A computer newsletter for translation professionals

Since moving to the new publication schedule of this newsletter (every four weeks instead of two), I often find myself yearning to pass something exciting on to you -- only to realize that it's still another two weeks until I "can." How grateful I am for the invention of Twitter, even if it sometimes doesn't mesh well with my long-windedness.

Never did I have that feeling of wanting to say something as strongly as I did last week, when Nataly Kelly's and my labor of love -- Found in Translation: How Language Shapes Our Lives and Transforms the World -- was listed at Amazon (including all the .co.uk, .de, .ca, and .co.jp editions of Amazon) for preorder. In my Twitter announcement of the book I said that this is going to be the year of translators and interpreters, and I think it just might be. Nataly and I are planning amazing things to promote the book and, more importantly, our professions (= you). You'll hear much more about this in the next few months.

Oh, and the book? You'll hear more about that as well, but here it is in super-condensed form: A collection of about 90 engaging stories about how translation and interpretation affect everything. Everything. From business to human rights to security to sex. Obviously you'll love it - you're a language professional, after all, and you'll recognize your own efforts in some of the stories. But more importantly, the folks around you who are not in the language industry (family, friends, potential clients . . .) will eat it up because they will suddenly see the world with completely new eyes (and in the process finally understand what you actually do).

I know! I can't wait either.

Lots of stuff in this newsletter -- as I said, four weeks between newsletters is a long time for someone with a need to communicate. Or, as my kids like to say, someone who suffers from diarrhea of the mouth. 

There are few products as language-intensive as software -- at least in the world of graphical user interfaces where computers interact with us through language (a language that admittedly can be hard to understand). So it's no wonder that software companies are among the largest translation buyers. Documentation and marketing materials have to be translated as well as the actual product itself. Well, who am I talking to? You know that, of course; in fact, many of you make your income off that particular need.

Microsoft, the company that many used to love to hate (though I think allegiances may have shifted a bit in the last couple of years), has been exemplary in providing localized interfaces to a large number of languages. In fact, for the next version of Windows, there will be a total of 109 languages (the present Windows 7 offers "only" 95). The new languages will include a mix of very large language groups along with smaller ones, including Punjabi, Sindhi, Central Kurdish, Uyghur, Belarusian, Kinyarwanda, Tigrinya, Tajik, Wolof, K'iche', Cherokee, Scottish Gaelic, and Valencian.

Why is that relevant for us? Well, with the last couple of Windows versions, it was possible to switch between user interface languages only if you had the much more expensive Ultimate or Enterprise editions. With the new version of Windows, we are promised unlimited access. We can even install different languages for different accounts on one computer -- awesome for translators. You can find more about this happy news on the Windows 8 Blog.

And while we're talking about the multilingual support of Windows, Richard Ishida has been putting together a list of the multilingual Unicode fonts that Windows and Macintosh operating systems come with. A little geeky but interesting nevertheless. 

Celebrate 20 years of SDL with 20% off and more

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Furthermore, until 31st March you can purchase SDL Trados Studio 2011 for only €595 / $700.

http://www.sdl.com/promo/toolbox206

 Want to learn how to use SDL Trados Studio? Join our Translation Knowledge Series.

I hadn't had a chance to look at the German translation environment tool Across for a long time, but I recently asked the folks at Across to give me a presentation of how the product has changed in the last two or three years, and I also talked to a user of a large implementation of the system to see what his thoughts were.

It turns out that the August 2010 Service Pack 1 for the present version 5 was the release that introduced or solidified most of the newer features that we're looking at today.

The core package includes the following new features:

• The web-based translation and review platform crossWeb, which is essentially on par with the functionality of the desktop-application
• Online project management -- not yet functionally equivalent to the desktop-based tools, but the current emphasis of development is to realize that
• Option of SaaS (Software as a Service) licenses
• Translation memory-based AutoComplete for the translation client
• Extensive logging for every alteration in the translation client

Some of these are interesting, in particular the web-based translation interface. It's virtually identical in appearance to the desktop-based version, including the use of the same keyboard shortcut. I asked how many translators actually use the web-based interface vs. the desktop tool, and the answer was a guesstimate of 50-50. Despite the fact that the desktop-based tool is still free and, unlike the web-based interface, can be used to create your own projects rather than just work on projects that clients have prepared for translators, I'm not completely surprised by the relatively high number of online users. One of the early complaints (that I echoed) of the desktop version was that it was a very heavy application with a large footprint on your system, something that clearly can be avoided when you just use your browser. It was also interesting that the customer I talked to (who works for a relatively large translation buyer) described the importance of the online interface for translators who have just started working with the system because he can watch their progress more easily. When he is confident in their ability to work with the system, he doesn't care which of the two options they use.

