A computer newsletter for translation professionals

It's no wonder sometimes that the public has a problem understanding who we are. Do we know the answer ourselves? It was a recurring question for me this past week as I worked on a large job that really would have been most aptly titled "language engineering" or "language juggling." Driven by humongous translation memories and termbases, the week-long task didn't need a translator as much as it needed someone who knew how to use technology to help identify differences in fuzzy matches and override those differences with materials supplied from the termbase.

I had no reason to complain about the pay for the job, but I kept on thinking: Is that really what I want to do? Is that why I go to my kids' "show and tell" events and speak about my job as a translator? (OK, OK, my kids are a little too old for that, but you know what I mean.)

Clearly, I'm already a friend of translation technology. But during this last week's project, I would have liked to be able to use more technology. Or at least technology that is smart enough to need only my oversight rather than my monotonous and constant involvement.

There are plenty of reasons why the general public doesn't know who we are and what we do. Of course, one is found in the very nature of our job: we don't stand in the foreground. But another might very well be our own insecurity. Have you never had a problem explaining to someone exactly what you do?

The last few weeks have shone a spotlight on what the public thinks of when it comes to translation or - more correctly - what the media thinks is important in regard to translation.

Did you notice the flurry of articles when Microsoft announced its speech translator and conjured up images of Star Trek and the Universal Translator? Here is just one of the hundreds of examples of articles or blog posts that covered this. Then, just this week, Microsoft introduced the new Bing Translator for its phone, an app that is able to machine translate text on the fly. I have to admit getting a little tired of seeing the term "augmented reality" in dozens and dozens of news stories.

But here's the takeaway lesson: Microsoft, Google, and many others are much better at telling their stories than "we" are. "Star Trek" sounds cool. So does "augmented reality." Keep that in mind when you go to your next "show-and-tell."

Another excellent tool for explaining compellingly what we do for a living is our new Found in Translation: How Language Shapes Our Lives and Transforms the World. It's available for pre-order now, and we hope it will soon make translators and interpreters the topic of water-cooler talk and Twitter streams around the world. Make sure it's in your arsenal!

Yet another way of getting attention is what Translators Without Borders managed with this profile in The Guardian a few days ago. I'm impressed with what they do, and I encourage you to stay up to date on their activities by subscribing to their new newsletter.

Almost exactly six months ago I wrote about MemSource, a relatively new translation environment tool from Prague. (Premium readers can read the full article in the archives in the October 15, 2011 edition; you'll also see that I've started to add a table of contents of sorts to the different newsletter editions.)

As a relatively new solution, it will not surprise you to hear that much of MemSource is online-based, which is duly confirmed by the name of the latest edition, MemSouce Cloud 2.0. Project management is done in a browser, and translation memories and termbases are all stored online (by the reliable Amazon network). The only thing that actually happens on the local computer is the translation (or editing or proofreading). Those of you who remember the last review might recall that I talked about a really clever way that MemSource developers had been able to make the translation interface work within a decidedly not-so-clever environment for translation: MS Word. And I also mentioned that they already were looking for a new and more flexible way, which they have now released.

The new MemSource Editor is a standalone tool (that runs on Windows, Mac OS X 10.6/7, and Linux!). It allows you to translate the specific flavor of XLIFF files that MemSource creates out of the supported source file formats, which include all the normal suspects (Office formats, HTML, InDesign, FrameMaker, SDLXLIFF, XLIFF, XML, and TTX) in addition to the newly added development formats such as RESX and Java .properties (you can find the complete list right here.) The developers are so convinced of the advantages of working in the MemSource Editor rather than the Word environment that they simply no longer support the Word plug-in.

As far as the display of translatables, TM, MT, termbase, and subsegment matches, it looks virtually identical to the way it used to look in Word (and pretty much the same as in tools like memoQ or Déjà Vu), only that it's much faster and has a number of enhanced features, including better quality assurance and more flexibility in the way files are prepared for translation. These include a clever way to join, split, and sub-split (!) files before starting to work on them, or handling whole file directory structures of translatable files within one zip file and leaving the structure intact.

