What is Translation?

Translation could be defined via metaphors. The most known is "Translation is like a bridge". According to Google Dictionary, a bridge is:

"a. a structure carrying a road, path, railroad, or canal across a river, ravine, road, railroad, or other obstacle. 

b. something that is intended to reconcile or form a connection between two things."

Therefore, in this case, the two things that are connected are languages and cultures.

 

Research has revealed that translation could be defined as a process and as a product through 36 metaphors (Words without Borders, 2021). The aim of this blogpost is to discuss the worth of these metaphors and their success in describing the task. 

• What do you think of these metaphors? 
• What is the closest metaphor to the reality of the task? 
• What is the metaphor that takes into account all the aspects of translation?

Best Machine Translation Engines

 

Machine Translation (MT), i.e. automated translation, is a "process when a computer software translates text from one language to another without human involvement [in the output]” (MemoQ.com, 2020). The human being is certainly involved in providing input, i.e. content to be translated, to the machine tanslation engine. 

Machine Translation has many advantages. The MT engine can handle large amounts of texts (8500 words per day) and a lot of languages, if compared with the human translator abilities (2500 words per day). Thus, it is efficient, because it is time-saving. It is also cost-effective, because it is useful in reducing costs. In addition, it improves quality through the memorization of recurrent translated sentences and terms.

Subtitling & Post-Editing Projects

Follow the external links below to watch on youtube the videos subtitled and post-edited by my students as part of their courses' assignments in the Master's programme at the UB2. These projects are short and deal with different themes each time.

SUBTITLING (From English into Arabic)

Subtitling Projects (M2 Translation 2022/2023 - UB2)   (Watch Now!)

Subtitling Projects (M1 Translation 2022-2023 / UB2)  (Watch Now!)

Subtitling Projects (M1 Translation 2022/2023 - UB2)   (Watch Now!)

Subtitling Projects (M2 Translation 2021/2022 - UB2)      

 

Subtitling Projects (M2 Translation 2020/2021 - UB2)       

Subtitling Projects (M1 Translation 2020/2021 - UB2)             

Subtitling Projects (M2 Translation 2019/2020 - UB2)

Subtitling Projects (M1 Translation 2019/2020 - UB2) 

Subtitling Projects (M2 Translation 2018/2019 - UB2) 

Subtitling Projects (M1 Translation 2018/2019 - UB2)

Subtitling Projects (M2 Translation 2017/2018 - UB2)

Subtitling Projects (M1 Translation 2017/2018 - UB2)

Subtitling Projects (M1 Translation 2016/2017 - UB2)

These video playlists will be updated. Check them out later

Your comments and feedback are most welcomed and greatly appreciated.

What is Terminology Management?

Undoubtedly, terminology management is impotant for both LSPs and clients. It plays a key role in the translation process streamline. Glossary creation is considered to be the first step in the processes of translation in order to ensure the highest quality of products. Therefore, some clients provide their own glossaries along with projects' files. The same thing could be said about localization. Clearly, the use of glossaries is beneficial, because they increase consistency and make translators' life easier.

Therefore, translators, localizers and interpreters must be able to manage terminology online and offline to keep their workflow running smoothly. The current CAT Tools provide some features to manage terminology. For instance,  SDL Trados Studio allows the creation of termbases through its editor and the standalone SDL MultiTerm. However, these software might not be practical for interpreters who need quick consultation or search for specific terms. Indeed, many terminology-focused platforms have been developed to facilitate the interpreters' work, speed up the process of production according to the various interpreting settings, and increase performance quality.

Free CAT Tools Tutorials

In addition to the mastery of languages, the practice of translation requires the mastery of at least one CAT Tool. In order to get started, there are a lot of free tutorials which would help you master the basics of CAT Tools. Follow the links below to benefit for free from our selection of tutorials of the main tools in the Translation Industry:

SDL Trados Tutorials

MemoQ Tutorials

MateCat Tutorials

Wordfast Tutorials

OmegaT Tutorials

CafeTran Tutorials

Across Tutorials

STAR Transit Tutorials

Selections of introductory videos to this topic are curated here:

CAT Tools [English] 

CAT Tools [Arabic]

Check the label CAT Tools out for updates on relative topics.

Audio-Narration & Audio-Description Projects

Follow the external links below to watch on youtube the videos audio-narrated and audiodescribed by my students as part of their courses' assignments in the Master's programme at the UB2. The source videos for these projects are mainly 2D and 3D cartoon.

