=separate -w 24

This calculates an MD5 hash for all the files, sorts them by hash, displays them on separate lines, and matches the first 24 digits of each hash.
The second way is to match files by file size:

$ find . -type f -printf "%p - %s\n" | sort -nr -k3 | uniq -D -f1

MD5 hashes are more accurate, but matching file sizes is faster.

Finding Text Inside Files

The grep command is endlessly useful for searching inside text files to find things. Suppose you have a directory full of configuration files for a server, and you want to search all of them to find all of your test entries. If you were foresightful you used the word “test” in all of them, so this command will find them:

# grep -inR -A2 test /etc/fooserver/

This tells grep to do a case-insensitive recursive search for “test” in all the files in the /etc/fooserver/ directory, and to print the next two lines following the line that matches the search. The n option prints line numbers, which is a nice bonus in large files.

Finding Blocks of Text

The awk command can find blocks of related text in a way that grep can’t, using this simple syntax: awk '/start-pattern/,/stop-pattern/'. Suppose you want to see expanded information from lspci for just your Ethernet device:

$ lspci -v | awk '/[Ee]thernet/,/^$/'
08:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 03)
        Subsystem: Lenovo Device 2131
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 46
        I/O ports at 3000 [size=256]
        Memory at f2004000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=4K]
        Memory at f2000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=16K]
        [virtual] Expansion ROM at f2020000 [disabled] [size=128K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: r8169
        Kernel modules: r8169

You need to know the beginning and end of the block that you want to see, so it’s a great tool for quickly snagging sections of configuration files.
This example takes advantage of configuration blocks delimited with curly braces, and homes in on the listen directives in radiusd.conf:

# awk '/listen {/,/}/' /etc/freeradius/radiusd.conf
listen {
	    ipaddr = *
#	    ipv6addr = ::
	    port = 0
	    type = acct
#	    interface = eth0
#	    clients = per_socket_clients
}

Managing Users and Files

Employees leave, and file ownership and permissions get messed up on an organization’s system files – but don’t worry, find can help you set things right quickly. You can find all files that belong to a specified username:

# find / -user carla

Or to a group:

# find / -group admins

You can also search by UID and GID with the -uid and -gid options. You can then move all of a user’s files to another user by either username or UID:

# find / -uid 1100 -ok chown -v 1200 {} \;
# find / -user carla -ok chown -v steven {} \;

Of course this works for changing group membership as well:

# find / -group carla -ok chgrp -v admins {} \;

The ok option requires you to verify each and every change. Replace it with -exec if you’re confident about your changes.
When employees leave you may have a policy of deleting their files, which find can do with ease:

# find / -user 1100 -exec rm {} \;

Of course you want to be very sure you have it right, because find won’t nag you and ask if you are sure. It will simply do what you tell it to.
find, grep, and awk – with tools like these, and maybe a little help from their man pages, you can find just about anything on your Linux systems. Source: http://olex.openlogic.com

Enhanced communication via an interpreter

2011-09-29T09:54:00.000+03:00

The film is split into six modules and covers a spectrum of public sectors scenarios including scenes from a dentist waiting room, a Citizen’s Advice Bureau office, hospital ward and police interview and covers the following topics: Introduction, Language identification, Professional interpreter, How to meet, greet and brief your interpreter, Briefing your client on the role of an interpreter, Obtaining information via an interpreter, Summary.
To ensure you communicate effectively and efficiently through an interpreter you should use this good practise guidance.

Identify the language before booking the interpreter. Use a language identification chart if necessary. If the language is correctly identified you’ll be sure of booking the correct interpreter. This saves time and money. Always check if the client and interpreter share the same language.
Many languages have different dialects. It is your responsibility to ensure the interpreter and the client truly understand each other.
It is essential you use a professional interpreter. A professional interpreter will be qualified, experienced and security vetted and will have signed a professional code of conduct.
When you meet the interpreter it is important that you ask to see his of her identification badge to make sure this is the interpreter you’ve booked and not someone else.
Good interpreting comes from good preparation. You must brief your interpreter on the nature of the assignment, the subject of any discussion that will take place and any specialised terminology you’re likely to use. In some cases it’s necessary to prepare the interpreter emotionally for the assignment.
As an official it is your responsibility to ensure all parties understand the role of the interpreter and the ground rules for effective communications through an interpreter. The interpreter is there purely to help you overcome a language barrier.
As the official you must take immediate and complete control of the situation to ensure effective communication.

USB Applications › AutoHotkey

2011-09-20T13:34:00.002+03:00

AutoHotkey, usually abbreviated to AHK, is a great program to automate repetitive tasks in Windows. Among other things, you can use it to launch programs and to make hotstrings, i.e., auto-expanding abbreviations. AHK hotstrings work in any application that receives text input, be it a word processor, a text editor, an email client or a form in a web page.
What is more, since AutoHotkey is fully portable, you can use the same hotstrings file in any Windows computer or any Windows installation. You will never have to redefine your abbreviations again, unless you decide to switch to a different macro tool or to stop using Windows.

How is AutoHotkey portable?

AHK is a standalone program. Its installer simply adds some items to the context menu and the start menu, associates AHK files with the AutoHotkey engine (so that the system will know what program to use to execute them), and installs an uninstallation routine to undo all the above.

Portable AutoHotkey

Download and install AutoHotkey
Make a directory in the keydrive: X:\Apps\AutoHotkey (X: is the keydrive letter)
Copy AutoHotkey.exe to the directory X:\Apps\AutoHotkey
Make a script, say a4u.ahk (or copy/paste the sample below), and save it in the same directory
Open Notepad, paste the two lines below
@echo off
start ..\Apps\AutoHotkey\AutoHotkey.exe ..\Apps\AutoHotkey\a4u.ahk
... and save this as a4u.bat in the USB root directory. Double-click the batch file and enjoy!
To make changes (e.g., add abbreviations) while the script runs:
- Right-click on the system tray icon and select Edit This Script. Right-click again and select Reload This Script.
- Or, to be true to the AutoHotkey spirit, assign the appropriate hotkeys: See section SCRIPT-SPECIFIC HOTKEYS in the sample script below.

Sample script

This is a script with simple threads, drawing on examples from the AHK Help file. You can add or remove hotkeys and hotstrings, and you can also include external scripts. See section: EXTERNAL SCRIPTS TO INCLUDE. There are many wonderfully useful scripts in the AHK forum and in the AHK Help file,made by AHK experts.
The double modifier Ctrl+Win is used to avoid overriding system hotkeys such as Win+E. In case of conflict, non-AutoHotkey hotkeys are overriden while a script runs. If you don’t use native Windows hotkeys, you can start with a single modifier, e.g., Winkey.
Lines starting with a semicolon are comments, as are strings after semicolons. Comments are ignored by AutoHotkey. Blank lines are also ignored. They were inserted for readability. Indentation is optional and can be arbitrary; consistent indentation makes a script more legible and easier to maintain.
The script below works with the paths indicated in the relevant comment, and defined in the VARIABLES section.

a4u.ahk

; HOTKEYS QUICK REFERENCE
; --------------------------------------------------------------------------

; !   Alt
; ^   Ctrl
; +   Shift
; #   Winkey

; PATHS IN THE KEYDRIVE
; --------------------------------------------------------------------------

; PROGRAMS DIRECTORY      X:\Apps
; SAMPLE PROGRAM PATH     X:\Apps\PortableFirefox\PortableFirefox.exe
; AUTOHOTKEY ENGINE       X:\Apps\AutoHotkey\AutoHotkey.exe
; AUTOHOTKEY SCRIPT       X:\Apps\AutoHotkey\a4u.ahk
; DOCUMENTS DIRECTORY     X:\Docs

; VARIABLES
; --------------------------------------------------------------------------

; A couple of variables, to avoid typing long paths and to keep the script tidy.
; The first is the Apps directory (relative to the script location).

