Translator's Tools

More on proofreading by text to speech

noreply@blogger.com (Gururaj Rao) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:01:00 +0000

In a previous post, I wrote about a proofreading solution using a commercial software (Dragon Naturally Speaking) to read out the text you translated. Although the voice is not as natural as in Naturally Speaking, here is a free solution, SayzMe, thanks to a reader of this blog who pointed it out to me. The voice bundled with this free application is passable, and certainly better than some of the voices I had tried out a year ago. Download this freeware utility and try it out yourself.

I have recorded two simple Word macros that hide and un-hide hidden text when you use a CAT tool such as Wordfast. These macros may be used to conveniently hide the hidden text and proofread paragraphs or the entire document during the translation process. I have put them on Word's toolbar as you see here:

To proofread a paragraph, you can run HidOff that hides the Japanese source text and displays only the translated English text, select the paragraph and hit Ctrl +C to copy the text to clipboard. If SayzMe is already running, it will read out the clipboard text.

You can record these two convenient macros yourself using the macro recorder in Word or copy them from here (Note: I have run these on Word 2003, and they work fine. If they don't work for you, try recording them yourself.)

CAUTION: When you proofread and wish to make corrections by deleting or writing over text at the beginning or end of sentences, make sure you turn the hidden text ON and then do the corrections. There is a good chance you may delete the hidden bookmarks inserted by the CAT tool when you delete/overwrite text.

I wanted to write about CAT tools, such as Wordfast and Felix the Cat. unfortunately, looming deadlines have prevented me trying out Felix - hopefully in the near future. Here are the two macros:

Sub HidOff()
'
' HidOff Macro
' Macro recorded 2008/04/03 by Gururaj Rao
'
    Application.DisplayStatusBar = True
    Application.ShowWindowsInTaskbar = True
    Application.ShowStartupDialog = True
    With ActiveWindow
        .DisplayHorizontalScrollBar = True
        .DisplayVerticalScrollBar = True
        .DisplayLeftScrollBar = False
        .StyleAreaWidth = MillimetersToPoints(0)
        .DisplayVerticalRuler = True
        .DisplayRightRuler = False
        .DisplayScreenTips = True
        With .View
            .ShowAnimation = True
            .Draft = False
            .WrapToWindow = True
            .ShowPicturePlaceHolders = False
            .ShowFieldCodes = False
            .ShowBookmarks = False
            .FieldShading = wdFieldShadingWhenSelected
            .ShowTabs = False
            .ShowSpaces = False
            .ShowParagraphs = False
            .ShowHyphens = False
            .ShowHiddenText = False
            .ShowAll = False
            .ShowDrawings = True
            .ShowObjectAnchors = True
            .ShowTextBoundaries = False
            .ShowHighlight = True
            .ShowOptionalBreaks = False
            .DisplayPageBoundaries = True
            .DisplaySmartTags = False
        End With
    End With
End Sub
Sub HidON()
'
' HidON Macro
' Macro recorded 2008/04/03 by Gururaj Rao
'
    Application.DisplayStatusBar = True
    Application.ShowWindowsInTaskbar = True
    Application.ShowStartupDialog = True
    With ActiveWindow
        .DisplayHorizontalScrollBar = True
        .DisplayVerticalScrollBar = True
        .DisplayLeftScrollBar = False
        .StyleAreaWidth = MillimetersToPoints(0)
        .DisplayVerticalRuler = True
        .DisplayRightRuler = False
        .DisplayScreenTips = True
        With .View
            .ShowAnimation = True
            .Draft = False
            .WrapToWindow = True
            .ShowPicturePlaceHolders = False
            .ShowFieldCodes = False
            .ShowBookmarks = False
            .FieldShading = wdFieldShadingWhenSelected
            .ShowTabs = False
            .ShowSpaces = False
            .ShowParagraphs = False
            .ShowHyphens = False
            .ShowHiddenText = True
            .ShowAll = False
            .ShowDrawings = True
            .ShowObjectAnchors = True
            .ShowTextBoundaries = False
            .ShowHighlight = True
            .ShowOptionalBreaks = False
            .DisplayPageBoundaries = True
            .DisplaySmartTags = False
        End With
    End With
End Sub

Technorati Tags: Proofreading,text to speech,free utility,CAT

Proofreading your translation

noreply@blogger.com (Gururaj Rao) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:42:00 +0000

To proofread my translated text, I thought of using a utility that would read out the text to me. I tried out various freeware utilities some time ago but they all came with Microsoft voices such as Microsoft Sam. Well, frankly they were too 'computerish' for me and I gave up.

