And another nice idea ;-)

Well, after having worked on WiktionaryZ for over one and half a year it is pretty funny to see sooooo many nice ideas around ... the last info on what translator's cafe is doing came through the uw-creations list - where we discuss the connection of Wiktionary with CAT-Tools.

So now we have also a termscafé - the funny thing is: all try to get their slice from the market instead of wanting to co-operate - instead of creating a real ressource that all of them could use ... well WiktionaryZ wants to co-operate and this should be clear to anyone. Being of a free license it is accessible and usable by anyone. Of course there is copyright to the entries: and that remains to the original authors - and of course there is proper licensing under a free license.

Well ... it is fun to see all these initiatives spot up and say: hey, we had the great idea to create a real good ressource for you ... uhm ... why not just co-operate and link???

SDL TRADOS Certification Program

Why do they need to find the most nifty marketing strategies to make sure people buy their software? What SDL TRADOS is obviously trying to do is monopolize the market. They are experiencing some difficulties, because they are trying to cut out translators who don't use their software (you must have a license of SDL Trados 2006) ... well I do not need to have a compute with Windows installed to get a Windows certificate ... so that is about sales and not about knowledge.

People for sure will put being a good translator with being SDL TRADOS certified on one level - well that should not be the case ... because knowing a software well does not mean you are a good translator. But: we must now outline the differences ... we must now show that it is not the software that makes a great translation ... it is the person, the translator.

I am wondering when they will trademark certain expressions like CCM Methodology - which means nothing else than Createing, Cleaning, Maintaining methods - something that any translator does with his/her TMs (Translation Memory). Well this takes me to the next level ... we need a long list of How To's where people work on collaboratively to show that we indeed have the same goal: giving quality to our customers.

I hereby open the English section of "Translator's How To's" starting a first entry on "How to Create, Clean and Maintain TMs?"

Other blogs about the same theme:
- by Werner Patels
- by Sonja Tomaskovic

Please let me know about further blogs that talk about this theme.

A reference implementation for a translation glossary - other usages ...

Well ... there is that ... we want that application and it would make so much sense in so many ways ... now: if we use it within a CAT-Tool does not mean we cannot use it also differently. Having source + target + definition + photo (very useful for technical stuff) + link to the soundfile with the pronunciation + feedback mechanism is a great thing ... but translators are not the only ones that can make use out of it ... how about kids? Couldn't these tools help integration in particolar for those kids coming from countries where there is no dictionary in that language combination? Wouldn't it make sense that they have their own definition (for kids) + photo + pronunciation? This would help them on one hand to integrate in the new community in another country and on the other hand they would have an instrument that helps not to forget "their language".

I would create the application in a way that the downloaded tbx file can be used for several applications, one of which to create a dictionary for kids including maybe also some games (crossword puzzle for example). It is the same routine, it does the same work

- download a certain dictionary
- includes images, soundfiles etc. (or available when internet connection is active or have to be downloaded)
- if a translation/definition/pronunciation etc. is missing: it can be added by the user directly in that application
- direct possibility to load for example audacity in the background and record the soundfile (attributing automatically the correct name + upload to commons)
- if there is no picture direct possibility to add a picture by searching it on the own computer and uploading it to commons

So the engine behing all that is the same - what is different is the user interface and the other applications it is connected with.

A further use for kids would be one I'd love to see for my kids: a word is pronounced and they have to click on the right picture. Or: a picture is displayed and they have to choose the correct term for it. These are additional applications that can retrieve the information from the downloaded tbx file. So as to the reference implementation for a translation glossary: it is useful for more than only translators.

Menu translations ... OmegaT ... TMX exchange

Well today happened what I already had foreseen time ago, something I anyway would have liked to start, but did not do it due to many, many other things to do. A friend needs translations of menu terminology into several languages. Now you would say: well, why doesn't she offer translation services for this. Of course, I could do this, but: I would not get the job ... not because I am lacking of qualifications, but because this job would never be outsourced.

The idea some time ago was to create a glossary with translations for menus, get people working in hotels, which are supposed to do that job, together to exchange their translation memories. Then we did not have the complete infra structure to do this ... today we have. So maybe this is the right moment to launch this project and promote a Open Content project for menu translations.

Terminology: for now it makes sense to host the terminology on http://it.wiktionary.org – in a second stage it will be transferred to http://wiktionaryz.org and from there it can also be used in TBX (Term Base eXchange) format.

Translations: are done using OmegaT – that helps to create translation memories that can be exchanged between co-operating parties. An OpenOffice.org file of course is preferred for the translation within OmegaT.

