A computer journal for translation professionals

Large companies can create and fund marketing campaigns to elevate a product, a service, or even a whole industry. Individuals like freelance translators or small companies like the vast majority of translation companies have to use different tactics if they want to highlight their profession and eventually reap some benefit from that.

The most obvious way to gain strength in numbers is to join associations. Most countries have national and local translators' associations, and active membership in these seems to be a no-brainer to me. As a US resident, I'm happy and proud to be a member of the ATA and, as of late, the Oregon Society of Translators and Interpreters (OSTI).

Of course, there are steps that can be taken to raise awareness outside an institutional framework as well. On an individual level, social and personal networking and other kinds of marketing are effective, but even these can be organized in an ad-hoc fashion to gain "strength in numbers." Awhile back I started talking to Google about employing a special doodle for International Translation Day on September 30 to help highlight the importance of translation and translators. While the response I received from someone relatively high up in the translation department wasn't super encouraging, I would like to invite you to join me in lobbying Google to run a doodle. You can contact your personal contact at Google, or you can reach the Google Doodle team at proposals@google.com. The more good reasons we can come up with for Google to run the doodle, the better our chances are. So be creative!

On a related pro-translator note, I would also love to see us continue to give away "Found in Translation" to friends and clients. I gave a workshop for translators and interpreters last week in Miami and was sort of flabbergasted that only one (1) participant had actually read the book -- a book that is really meant to be a love song to translators and interpreters worldwide. As with any good love song, it touches not only the hearts of those it is written for but also those around us as well.

If you have a client (or a potential client) who doesn't really understand why it's important to communicate in more than just one language, give her a copy of Found in Translation! If your family, your friends, and your nosy neighbors still don't quite get what you actually do, help them understand by presenting them with a copy of Found in Translation! And if your best friend's son is wondering what he should do once he graduates from school, share with him the many encouraging stories of how he could have an impact on the world as a professional translator or interpreter that is much more profound than he ever dreamed of -- by giving him a copy of Found in Translation!

Oh, and if you really haven't read it yourself: Well, you know what to do...

Since you'll need a lot of different copies, you can even order them inexpensively in bulk at the contact provided right here.

On the website of Heartsome, the translation environment tool company that is presently located in Hong Kong, the following announcement was made last week:

We regret to inform you that we have made a tough decision in view of our financial situation at Heartsome: Heartsome will cease operations on July 31, 2014. On that day, Heartsome will shut down its website and stop all development, sales and technical support work. We hereby sincerely apologise for any inconvenience and trouble. In the last few years, we have failed to achieve our mission despite putting in tremendous effort. We hope to make our last contribution to the industry by making Heartsome products open source to allow capable individuals to continue developing and improving these products to benefit more people in the industry.

Here are some arrangements we have made for our closing down:

• We will provide technical support until July 31, 2014 to help you migrate from Heartsome products to other products. If you have any questions, please email us.
• Heartsome 8.x products will be made open source. The source codes will be hosted at GitHub using GPL v3 before May 31, 2014. You may use them at no cost and modify them freely.
• To allow all existing users of the official version of Heartsome Translation Studio 8.0 and TMX Editor 8.0 to continue using the product(s) you have purchased, we will soon provide a free version that does not require license verification. This version will be available for download on our product download page. Please switch to this version before July 31, 2014. If you do not download and switch to the free version that does not require license verification before this date, from August 1, 2014 onward you will not be able to use as normal the software you have installed now.
• Users of products of versions earlier than Heartsome 8.x, please switch to the Heartsome 8.x version that does not require license verification or other CAT tools.

Heartsome is not the first product that has given up in this very competitive market. Tools like TSS/Joust, Amptran, Quintillian, Clear-CAT, Trans Suite 2000, Aliado, and NoBabel have taken the same step, and plenty of others are officially still around but really have long since given up.

What's clearly different about this is the decision to make the product into an open-source product, though it is not without precedent. Back in 2001, Lionbridge released its ForeignDesk product to the open-source community. Well, let me correct that: It released it with an open-source license, but a community was never found so the product died a quiet death amidst good intentions.

To avoid the same thing happening to Heartsome, which is a very complete and capable product, folks have to want to take it forward and be proactive about it. I know of at least one very capable person who is interested in that, so we'll see how that goes.

One of the problems at Heartsome during the last couple of years was that they were never particularly communicative, and it was no different this time when I asked for more comment. Since they chose not to answer, I asked the owners of two other companies that are (or were) closely connected with the Heartsome company in Hong Kong.