I had purchased Dragon Naturally Speaking more than a year ago, but never did find the time to train it with my voice. I suddenly wondered whether it did have some tool to read out text. I was overjoyed when I read the Help file!

This is what it had to say:

"You can use text-to-speech to have text on your screen read aloud in a computer voice. "

"Using text-to-speech can free your eyes for other tasks. For example, you could have a document you dictated read back while you listen for mistakes and sections you may want to revise."

"Text-to-speech will read back specific parts of the document. You can specify a line, paragraph, selection, the complete document, or the whole screen to be read back to you. You can also specify that text-to-speech reads from the top of the window to the insertion point or from the insertion point to the bottom of the window."

I launched Dragon Naturally Speaking pulled down the Sound menu, I found Read That. The voice too was more natural than the ones that came with freeware utilities. I had it read out text that I had just translated and I liked it. I had found a now proofing tool hidden in the dark recesses of my PC!

I found that Dragon Naturally Speaking also has a transcription tool - you feed an audio file and it transcribes for you. I should try this out next time.

Have a great day!

Technorati Tags: Proofread,translation,text to speech

Utility to annotate images

noreply@blogger.com (Gururaj Rao) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 15:11:00 +0000

I sometimes get text embedded in images that I have to translate. I tried various utilities to replace the captions in such images by translated text in English, including the excellent freeware, Irfan View.

I finally stumbled upon FastStone Capture for Windows and plan to stick to it, unless you come up with something better than this one!

Although a neat image capturing utility, I found its editing functions to be excellent. Images speak more than a thousand words - so I give you two images. One, the original image with Japanese text and the other replaced with various kinds of English text (with colored box, background and so on).

For instance, see the location where I have inserted Voltage. The software allows you to cover up the Japanese and type in the translation in a colored (red) box.

Next, see the caption "Current." You can replace the border by a different color have a shaded border (the caption for the image below "Current"), use a transparent box so that the Japanese text can be seen through along with the translated text.

The image capturing ability of the software is also excellent. You can even capture a scrolling window. Nothing to beat the price too.

Do you know of a freeware better than this utility? I'll be happy to hear from you.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Feeds through Firefox not updated

noreply@blogger.com (Gururaj Rao) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:40:00 +0000

Technorati Tags: Feed,Firefox,subscribe,new,link

It has just been pointed out to me by a friend that his subscription through Firefox to Translator's Tools had not been updated since December. He thought there was no fresh content, and accidentally stumbled on new content in this blog during a Google search.

I have rectified this problem, but I don't know how to communicate with all those who have subscribed through this feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/jDms which is not being updated; and I don't know the reason for this. Some readers have subscribed through the link above will not be reading this post as their feed stops in December. If you have subscribed to this blog through the link mentioned above, please re-subscribe by clicking on the link "Subscribe in a reader" under the heading "Click here to subscribe" on the side bar to the left, or scroll down and click on "Let the news come to you - subscribe" under the heading "Subscribe." Both these links will lead you to http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/uRQg which is the correct link and which updates correctly to the latest posts.

I am sorry for the inconvenience caused to some of you. If you have friends that have subscribed to this blog through the obsolete link, kindly inform them.

Fast full-text Japanese search

noreply@blogger.com (Gururaj Rao) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 07:45:00 +0000

I am always on the lookout for utilities that search Japanese text quickly. I came across one that did a fairly good job - it goes by the name Shin3rou (探三郎) and the one I'm talking about here is freeware.

I found that it did a great job - lightning quick searches of all Office files, PDF, html, txt, csv and AUTOCAD files, after indexing these files. When you extract the files from the zip, make sure you put them in their own folders! Otherwise when you launch the program, you'll get an error message.