Translation Memory: in order to allow for the exchange of translation memories you need to have a repository. OmegaT creates a TMX (Translation Memory eXchange) file and we already enabled http://wiktionaryz.org so that TMX files can be uploaded and downloaded, improved etc.

Well, so let's start this adventure and let's see what comes out of it.

Filo muoviti finchè non vedi più contatto ...

Ho riletto questo post a distanza - meglio chiarire - si potrebbe fraintendere: la traduzione era da fare dall'italiano al tedesco - il casino "fatto in casa" si riferisce al cliente finale, che forse, per risparmiare, ha fatto fare la traduzione a ... hmmm ... non si sa chi dall'inglese all'italiano.

Questa era una frase dell'ultima traduzione che ho consegnato ... ovviamente è sbagliata. Il testo in precedenza era stato (molto probabilmente) tradotto dall'inglese e c'erano cose davvero strane. Be' è umano che qualche errore si fa, ma questo testo qui era uno di quei testi che bisognava prima ritradurre all'inglese per poter capire l'italiano. Un'altra barzelletta: "detettiamo" ... be' è chiaro ... qualcuno aveva voglia di re-inventare l'italiano ... era un'italianizzazione di "detect" ... solitamente non scrivo dei lavori che faccio qui, ma questo davvero mi ha fatto lasciare di stucco. Non era solo un pochino qualcosa di qua e di la - tutto il testo era strano ... anche se le frasi grammaticalmente erano corrette. Be' vediamolo come l'ennesimo esempio di casini "fatti in casa" - forse per risparmiare ... forse per incompetenza ... ho deciso di ridere, altrimenti sarebbe da piangere. :-)

wordsandmore.org is up

Well, we are working, working, working - wordsandmore.org slowly is growing ... it did not make sense to have too many people there right now since we are still working at the basic stuff like templates for online CVs, templates for language schemes etc.

Where I myself and Nautilus can do a lot is on the translation related side. We hope that Interpreters and Copywriters will join us soon, so that we can discuss what is needed to meet their needs.

WiktionaryZ again takes some more time as expected - anyway the language portals of wordsandmore.org and wiktionaryz.org are going to be connected. The Babel templates, that are used to show the users proficiency in a language and if he works (earns money) with a certain language have been transferred to wordsandmore.org as well. They definitely proofed to be not suitable to find translators. That's why we started to create categories with language combinations ... but we have to find even better ways to categorise people ... by giving the possibility to search also on a second level, the specialisation. A further hurdle is: we need to show the information in more than one language ... that could mean that we need a very detailed filtering possibility per language combination and specialisation. The funny thing then comes when someone, like me for example, translates from two or more languages into the mother tongue ... it is not said that I can cover the same topics translating EN-DE, IT-DE and NAP-DE - in all three combinations I strange enough have very different specialisations ... so how to combine these thingies ... well: I know how to combine them, but how to make it simple ... so that anyone can add these categories to the own user page.

Where are we going to post jobs and how are we going to market ... well, I want to wait a bit before writing these plans out ... be sure that I already have them in mind.

If you are a translator, interpreter, copywriter or simply someone interested in languages and translations, and maybe also someone who searches for good people, well, we would very much like to welcome you on wordsandmore.org.

... making work in the language industry fun again ...

That is the slogan of wordsandmore.org. It is not going to be one of the normal translator's portals ... no ... it is going to be a foundation ... not for profit. It sounds strange, doesn't it? It is not the usual thing one would expect from a portal ... well: the world is changing and time is due - due for what are you asking? To make work in the language industry fun again ... too many years of endless discussions, on the Italian side about the so called "albo" ... all things aimed to have us pay ... but in these times, where business is not the easiest for many ... well ... a foundation then.

I just put the message on wesolveitnet.com that contents are going to be transferred to wordsandmore.org ... I feel like closing a door and not being able to go back ... I feel as if something is happening and I do not even appreciate what it is ... I only know: the "Wind of changes" is blowing ... five years ago it was more a kind of a slight breeze, but you could already feel it. Today it is a storm ... almost a hurricane ... when I first set up an .org domain approx. five years ago people reacted strange ... well, then because of that I went away from that idea ... then there was wesolveitnet.com and people accepted it - there is a growing community, mainly readers ... and today ... after having worked a lot within the "free world of knowledge" ... the projects of the wikimedia foundation ... I go back to my original idea ... many will call me a bit mad to go that way ... well, no, it is the way to go - it was the way to go from the beginning ...

A foundation ... not for profit ... a place to co-operate for all ... a place to give back value to the work we do ... a place to meet ... a place to stay ... the place to make work in the language industry fun again ...

Wind of changes ... I don't mind you coming.