A computer newsletter for translation professionals

What happens when art and translation technology intersect? Here's one possibility:

It's true that many other things might emerge as well (Jeromobot could show you some), but I was oddly touched by Mona Leone's art. Here is what she says about this piece, called Fuzzy Match:

Translation software calculates the proportion of the translation that is ready to be used again. This series consists of three prints made to the logic of translation software resulting in segmented translator portraits, since the translator only plays an active role when parts of the text are missing. So how much of the translator is actually left to be seen?

You can find more of Mona's art as well as pieces she's collected from other folks right here, along with an introduction explaining that she "aims to raise the public's awareness of translators and translations -- which are generally only taken notice of when a mistranslation forces an interpreter or translator into the limelight." Happily, those are the same words I'd use to describe our upcoming Found in Translation book as well.

Incidentally, Mona is also looking for a programmer to help her with certain aspects of her art project. Drop her a line if you feel so inclined.

I have been promising to write something about the new version of memoQ for some time now, so with no further ado: Here it is!

Rather than just looking at the new features of recent tools and versions, I usually try to chat with the developers to get some of the background story. So, as I did for the previous major releases of memoQ, I met with István and Gábor to hear them out about version 6.

Much like previous major releases, this one has a "theme," something that explains and justifies the changes that are being made. It's "refactoring."

Say what?

I first thought that I didn't understand what that meant because I'm German, so I looked in our slightly outdated (paper!) Webster's. When I couldn't find it there, either, I realized that Kilgray must have been paid by the Hungarian tourism ministry to promote Hungarian -- and what better word to start with than "refactoring"?

Well, apparently that's not the whole story, either, but I'm willing to bet that the majority of you may join me in not really knowing its meaning, though you might be able to guess. It turns out it's programmer speech for "restructuring an existing body of code, altering its internal structure without changing its external behavior" (at least, this is what my new friends at refactoring.com say!).

By "refactoring," Kilgray wants to communicate that they did not create a completely new product like SDL did with Trados Studio. They left everything the way you're used to, only better.

By "refactoring," of course, they also let us know that they are still geeks at heart (this may have been unintentional, though). But, hey, who doesn't love geeks, especially of the Kilgray kind, who strive for excellence with utmost precision and reliability.

I asked István and Gábor about the reason behind this endeavor, given that, compared to some of its competitors, memoQ is still relatively young. But I quickly realized that I had not been thinking in 21st-century terms when I asked that question. memoQ's six-year career is a long lifespan for any software product -- no matter how that compares to its competitors. And after all, one of memoQ's primary reasons for first entering the market was the perception that things had gotten a little stale. Also, the huge code base that underlay the programs in previous versions had indeed caused some users, especially of the server versions, to complain about speed issues -- which now should be much improved.

So, what else is new? We know now what refactoring means, and indeed the program has not only become faster but also smaller. A case in point is the Project home page, where a rather confusing (and ever-growing) array of options from previous versions has been streamlined and renamed (Import sounds better than Add document, and we're all glad that options like the mysteriously named Reimport as... or Import/update bilingual have vanished). I have complained about "feature creep" before, the piling on of features that address very specific needs but are sometimes confusing or sometimes distracting for the "common" user. In response, I've suggested that there should be an option for a "dumbed down" install and another one for an all-features install. To be honest, I think memoQ could still benefit from that, but they have taken a lot of steps in the right direction.

There are some interesting new features for the freelancer who uses the Pro edition. A number of those have been in the Server version for some time but have now made it into the Pro version as well. These include version control (so you can compare and track two different versions of the same source document) or folder connections (this allows you to instruct memoQ to watch a specific folder for source documents; if files in that folder are updated, memoQ will automatically transfer those updates to the relevant project). Subscribers to the Premium edition of this newsletter can read more on those features in the archived October 15, 2011 edition.

memoQ also offers predictive typing (AutoComplete) now -- just like Trados, Déjà Vu, and Wordfast -- which many users of those tools have really grown to appreciate as a productivity aid. The predictions that are displayed come from the termbase, subsegmenting results, and automatic concordance matching. It would be nice to also have suggestions like direct TM hits, but it's very cool that you can select between having the suggestions shown in a ghostly, greyed-out script in the actual translation cell, or a dropdown box like other products, or both.

Earlier versions of MS Office (.doc, .xls) files can now also be processed without having to have MS Office installed; you can view the target cell you are currently translating in underneath the target cell if you would like to (I think that this has been beautifully implemented); the Concordance dialog has been revised; and the list goes on and on.

Should you upgrade? Most certainly if you are on the automatic maintenance plan that Kilgray encourages for its users because that includes access to this and other upgrades. (By the way, you can leave the earlier version of memoQ simultaneously installed to be able to serve customers who are still using version 5, since due to a different database structure you cannot work with version 6 on a version 5 server project.)