The SaaS licenses are interesting (they essentially mean that all the backend, server-based processing happens on servers that are run by Across), but apparently, at least here in the US, companies tend to not go with that option. Just to give you an idea on pricing: the SaaS solution starts at approximately $2,000 a month for five users. Those five user include translators, which is quite different than most other tools: Since with Across the software is free for translators, the LSP or translation buyer has to essentially pay for those. Every additional user costs $99. The perpetual licenses start at $27,900 for five users (plus possible additional hardware costs) and $730 per user, plus an 18% annual fee (which consists of equal portions of maintenance and upgrade fees).

There are quite a few components that are not part of the basic package and have to be purchased separately. The one that I found a little frustrating was the plugin to various machine translation engines, each of which has to be paid for separately and can only be used when you create and pretranslate the project to send to the translators. This might have sounded interesting a few years back, but it's anachronistic today when virtually every other tool offers free connectivity to many MT engines even for the translator. I was certainly not surprised to hear that, at least in the US, very few clients are interested in that add-on option.

Another additional tool is crossTerm Web, the online interface to the termbase that is usually used by the client to verify and possibly alter terminology records. Or Across Language Portal, a "requestor portal," i.e., a web-based interface that allows clients to request bids and follow the progress of projects by connecting with the other Across components. Unfortunately, any customization can only be done as a paid service by Across.

One thing that I was always really impressed with were Across's stemming abilities. Rather than just using simple fuzzy term recognition, it actually makes more intelligent decisions for the recognition of terms in its crossTerm component (which, by the way, can be filled quite easily with crossMining, an interesting -- and included -- terminology mining feature) by analyzing terms with the help of some language-specific knowledge of stemming rules. When I reported on this feature for the first time four and a half years ago, I wrote: "If your language is not listed, other languages can be developed if there is a demand -- but I imagine that the demand of paid customers will have preference there." I love it when I turn out to be right: there is actually one less language now than there used to be. Danish, German, English, Finnish, French, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish are supported now and were supported then, and the stemming feature for Russian is apparently no longer available.

All in all, Across is an interesting tool with a different kind of approach in some areas, particularly when it comes to having the LSPs or translation buyers essentially bear the cost for individual translator licenses. It's a surprising mix of very modern and forward-looking features, especially with its fancy browser-client for translators, with some notable last-century aspects such as the paid add-ins that should be a part of the package and the production chain, especially when it comes to the MT components.

The Across customer I talked to had something very nice to say, though. After having tried a number of other large tools, he describes being really impressed with Across "because they do things the way I would expect them to be done." A pretty strong endorsement, indeed. 

Sounds like a battle cry, but isn't it interesting that Estonian is presently at the top of the number of translated videos for the Khan Academy?

Most of you will have heard about the Khan Academy. If you haven't, you might want to listen to Sal Khan explaining to TED and the rest of the world what it is. To put it briefly, it's one of those endeavors that has the potential to turn the concept of education on its very head -- a goal, I might add, that is badly needed, at least here in the US.

It was just a matter of time before there were attempts to translate these videos into other languages, and it's not too surprising that this is happening along the same lines as TED, by voluntary contributions. The translation process is under way, and you can follow it right here, marveling at those Estonian volunteers and making a contribution yourself if you so choose. Chances are you'll learn something in the process, too.

On inspection, the setup needs a little improvement -- the English subtitles are rather shabby, which does not make the translation any easier or more fun, but my feeling is that those kinks will soon be worked out.

Do the Khan Academy videos really make a difference? You can listen to a lot of impressive numbers in Sal's TEDTalk, but here's what really impresses me: My kids go to a small, struggling, rural school in Oregon. Guess what some teachers have started to use for both the remedial and more advanced students? Khan Academy videos. And the kids love it and "get it." 