Heartsome was originally founded by Klemens Waldhör, an employee of Alpnet, who co-founded Heartsome Singapore and Heartsome Europe with his fellow Alpnetian Geraldine Lim. This lasted until 2004 when the companies split into two independent entities. Heartsome Singapore started to market the Heartsome tool suite, and Heartsome Europe's product was called Araya.

The main developer of Heartsome Singapore, Rodolfo Raya, left the company in 2007, took the code that he developed, moved to his native Uruguay, and called his product Swordfish. Heartsome and Swordfish looked very similar at first, but they slowly diverged into clearly distinguishable programs. This was mainly because Rodolfo kept on developing his product, whereas Heartsome went into a sort of beauty sleep until it was revived a couple of years under new ownership and a new place of business in Hong Kong.

That's why I contacted Klemens Waldhör and Rodolfo Raya about their take on the recent events.

Klemens responded in a rather laid-back fashion by pointing out that while he has suspicions that not all the code went to where it was supposed to go after the separation, he is not particularly worried because with his Araya solution he "has specialized in XML and server-based installations and therefore corporate clients" for which he customizes his tool and does not compete with other readily available tools.

When I asked Rodolfo about Heartsome HK's demise, he said: "I was not expecting today's announcement, but it didn't surprise me." And: "Heartsome's departure does not affect me, my companies or my clients. I'm still fully dedicated to development of translation tools, providing support for my customers and designing new versions of my programs." Oh, yes, and then he also mentioned this: "The new company [Heartsome HK] took the products I developed for the old company and sold them after updating all icons and buttons."

So, anyone who wants to dig deeper into the code that is to be open-sourced should probably clarify these issues of ownership.... 

Across Language Server v6 Preview 

The most important new features at a glance:

• Across Dashboard: Relevant project information at a glance.
• crossWeb Review Mode: Easy involvement of international subsidiaries in the review process.
• Across Data Cube: Easy collection of indicators.
• Project Management Cockpit: Optimized work process for project managers.

Get an exclusive preview of the Across Language Server v6 even before its release: www.across.net/en/newversion  

(In case you're wondering, "Ribbit" is the sound that frogs make in the US.)

And as short and memorable as that sound is, here's a tip on how to make better use of the ribbons in oh-so-many programs today: If you work in a program with a ribbon, such as the last couple of versions of Microsoft Office or even translation environment tools like Trados, Transit, and Déjà Vu, you don't actually need to use your mouse to access all those features. Pressing your Alt key will show keyboard shortcuts for any feature of your current ribbon as well as how to access all other ribbons. To access the features or ribbons, just press the corresponding shortcut letter (or number) without pressing the Alt key again. If you need to switch to a different ribbon, press that letter. You will then still be in the shortcut access mode with all the shortcut letters on that ribbon showing. Press the right key once again and your program will do the corresponding action.

Ribbit! 

How should I say this? Actually, Kilgray's Peter Reynolds very aptly said some of what I would like to share in a recent blog post. Here's what Peter wrote:

The translation industry is a pretty small industry and translation technology is a small sector within that industry. However, we do try and deliver high quality software and we have and have had some people who really went the extra mile for their customers. One interesting fact is that the people in charge of designing the major CAT tools have all worked at some stage as a translator. This is true for Daniel Brockmann from SDL/Trados, Yves Champollion from Wordfast, Gábor Ugray from Kilgray and it was true for Emilio Benito who founded Atril.

Exactly! You may or may not like certain aspects of some of the tools that Peter mentions, but he is right on the money when he traces usability to the personal history of the chief developers. Now, the fact that they know how to design a translator-friendly tool might not mean that they are also good business people, but if they pair up with folks who are business-savvy, interesting things happen for our industry.

I'm also interested in the flip-side of all of this. What happens when translation tools are designed without the expertise of translators? We see this happening more and more. The number of management-oriented tools seems to be growing (and seems very attractive to investors), but most of those that I have seen so far are lacking the expertise of someone who really understands the translation process and can build the tool so that it suits the translator as well as the project manager. (We all know that this is essential -- if the translator has problems, the project manager will too.)

So what can these tool developers do? One of two things: either they need to hire people who truly understand the translation process because they have long-standing experience in that area OR partner with an existing, translation-oriented tool. There are good examples for the second scenario: Easyling and XTM have successfully done this, as have WorldServer and Trados (WS and Trados belong to the same company, but that's really beside the point in this context).