A = %A_ScriptDir%\..
H = %A_ScriptDir%\..\PortableFirefox\PortableFirefox.exe http://

; EXTERNAL SCRIPTS TO INCLUDE
; --------------------------------------------------------------------------

; A file with many long scripts and threads can be difficult to maintain.
; You can save long scripts as separate ahk files in the same directory
; as the main script, and call them by means of the directive #Include.

; Below ISwitch.ahk is included, an excellent script for keyboard freaks
; who work with many open windows, especially many windows of the same
; program. It was submitted to the AutoHotkey forum by keyboardfreak:
; http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1040

#Include %A_ScriptDir%
#Include ISwitch.ahk

; SCRIPT-SPECIFIC HOTKEYS
; --------------------------------------------------------------------------

; All commands in this section are also available from the system tray
; menu. Edit opens the script in Notepad, or in the associated editor.
!^#e::Edit     ; Edit the script by Alt+Ctrl++Win+E.
!^#s::Suspend  ; Toggle hotkeys set by the script by Alt+Ctrl++Win+S.
!^#r::Reload   ; Reload the script by Alt+Ctrl++Win+R.
!^#x::ExitApp  ; Terminate the script by Alt+Ctrl++Win+X.

; BASIC WINDOWS MANIPULATION
; --------------------------------------------------------------------------

#Up::WinMaximize, A    ; Maximize active window by Win+UpArrow.
#Down::WinRestore, A   ; Restore active window by Win+DownArrow.
#Left::WinMinimize, A  ; Minimize active window by Win+LeftArrow.

; NOTE
; Single-line hotkeys and hotstrings like the ones above allow for a
; simplified syntax without a command to end the thread. Multi-line
; threads keep executing until a Return (or Exit) is encountered.

; SYSTEM TOOLS, UTILITES  & ENHANCEMENTS
; --------------------------------------------------------------------------

^#Numpad0::Send, {VOLUME_MUTE}    ; By Alt+Win+Numpad0 (2000/XP).
^#NumpadSub::Send, {VOLUME_DOWN}  ; By Alt+Win+Numpad- (2000/XP).
^#NumpadAdd::Send, {VOLUME_UP}    ; By Alt+Win+Numpad+ (2000/XP).

^#n::Run, sndvol32     ; Open Volume Control.
^#r::Run, regedit      ; Open the Windows Registry Editor.
^#t::Run, taskmgr      ; Open Task Manager (or, in XP: Ctrl+Shift+Esc).
^#y::Run, desk.cpl     ; Open Display Properties.
^#Right::Run, control  ; Open Control Panel.

; Eject/retract tray of main CD/DVD drive by Alt+Ctrl+Win+Space.
!^#Space::
    Drive, Eject
    If A_TimeSinceThisHotkey < 1000
        Drive, Eject, , 1
    Return 

; Make directory in Open/Save File dialogs by pressing F8.
; Elsewhere F8 sends itself (the $ is used to allow this). 
$F8::
  IfWinNotActive, ahk_class #32770
  {
    Send, {F8}
    Return
  }
  PostMessage, 0x111, 40962
  Return

; Get information for selected drive. See AHK Help for details.
^#F9::
    FileSelectFolder, folder, , 3, Pick a drive to analyze:
    If folder =
        Return
    DriveGet, list, list
    DriveGet, cap, capacity, %folder%
    DrivespaceFree, free, %folder%
    DriveGet, fs, fs, %folder%
    DriveGet, label, label, %folder%
    DriveGet, serial, serial, %folder%
    DriveGet, type, type, %folder%
    DriveGet, status, status, %folder%
    MsgBox, , Drive information,
    ( LTrim
        All Drives: %list%
        Selected Drive: %folder%
        Drive Type: %type%
        Status: %status%
        Capacity: %cap% M
        Free Space: %free% M
        Filesystem: %fs%
        Volume Label: %label%
        Serial Number: %serial%
    )

; ABBREVIATIONS & MACROS
; --------------------------------------------------------------------------

; NOTE
; Users of multiple languages or multiple keyboard layouts may have to use 
; some additional code to make this work properly. See FAQ in AHK Help.

::lm::Life is miserable. ; Type "lm" and then Space.
::lb::Life is beautiful.

; NOTE
; The pair of parentheses below defines a continuation section.
; Continuation sections preserve hard carriage returns (Enter) and tabs.

::k.net::
    Send,
    ( LTrim
        Note to self
        Don't forget to bookmark this fabulous site,
        and to send the link to friends:
        http://www.kikizas.net/en/
    )
    Return

; SPECIAL CHARACTERS
; --------------------------------------------------------------------------

^#5::Send, {ASC 0128} ;  Type Euro symbol.
^#-::Send, {ASC 0150} ;  Type en dash.
^#=::Send, {ASC 0151} ;  Type em dash.
^#6::Send, {ASC 0162} ;  Type Cent symbol.
^#4::Send, {ASC 0164} ;  Type currency sign.
^#2::Send, {ASC 0178} ;  Type superscript two.

; MISCELLANEOUS
; --------------------------------------------------------------------------

; Type current date and time by Ctrl+Win+F5. Format: 19991231-2359.
^#F5::Send, %A_Year%%A_Mon%%A_MDay%-%A_Hour%%A_Min%

; RUN USB APPLICATIONS
; --------------------------------------------------------------------------

; Paths below are relative to the directory of the script, (see variable
; %A% at the top). The string in the second parameter of Run is the working
; directory. Not all programs need this, but some do. Include it to be safe.

; The first hotkey starts Converber. The second starts i.Disk.
^#c::Run, %A%\Converber\Converber.exe, %A%\Converber
^#i::Run, %A%\i.Disk\i.Disk.exe, %A%\i.Disk

; OPEN PAGES IN FIREFOX
; --------------------------------------------------------------------------

; Go to Portable Firefox, Tools, Options, Advanced, to define whether
; pages will open in a new window, a new tab, or the most recent tab.
; The variable H includes the full path to the Portable Firefox executable,
; then a space, and then the following seven characters: http://, so that
; you don’t have to type each time what is common in all commands.

+#b::Run, %H%news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/
+#k::Run, %H%www.kikizas.net/en/usbapps.html

; OPEN A DIRECTORY IN THE KEYDRIVE
; --------------------------------------------------------------------------

^#d::Run, %A_ScriptDir%\..\..\Docs   ; Open X:\Docs in default file manager.
^#a::Run, %A%\A43\A43.exe ..\..\Docs ; Open X:\Docs in A43.

; RUN/ACTIVATE USB APPS
; --------------------------------------------------------------------------

; The threads below start by looking for a window of the program.
; If one is found, it is activated; if not, the program is started.
; For programs that support single-instance, you can activate this
; program option and then use a single-line Run command instead.

; NOTE
; AHK can identify most windows by a unique string in the caption
; (the uppermost bar). Windows that display no such fixed string
; (like 1by1) can be identified by window class. To get the window
; class, use Window Spy, included in AHK and accessible from
; the system tray icon of the running script.

^#1:: ; Start 1by1, or activate it if already running.
    IfWinExist, ahk_class 1by1WndClass
    {
        WinActivate
    }
    Else
    {
        Run, %A%\1by1\1by1.exe, %A%\1by1
        WinWait, ahk_class 1by1WndClass
        WinActivate
    }
    Return

; NOTE
; MatchMode 2, used in all following threads, looks for the specified
; string anywhere in the caption. MatchMode 1 looks for the string in
; the beginning of the caption. MatchMode 3 looks for a window whose
; title matches the string exactly.