While Word is no longer supported as the main translation environment, it is still possible to create a two-column .doc(x)file that editors can use or that can be sent to clients for review and then be reimported into the MemSource Editor.

The browser-based management console is ridiculously simple with virtually no necessary training required. Case in point: the new workflow feature. I'm actually not sure that it's "workflow" in the classical sense; instead, it's a way to create a number of different processing stages for one document that each are positioned within a hierarchy. Once the translator finishes translating, a copy of that file is created for, say, the editor. This new file is then tracked (in real-time, even though the work is happening locally). The translator can still work on the document all he or she wants, but this will have no effect on the one the editor is laboring on. And so it goes again if it's sent to a proofreader.

This last feature is available only in the Team edition, which costs 130 euro per project manager and 10 translators. There is now also a free Personal edition (with a limitation of two processed files at a time) as well as the 20-euro-a-month unlimited Freelancer edition. (You can find all the details right here.) If you are a freelancer who works for an LSP (how about the newly coined long form "Localization Solution Partner" by Bob Donaldson?) that uses MemSource, you can of course use the editor for free.

There are approximately 1,000 licenses in use right now, so it's nice to see that when David insisted last time we talked "that there is plenty of room in the translation technology market," he seems to have been right.

What's coming up next for MemSource? As an alternative to the current translation editor, there will be a completely browser-based translation interface that again will look virtually identical to the existing interface. (Is it kind of silly to use the word "virtually" when we're talking about something that's virtual to start with?) But unlike the discontinuation of the Word plug-in, the (then old, now new) offline MemSource Editor will still be maintained.

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Over the years I have written quite a bit about the technology offered by NoBabel (for the time being: nobabel.com). They essentially offered a sophisticated line of products to align already-translated text into translation memories and then "massage" these (and other) translation memories to increase match rates for newly translated content. Not only was it the only program out there that did exactly this kind of service, but it worked great if used properly.

I'm sure you noticed that I used the past tense in the previous paragraph. Unfortunately, it was intentional: I just got off the phone with Ilia Kaufman, the CEO of NoBabel (and the underlying company KCSL), who will be permanently closing down his business and essentially withdrawing the technology. Why? He wasn't able to make an adequate profit.

Honestly, that makes me so sad.

I've been writing a lot about the disconnect we have when it comes to business processes. ("We" here includes freelance translators and many of the smaller LSPs.) Many of us labor under the delusion that we "can do things ourselves" somehow, without the need for technology and professional services, forgetting in the process to really sit down and evaluate that notion's efficiency and business sense. Or, as Ilia put it, "Translators work very hard to save very little."

Ours is a difficult industry to work in because of its low profit margins, and that is especially true for LSPs -- but shouldn't that be the very reason to look at using methods that make us more efficient? Even if it sometimes means an upfront investment?

Another thing that Ilia mentioned during our talk: the best technology will not work well if expectations are not realistic or if the technology is not handled well. I completely agreed and felt terribly guilty at the same time. Maybe I should spend more time explaining technology rather than just throwing it out there saying: "It's great. Use it."

But the deeper point behind Ilia's assessment is how it describes our relationship with technology. We begin with uneasiness. Then, once we've overcome our initial unease, we assume the technology will solve all our problems -- which is obviously unrealistic, especially when it comes to language technology -- and are terribly disappointed when it does not. Finally, because we know we're smart, we assume we don't really have to learn how to use the technology -- it'll somehow just "come to us" as we use it. Well, it often doesn't, and our results would be so much better if we took time to sit down and understand what the technology in question is supposed to do and how we can get it there.

Ilia's response to this consumer disconnect was to begin coupling his products with services to make sure that the end product was as good as it could be. He had actually started to see some success, but it just came a little too late.

I sincerely hope that his technology will be picked up by someone else. At a time when the likes of Microsoft and Google probably get more positive press from their language technologies than from anything else, surely it can't be too hard to find an interested party. Or can it? 

