Tips 'n' Tools for Translators

The University of Hildesheim in Germany has been running various training events for practising translators for a number of years now and is going to be holding a two-and-a-half-day seminar for technical translators in mid-September. The subject is home and building automation.

What's interesting about these training events is that they involve a combination of lectures in German on specific technical topics and practical sessions focusing on translation work in German, French and English, which entail discussion with the participants as well as practical written exercises. The lectures are held by staff from the Engineering Department (Institut für Technik, IfT) and from the Institute of Translation Science and Technical Communication (IÜF).

Here are some of the topics that are to be covered:

• the purpose of automation


• lighting, energy efficiency, air conditioning and solar protection


• robots for cleaning floors, windows and pools


• robots and their uses in the garden


• smart household appliances, internet connectivity


• infotainment and communication devices


• security: monitoring/surveillance, access control, locking systems


• human-machine interaction

Other organisational details:

• Venue: University of Hildesheim, Bühler-Campus, Lüneburger Str. 1, Hildesheim (room L 046)
  
   


• Date: Thursday 12 - Saturday 14 September 2013, Thurs. 10 am to 6 pm, Fri. 9 am to 6 pm, Sat. 9 am - 12.30 pm
  
   


• Cost: this varies from 340 to 475 euros + VAT, depending on whether or not you are a member of a translators' association belonging to FIT. Students can participate at a special reduced rate (225 euros + VAT).

For more details about the event, read the outline about it that BDÜ Weiterbildungs- und Fachverlagsgesellschaft has made (click here). You can also register on the same page using the shopping basket.

Carl

(P.S. The information stated here is taken from the leaflet, but please double-check it yourself if you are interested in attending. I make no representations that the information stated is accurate, up to date or complete and accept no liability for any loss or damage caused by inaccurate information.

images: www.freeimages.co.uk

If you are a translator who uses one of SDL's computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools (e.g. Trados® 2007 or one of the newer versions of Trados® Studio (2009 or 2011), you will probably already have heard about the firm's relatively new software-development platform SDL OpenExchange.

OpenExchange is an interesting idea as it is a way of enhancing the functionality of SDL's products by harnessing the intellectual power of 3rd-party developers. In the words of SDL:

"By offering a range of plug-ins and associated applications that will extend and augment the product feature set, we aim to see our users achieve a greater return on their SDL investment, while offering developers a stage to showcase themselves before the industry’s largest translation professional community." (quoted from their website)

In addition to this, SDL is using the platform to seek suggestions from users of its products regarding further potential enhancements. In this respect, it currently seems to be ahead of the competition, although other CAT-tool manufacturers such as Kilgray in Hungary (the maker of memoQ) have also started creating user platforms that can partly be employed to exchange software resources (see Kilgray's new Language Terminal, which can be accessed directly from memoQ 6.2 and memoQ 2013).

SDL's 3rd-party development platform currently contains around 80 enhancements in the form of plug-ins and apps. Some of these cost money (quite a lot in some cases), while others are free. Among other things, they include:

• Auto-Suggest dictionaries in a variety of language pairs
  
   


• conversion software (e.g. SDLTM to XLIFF for proof-reading in a different tool)
  
   


• file-type definitions so that Studio can process further file types (such as PO files or DTP formats like Adobe Illustrator and InDesign)
  
   


• glossary converters (e.g. for converting an Excel glossary to a Studio or MultiTerm term base)
  
   


• Microsoft terminology collections in various languages (converted for use in MultiTerm)
  
   


• machine-translation plug-ins
  
   


• and even instruction manuals for Studio 2011 in various languages.

To find out more about these and the other apps, check out the OpenExchange site. I would also recommend you to read a recent blog post by another translator, Tuomas Kostiainen, a Studio user and trainer who has taken a closer look at five of the products available there.

As an aside, I noticed that some of these optional plug-ins are actually included in memoQ's functionality; they are there if you want to use them and just have to be activated by ticking a check box - there's no need to download and install them, let alone pay for them. Instruction manuals for memoQ and other CAT tools made by Kilgray are available from Kilgray's own website for free and are also in a range of languages.

Still, a number of the Studio and MultiTerm plug-ins and apps do look interesting and provide enhancements that are still lacking in memoQ. In the course of time, however, memoQ users may find that a growing number of these are being offered on the Language Terminal. Let's wait and see how it evolves...

Carl

images: Kilgray's logo and Language Terminal courtesy of Kilgray Translation Technologies. SDL OpenExchange: my own screen shot

If you use Mozilla Firefox as your standard Web browser, you will probably be familiar with add-ons, which enhance the way it works and what it can do. Users can choose which add-ons to install themselves and customise their browser this way.

Add-ons for Firefox are available on Mozilla's website and can be downloaded easily and installed right away in many cases. They are divided into various categories, one of which is "Dictionaries & Encyclopedias", which is obviously potentially useful to translators:

At the moment (12 June), 512 dictionary/encyclopaedia add-ons are available on the site. If you browse through the pages and select the add-ons that seem most promising to you by clicking on the green "Add to Firefox" button on the right, they will be downloaded to your computer and installed straightaway, providing you tick the check box that appears:

Alternatively, they will be installed when you shut Firefox down and then launch it again.

The search window at the top right of your browser will now contain all the add-ons you successfully installed. It ought to look something like this:

If you decide you don't want to use certain add-ons after a while, just click on "Manage Search Engines..." at the bottom of the list and you'll be able to uninstall the ones you pick very easily.

Have fun discovering new add-ons to speed up your dictionary searches!

Carl

images: my own screen shots

As the German title says, this practical little book is a basic guide on marketing and is specifically tailored to the needs of translators and interpreters. Although it's written for speakers of German, I expect much of what it has to say is equally applicable to other cultures as well, although marketing styles no doubt vary internationally.



Author Birgit Golms is an expert on the subject of marketing and holds workshops on it as well as writing articles and books on related issues (partly for the German Association of Interpreters and Translators (BDÜ), which I happen to belong to). You can tell she's familiar with the way in which translators and interpreters work and think as she provides lots of practical examples that ring a bell.

The book is a handy size – approx. 150 pages long and A5 size, so it can just about fit into your coat pocket. It's divided into four practical sections: (1) how to position yourself, (2) the basic marketing material you need, (3) how to win customers and (4) developing your own marketing strategies and putting them into practice.



One of the things that make it a bit different from many "Ratgeber" is that it's meant to be used, not just read – it includes various checklists and plenty of practical tips and links to resources on the Web. Since the guide was published in 2011, it's also fairly up to date (so most of the links will still be active) and it puts a lot of emphasis on self-marketing via the internet, e.g. by means of your own website or blog or by using social media. What I particularly liked here was the author's open-minded approach to tapping social media as a marketing resource – it's not everybody's cup of tea, and how much (and how successfully) you use it will depend on your own personality.

In my opinion, "Marketing für Dolmetscher und Übersetzer" is well worth the read for any self-employed person interested in boosting their turnover and winning new customers. At 20 euros, it's reasonably priced as non-fiction goes and the investment is quite likely to help you move your business in the direction you want it to go (and make your income flow more steadily as well thanks to the extra custom you get).

You can order the book from BDÜ Fachverlag in Berlin or from any good bookseller.

(German) ISBN: 978-3-938430-34-7

Carl

image: courtesy of BDÜ Weiterbildungs- und Fachverlagsgesellschaft mbH