^#k:: ; Start KeePass, or activate it if already running.
    SetTitleMatchMode, 2
    IfWinExist, KeePass Password Safe
    {
        WinActivate
    }
    Else
    {
        Run, %A%\KeePass\KeePass.exe, %A%\KeePass
        WinWait, KeePass Password Safe
        WinActivate
    }
    Return

^#s:: ; Start SciTE, or activate it if already running.
; The first line sets the environment variable SciTE_HOME,
; to tell SciTE to look for user-specific files in its own
; directory, instead of the default Documents and Settings.
    EnvSet, SciTE_HOME, %A%\SciTE
    SetTitleMatchMode, 2
    IfWinExist, - SciTE
    {
        WinActivate
    }
    Else
    {
        Run, %A%\SciTE\SciTE.exe, %A%\SciTE
        WinWait, - SciTE
        WinActivate
    }
    Return

^#v:: ; Start VLC with parameters, or activate it if already running. 
; The long, parametrized command was split by means of ||.
    SetTitleMatchMode, 2
    IfWinNotExist, VLC media player
        Run, %A%\VLC\vlc.exe 
        || --no-plugins-cache --config=%A%\VLC\vlcrc",
        || %A%\VLC
        WinWait, VLC media player
    WinActivate
    Return
            Source: http://kikizas.net

Ten tips for court interpreters

2011-09-20T13:01:00.004+03:00

Court hearings have their own nuances and particularities the interpreter may not appreciate if their experience is mainly from the health or business world.
Below are ten simple tips to help an interpreter for their first day in court.
1) Before attending the assignment make sure you have the court name, court room number, case/hearing name and also the defendant’s name as well as the solicitor/barrister’s.
2) If there is what is called a ‘trial bundle’ ask if you are able to review it. This will set out what the trial is about and each side’s (prosecution or defence) arguments.
3) For court interpreting you should always be dressed smartly as you are attending and representing both the translation company as well as the defence/prosecution (depending upon which side you are working for).
4) Be sure you arrive 10 – 15 minutes prior to the start time of the assignment. This ensures you are able to be prompt in case of a delay or change of court number.
5) Before the trial starts take time to speak the person you are interpreting for and to be briefed on the background to the trial. Make sure you ask questions so you are sure of your role in the proceedings.
6) If there is going to be any evidence used in the hearing or particular witnesses examined, ensure you are fully aware of what it is or who they are.
7) When interpreting be sure to speak loudly and clearly for all to hear. Be aware that you are allowed to stop proceedings at any time to ask for clarification or for people to slow down. If you need larger gaps between segment of speeches ask the judge to ensure this takes place. Your role is crucial in proceedings to be sure that you can do the job properly and effectively.
When interpreting do not veer from literal translations. In some contexts translating what has been said subjectively may be appropriate but in a legal environment everything must be translated even if it very uncomfortable to do so.
9) Remember you are there to support someone in most cases who may not be able to fully follow what is happening due to the language barrier. Try your best to keep them up to speed with proceedings, explain decisions and most importantly give them the chance to ask questions of their counsel.
10) In cases that are undecided or run on, you may be required to attend the court a following day or possibly at another time. Ensure the translation agency that booked you is made aware of this. Source: proz.com

Do you have the right personality to be an interpreter?

2011-09-20T13:00:00.003+03:00

To be a good interpreter, you need to have complete mastery of two or more languages and… ” How would you finish that sentence? Chances are, the words, “You need to have the right personality” would not be the first thing to jump to mind. However, this month’s featured resource, a paper that looks at interpreter personality types, examines exactly this question.
The researcher, Nancy Schweda Nicholson from the University of Delaware (USA), used the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) in order to see which personality types would be most common among a sample of interpreter trainees (individuals who self-selected as having the right skills to do the job of an interpreter).
For those who are unfamiliar with it, the MBTI is a psychometric questionnaire based on the theories of Carl Jung in his book, Psychological Types. The 16 types are based on four areas — how people focus their energy, how they make decisions, how they perceive the outer world, and how they deal with the outer world.
Nicholson had a relatively small sample, but found that the trainees in her sample displayed an array of different personality types. She found that the most common type for interpreter trainees was ISTJ(Introverted-Sensing-Thinking-Judging), making up about18% of the interpreters in the sample. By comparison, other studies have shown that individuals with this personality type make up about 6% of the general population. If Nicholson’s findings are valid, it would appear that this type is more common among interpreter trainees.
Nicholson’s line of research raises many other questions: Do different types of interpreting (e.g. conference interpreting, legal interpreting, medical interpreting) attract interpreters with different personality types? Does interpreter personality type affect quality? Are some personality types more likely to make some types of mistakes (such as omissions) than others (such as embellishment)? Are certain types more likely to “step out of the role” of the interpreter? Are the best interpreters introverts or extroverts? It will be the job of researchers to more fully explore these kinds of questions. Source: proz.com

4 Steps to make software localization easier

2011-09-20T12:59:00.005+03:00

1. Make sure that the texts in the software are easy to translate.
In this context, “easy to translate” refers to the situation when it is easy to have the right things ready to be translated. This may not be as simple as it sounds, because the translatable parts are written inside the code. Luckily all development tools have guidelines to write software in a localization friendly way. We usually recommend people to follow the instructions of their development tool.
2. Design the user interface in a way that also the translated texts will fit well.
It’s good to remember that the same expression in different language will require different amount of space on computer screen. Actually this applies to all cases when something is translated from one language to another. The amount of letters in corresponding words in different languages can vary remarkably. For example, if the software developer has fixed the space reserved for the text to be equal to the English text, the localization to German may be problematic because, German expressions and phrases tend to be much longer than their English correspondents.
3. Make sure all file names and links contain language parameter.
Unfortunately this step is often left overlooked. The reason for this may be the fact that this is not related to the actual text translation. But like the definition says, software localization is much more than just translation. The point here is that it’s not enough to have all the texts translated, also the other language related material should be double checked.
4. Make sure that the translation is easy to outsource.
If localization project includes many languages, you will most likely send the text-to-be-translated to several persons. And normally the effort needed to go through the translation outsourcing is multiplied by the number of languages you want to support. Thus it’s important that this step is as simple as possible. Sending translation packages back and forth between multiple project participants is both frustrating, risky and unnecessary. Read more. Source: proz.com

Ten ways to raise your profile in the translation

2011-09-20T12:59:00.001+03:00

Now let’s look at how you become that translator who everybody knows!
Volunteer for an association. When I first moved to Colorado, I volunteered to edit the Colorado Translators Association’s newsletter. I filled that role for three years, and by that time I knew almost everyone in the association by face or by name. About 50% of my new clients were either CTA members or referrals from CTA members, most of whom I met through my work for the newsletter.
Share information. Sharing information (via e-mail lists, forums, blogs, lectures, websites, books, and yes, even Twitter!) establishes you as an authority and as someone who is helpful and available. Being “the person who knows everything” in your language pair or specialization is probably the best way to get referrals from your colleagues. Tip: why don’t more translators put their (non-proprietary) glossaries online? Riccardo Schiaffino (one of the “people who know everything” about translation technology) sent me this link to a tool that creates an HTML glossary with a hyperlinked letter index.
Be an organizer. If you live in an area without a local translators’ association, start a low-commitment lunch or coffee meetup for translators (or people who speak your non-English language). If you want to take on something bigger, put together a niche conference. Witness the success of Chris Durban’s Translate in the Catskills conference for premium-market French translators (other languages welcome, too!) and apply the idea to your language pair or specialization.
Become known for your specialization. If you’ve been translating patents for 20 years, you’ve probably read as many patents as many patent agents have, but you’ve done it in two languages. Speak at conferences, seminars, or webinars. Write for your blog or someone else’s. Write for industry newsletters and be the only translator those readers know! Teach online or offline courses for beginning translators who want to get started in your specialization.
Get to know your potential partners. In order to raise your profile, you have to give up the bunker mentality. Instead of viewing other translators as threats or competitors, get to know people who do what you do and see if you can share ideas. Then the next time a high-paying client needs 20,000 words done in a week (at super-premium rush rates, of course), you can call on your new partner and solve the client’s problem.
Help newcomers. All of us were there once, but how easily the memory fades once our businesses are thriving. I bet that your local association could use a new member contact person, or someone to hold a new member coffee every few months. I bet that if you wrote an “ask the experienced translator” column for a newsletter, magazine, website, or blog, people would read it.
Use social media. I’ll give you my honest assessment of Twitter: I hate it, but it works. Be open-minded about social media’s potential. If you’re a German-to-English translator living in Berlin, your daily world may be filled with potential clients. For those of us who live far from our potential client base, social media gives us the reach that our location doesn’t.
Make other people look and feel good. When someone helps you out professionally or writes something you admire, or when a client goes above and beyond to make your job easier and more pleasant, spread the love. A handwritten note with some specific praise is great, and so is a compliment directed to the person’s superior (“Of all the project managers I work with, Hillary stands out for her positive, professional attitude and her unflinching attention to detail”).
Get out of the office. I know, you like it there. But one of the most common habits of the highest-earning translators I know is that they spend a lot of time talking to real live people. Go visit your clients and talk about them: what are their challenges, goals, and insights? What are the misconceptions about their industry? Give a presentation for your local chamber of commerce or business association, focusing on how to select and work with a translation provider.
Be memorable, or at least be yourself. Don’t use your company name if the company is just you . . . be well-known for who you are! And if there’s something memorable about you, stick with it. Whether you’re Trash Girl (Abigail Dahlberg, a waste management translator) or Twin Translations (Judy and Dagmar Jenner, who even wore matching outfits at last year’s ATA conference!) or Ted Wozniak in his ever-present cowboy hat (if I had to pick the best personal brand in the ATA, Ted’s hat would be it!), being unique helps you stick in people’s minds. Source: proz.com

Outsource translation: how to order translations on online freelance platforms?