AUDIO-NARRATION

Audio-Narration Projects (M2 Translation 2020-2021 - UB2)

Audio-Narration Projects (M2 Translation 2019-2020 - UB2): (Arabic)

AUDIO-DESCRIPTION

Audio-Description Projects (M2 Translation 2020-2021 - UB2)

Audio-Description Projects (M2 Translation 2018-2019 - UB2): (Arabic)

Audio-Description Projects (M2 Translation 2017-2018 - UB2): (English)

These video playlists will be updated. Check them out later. 

Your comments and feedback are most welcomed and greatly appreciated.

Audiovisual Translation (Studies & Industry)

                       
               The world of Audiovisual Translation is vast.


                           

          If you are keen to learn more, check our previous posts via the label: Audiovisual Translation or watch the playlists curated for you. The first is entitled Audiovisual Translation Worlds. You will find a set of videos which have been selected and organized to introduce you to the wide range of areas in this field. The second playlist is focused on Audiovisual Translation Challenges.

          If you have any questions or you need more explanation, do not hesitate to get in touch or leave your comments below

Subtitling Software: EZTitles

          

        EZTitles is a subtitling software developed by EZtitles Development Studio. Other subtitling solutions are provided alongside EZTitles such as EZConvert, 3DTitles and EZTitles Plug-ins. However, these solutions are not free, only a 30-day free trial is offered. The cost starts from 50 euros/month. 

          With a good mastery of this kind of software, one stands a better chance of having a rewarding and better fulfilling career as a freelance subtitler. It is apposite to stress that professional subtitlers must have excellent mastery of the software, because it is hard for them to increase their personal productivity to ensure they are available to accept the work when it comes in. Learning how professional subtitlers and subbers use technology to increase their productivity can be facilitated by watching Video Tutorials which explain the basics and advanced features of cueing subtitles in EZTitles. If interested in such career, this can be the first step for you to do. The Video Tutorials can be accessed here: Video Playlist.

Free Video-Editing Software

With a bit of creativity, anyone can make stunning creations. Many free video-editing (desktop, online and mobile software) were developed for beginners. These software have pro-like features, because they enable you to edit, cut, crop and trim your video clips in no time. Thus, they are used for subtitling as well eventhough they are not designed primarily for this purpose. Besides, in addition to their user-friendly interface, they provide themes, fonts and transitions that are similar to the ones offered by professional editions of paid software the mastery of which requires time and long years of practice. Moreover, you could edit your videos by adding your voice recordings to produce your audio-description and voice-over creations. Furthermore, you could insert multiple video and audio tracks. The only disadvantage is that some of them have big watermarks or logos that are sometimes annoying.

Direct links to the websites of some these software are listed below. The first two can be used online. There is no rationale behind the classificlation of the other software, so maybe in the future in-depth reviews will be added.

Link: WEVIDEO
Link: PANZOID
Link: SHOTCUT
Link: LIGHTWORKS (Award Winner)
Link: DAVINCIRESOLVE
Link: KDENLIVE
Link: AVIDEMUX
Link: VSDC
Link: FILMORA
Link: OPENSHOT
Link: Cyberlink POWERDIRECTOR
Link: WINDOWS MOVIE MAKER
Link: CINELERRA
Link: VIDEOPAD
Link: iMOVIE
Link: AVS VIDEO EDITOR
Link: AVISYNTH


This list is not exhausted and it will be updated soon.


Sample projects edited by Master Students can be watched here: Audiodescription Projects ; Subtitling Projects

If you have acquired advanced knowledge about the above-mentioned software and would like to share your experience, your feedback is greatly appreciated. If you are a newbie, keep asking questions! Check this post out later for more info or subscribe to get the newsletter of this blog directly in your inbox.

Audiovisual Translation for Newbies

Audiovisual Translation is a big world which provides many outlets for would-be translators. Each of its types will be fully investigated in out upcoming posts. Thus, in addition to subtitling which is well-known, we will cover other forms such as transcription, audiodescription, voice-over and dubbing. 

If you want to quickly explore how the world of Audiovisual Translation is amazing and amusing, visit our playslist of videos on audiovisual Translation Challenges. 

You may want to explore university programmes here: AVT programmes playlists on youtube.

Sample projects can be watched here: Audiodescription Projects ; Subtitling Projects

Besides, you may want to take a look at our playlists of videos where promotional videos of universities worldwide providing different types of programmes and trainings are curated.