Fortis Revolution is the computer-assisted translation tool that will direct how you purchase and interact with translation software in the future.

Before Fortis Revolution, businesses had to piece together frustrating translation tools with confusing and hard-to-navigate product packages. Times have changed.

Fortis Revolution offers the simplicity of one product, one distribution and service channel, and one price, in an easy-to-use, yet effective tool to meet your individual translation needs.

One product, one place, one price -- the revolution has begun! 

Ever since Google Translate started to charge for its machine translation results, I've been wanting to talk to Dallas Cao, a translator and the developer behind GT4T or Google Translate for Translators. Was he able to somehow circumvent the Google payment, or do users have to pay just like they do with most other tool-internal implementations? The answer to both turns out to be no, at least for the most part.

Unlike any other tool vendor that I'm aware of, Dallas essentially acts as a wholesaler between Google and the translator. The price that you pay for a monthly, semi-annual, or annual license includes the estimated cost of the machine translations that have to be bought from Google. The business model sounds a little risky to me, but Dallas tells me that so far it works for him.

So, what is GT4T again? Actually quite a bit more than the name suggests. It's a little application that allows you to connect from any Windows application to the Google and/or Bing machine translation engines by highlighting a word, phrase, or text of any length and pressing a shortcut key. Depending on your setting, the text will be replaced with the machine translation, or different translation options will be displayed in a popup window from which you can choose one. If you use a translation environment tool, there are even preconfigured shortcuts to jump to and translate the next segment.

Additionally, it also offers access to a large number of pre-configured and configurable web-based dictionaries and other data sources. After pressing a different shortcut, the found information in those sources is displayed in another little popup window. And lastly, you can also easily build and use your own Excel-based glossaries that you can use in a similar manner.

These last features excite me almost more than the machine translation features. If you feel the same way, you can choose to completely forego the MT feature and purchase a very inexpensive version of GT4T that is based on a tiny package of machine-translated characters (which is the way that Google charges). Since you might not use that feature to start with, this might be the most economical way to go. You can find all the pricing for the different versions on Dallas's website.  

Here are some tidbits that have come across my desk computer the last few weeks:

• Elizabeth Marshman of the University of Ottawa, who is working on the relationship between translators and technology, has just released a new survey titled: "Powering the language industry and empowering language professionals: A dual role for language technologies?" I admit, she leaves no doubt with that title that she's an academic, but this might explain the purpose more clearly: "A study of language professionals' perceptions of how language technologies affect their control over their work." That made a lot more sense to me. I took the survey and was glad I did -- it made me contemplate in more detail about what I actually do and think.
• It sparked my imagination when Google recently added Esperanto as its 64^th machine translatable language. No, it's not because I was born in '64 -- it just makes a lot of sense to add the language that was specifically built to be very rules-based. My Esperanto is rather rusty, but I would love to learn from those Esperantists among you whether this is an OK translation.
• Marco Cervoli and Sergio Alasia of Qabiria have written a full-fledged OmegaT manual. You can find more information about it right here. Some will be ecstatic, or maybe I should say estatico, to find that it is in Italian, and others might not. But Marco is also looking for someone with whom he can cooperate as an English translator, so you might want to drop him a line if that sounds interesting. (I wasn't going to say anything about the cover, but don't you think that these robots look strangely faceless?)
• The Terminology Coordination Unit of the European Parliament has released a widget that allows you to put the search mask for the IATE termbase right on a webpage or blog. You can find a sample of what it can look like and the code you'll need to paste into that webpage right here.
• Having trouble making up your mind between Google and Bing? Take a look at Gooobing, which displays Google and Bing results side-by-side. With some browsers, like Firefox and IE, you can also add it to your search engine field or make it your default search engine with that little link down in the left-hand corner. The developer behind this is the same guy who's also behind the GT4T application that I talk about elsewhere in this newsletter.
• Oh, and then there was this discussion on LinkedIn that added a REnT to the TEnT. Don't get it? You might want to see what Ben Sargent has to say about it.

This is the tagline of smartQuery, a tool by Austrian tool reseller and developer Kaleidoscope (a sister company of LSP eurocom). Kaleidoscope's Klaus Fleischmann took some time with me this week to show me the tool, and I really liked it.