What if you haven't bought into the maintenance plan and now have to retroactively pay for it to get to the latest version? Well, you should upgrade if you are a power user who enjoys the latest features, OR if you would like the program to be faster, a little bit "lighter," and a little less error-prone, OR if your clients are using the new version and you want to continue to work with them.

If none of that matches your profile, I would keep the old version, but be aware that Kilgray's licensing policy structure may still "get you" at a later point with version 7 or 8, when you might have to retroactively pay for all those missed upgrades anyway. (There doesn't seem to be much user backlash against that policy, but I wouldn't be surprised if Kilgray is encouraged to reconsider it at some point....)

As you can see, there's a lot to say about "refactoring," after all. In fact, in the next edition of the newsletter we'll continue to talk about the server edition, which also contains some really interesting features. (That will give me additional opportunity to poke some gentle fun at the Kilgray folks -- something that I've probably already done enough of this time.) 

SDL Trados Studio 2011 Service Pack 2 (SP2) is now available

Highlights include: Open Microsoft Word documents with active tracked changes in the source, edit source content and easier external review.

Learn why we think SP2 is more than just a service pack, with added functionality that will significantly improve the way you work. Learn more »

We're looking for ways to improve our website. Take part in our short survey to win an iPad -- www.research.net/s/translationzone. 

When we talk about what we do and who we are, we generally have one thing really going for us: we are passionate about what we do. Sure, we're frustrated sometimes about the monotony of large jobs or the poor pay or the low status that we think translators have, but when it comes down to it, we love language and we love our work. Some of us are better at communicating that passion to outsiders than others, but the vast majority of us are really bad at talking about one thing: machine translation. We hem and we haw and we don't really know what to say. The problem? There's hardly any conversation where it doesn't come up -- after all, that's what people are hearing about in the media all the time, right?

With this in mind, I thought it would be helpful to start gathering some talking points that might make us a little more self-assured in how we talk about it (well realizing, of course, that my opinion on machine translation is just one of the many opinions one could have):

• Machine translation is great because it fulfills an important purpose: providing a gist (or approximated) translation that most often offers a pretty good idea of the content of any given webpage, email, or tweet. This is especially helpful for language communities with less general access to data in their language if they happen to be one of the 58 languages currently supported between Google Translate and Bing Translator.
• Machine translation is a completely different activity than that performed by translators. Human translation, like any human activity, is not guaranteed to be successful, but with the right processes in place, the likelihood of success is extremely high. Contrast that with translation by a computer: if the MT system works well, the likelihood of success is exactly as great as the mathematical probability that the computer can apply. Think about how communication works. Is that always based on the logic of math? No, it's based on the context of circumstance and text -- something that only a translator can follow or recreate.

There are many other potential points to be made (and plenty of consulting opportunities connected with questions of machine translation that some questions might lead to), but to me it seems that these points go to the heart of the matter.

I'd be interested in hearing some of your suggestions. Let's start a Twitter discussion on this with the hashtag #MTapologetics.

Another thing when it comes to matters of machine translation: Some time ago, Google Translate added the link "Search for professional [language] translation" to the results page -- right here, for instance, is an into-Spanish translation. Clicking on the link launches a Google search for "professional translation for [language]" (Spanish, in our case). So, what to do? Well, to benefit from Google's generosity, add "professional translation for [your language]" to your webpage and find new clients who are appalled with the quality they get at Google Translate! 

Reader and (former) Wikipedia enthusiast Torsten Rox-Edling wrote the other day to let me know about some really silly struggles that are happening between authors like him and over-eager Wikipedia editors. One illustration concerned a Wiki article by Torsten about the Polish translation environment tool Cafetran (which, by the way, has a very enthusiastic and loyal, though small, user group).

You can read the whole discussion between Torsten and the editor (in German) right here. The editor's argumentation does indeed strike me as kind of odd.

Lisa John, author of the well-known blog Ü wie Übersetzen, has also complained about the arbitrariness of one specific Wiki editor when it comes to TEnT articles, so this only adds to the puzzlement....

Maybe this revolves around the difficulties of complete outsiders to understand our industry. I took time this week to listen to the keynote given by high-profile author, entrepreneur, and technologist Scott Klosovsky for the InterpretAmerica conference a couple of months ago in Monterey (you can find it right here). It's a worthwhile listen for sure, especially the first 15 minutes or so. But I couldn't help but feel a growing sense of disconnect when Scott tried to build bridges to the interpretation industry (where I'm an outsider, too, of course). The language industry definitely needs to reach out to knowledgeable people outside our immediate horizons, but their messages need a lot of translation (as it were) to be completely applicable to us.