SDL Trados Studio 2014 Service Pack 1

NOW AVAILABLE

SDL Trados Studio 2014 Service Pack 1 (SP1) has just been released and features some exciting new product updates including:  

• Alignment editing and review functionality
• Enhanced handing of XML files
• Localized help resources
• Usability updates
• Updated Integration API

For more information on this important product update visit our website or contact your local SDL specialist:

• Click here for information on the Freelance version
• Click here for information on the Professional version

Enjoy translation!

The European Association for Machine Translation has asked me to give the keynote address at its conference in Dubrovnik in July. I'm thankful for the invitation because I see it as another attempt to reach out to translators -- I just happen to be the speaker since I write a lot about translation technology. So what I'd like you to do is let me know what I should talk about. What do you have to say to the machine translation community that you want me to relay? I've asked that question on Twitter and the ATA's LinkedIn group and have received some interesting insights -- but I know there's more out there.

Mind you, I have some pretty good ideas about what I can say to start with, but I truly and honestly want to make this about us, so please share your thoughts before you go on your well-deserved summer vacation.

In the LinkedIn discussion that I mentioned above, one translator complained about the lack of accessibility of good information about MT. At first I dismissed it (no, I had the tact at the time not to dismiss it publicly), but then I realized that she was right. Sure, there are a lot of websites and books and whatnots you can read, but I really wasn't aware of any one place to learn about the history of machine translation, the different kinds of technology behind it, and its real-life application. Especially for someone who is not particularly versed in the corresponding lingo.

It just happened that I talked to Attila Görög of TAUS the very next day about TAUS's quality framework model (more on that in the next journal), and in that context I asked for access to look through their recently launched Post-editing Course. After perusing the entire course, lo and behold, I think it's exactly what that translator (and I'm sure many others along with her) was clamoring for. It's a very understandable and comprehensive introduction into all of the areas mentioned above, coupled with a course in post-editing of machine translation and a certificate in post-editing once you pass the class.

Now, there are some caveats. Presently the actual files that you can post-edit as part of the course work are available only in Arabic, Dutch, French, Hungarian, and Spanish (all as target languages with English as the source), so you can't actually finish the whole thing unless you specialize in one of those languages. But there are other languages in the works (the next group of languages will include Turkish, Italian, German, Japanese, and Korean), and the translation of the whole course into Japanese is also in the works.

When I talked to Attila about that very obvious limitation, he suggested that it would be easy to do the majority of the course even if your language is not among the ones that are offered right now, and then do the actual exercise once your language is offered. I agree with him, especially if you feel that machine translation is something you need to beef up on. Even if you don't plan to use it, everyone should understand more than the very basics, if only to argue a little more intelligently about why there is no point in using it yourself. You can sign up to be notified when new languages are being offered.

I mentioned the plural form of caveats a couple of paragraphs ago because there are a couple other elements I didn't like. I didn't agree with some of the statements about our industry and I did not like the fact that there was too much emphasis on SDL products when it came to the discussion on available translation environments.

Still, overall I'm really glad I went through the course. I learned a lot, and I would recommend taking the course for whatever objective you might have. Plus, Attila has extended a 25% discount to all Tool Box readers, which you can access by entering F8L8N2K7W0 as a code when you sign up (this is valid through May 31).

SDL has updated Trados Studio 2014 with its first service pack. And true to its (relatively recent) tradition of actually adding some new functionality into service packs, there are two interesting new features in this service pack as well.

One is an additional alignment feature, and the other is a better way of dealing with embedded HTML within XML, Excel, and other files. The latter feature is very welcome (I just recently had to spend half a weekend helping a client with the old, very manual method). Just looking at the respective portion in Trados, it's clear that the new feature is less manual, but what I still miss is a really good explanation -- either on SDL's knowledgebase or Paul Fikin's excellent blog. I'm sure that there will be a tutorial on how to use the feature soon.

The other feature, the added alignment, is also a little confusing at first, but once you know where to look and you understand that this is not actually an improved but an additional alignment, you will quickly find your way.

This is what I wrote about the alignment when the Studio 2014 was released:

Once the alignment is done, the aligned segments are not shown in an alignment editor where you can modify the alignments but right in the translation memory view. In fact, there might not even be an alignment editor in the core tool; that would be available only on the SDL OpenExchange. Such is the faith in the new alignment. We shall see whether it's warranted or not.