Once you specify the files and directories you want the utility to index, just enter the phrase in the search box you need and hit the Search (検索） button - the results come up in a flash. Impressive! Here's a photo of the hit screen. Go get it if you have a huge glossary or an enormous translation memory you need to search while you translate.

Definitely a keeper for me. Do you know of any Japanese text indexing utility like this one?

Technorati Tags: Full-text,Japanese,search,utility,indexing,freeware

Transcription

noreply@blogger.com (Gururaj Rao) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 01:38:00 +0000

Fifteen years ago I transcribed a couple of audio tapes for the first time in my life. I had only an audio cassette player, and being green around the gills in the translation field at that time, I had not even heard of a foot pedal. I spent an enormous amount of time on those two audio tapes and vowed never to do the same job again.

Two days ago a friend and colleague who runs his own translation company came up with an urgent request to transcribe a 10-minute technical video clip in English that he needed to translate into Japanese. I asked him to send it over. The voice was clear.

I hunted around the Internet and found a freeware that could extract just the audio from the video clip. This was the Free Video to MP3 Converter V.3.1.1.2. It did a fairly good job and gave me an audio file containing the speech to be transcribed (see screenshot).

Now to find an application that would allow me to play the audio clip, pause and restart using shortcut keys. This would facilitate typing out the speech. Another Google search with relevant keywords led me to an application called Express Scribe (see screenshot). Here's the blurb from the website:

Express Scribe Transcription Playback Software

Digital Transcription Audio Player Software

Express Scribe is a professional audio player software for PC, Mac or Linux designed to assist the transcription of audio recordings. It is installed on the typist's computer and can be controlled using a transcription foot pedal or using the keyboard (with 'hot' keys). This computer transcriber application also offers valuable features for typists including variable speed playback, multi-channel control, file management and more. This program is free.

I ran the mp3 file through this utility and it did a satisfactory job. I had to go listen to the audio clip about four to five times after having typed out a rough draft, and also to check the website for product names and company names that occurred in the speech. Transcription of a 10-minute video tape grabbed four hours of my time – this included searching the Internet for an appropriate Video to MP3 converter and an audio playback player suitable for transcription, typing out the speech while listening to the audio clip, revising and re-listening the entire about four times, and confirming the spelling of product and company names. I can however do a similar job now in about half the time since I have the tools for the job on my system.

Do you know of other tools comparable to Express Scribe? Please feel free to comment.

FreeSnap – freeware utility for sizing a window

noreply@blogger.com (Gururaj Rao) — Mon, 26 May 2008 23:23:00 +0000

Although practically all of my translation assignments are in electronic format (data files such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint files), I occasionally need to translate embedded text in PDF image files. In such cases, I place a new Word document and the PDF file to be translated side by side, look at the PDF file and type out my translation into the Word file (see the image below).

I recently came across a nifty freeware utility called FreeSnap that makes sizing windows and adjusting the sides of windows a snap! Placing two windows side by side becomes an easy task using FreeSnap. It runs in the background (has no tray icon) and you use hotkeys (Win + arrows, Win + Numpad keys) to maximize any of the sides of a window, to center a window, or resize it. For instance, if you use the Win key with Plus or Minus keys on the Numpad successively you can resize the window to a specific size. FreeSnap also provides an alternate set of hotkeys for laptops.

Here are the basic operations:

Windows Key + Up Arrow: Snap top window edge

Windows Key + Down Arrow: Snap bottom window edge

Windows Key + Left Arrow: Snap left window edge

Windows Key + Right Arrow: Snap right window edge

Using Numpad (Number Pad)

Windows Key + Home, End, PgUP, and PgDn keys: Move a window to the corresponding corner of the screen without resizing the window

Windows Key + arrow keys: Size windows

Windows Key + corner keys (7,9,1,3): Move windows to the corner of the screen.

Windows Key + 5 key: Center the window

Windows Key + Plus and Minus keys: Resize the window to a specific dimension.

The dimensions used are:

640 x 480

800 x 600

1024 x 768

1152 x 864

1280 x 1024

Once you run FreeSnap, the only indication that it is running is its name that appears in the Start Menu. Have you come across anything better than or as good as FreeSnap? If yes, share your information by clicking on Comments below this post.