Awhile back I wrote about a search toolbar for Word by Terminotix, and at the same time I also complained that there were some obvious resources missing. Well, lo and behold, they're now all to be found in the latest version, including links to LEO, Dict.cc, MS Language Portal, and TAUS. You can request the free toolbar by sending a message to sales@terminotix.com.

Wordfast Pro 3.1 has been released with a number of new and fixed features, the most important being the now almost ubiquitous Track Changes feature and the ability to edit source segments. In one of the next editions I will spend some more time with all things Wordfast.

SDL is planning relocate much of their development and support to Cluj, Romania. This will remain an interesting development. No doubt there will be sharp people in Romania taking over the development and support for products like Trados Studio, but any such interruption comes with a lot of risk of discontinuity, as well as creating a difficult situation for some of the folks at SDL who will lose their jobs. (Hint: On LinkedIn you will find some talented developers ready to be hired with "SDL" in their profile in the upcoming months.)

Also, I received a note from Lionbridge after last month's newsletter on my comments about Lionbridge's employment of the Microsoft Hub Translator as a replacement for IBM's MT system. This was incorrect. Both systems are now being used by Lionbridge. 

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We're all beginning to realize that true security in the Internet age may be an illusion. One way to stay a little bit safer, though, is by making sure that your applications are up-to-date, especially when it comes to security patches. Like you, I hate it when I have all kinds of programs bugging me with update reminders all the time. So I often disable those reminders -- but the problem is that I'm no longer reminded (duh!).

The most well-known software that takes care of this in one fell swoop is the Secunia Personal Software Inspector, a free product that detects all kinds of obsolete versions of your software, actually downloads most of the new versions, and asks you only to click to install. This includes Windows updates as well (though with the exception of SDL products, most TEnTs are overlooked -- looks like we still haven't made it to the pinnacle of software development).

You can also do the scan online without installing any application, though you'll get less concise results.

Another option to achieve something similar (but a little less grandiose) is with the FileHippo.com Update Checker. In addition to its update checker, one feature I really like about FileHippo is that you can find downloads of old versions of software there -- as we all know, the newest version is not always the best. For instance, here you can download the latest version of Firefox, or on the right-hand side of the screen you can also select many older versions.

If you need to do some general computer housecleaning, Ccleaner is the tool of the moment. While a few years back these kinds of tools were all dominated by Finnish developers, this seems to have changed (though truth be told, I don't even know where the developers of Ccleaner actually come from...). Whatever its origin, this tool appears to be safe and does a very thorough job of cleaning out your registry, deleting temporary files, uninstalling programs, etc.

A little tip: If you don't use Internet Explorer as your main browser, make sure that you open the Applications tab on Ccleaner's main screen to adjust what kind of browser-related files should be deleted and what should be left intact for the browser of your preference (for instance, it might be helpful to keep the "internet history" or "saved passwords"). Also, under Options> Cookies you can set which of your cookies should be terminated and which not.

Isn't it sad that there are such bad things associated with the otherwise adorable word "cookie"?)

And here is one last trick that I just learned for searches within Windows: computer-wide searches from the Start menu or within Windows Explorer became much more efficient starting with Windows Vista, and in Windows 7 they actually became rather good. There is one problem though: when you look for a word within a file or a file name, the Windows search will only find it if you have entered the beginning of the word or name in question. A search for "anslation" will find neither translation.doc nor the word translation within that document. A search for "transla" would find both, though.

I assume that this has to do with the way that Windows indexes the data, but it's still too bad because it goes against other search logic that you and I are used to. 

Before the (physical) conference season gets underway here are two webinars that might be helpful.

Tuomas Kostiainen will talk about all the stuff that "every CAT tool user should know about quality assurance" on September 10. I can't believe that Tuomas is still using "CAT" for translation environment tools, but aside from that obvious shortcoming I'm sure it will be a worthwhile and entertaining session.

Also, coming up next week is Barbara Inge Karsch's webinar on terminology. Barbara (aka Bärbel) is one of the most experienced terminologists, and I'm sure you will benefit from her expertise as well.

Finally there is a Studio manual!

Says Alejandro Moreno-Ramos: "... the kind of book I had searched for months. I have learnt how to use dozens of Trados Studio functions that were totally unknown for me. Now I feel that I am finally taking the most out of Studio 2011."

Free sample pages / PDF files ($45.00) at www.nattskift.nu/english/over-manual.htm.  

Here is another addition to my family of remarkable characters and writing systems that I have been collecting over the years. This is the happiest script that I know.

Hold your cursor over the characters for a definition. 

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