Your feedback is greatly appreciated. So, keep asking questions! Check this post out later for more info or subscribe to get the newsletter of this blog in your inbox.

NADIR, A. (2017). [Translation Syllabus]. Course: Computing & Translation. Master in Translation. Algeria: Blida 2 University.

Free Subtitle-Editing Tools

Below is a non-exhaustive list of the best free subtitle editing software:

• Aegisub
• SubtitleEdit
• Subtitle Workshop
• Open Subtitle Editor
• Gnome Subtitles
• Pitivi
• SubtitleCreator
• Submagic
• SubViewer4
• Gaupol
• VisualSubSync
• WinSubMux

Online/Web application do not require any downloading, if you do not want to install more software:

• http://www.sync-subtitles.com/
• http://www.subsedit.com/
• https://amara.org/en/
• http://subtitle-horse.com/
• https://www.captionsmaker.com/
• FiveLoadSub/

This list will be updated. Descriptions of these software will be added later.
See more here: Wikipedia
If you want to learn more, check out the label: Subtitling

Alignment Tools

In order to create your Translation Memory, you could use the alignment tool integrated within the CAT Tool such SDL Trados Studio 2019 Alignment Tool or use the standalone software like the following tools:

LT Aligner (Open Source)

Align-assist

NADIR, A. (2012). Commented Translation of Chapters 7-9, Maja J. Mataric (2007), The Robotics Primer. [Magister Dissertation]. Algiers: The Higher Arab Institute of Translation, League of Arab States]

What are the advantages of CAT tools?

       The term Computer-assisted Translation (CAT) does not refer to Machine translation (MT) of texts which is provided for free by many engines and websites such as Google translate, Reverso and Bing. CAT refers rather to the human translation which is facilitated by desktop computers and the software installed on them. These software are called CAT tools. They have many features which cannot be ensured by a human being, so the translator uses them as tools to improve his performance and to increase his daily output. Indeed, CAT tools have many advantages when working on big projects, especially technical ones, because they will not help much in literary or creative translation.

 

               

         So, one may cite that:

1. CAT tools help the translator keep track of his previous work by creating Translation Memories "TMs" which enable him to save time when translating recurrent expressions or similar ones.

2. CAT tools enable him to keep Term Bases "TBs" which enable him to be consistent in all the translated documents, i.e. using the same terminology along the project.

3. The translator can even use the client's TMs and TBs when required, consequently this will save him a great deal of research.

4. CAT tools enable the translator to have a machine translation from his workbench. All he has to do is to set his preferences when creating the translation project.
5. The translator can align his previously translated documents

6. They enable the translator to work on all types of formats and to save the translated documents in multiple formats.

7. Some CAT tools have servers which allow the translators to work on projects in teams.

8. Wordfast anywhere, for example, allows the translators to access the user-friendly environment wherever they might be and to share their TMs free of charge.

N.B: You can download free trial versions of these software and some of them are open-source.

More posts on CAT can be found here.

Visual Localization tools for newbies

   

 

The most common localization tools are:

• Alchemy Catalyst

http://www.alchemysoftware.com/

• SDL Passolo:

http://www.sdl.com/products/sdl-passolo/

• Lingobit Localizer Standard: 

http://www.lingobit.com/products/compare.html

• Sisulizer Translator:

http://www.sisulizer.com/localization/steps/localization-step-2-translate-text.shtml

• Multilizer Pro for Translators: 

http://www2.multilizer.com/

Localization tools for newbies

         As far as language industry is concerned, there are different types of localization. Simple definitions of these types are as follows:

• Language localization, the process of translating a product into different languages or adapting a product for a specific country or region.
• Internationalization and localization, the adaptation of computer software for non-native environments, especially other nations and cultures (Webtranslateit)
• Game localization, refers to the preparation of video games for other locales.

• Dub localization, the adaptation of a movie or television series for another audience.

                                                                       (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Localization)

        We may also talk about Website localization or internationalization which refer to the translation of the website content either into a local language or into an international one. The main tools which may help achieve this purpose online are (GlobalizeIt, Bablic).

       The videos that I have chosen for you are a comparison between two Localization tools, Catalyst and SDL Passolo. See how each tool localizes the application "notepad.exe" and a ".resx" file.

Link: Catalyst, SDL Passolo, 

          You may also want to check: Translation Exchange, Pairaphrase, GlobalizeIt, POEditor.com/