Word/character counting utility

noreply@blogger.com (Gururaj Rao) — Mon, 26 May 2008 10:01:00 +0000

Some of the most useful utilities for translators working between Japanese and English have come from Ryan Ginstrom, a translator and colleague. He's come up with the latest offering, which is useful, and also free: CountAnything. As its name indicates, it counts most of the file formats I generally translate, including words in text boxes and many other embedded objects. It counts the numbers of words, characters (with and without spaces), Asian characters, and non-Asian words. You can save the reports as html files or print them out. I personally would have prepared a tab-delimited file, as you can export it directly into Excel. The latest version 1.2.1 gives you word/character counts of the following document formats:

* MS Word (.doc, .rtf)

* MS Excel (.xls, .csv)

* MS PowerPoint

* Text

* HTML

* XML

* PDF (New!)

Here's what the screen looks like after a count:

I tried out the PDF feature on a document containing mixed Japanese and English, and CountAnything did very well.

	Asian characters	Non-Asian words	Characters (no. spaces)
MS Word	7087	3374	25243
CountAnything	7092	3377	25241

Another keeper!

PDF to Doc converter

noreply@blogger.com (Gururaj Rao) — Sun, 25 May 2008 01:13:00 +0000

After trying out various converters, I finally found a freeware converter that offers you a choice on whether to convert a PDF document to a Word file with or without text boxes, and with or without line breaks in the output. So here's one that's free and with no nags, and no ads with a cryptic name: Some PDF to Word Converter.

It also offers batch processing and other customizability such as selecting the number of pages to convert, deleting graphics, pictures, and so on. Although online converters exist that do a fairly good job, I would rather handle sensitive documents on my desktop rather than uploading them for online conversion. Here are the options this utility offers (see image):

The application works on Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista. This one is a keeper. I am, however, yet to find a similar one that has like features and works with Japanese PDF documents; would any of our Japanese readers who frequently scan Vector, Mado no Mori or similar Japanese websites like to add some information on Japanese freeware to convert Japanese PDF documents to Word documents? This is a long-felt need for JE translators.

Your results may vary with Some PDF to Word Converter – try out conversions with and without line breaks too. I had good results with a PDF document in English without fancy formatting.

Incidentally, the downloads page on the same site has other converters also to convert PDF to html, txt and so on; and all free, of course.

Poll results

noreply@blogger.com (Gururaj Rao) — Fri, 23 May 2008 04:11:00 +0000

I was out of office for a while and saddled with three urgent jobs – the dust has cleared and I hope to start writing more frequently. The Masters' swim meet in Hokkaido was a great event; and Hokkaido is a wonderful place to be in spring!

Thanks for voting – the poll gives me an idea on what readers like to read.

95% of the readers voted for software/ utilities to assist translation

55% of the readers voted for translation resources

40% of the readers found Web search tips interesting

30% preferred tips on CAT tools

25% voted for tools to maintain and enhance productivity.

I'll concentrate more on giving you what you asked for. The next article will be on a tool that translators nowadays often need to use! Coming soon.

Have a great day!

Macintosh Resources

noreply@blogger.com (Gururaj Rao) — Wed, 07 May 2008 02:13:00 +0000

This post is just for Mac users　– sorry, Windows users – I have ignored readers of this blog who use Mac completely until now, and I'm trying to make up to them. Note however, that I don't use the Macintosh operating system, so Mac users will have to fill me in on various details through Comments or you may write directly to me to add to the cumulative knowledge of the subscription list and other readers. I have listed here various applications that may help you to perform searches and maintain your system.

1. Google Desktop for Mac

Google Desktop for Mac (beta) seems to have incorporated many of the features from the Windows product, such as indexing Gmail and web history, Google.com integration, finding content in past file revisions and deleted files, and fast application launching. It is designed for a Mac, from the bezel on the search box down to correctly and securely handling multiple users and FileVault. The search box makes launching documents and applications lightning fast and provides quick access to your files, folders, email, and web pages.

To send feedback to the team developing this product, go their forum.