The idea of this tool is to solve a problem that everyone who's ever worked on multilingual projects is aware of: managing project-related queries so that they can be easily tracked and made applicable for other translators and languages, while at the same time adding transparency to the client's responsibility to answer some queries. Right now, there are essentially three kinds of solution used for this scenario: the much-lamented Excel spreadsheet that is being passed around, the custom-built solution that -- if it's good -- is expensive to build, and the overpowered bug-tracking software. (Notice that I did not even mention the "random email approach.")

smartQuery offers three different web-based interfaces -- for client, project manager, and translator -- that they can use to enter, categorize, track, and answer queries. The tracking can be done solely online or optionally through email notifications.

What impressed me most about this tool was how Kaleidoscope approached it: a master's student at the University of Vienna spent two years analyzing thousands and thousands of queries to come up with a categorization that they used for their tool. The three main categories she came up with and that are now used in the tool are terminology (this covers the vast majority of queries), feedback, and "other." Each of these is then further classified but presented in an easy-to-use interface that allows for quick entries -- certainly faster than the clumsy Excel spreadsheet. Depending on the categorization and other factors (such as language-independence), a semi-automated workflow is launched that presents the queries to the responsible parties until they eventually come back to the translator who can implement the answer and then sign off on the query.

The system can be integrated into larger workflow and process management systems. Presently there is an existing connector to Worx, of which Kaleidoscope is a reseller, and there are efforts under way to build connectors to Plunet and ontram. On a very different level, it is also possible to export the query data into an Excel spreadsheet and reimport that at any time.

The pricing of the system is flexible enough that even a one-person LSP might be able to afford to use it (or might be unable not to afford it).  

You follow your friends, your colleagues, translation-related events and many other things... Now follow your translation documents, and changes made to them, in your translation with memoQ 5.0!

Track changes, term extraction, cascading, TXML and Regex-based text filters, X-translate, Google v2 API integrated, and many other exciting features.

Download the 45 trial version from www.kilgray.com. 

Last month I mentioned that I would look at the new version of Translation Office 3000. And so I did.

TO3000 has been one of those products that I've been rather unabashedly bragging about as one of the tools that I use for myself and really like. And for those few of you who don't know what it is: it's a software program that allows freelance translators to do many of the menial tasks that we need to do as small businesses. This includes bidding for projects, tracking projects, invoicing, and managing payments. The program uses a database that contains all your clients' information, your pricing, your payment methods, etc., and it also allows you to run reports on certain clients, projects, or time periods. Since AIT, the company that develops this tool, also offers a plethora of other tools for translators, TO3000 has some of these integrated right into its fold, including a sophisticated word-counting tool (that lets you count words in files as you invoice or bid for them) or a tool that allows you to enter and process weighted rates for TEnT-processed data.

OK, so now to the new version. The most glaring new thing is that the new version allows you to choose between two different workflows: one allows you to do everything on the basis of projects (actual billable tasks have to be added); the other allows you to forego that step and just work on the task level. It doesn't sound like a big deal to many, I bet, but I also know that some will breathe a sigh of relief. Three versions ago the latter workflow was the default way and many -- including me -- have never really appreciated the more cumbersome project-based workflow.

Aside from that, another interesting new things includes the fact that there are now differently priced versions that essentially differ in the number of clients you can enter, the number of file formats that are supported for automatic word counts, and some customizability. You can find the differentiations along with the prices of the different versions listed right here.

Now, if you outsource jobs regularly or even once in a while, this tool is not for you. But if you work on your own and just need to take care of your own billing and tracking processes, it's a fabulous tool.

Oh, and before I forget, the upgrade process did not go quite as smoothly as could be hoped for: I ended up having to manually move some of the templates for invoices as well as the actual file that contained all my previous data, but it was nothing that couldn't be achieved after a little head-scratching. (Maybe in future builds those problems will be solved. Hint, hint.) 

Here is another addition to my family of remarkable characters that I have been collecting over the years. To me this has the quality of van Gogh's self-portrait, with the cut-off ear actually still dangling from the picture frame. It just sticks out.

Hold your cursor over the character for a definition. 

As a subscriber to the Premium version of this newsletter you have access to an archive of Premium newsletters going back to May 2008.

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New user names and passwords will be announced in future newsletters.

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