2011-09-20T12:57:00.001+03:00

If you have a need for a translation seldom or irregularly, using an online outsourcing service is an excellent option. On many freelance sites there are a lot of translators waiting ready to start working on your project. Here are step-by-step instructions for ordering translations successfully on a freelance site.
1. Register on a platform for online employment. It’s usually free and simple. No credit card is required yet.
2. Post your job on the site. It is free and you are not committed to ordering anything. At this point you are just telling that you have a job to do and ask for quotes.

A. Write a short description of what you want to be done. For example: “I need to have a text translated from English to Spanish. The job is to translate a brochure. It is 3 pages (or 1400 words) long. I need to have the translated text ready on January 20th .” (Set the deadline to be 1-2 weeks from now)
You can also upload the document-to-be-translated so that your translator candidates can see it and can write their quotes accordingly. This will make their quotes more accurate. (See Turn-key jobs at ProZ.com)

3. After you have posted your job you will start receiving bids. By now you should have set a criteria for the provider. If you are uncertain the following criteria may help you:

Make sure that you are dealing with a reliable provider. Check the feedback he/she has received (WWA). The better the feedback is, the better the provider is likely to be.
Check also whether the provider has worked with many clients and many times with the same client. Satisfied clients tend to hire the same provider repeatedly.
Use the quote as a secondary criterion when comparing the providers that you have found reliable.

4. If you are satisfied with the bids you have received select the best one for your case. Only at this point are you making a contract and commit yourself to paying anything. It’s probable that the translator asks you to deposit the agreed price on freelance site’s account (this is called “escrow”). It is a common and good way to show that you are indeed committed to making the payment. The translator does not receive the deposited money yet. It’s on the freelance site’s account. ((See Turn-key jobs at ProZ.com)
5. Now the translator will start working. Prepare to be available if the provider has something to ask. E-mail is the most common communication channel in these cases when people can be located on the opposite sides of the globe.
6. When you have received the translated text in the agreed schedule you will make the payment. If you have deposited the sum on freelance site’s account you just give them the permission to make the payment to the translator’s account.
7. Finished! You have received the translation and the translator has received the payment. Source: http://www.proz.com

Life as a bilingual: those incredible interpreters

2011-09-20T12:54:00.000+03:00

The following excerpts are from and article on Psychology Today:

Interpreting is one of the most difficult linguistic skills.
Have you ever sat down in an interpreter’s booth, put on the headphones and tried to interpret the incoming speech? I did when I was a young and rather naive student who thought that being bilingual meant one could interpret simultaneously. No sooner had I started that problems arrived. As I was outputting the first sentence, the second one was already coming in but I hadn’t paid enough attention to it. I remembered its beginning but not its ending. Very quickly I fell behind and I just couldn’t say anything more after a few minutes!
Many years later I still remember the scene vividly and because of it, but also because of my own research on the perception and production of speech, I have the utmost respect for interpreters and the training they have to go through to do their job well.
Interpreters come in various types (community, conference, sign language) and interpreting itself is diverse in that it can be consecutive or simultaneous. I will take two extreme cases of interpreting that differ on many aspects including age: bilingual children who act as interpreters and adult simultaneous interpreters. (…)
n addition to having all the skills of translators (see here), professional interpreters must have all the linguistic and cognitive skills that allow them to go from one language to the other, either simultaneously or successively. For example, simultaneous interpreting involves careful listening, processing and comprehending the input in the source language, memorizing it, formulating the translation in the target language, and then articulating it, not to mention dual tasking, i.e. letting the next sequence come in as you are outputting the preceding one. Researcher David Gerver has reported that interpreters overlap speaking one language while listening to another up to 75% of the time!
Interpreters must activate the two languages they are working with. They have to hear the input (source) language but also the output (target) language, not only because they have to monitor what they are saying but also in case the speaker uses the target language in the form of code-switches (see here). However, they must also close down the production mechanism of the source language so that they do not simply repeat what they are hearing (as they sometimes do when they get very tired!).
Given these processing requirements, in addition to knowing translation equivalents in numerous domains and subdomains (e.g. business, economic, medical), as well as stylistic variants, it is no wonder that interpreters, like translators, are considered special bilinguals. As the saying so rightly states:
It takes more than having two hands to be a good pianist.
It takes more than knowing two languages to be a good translator or interpreter.

Some thoughts on professional photographs

2011-09-20T12:53:00.001+03:00

The following excerpts are from Thoughts on Translation:

Let’s say that you want to hire a professional services provider: maybe a business accountant, a copyright attorney, a web designer or a marketing consultant. You’re clicking through that person’s website, and on their About page, you see a photograph. Great! It’s always helpful to get a visual image of the person you’re thinking of working with. But then you notice that the person’s photograph is clearly from 20+ years ago, or was obviously taken in a drugstore photo booth, or features them and their pet ferret, or you can’t really tell what the person looks like because they’re facing away from the camera and their hair is in their eyes. Problem? Maybe! Let’s ponder the issue of professional photographs for a second.
(…) Why should you consider a professional photograph?
It shows that you’re willing to invest in your business. I am very frugal. I don’t own a clothes dryer and I wash Ziploc bags. But when someone hands me a business card with “Get your free business cards at…” printed on the back, my immediate reaction is that this person is not even willing to invest $25 in their business in order to get real cards. Ditto with the professional photograph: it shows that you care.
It conveys an impression of you as a person. Let’s face it: working with a freelancer is a very personal relationship. And if people don’t have a positive impression of you, they are less likely to work with you. A professional photograph can help establish you as approachable, personable, likable and other qualities that are desirable in a business associate.
It’s what other people do. I hate to play the “everyone else is doing it” card, but there’s some truth to this. If you consider yourself on par with other consultant-type service providers, your marketing materials need to be at that level.

Guide to regular expressions with examples

2011-09-20T12:49:00.004+03:00

The regular expression, or regexp, are the most powerful, versatile and hated tool used by programmers and system administrators.
They allow to express with a few characters search for strings, characters or words, and if done well can lead to good results, but if they are wrong they can not give you any useful result, and the worst thing is that often it is difficult to understand whether or not a regepx it is written with a correct syntax to cover all the possibility.
But now as first thing let’s see what is a regular expression:
From WIkipedia ”

In computing, a regular expression, also referred to as regex or regexp, provides a concise and flexible means for matching strings of text, such as particular characters, words, or patterns of characters. A regular expression is written in a formal language that can be interpreted by a regular expression processor, a program that either serves as a parser generator or examines text and identifies parts that match the provided specification.

”

Syntax: it’s the same for all programs / languages?