2. Mac-specific searches in Google

Google has come up with a Mac specific search. So the next time you wish to restrict your searches to hardware, software and other resources for the Mac only, try searching Google through this link.

3. AppMenuBoy – a free Mac download

Adds an applications menu to your Dock. AppMenuBoy helps you to expand your application folder into a hierarchical menu.

4. Mac application tracks software serial numbers

RapidoSerial makes a database and stores your software license keys. This will help you retrieve your license keys especially when your hard disk crashes and you don't have a list of all your license keys.

I would love to have something like this for Windows too – anybody know of an equivalent?

5. Free download to create Mac keyboard shortcuts

Spark 3.0 beta 7.0 helps you to create keyboard shortcuts. Here is a blurb from the website:

Spark is a powerful, and easy Shortcuts manager. With Spark you can create Hot Keys to launch applications and documents, execute AppleScript, control iTunes, and more... You can also export and import your Hot Keys library, or save it in HTML format to print it. Spark is free, so use it without moderation!

Mac users, let me know if you found any of the above useful or they were just "old news" to you.

Some simple find and replace strings in Word

noreply@blogger.com (Gururaj Rao) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 05:47:00 +0000

I have often used these simple find and replace strings to edit Word files, and also some regular expression strings in Word to edit large Word files and Wordfast translation memories. Here are some simple searches that translators may find helpful when using Word's Find and Replace. In a subsequent post, I hope to take up some simple regular expression strings.

In all the instances below, F: refers to the string you need to enter exactly in the "Find what:" box and R: refers to the string you need to enter exactly in the "Replace with:" box when you press Ctrl + H in Word.

1. Replace soft returns by hard returns

F:^l

R:^p

2. Replace hard returns by tabs

F:^p

R:^t

3. Replace double spaces in front of a hard return by a single space and a hard return

(Note: "@" below represents a space that you enter using the space bar and is not the "@" character)

F:@@^p

R:@^p

4. Delete all graphics (images) in the document

(Note you could use a hard return (^p) in the Replace with box if needed. Don't enter anything in the Replace with box otherwise.)

F:^g

5. Replace white space in front of units (such as kg and so on by a non-breaking space)

F:^wkg

R:^skg

(This will keep numbers and their units together even at the end of the lines).

Watch out for a subsequent post on regular expression searches in Word.

First poll on Translator's Tools

noreply@blogger.com (Gururaj Rao) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:16:00 +0000

I know there are at least some avid readers of Translator's Tools - some of you I met at the recently concluded IJET at Okinawa did sound me out on this. Thank you for your show of appreciation; this has spurred me to write more about translation tools in my spare time. My thanks also go to other faithful readers – I think there are 40 to 50 of you out there who have subscribed to Translator's Tools through some reader. Since this blog will cease to exist without you, my dear readers, I have decided to ask you what you'd like and tailor my posts henceforth to satisfy the majority of readers.

On the sidebar to the left you'll see a question and list of five answers. Choose an option that best reflects your needs and click Vote. The poll will run until the 15th of next month. The subsequent articles will be based on the results.

I'd like to say thanks again, and I look forward to your active participation, especially with comments on any post you feel like. If you do your own website, do link to this blog.

Have a nice weekend!

Yet more Google Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Gururaj Rao) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 12:37:00 +0000

I gave you some Google tips in More Google Tips at the beginning of this month, and some in the first installment of Google Tips in January. I have some more for your this time – I'll be running out of words to add at the beginning – maybe "Yet Some More Google Tips" next time? These are some tips that I have tried out and have found useful; those that would help translators come first, of course.

1. Adding a tilde to get related terms and lists of terms

To your search word prefix a tilde (~) and glossary to get glossaries, dictionaries and list of terms.

Example: ~welding +glossary

2. Range of numbers

You can use this 2007..2008 to your search terms to find hits during the years 2007 to 2008.

For instance, you can search for all the posts that you sent to the Honyaku mailing list in these years by using the following keywords in Google:

+Yourname +site:http://groups.google.com/group/honyaku +2007..2008

3. Weather in any city

Find the weather at any location (in Japan too).

Ex: weather Tokyo OR weather Antwerp

For the US, you get the weather information by typing the zip code too.