OK, I was wrong (but they were as well). There still is no alignment tool for the kind of alignment that I describe above, either on OpenExchange or within the new version of Studio 2014. Instead, you'll have to choose between doing the alignment that I describe above or a more traditional alignment that will end up in an interface where you will be prompted to edit the alignment -- kind of like you used to do in the old WinAlign, only a little more snazzy-looking.

And if you can't find a way to the non-editable alignment, don't be surprised -- it's a little hidden. You will have to select the option "Align Multiple Files" (even if you just have one file pair), and the wizard that opens then will allow you to uncheck Save alignment result files for later review. Once you do that, you will go through the route that was originally introduced with Studio 2014, during which you encounter the "alignment quality value." If you leave it checked, you will be prompted to edit the segment pairing.

As you would expect, the download for the update is rather large, but the actual installation went very smoothly for me (and others that I have heard from).

Kevin Dias's slogan for his new tool transdraft is "translation software you don't need a PhD to use." Now, I'm not quite sure that you need a PhD for any translation tool (that I'm aware of), but I know that the point he is making has its sympathizers. After all, in the last Tool Box Journal I discussed in length that the feature set in existing translation environment tools has become so complex that we actually need to become experts in making choices about what to use and what not to use -- our computers really don't have the power to process everything at the same time.

Kevin holds true to his promise: transdraft is easy to use. It's a cloud- and browser-based tool (run on Amazon's servers) that allows you to paste text or files in office formats (Microsoft Office, OpenOffice, and iWorks) as well as PDF files that are then presented to you in a tabular interface (source to the left and target to the right). You can connect to a translation memory (that you can import and export via a TMX file) as well as a glossary (that you can import via a CSV file).

Those who are completely new to translation environment tools might really like transdraft, and maybe also those who have been frustrated with the complexity of other tools. Other users will miss some important features, such as the automatic updating of the TM after each segment (the TM is only updated after a whole document is finished), a very clear concept of what the target file format should be, or the inability to preserve the formatting of documents. They might also be confused by a rather unpredictable (and sometimes useless) fuzzy match scheme. But here is the great news: Kevin is a really nice guy who wants to create a tool that works for translators. In fact, a couple of suggestions that I had for him were literally implemented overnight. So, if you like the general concept of the tool and are not completely booked right now, you might want to take it on yourself to start talking with Kevin and make the tool fit your and possibly many other translators' needs.

And you might be doubly encouraged to do that once you see some of the little extras that are available in the tool, such as the ability to highlight any part of the source segment to open a new pane above the grid that shows you its translation from Google Translate and other unnamed sources.

A tool named Wazzo has to be kind of whimsical. And since I never really quite understood what the meaning of "whimsical" actually is, I herewith declare Wazzo to be whimsical. You may or may not agree when you read this once you open the web page: "Guess what genius! You drop ze TMX file here. I will convert it into a nifty, eazy-to-read and printable HTML table." That's it. That's all it does, converting a translation memory exchange file into a two-column table in your browser -- but it does it surprisingly fast and accurately.

Since you might agree with me that a table in a browser is not completely useful, you can of course save that in a different format by copying and pasting OR (and here comes the only good reason that I'm aware of to use Internet Explorer) you can right-click on the table (if you use said Internet Explorer) and select Export to Microsoft Excel. Boom!

(Meaning of "Boom"? Never really understood that one either...)

One concern that might come to your mind with a tool like this is confidentiality and its related issues. So I asked Éric Cadieux-Seney of the parent company, and here is what he said: "At the moment, we keep files on the server for one or two weeks and then we delete them manually. We only keep them because we are still tweaking the parsing algorithm and when there is an error, we want to have a sample of the file that caused it. However, disk space is not unlimited, so we will have to delete them systematically at some point. We don't have any other use or interest for those files though." Might be a good idea for him to be a little more specific and regulated on these things.

Lastly, I would like to recommend a new book that was just published last week (or so). It's called 101 Things a Translator Needs to Know and it's written by a very experienced group of translators that you can find listed on the website.

I was fortunate to get an advance copy, and here is what I said for a blurb:

On my calendar for the first working day of next year? Re-read 101 Things a Translator Needs to Know before working on my first 'real' translation job of the new year (and before putting it on my calendar again for the year after that) ... clever and uplifting, wise and business-savvy, a treasure trove with exactly the information that every translator, no matter how green or how experienced, needs to be reminded of on a regular basis.

That about says it -- after reading the 101 little stories/advice columns, I felt so uplifted and reminded that I truly want to make this part of my routine to read again and again. You should, too. 

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