Usually, yes in javascript and perl the syntax is similar, using preg_replace in php the syntax it’s the same of perl, and ereg … well, now ereg it is deprecated .
Even the IDE and text programs such as vim, notepad++, Komodo Edit, Dreamweaver, etc.. support search & replace with regular expressions.
In general the syntax may change, but not by much. Anyway, if you learn the syntax of perl you can still get away with any other variant

metacharacters

In regular expressions there are several “special characters ” with different functions:
. (dot) Means any character except those that identify a new line (\n \r)
Example

$text = "espressioni regolari!";
preg_match_all('/./', $text, $ris);
// Will match all characters

^ identifies the beginning of a line, if at the beginning of a group denies the group itself
Example

$text = "espressioni regolari!";
preg_match_all('/^./', $text, $ris);
// It will find only the character "e"

$ identifies the end of a line
Example

$text = "espressioni regolari!";
preg_match_all('/.$/', $text, $ris);
// It will find only "!"

| it’s an OR condition
Example

$text = "espressioni regolari!";
preg_match_all('/a|i|u|o|e/', $text, $ris);
// You will find all the vowels

() parentheses identify the groups of characters
[] Brackets indicate ranges and character classes
\ This character cancels the effects of the next metacharacter
Esempio

$text = "espressioni.regolari!";
preg_match_all('/\./', $text, $ris);
// You will find only the . (dot)

Quantifiers
Quantifiers, as the term itself, indicate how often search for a given sequence of characters.

* (star) indicates 0 or more occurrences
Example

$testo = "Espressioni, pesi, piume!";
preg_match_all('/s*i/', $testo, $ris);
// Will match "ssi" of espressioni,
// "si" in pesi
// and "i" of word piume

+ indicates 1 or more occurrences
Example

$testo = "Espressioni, pesi, piume!";
preg_match_all('/s+i/', $testo, $ris);
//  Will match "ssi" of espressioni,
// and "si" in pesi

? indicates 1 or 0 occurrences
Example

$testo = "Espressioni, pesi, piume!";
preg_match_all('/s?i/', $testo, $ris);
// Will match "si" and "i" in espressioni,
// "si" in pesi
// and "i" si piume

{N} Research exactly n occurrences, to remember that the curly brackets are considered normal characters in all other contexts
Example with a replace

$testo = "ese, esse, essse, esssse!";
$testo = preg_replace('/es{2}e/', '*', $testo);
// Now $testo will be "ese, *, essse, esssse!"

{N,} Research at least n occurrences, see above
Example with a replace

$testo = "ese, esse, essse, esssse!";
$testo = preg_replace('/es{3,}e/', '*', $testo);
// Now $testo will be "ese, esse, *, *!"

{N,M} Research at least n occurrences, but not more than m, see above
Example with a replace

$testo = "ese, esse, essse, esssse!";
$testo = preg_replace('/es{2,3}e/', '*', $testo);
// Now $testo will be "ese, *, *, esssse!"

Quantifiers ungreedy

Almost everyone sooner or later stumble into this problem: if I use an expression such as /”.*”/ i will find all the words enclosed in double quotes? Unfortunately, no!
This is because the standard quantifiers are “greedy”, that seek the greatest possible occurrence.
Let’s look at an example:
Example

$testo = 'class="pluto" id="pippo"';
preg_match_all('/".*"/', $testo, $ris);
// Will find a single occurrence:
// "pluto" id="pippo"

As you can see is not the desired result! How so?
Just add a question mark at the end of our quantifiers
Example

$testo = 'class="pluto" id="pippo"';
preg_match_all('/".*?"/', $testo, $ris);
// Now it will find "pluto" e "pippo" !

This applies to any quantifier described above!

classes and ranges

The classes determine a list of characters, character classes or POSIX (see next section) to be searched. They are enclosed in square brackets and can be followed by the quantifiers.
Example

$testo = 'Questa è una stringa lunga lunga di esempio';
preg_match_all('/[aiuoe]{2}/', $testo, $ris);
// The expression will search for two successive vowels,
// so it will find "ue" and "io"

To identify a range use the minus sign (-). For example, a-z identify all lowercase characters a through z, F-R uppercase characters from R to F, 0-5 numbers from 0 to 5 and so on.
Example

$testo = 'caratteri 16sdf456 e un colore esadecimale 94fa3c ';
preg_match_all('/[0-9a-f]{6}/', $testo, $ris);
// The expression will search for 6 characters that are numbers or letters from a to f
// so it will find "94fa3c"

The ^, if, immediately after the opening bracket negates the whole range, indicating to not seek the characters included.
Example

$testo = 'Questa è una stringa lunga lunga di esempio';
preg_match_all('/[^aiuoe ]{3}/', $testo, $ris);
// The term will search for 3 letters that are NOT vowels or spaces
// s oit will find only "str"

character classes and POSIX

The POSIX character classes and are used to specify a set of characters at the same time, without using the groups.
Class : \w
Matches : [a-zA-Z0-9_]
Description: Search a character “word” (w stands for word), ie letters, numbers and “_”
Example:

$testo = "[[Le_Regex sono_belle!!!]]";
preg_match_all('/\w+/', $testo, $ris);
// Will match "Le_Regex" and  "sono_belle"

Class: \d
Matches : [0-9]
Description: Research a number (d stands for digit)
Example:

$testo = "123 stella! 456 cometa!";
preg_match_all('/\d+/', $testo, $ris);
// Will match "123" and "456"

Class: \s
Matches: [ \t\r\n\v\f]
Description: research space, including tabs and newlines
Example:

$testo = "manuale sulle
          espressioni regolari!";
$testo = preg_replace('/\s+/', '', $testo);
// Now testo will be manualesulleespressioniregolari!

These 3 classes means the opposite if you use the same letter but capitalized.
Thus, for example, \D search anything that is not a number.
Class: [:ALNUM:]
Matches: [a-zA-Z0-9]
Description: Search alphanumeric characters, without “_”
Example

$testo = "[[Le_Regex 123 sono_belle!!!]]";
preg_match_all('/[[:alnum:]]+/', $testo, $ris);
// Will match "Le","Regex", "123",
// "sono" and "belle"

Class: [:ALPHA:]
Matches: [a-zA-Z]
Description: Search alphabetic characters
Example

$testo = "[[Le_Regex 123 sono_belle!!!]]";
preg_match_all('/[[:alpha:]]+/', $testo, $ris);
// Will match "Le","Regex", "sono" e "belle"

Class: [:BLANK:]
Matches: [ \t]
Description: Search only spaces and tabs
Example

$testo = "questa è una prova
	con spazi e tabulazioni";
$testo = preg_replace('/[[:blank:]]+/', '', $testo);
/* $testo Now will be:
questaèunaprova
conspazietabulazioni
*/

Class: [:UPPER:]
Matches: [A-Z]
Description: Research uppercase
Example

$testo = "ESPRESSIONI regolari";
preg_match_all('/[[:lower:]]+/', $testo, $ris);
// Will match "ESPRESSIONI"

Modifiers

Each search operation can use several modifiers, which, as its name implies, can change the default search criteria.
These modifiers should be placed at the end of the search string, immediately after the character limitation.
You can combine multiple effects without appending modifiers spaces (for example: /imsu will apply all 4 the effects described below).
i the search becomes case-insensitive, ie upper and lower case are considered equal

$testo = "Le Espressioni Regolari sono regolari?";
preg_match_all('/regolari/i', $testo, $ris);
// Will match both "regolari" and "Regolari"

m the research will be considered “for each line”, ie the anchors like “^” and “$” will be applied for each line of text

$testo = 'Espressioni Regolari
Espressioni in perl
Espressioni php';
preg_match_all('/^Espressioni/m', $testo, $ris);
// will match all 3 "Espressioni"
// and not just the first

s the text is regarded as a single line and “.” now also identifies newline characters, which would not normally

$testo = 'Espressioni Regolari
Espressioni in perl
Espressioni php';
preg_match('/perl.Espressioni/s', $testo);
// research will be successful

u are enabled Unicode characters in full, as \x{10FFFFF}

$testo = '紫の触手、緑の触手';
preg_match('/\x{89e6}\x{624b}/u', $testo, $ris);
// research will be successful

U activated ungreedy for all quantifiers

$testo = 'class="pluto" id="pippo"';
preg_match_all('/".*"/U', $testo, $ris);
// it's the same as /".*?"/ will match both "pluto" and "pippo"

Anchors
Anchors identify the location where to search our text.