Ex: weather 94306

Gives the weather in Palo Alto California

4. Find many useful e-books

You can read up information on a specific topic by finding downloadable e-books related to the subject.

+fundamentals +welding +filetype:pdf

+introduction +C programming +ebook

5. "better than XXX" or "YYY sucks" search!

If you wish to know about products that are better than XXX, or alternatives to product YYY, trying using this search.

For example: Enter "better than Trados" and it should give you details of various CAT Tools!

Have a great day!

Microsoft resources for translators

noreply@blogger.com (Gururaj Rao) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 06:57:00 +0000

1) Glossary search

Microsoft has some useful resources for translators. Let me point you to a new one that has just appeared – a searchable database of Microsoft terminology in various languages from English. You enter the English term in the upper box and select the language in which you want the equivalent term.

For English to Japanese, here is a trick enables you to copy a term in English and search directly.

1) Copy the URL below and paste into a text editor or MS Word.

http://www.microsoft.com/language/en/us/search.mspx?sString=XXX&langID=ja-jp

2) Substitute XXX by the English term.

3) Copy the entire string and paste it into the address box of your browser and hit Enter.

You should get a list of Japanese equivalents. Here's a part of the results for "localization."

2) Style guides

Microsoft has also made style guides available for download in various languages – but unfortunately the one in English is only available in the print edition.

Download the Japanese and other versions here.

The style guide contains a wealth of information for translators working in the IT field. These style guides are updated versions (March 2008).

3) MVP web sites

There are folks who are now, or have been in the past, designated as Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals recognized as such by MS for their willingness to share their expertise. The MVP web sites have valuable information on all aspects of MS applications; the ones I read often are the Word MVP web sites. Explore – there is a wealth of resources here.

Have a great weekend!

More Google tips

noreply@blogger.com (Gururaj Rao) — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 03:59:00 +0000

The first installment of Google Tips appeared to be fairly popular, and having studied and stumbled upon some more cool tricks -- here you go. Let me first touch upon those that might prove useful to translators.

1. Bilingual documents

You sometimes find documents on the web translated in two languages. If you wish to locate, say documents replated to financial statements in Japanese and English, you can try searches like this in Google Japan:

+"financial statement" +対訳

対訳 refers to "bilingual." To find bilingual documents in other languages, replace 対訳 by its equivalent in the language you wish to search and use the specific country site for Google.

The first hit led me to a site where one can search for legal terms.

If you are translating material safety data sheets, then the search

material safety data sheet +対訳

will give you MSDS of various items and glossaries, which could be fairly useful.

2. Research using Google Scholar

If you translate technical reports frequently as I do, Google Scholar searches helps you discard unwanted hits and helps you to focus on scholarly documents from educational institutions, research organizations and so on. You could search only in the target language or both target and source language to find reports where the abstract might be in English while the rest of the report is in Japanese.

I generally use the target words and insert a relevant Japanese term too; for instance:

"marine pollution" +汚染

(where 汚染 is "pollution" in Japanese) led me to websites as shown below.

The first four websites were probably South Korean websites, so I added "site:jp" to the search terms to focus on Japanese sites only. This led to better results for my purpose as below.

3. Finding glossaries using "inurl"

As an extension to the above, you can find documents or websites with specific words in the URL of the websites. Let's make use of this Google feature to find a glossary related to marine pollution. We use the search terms as below:

"marine pollution" +inurl:用語

where 用語 should give a glossary of terms.

The first hit leads to a Word document with a glossary of terms with explanations in Japanese and a fairly useful list of abbreviations.

4. An addictive Google search

As a bonus, I give you some addictive searches, and you are hereby warned: IF YOU HAVE LOTS OF WORK TO DO, DON'T READ FROM HERE ONWARD!

a. To see network cameras all over the world

Enter the search terms exactly as below in Google:

inurl:viewerframe?mode=refresh

You should see network cameras at various locations in the world. This is fairly addictive and you see all kinds of places, including some fabulous cherry blossoms in full bloom!

b. To find mp3 files

Enter the search terms exactly as below: (DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK; some websites may be harmful. If your system is not well protected by firewalls and AV software, desist from visiting suspicious-looking websites). You can replace "Clapton" by your favorite artist or group, or mp3 by mov, if you like:

"intitle: index of" Clapton mp3

This led me to a site where I could listen to my favorite music.