Here is a message from Barry Slaughter Olsen & Katharine Allen, Co-Presidents of InterpretAmerica, that I'm only too happy to relay:

We've all heard about Google Translate, but Google Interpreter? Like it or not our workplaces are being irrevocably changed by the technology that is transforming daily life on all levels. If you or someone you know is interested in interpreting and technology, don't miss the 3rd North American Summit on Interpreting on June 15-16, 2012, in Monterey, California. Organized by InterpretAmerica, this Summit brings together industry representatives, professional association leaders, end users, and interpreters for two days of inspiring keynotes, meaningful workgroups, and excellent networking. This year's theme is 21^st Century Interpreting: Staying Relevant in a Transforming World. The unprecedented impact of technology on written translation and translation tools is indisputable. But interpreting's relationship with technology is still just beginning, and there are many opportunities to shape the tools that will help us deliver interpreting services now and in the future.

Again this year, high-profile speakers from both within and outside of the profession will inspire attendees to envision and take steps toward building interpreting's future, a future that includes advanced technology, expanded education and training opportunities, and increased collaboration. Workgroup efforts to help the profession take charge of its own future started during the 2^nd Summit and will continue in Monterey this June. Results of those workgroup sessions can be found in Interpreting: Full Speed Ahead, available for free download on the InterpretAmerica website (www.interpretamerica.net). This year, the workgroups will focus on certification, technology, education, public relations, and reaching out to end users. Early-bird registration ends April 30^th. The Summit is a one-of-a-kind event, held in plenary style with built-in networking and close contact between all stakeholders present. If you are interested in shaping the future of interpreting, we hope you will join us in Monterey!

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One day I will get myself a world map (maybe I should use this one) and put little pins into all those places where developers are working to create tools for translators. There would be a whole colony of pins in Ukraine, along with pins in Uruguay, Russia, Spain, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Canada, China, France, Ireland, Japan, South Africa, Germany, Denmark, and now also in Korea. (And, yes, there are a few developers in the US, but comparatively speaking only a handful. And, yes again, I'm sure I forgot a bunch of countries. Fill me in!)

It's not easy to report on VisualTran, the Korean newcomer, if you don't read Korean. Generally I wouldn't see this as a good sign for a translation tool. The website, the documentation, and the tool itself are available in English -- but it's the kind of English you have to concentrate really hard to understand.

In short, VisualTran Mate is a new tool that doesn't do anything completely new and different, but maybe the kick is in the (new) mix. The tool runs within -- or, really, alongside -- Word, PowerPoint, and Excel (all version 2003 and up), which means that the supported file formats are limited to formats supported by these programs. Fortunately, these also include Trados bilingual Word files and PDF files (that are converted into Word files with the BCL Technologies plugin, the same tool that Alchemy Publisher and its corporate sibling Wordfast Pro use).

Once the Word, PowerPoint, or Excel files are segmented with the help of a new menu in each of the Office applications, three separate windows on the right-hand side of the main application window show up: one for translation memory matches, one for glossary matches, and the uppermost one where the actual translation takes place (kind of like old versions of MultiTrans). Once the translation is finished in the outside window, the translated segment is transferred with a keystroke into the actual Office application. After the file is translated, a cleanup process gets rid of all the segmentation marks and the file is ready to use.

What's interesting about the tool is that it comes with fairly large dictionaries in Chinese<>Korean (220,000 words including six specialized subject matter dictionaries), English>Chinese (180,000 words), Korean>Japanese (150,000 words), and Korean<>English (300,000 words including 20 special matter dictionaries that range from machinery and metal to Christianity and military). Terms that are found are highlighted in the translation window and displayed in the glossary pane. In addition to having terms presented to you during the translation, you can also use a terminology QA feature once the translation is done that will compare the glossary you are using against your actual translation. If you know the shortcomings of such verifications, this feature might not cause too much excitement, but remember that in non-inflected languages like Chinese many of the terminology QA problems of other languages don't make translators sweat.