^ Identifies the beginning of the string, with the modifier /m identifies the beginning of each line

$testo = 'Questo è un esempio
sulle Espressioni Regolari
nella sintassi di perl';
preg_match_all('/^[\w]+/m', $testo, $ris);
//will match "Questo", "sulle" e "nella"

$ Identifies the end of the string, with the modifier /m identifies the end of each line

$testo = 'Questo è un esempio
sulle Espressioni Regolari
nella sintassi di perl';
preg_match('/[\w]+$/m', $testo, $ris);
// Will match
// "esempio", "Regolari", "perl"

\A similar to ^ , identifies only the beginning of the string, even if there is the modifier / m

$testo = 'Questo è un esempio
sulle Espressioni Regolari
nella sintassi di perl';
preg_match_all('/\A[\w]+/m', $testo, $ris);
// will match only "Questo"

\Z similar to $, identifies only the end of the string, even if there is the modifier /m

$testo = 'Questo è un esempio
sulle Espressioni Regolari
nella sintassi di perl';
preg_match_all('/[\w]+\Z/m', $testo, $ris);
//will match only "perl"

\b identifies the point between two characters that are \w at the left and not \w at the right

$testo = 'condor daino dingo elefante';
preg_match_all('/\bd\w+/', $testo, $ris);
// The search will find only the words that begin
// with the letter d, so "daino" and "dingo"

\B identifies the opposite of \b

$testo = 'condor daino dingo elefante';
preg_match_all('/\Bd\w+/', $testo, $ris);
// The search will find only a set of characters
// beginning with d, which is not the beginning of
// a word, in this case "dor"

The special characters

If you have some knowledge of php or perl you will have already had to deal with that placeholder that identify special characters such as newline or tabs. All All of these placeholders begin with the character \
Here is a list with a lot of detail, to emphasize the importance of \Q!!
\t tab (HT, TAB)
\n line endings (LF, NL)
\r carriage return (CR)
\Q This disables any wild card up to \ It is very useful to insert variables into the string

$variabile = '[\w\s]+';
$testo = "Questo testo [\w\s]+[\w\s]+ ha regex al suo interno!";

$testo1 = preg_replace('/'.$variabile.'/', '', $testo);
// $testo1 will be "[\\]+[\\]+!"

$testo2 = preg_replace('/\Q'.$variabile.'\E/', '', $testo);
// $testo2 will be "Questo testo  ha regex al suo interno!"

\E see above
\nnn character in octal form where n is a number from 0 to 7
\Xnn character as a hexadecimal number where n is a hexadecimal …
\f form feed (FF)
\a alarm / bell (BEL)
\and escape (BEL)

groups

The groups are enclosed by parentheses and become essential at the time of replacement, because you can recall them. An example to clarify everything:

$testo = "This is a date in mysql format: 2010-01-28";
$testo = preg_replace('/(\d{4})-(\d{2})-(\d{2})/', 'This is a date in European format: $3/$2/$1', $testo);
// Now $testo will be "This is a date in European format: 28/01/2010"

As you can see the expression has three groups and in the substitution there are dollars followed by a number: this number represents the found text from the corresponding group. So the first group will be $1, $2 the second and so on.
In groups you can also add a logical “OR”, ie to find a set of characters or another

$testo = "Si dice ha piovuto o è piovuto in italiano?";
$testo = preg_replace('/\s+((ha|è)\s+piovuto)\s+/', ' è nevicato ', $testo);
// This will search "ha piovuto" OR "è piovuto" followed or preceded by spaces;
// $testo now will be "Si dice è nevicato o è nevicato in italiano?"

Conclusions

Here finishes the introduction to regular expressions, i suggest to use some software like JRegex, regexxer or KRegexpEditor to get some help, and also a cheat sheet can be really useful. Source: http://linuxaria.com

Resources for interpreting students

2011-09-20T10:58:00.002+03:00

Training resources

- Speech repository
An e-learning tool which contains a collection of speeches organised by language, difficulty level, type of use, and subject.
Access is granted to:
- Universities
- Candidates preparing for an inter-institutional test or an open competition
- Professional interpreters
- Other international organisations that train interpreters
- Interpreter Training Resources
This page contains a wide variety of resources to help students acquire the necessary skills to become conference interpreters.
- Online Resources in Conference Interpreter Training (ORCIT)
ORCIT is an EU-funded project producing interactive pedagogic tools for trainers and students of conference interpreting. Lessons are in English and Lithuanian.
- Documents and Terminology
Follow this link to expand your knowledge in terminology and documents that are used in many meetings in EU institutions and members states.
- Speech bank
A collection of websites containing political speeches.
- Multimedia reference on the history of Europe
Almost 3000 sound and video clips available in the Media Library

European Union media

- EC Audiovisual Service
The audiovisual portal of the European Commission. Live events are generally covered in the original language plus simultaneous interpretation into all Community languages when available.
- Europarl TV
Europarl TV, the official web TV of the European Parliament. With four channels in 22 languages, Europarl TV provides live speeches and interpretation.
- Council LIVE
Live and on-demand streaming from the Council of the European Union.
- Multimedia press rooms
All online press rooms within the EU institutions are listed here, giving electronic access to press releases, speeches, statements, briefings and other press material.

Blogs

- http://www.dolmetscher-berlin.blogspot.com/
A blog in German coming to you straight from the interpreting booth. It contains interesting posts on conference interpreting and interpreting on film sets
- http://www.bootheando.com/
A Spanish blog of a conference interpreter working for a European Institution
- http://interpreter.blogs.se/
A blog by a conference interpreter, who teaches interpreting and is a PhD student in interpreting studies
- http://programadondelenguas.blogspot.com/
A radio blog in Spanish by Department of Translation and Interpretation at the University of Salamanca
- http://theinterpreterdiaries.com/
A brand-new blog written by a freelance interpreter at the EU institutions and interpreter trainer
- http://www.lexiophiles.com/
Inspired by language lovers everywhere

Social Media

- Facebook:
The official Facebook page of the three interpreting services of the EU - of the European Commission, the European Parliament and The Court of Justice of the European Union
- Twitter:
Follow Interpreting for Europe on Twitter
- YouTube:
Watch our videos on YouTube

The world of interpreting: the ins and outs

2011-09-20T10:55:00.004+03:00

Although translating and interpreting are often used interchangeably they are two entirely different professions, with the latter often being misunderstood or overlooked. While translators work with the written word, interpreters work with speech, thus requiring different skills and different types of training.
I always thought that simultaneous interpreting was just listening and speaking at the same time, impressive in itself no doubt, but through my experience as an administrative trainee in DG Interpretationat the European Commission, I have learnt that it is actually so much more than that. Interpreters have to listen, understand, analyse, summarise, capture nuances, translate and express someone else’s words…Simultaneously! Interpreting is nothing less than an intense verbal marathon.
Working as an interpreter for the European institutions is certainly not your average 9 to 5 job. To say the job is varied is an understatement, there is no such thing as a typical week. I have rubbed shoulders with colleagues who work in large conferences one day and then interpret at private lunches with President Barroso the next, before travelling to Budapest for a 3 day conference! It goes without saying that interpreters use their languages every day but they also have plenty of opportunities to learn new ones and are encouraged to do so. Many of you are probably still away or have just come back from your year abroad; as an interpreter you would be able to live overseas again and travel with your work.
However, this exciting and challenging profession is under threat for two main reasons; a) it is perceived as a difficult career path to follow, so many people disregard it as an option and b) international organisations, such as the EU institutions, are currently facing a severe shortage of interpreters in several languages, with English chief among them.
In order to become a conference interpreter within the EU institutions, you firstly need to have a Masters degree in Conference Interpreting before you can apply for their freelance accreditation tests or open competitions. In this current economic climate and with the impending rise of tuition fees in the UK, this option may seem arduous and expensive, but help is at hand. Many universities running Conference Interpreting courses have study bursaries available for students, but you will need to contact the universities directly to find out more. In addition, DG Interpretation at the European Commission also offers some bursaries to interpreting students each year. Additionally, you don’t necessarily have to study interpreting in the UK of course. There are many universities across Europe that offer top quality courses at a much lower cost, for example the ESIT in Paris offers the European Masters in Conference Interpreting for just 600€ a year.
Financial considerations aside, DG Interpretation also provides training support to its partner universities through study visits, teaching assistance and training materials, which helps students better prepare themselves for the assessments they need to take in order to become an interpreter for the EU institutions. Read more. Source: http://www.proz.com

The future for translators looks bright...