The focus is clearly on East Asian languages, but that's great since not many other tools (read: none) come with that emphasis.

Import and export of TMX is naturally supported. Depending on your version, you can share translation memories and termbases over the Internet or keep them local.

The makers of the tool pride themselves on offering an inexpensive alternative to other tools, but I'm not sure that they really know what the other vendors are charging -- my suspicion is that they only looked at SDL Trados. The smallest package, the VisualTran Mate, comes in at $550 (and does not include things like alignment and term extraction, for which an additional tool, the Visual Tran Manager, is responsible at an additional $440). Both products can also be used as a SaaS offering (the website calls it ASP).

I would be very interested in hearing experiences from any actual users. 

Remember Sysfilter? That German set of applications that extract text from hard-to-get-to formats -- such as Illustrator, Photoshop, CorelDraw, and others -- so they can be processed within a translation environment tool? Once the text is translated, the tools put the text right back where it's supposed to go inside the original file. I always really liked this set of tools. In fact, it seemed like a no-brainer for LSPs who regularly encounter formats like this to own it as part of their arsenal. But for freelance translators who are faced with the translation of exotic formats once a year or so, it was always just a tad on the expensive side. Good news: it's now also possible to purchase inexpensive month-long licenses. You can find more right here.

The translation environment tool Google Translator Toolkit has extended the supported file formats to include some software development file formats. Most of them are Google-specific (including Android resource and Chrome extension files), but it's nice to have the less Google-specific GNU gettext (.po) files supported as well (.po files are a common software development format for open-source applications). It puzzled me, by the way, why none of the MS Office 2007 and 2010 formats are supported yet. But then I remembered: Google and Microsoft still don't play well together.

For those among you who deal with several computers at one workstation, the German ShareMouse allows you to seamlessly switch between them without any finger acrobatics. I haven't tried this product, but I've used the same company's MaxiVista product for a long time and really love it.

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My office mate (and brother-in-law) asked me the other day for a product or method to find out where all that space on his hard drive has gone. You know: those times when your 140 GB are suddenly reduced to 5 GB. (I remember times when my first 220 MB computer was so limited that I had to switch between installing and uninstalling MS Word and MS Excel -- they didn't fit at the same time.)

As can be expected, there are a lot of programs out there, but there is one that has been around since (gasp!) the beginning of this century! It was originally developed for Linux computers but it comes in a Windows and Mac version as well, plus it's open source, ergo free, and you don't have to take a training class to use WinDirStat. It has a no-nonsense approach, runs even on the latest operating system, and once it's done analyzing your computer, which takes just a few minutes, it has all kinds of ways to show you where those bad space-invaders can be found, including a very psychedelically colored map. Groovy, baby!

I was able to get rid of close to 10 GB of data at the click of a mouse.

And since you now have plenty of space to  spare, you might want to look at using "CD emulators."

While these are not essential equipment, they can be very convenient programs. They allow you to create up to 23 virtual CD drives on your hard drive, make an image (a complete copy) of the content of a CD (or DVD), and thus enable you to play several CDs at a time, all at higher speeds than through the original CD-ROM drive and all displayed as "real" CD drives under My Computer.

For translators this can be particularly interesting if we need to work with several CD-based dictionaries at a time and don't want that "disc-jockey" feeling of having to change CDs all the time (or if we want to use a dictionary and listen to a CD or watch a DVD at the same time...).

There are a number of products out there, includingVirtual Drive or Virtual CD, or you can look at this list for a number of free alternatives.

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

You can access the archive right here. This month the user name is toolbox and the password is tuliptree.

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

If you would like to promote this newsletter by placing a link on your website, I will in turn mention your website in a future edition of the Tool Box newsletter. Just paste the code you find here into the HTML code of your webpage, and the little icon that is displayed on that page with a link to my website will be displayed.

Here is a website that mentioned the Tool Box last month:

thebesttranslation.blogspot.com 

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