2011-09-20T10:54:00.002+03:00

Seven predictions and a survey presented at the 19th FIT Conference, San Francisco, August 2011
Translators in the 21st century find themselves in a difficult position.On the one hand there is a steadily growing demand for translation as a result of increasing global trade and communication generally. On the other hand it becomes harder and harder for the professional translator to meet this demand. Delivery times grow shorter and prices go down.
Technology is often thought of as an answer to this kind of pressure. But along with the technology come many new challenges. It is simply impossible for a translator who is trained in the language arts to keep up with the technology. And if she tries, frustration grows when she finds out that translation tools do not really work together very well. (See report Individual translators and data exchange standards.)
Then there are the economics. As the owner of a small business, translators must weigh the return-on-investment on time and money very carefully. Tools do not come for free and every new tool takes time to be mastered. What if these same tools – or machine translation – one day take over the job of human translators, as many of our colleagues fear. You might prefer to live on another planet, or at least work in another profession.
For the 19th FIT Conference held in San Francisco, 1-4 August 2011, TAUS ran a survey among the translators attending the conference. This article references a summary of the survey, and then makes seven predictions as a follow up to the keynote I gave to close the FIT event. The conclusion: the future for translators looks bright, but they will have to reinvent the profession first.

Crisis. What crisis?

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, sixty-four (37%) of the survey respondents reported that translation rates continue to be under pressure. There seems to be a slight decline in translation volume, while the palette of languages seems to be broadening slightly. Thirty-seven respondents (21%) see business continuing as usual, while respectively 12% and 10% of them see opportunities for automation and innovation in the currently unstable market.
Which of the following technologies and/or innovations will translators apply in the coming two years? Sixty percent of the respondents say ‘no’ to machine translation, while 19% are already using it, and 21% expect they will use MT within the next two years. The main concerns about MT are the poor quality of MT output (76%) and the poor quality of source documents (54%). Those who look at MT on the bright side see cost reduction as the greatest benefit (39%) and the possibility of real-time delivery of translation as a secondary benefit (35%).
A majority of the respondents are interested in sharing translation memories and terminology: 35% already do so and 39% expect to be sharing language data within two years. However, another much larger poll by ProZ.com of 1,000 translators indicates that 49% would not consider sharing their translation memories. Translators are concerned about ownership of TMs and their relevance to the job at hand. But they do see the benefits of terminology searches of massive TM resources and the productivity gains these bring.
Click here for a summary of the full survey.

The future looks bright, but …

… change is the name of the game. And reinventing the profession is extremely hard if your days are spent just getting the jobs done and trying to make a modest living. Yet, for the first time in the history of the planet, translation is a really strategic activity. Thanks to Google Translate, Yahoo! Babelfish and Microsoft Bing, every soul on our planet now knows what translation means.
Hundreds of millions people press the translate button every day which makes them realize how difficult it is to get a good, accurate translation. As professionals we must realize that our community is far too small (just 250,000 or so professional translators in a world of 6,000 languages?) to serve the needs of seven billion citizens.
We are only scratching the surface. As professional translators – and as a global translation industry – our mission is to help the world communicate better. (That sounds better than being a lawyer or a banker, right?) For we now have the means to deliver on that mission. We simply need to find a way to do it properly. Here is how TAUS sees the future in seven predictions.
1. MT is here to stay
Let’s face it: machine translation will never be perfect. Every speaker of a language has the right to introduce new words, give existing words new meanings and change the spelling and grammar of his language. The point is: that’s what people do every day – witness Twitter or online chat, popular songs or political revolutions.
Computers just cannot keep up with these evolving nuances and associations in hundreds of domains and linguaspheres created by speakers of just one language. Yet, MT for all its mechanical faults is here to stay. Why? For the simple reason that we humans just cannot deliver enough translations in real-time.
Two other factors will also influence the rapid growth of MT. First, MT is getting better and better as we keep feeding the engines with human translated sentences to improve their domain knowledge and we keep tweaking the rules to improve the word order and forms. Second, a new generation of users are growing up, they are more forgiving, and open to self-service. Users may even step in and offer better terminology and forms of expression as a way to help others and themselves.
MT is here to stay and will be called “translation”. It will be embedded on every website, mobile and car app. Translation will become a utility, just like electricity, water and Internet: a basic resource and a basic human right.
2. High-quality translation will gain recognition
As machine translation becomes so universally available, it is clear that there isn’t just one single translation of a text that fits all. To differentiate their product offerings and appeal to specific customer groups, buyers will recognize the need for high-quality translation - call it personalization, transcreation or hyper-localization. This means that, machines will not replace human translators.
On the contrary, non-perfect MT output will stimulate the need for high-quality translation in a broad range of communication situations. The challenge we face as an industry is to agree on the criteria and the measurements for the level of quality that is needed for each situation. Sometimes MT is simply not an option. Sometimes MT is the only option.
3. Post-editing will come and go
Information travels fast and loses its value quickly. This is especially true for news, entertainment, online shopping and customer support content, but increasingly also for business-to-business and government information.
There is a fundamental shift from static “cast in stone” content to dynamic “on the fly” content. Instead of one or two releases per year, companies are shipping product updates on a weekly if not daily basis. And consumers, citizens and patients are increasingly sharing their reviews, tips and tricks in user blogs and social media in almost real time. Any chunk of information may be relevant and interesting to someone somewhere.
The key attraction of MT in this new information age is that it can deliver real-time translation to meet these changes. Potential cost reduction is only a secondary benefit. And the widespread fear that all human translators will soon be downgraded to mere post-editors of MT output is ungrounded.
Why? Well, in the next few years post-editing will grow quickly, but then we will see it diminish. But if there is no time for translation, then there is time for post-editing either. Real-time is real-time, right? In any case, MT technology will get better, using machine intelligence to learn from its mistakes and not make them again.
Translators who choose to work with computers will customize and personalize MT engines to specific tasks, customers and domains, rather than do stupid, repetitive error fixing. They will be promoted to ‘language quality advisors’ if you like.
4. Translators win when supply chains get shorter
More so than most other industries, the translation industry consists of a complex cascade of suppliers. There may be three or four levels between the translator and the end-user: translation agency, global multi-language vendor, corporate translation department and often an external quality reviewer or subject matter expert.
All these functions add a cost to translation but are they adding any real value in proportion to that cost? Tasks are often replicated and functions overlap. Disintermediation (i.e., ‘cutting out the middleman’) hasn’t really bitten into the translation industry yet as it has in the travel and banking industries, for example. But change is on the way, under pressure from the overarching need to translate more words into more languages.
Corporate and government buyers will analyze their supply chains to reduce their costs, and functions such as project management, quality assurance, vendor selection and translation memory management, will probably be streamlined, simplified or shared. Yet there will be no question about the critical role of the translator at the end of the chain.
Even though MT will be used to translate content streams requiring real-time translation, there will always be a need for a professional translator to tell good from bad language in the communication process.
5. The list of languages keeps growing
As global business is shifting from an export mentality to a world of open trading on a flat playing field, the nature of publishing and communications is also changing fundamentally.
In the old 20th century model the global manufacturer and publisher used to push information out to the world. They would select their markets, pick their most important language communities and translate their own instructions for use, brochures and web pages.
They would probably start with four to six languages and gradually add more languages if the markets prove to be worthwhile. In the new 21st century model, companies are realizing that their customers are not sitting there waiting for the information to be pushed out by manufacturers and publishers.
They are browsing the Internet and pulling down information wherever they find it. And if they can’t find it, they write their own reviews and comments that yet others may then translate to help their local peers. In the old world, content was owned by publishers; in the new world content is shared and earned.
In this radically changing environment, the range of languages for content is constantly growing. Successful global companies need to facilitate communications in a hundred-or more languages instead of the old standard set of seven or at the most twenty.
Translators in many more countries will benefit from this “democratization” of globalization.
6. Sharing data becomes the norm
Our concept of a ‘translation memory’ is about to change. Translation memories and translation memory tools have long been cultivated as our proprietary productivity weapon, perhaps offering a competitive edge in an environment where one fifth of professional translators (according to a recent ProZ.om poll) still don’t even use translation memories.
Yet, we have now reached the limits of potential productivity gains, and, let’s face it, translation memory technology itself – in its current and mostly used form – is no longer state-of-the-art. Most translation memory tools are stuck in a technology time warp and cannot leverage the power of corpus linguistics (see article The Future is Corpus Linguistics). A new generation of translation productivity tools will emerge that allow us to leverage any length of strings of text from very large corpora of translations.
These new tools will in many respects be using features and components that emerged from statistical MT technology, except for the fact that they leave the professional translator in full control of the processes. They will unleash the translational power hidden inside very large corpora of text. They will allow us to do semantic searches and clustering, synonym identification, automatic cleaning and correction of language data, sentiment analyses and predictive translations.
In anticipation of this next generation translation technology, many translators and companies have already started consolidating their translation memory data into large, searchable repositories. Some (more than you think) are even harvesting these language data from the Internet, meaning that they have computers crawling translated web sites, aligning the sentences from these web sites, and reconstructing translation memory files.
Call them pirates if you like. But as we have seen in other industries, they are the drivers of innovation. We at TAUS truly believe that it is this kind of innovation that is needed to unleash the power of the translation industry and enable it to prosper.
The TAUS Data Association was established in 2008 as a legal, not-for-profit member-driven organization aimed at hosting and sharing translation memories for all stakeholders in the global translation industry. The publicly accessible and searchable database already contains four billion words of high-quality translation data in 350-plus language pairs.
7. Translation becomes a business of choices
The future of translation either looks bright or gloomy: it depends on whether you want to change, reinvent yourself and adapt. Admittedly, this is not an easy choice. Nor is there a lot of time to consider all the options, but at least translators now have the luxury of choosing. In the past, you became a translator and you were in it for life. Unless of course you became a literary translator, in which case none of the above applies.
Today, you can choose to be a ‘boutique’ translator, specializing in a domain and providing hyper-localization or transcreation services. In this case, you will drift away from the original concept of a translator once you start specializing in your domain. You may be asked to create local content instead of translating text written for a different culture.
You may be asked to do brand checking for new product names. Your job title may change to ‘language consultant’ or ‘communications adviser’. If what you like is linguistics and computers, you may choose to become a specialist in training domain- and customer-specific MT engines, or in translation optimization, or in new functions such as language data cleaning, data selection on the basis of semantic search, search engine optimization, or sentiment and cultural analysis using customer feedback data.
The availability of language data in so many languages will open a much larger range of choices for specialization and innovation. And yes, you can also opt for post-editing machine translation output. Not so much fun if it is not your first choice, but in many ways this option is similar to the first wave of automation our profession experienced in the 1980s with the arrival of translation memory tools.
The good news now, is that the MT engines will soon learn from the corrections made by post-editors, so you will not have to make the same corrections again and again. And translators (or whatever their new title might be) will become much less solitary and grow closer to their colleagues and end customers.
Collaborative networks will bring language workers together. And buyers of translation and language-related services will eliminate one or two handovers in the supply chain and be able to connect directly with you.
Translation may, in many ways, become a commodity and a utility but that does not spell the end of the profession. On the contrary, it will stimulate the need for differentiation, specialization and value added services. It is up to the world’s translators to rise to the challenge, and open up to these changes, and reinvent their future. Source: http://www.translationautomation.com

Stagii de traducere remunerate

2011-09-20T10:52:00.000+03:00

Stagiile de traducere remunerate se acordă doar absolvenţilor de universitate sau instituţii similare. Scopul lor este de a le permite stagiarilor să îşi completeze cunoştinţele dobândite în timpul studiilor şi să se familiarizeze cu activitatea Uniunii Europene, în special cu cea a Parlamentului European.
Candidaţii la un stagiu de traducere remunerat trebuie:

să fie cetăţeni ai unui stat membru al Uniunii Europene sau ai unei ţări candidate la aderare (Croaţia, Islanda, Fosta Republică Iugoslavă a Macedoniei, Muntenegru sau Turcia),
să fi împlinit vârsta de 18 ani la data începerii stagiului,
să nu fi beneficiat de un stagiu remunerat sau de un angajament salarial de mai mult de patru săptămâni consecutive pe lângă o instituţie europeană, un deputat sau un grup politic din Parlamentul European.
să fi obţinut, înainte de data limită de depunere a candidaturilor, o diplomă corespunzătoare unui ciclu de studii universitare de minim trei ani;
să stăpânească perfect una dintre limbile oficiale ale Uniunii Europene sau pe aceea a unei ţări candidate şi să cunoască în mod aprofundat alte două limbi oficiale ale Uniunii Europene.

Stagiile de traducere remunerate se acordă pe o perioadă de trei luni, cu posibilitatea de a beneficia, în mod excepțional, de o prelungire, pentru o durată de maxim trei luni.

Datele de începere a stagiilor și perioadele de înscriere
Începutul stagiilor	Perioada de înscriere
1 ianuarie	de la 15 iunie până la 15 august (miezul nopții)
1 aprilie	de la 15 septembrie până la 15 noiembrie (miezul nopții)
1 iulie	de la 15 decembrie până la 15 februarie (miezul nopții)
1 octombrie	de la 15 martie până la 15 mai (miezul nopții)

Pentru a evita saturarea sistemului din cauza numărului mare de candidaturi, vă sfătuim să nu așteptați ultima zi pentru a vă depune candidatura.
Stagiile de traducere se desfăşoară la Luxemburg.
Cu titlu indicativ, cuantumul bursei este în 2011 de 1.213,55 EUR pe lună.
Dacă sunteţi interesat de un stagiu de traducere remunerat, vă rugăm să citiţi cu atenţie Normele interne privind stagiile de traducere.
Vă atragem atenţia cu privire la condiţiile de admitere. În cazul în care candidatura dumneavoastră primeşte un răspuns pozitiv în urma preselecţiei, vi se vor solicita următoarele documente justificative:

cererea-tip semnată,
copia paşaportului sau a cărţii de identitate,
copii ale diplomelor şi certificatelor,
copii ale foii matricole (puncte analitice, note), dacă sunt disponibile.

În această etapă, nu este necesar să trimiteţi aceste documente justificative. Ele vă vor fi solicitate numai în cazul în care treceţi etapa de preselecţie.
În cazul în care a primit un răspuns pozitiv în urma preselecţiei, candidatura dumneavoastră va fi valabilă cu condiţia să trimiteţi toate documentele menţionate mai sus.
În cazul în care îndepliniţi condiţiile de admitere la stagiu, vă rugăm să completaţi cererea-tip online.
Vă rugăm să reţineţi faptul că, în cazul în care formularul de candidatură rămâne inactiv timp de 30 de minute, datele pe care le-aţi introdus se pierd. Vă sfătuim aşadar ca, înainte de a completa formularul de candidatură, să citiţi cu atenţie „Normele interne privind stagiile de traducere”.
Înscrierea nu poate fi modificată online şi se realizează într-o singură etapă. Pentru pregătirea dosarului de candidatură înainte de înscrierea online, aveţi la dispoziţie o varianta imprimabilă a modelului de formular.
N.B.: Păstraţi o copie a numărului care vă va fi atribuit după validarea înscrierii online.

Pentru mai multe informaţii, consultaţi:

Norme interne privind stagiile de traducere (pdf)

Modelul de formular (pdf)

Cererea-tip online

FAQ (pdf)