Happy browsing!

March 2008 Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Gururaj Rao) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 09:43:00 +0000

I described How to set up an RSS feed as a live bookmark in your browser in 5 seconds in the first post in March; and then told you How to securely back up your valuable data using freeware utilities SyncBack Free or RealSync. I wrote about an exciting application called 1-click Answers that gives you immediate answers when you click on a word in your browser with your mouse and the Alt key. Next, I described the method of Converting any file to a PDF file or image file without hassles using the free utility PDFCreator; I gave you a summary of all the posts in February in February 2008 Recap, and then how to Quickly search glossaries and translation memories during translation using again a free tool called Apsic Xbench. I told you how to perform a Lightning search of an online database using Firefox and an Autohotkey script, and how you would go about Searching dictionaries quickly while you translate again using a hacked Autohotkey script to look for terms in online references, how to go about Customizing Word before you start the translation work by removing all unnecessary icons to get more workspace, registering often-used macros, and using Word's autocorrect feature efficiently, and ended with Two free utilities to enhance your productivity, namely Windows Search 4.0 Preview and the Free Update Checker. Watch out for a different look to this blog and more fresh, updated tips, tricks and tools next month!

Two free utilities to enhance your productivity

noreply@blogger.com (Gururaj Rao) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 03:13:00 +0000

Yesterday, I installed two utilities that have already helped me increase my productivity. Both are Windows applications.

Windows Search 4.0 Preview
The first is a search tool for Windows XP and Vista that indexes your desktop and tells you in a flash which character string exists in which file. I'm quite impressed with it – not as bulky as Google Desktop or any of the other index-your-desktop-and-search software that take up a lot of space. It is a new tool meant for Windows Vista but can also be used on Windows XP. These are the versions supported according to the link provided:
32-bit versions of Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 (SP1)
All 64-bit versions of Windows Vista with SP1
32-bit versions of Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or a later version
All 64-bit versions of Windows XP
Windows Server 2003 with SP2
All 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2008
Windows Home Server

Just yesterday evening, a client asked for clarifications on some phrases of a project with a large number of files I had translated. I launched this utility with which I had already indexed my data folder containing all the translated data files. See for yourself here the results of a search for a phrase that appeared almost instantaneously:

The list of files containing the Japanese string appeared in less than 2 seconds; the preview window on the right however, did take several seconds before displaying the file. The download for the 32-bit Windows XP version weighed in at only about 5.3 MB. It appears to be an exciting tool to play with and search for all kinds of information from your desktop. Search for passwords that you use sometimes - you'll be surprised at the results. Definitely a keeper!

Utility for updating applications on your desktop
The Free Update Checker from Filehippo.com scans your desktop for updates to download and also provides the links from where you can conveniently download them and keep your PC running smoothly; it also gives a list of beta updates! The Update checker is only 100 kb and works very fast. Note, however, that although it works on any Windows PC running Vista, XP, 2003, 2000, ME or 98, it requires that the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 be installed. Here's what it showed me when I installed and ran it:

The arrows on the right indicate the sizes of files to be downloaded and also serve as links.

Have a great weekend!

Customizing Word before you start the translation work

noreply@blogger.com (Gururaj Rao) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 08:50:00 +0000

I like to start working on a document with a large text space on the screen, free from unwanted icons, toolbars, sidebars and the like, but with all the tools and macros to help me translate speedily, and enhance productivity. Here are some methods I use.

Icons

I have retained only those icons and menus that I use frequently, and conserve the rest of the valuable space for the document I'm translating. Here's what you do. First, pull down View/Toolbars and uncheck all those icons that you have never used and will never use. I have retained just the Standard and Formatting icons, and have also eliminated common ones such as Copy, Paste and Cut (I use the corresponding keyboard shortcuts). To remove these icons, click Tools/Customize and with the Customize Window open, right click on any of he icons you don't need and delete it. By so doing, I have managed to retain a fairly large working space while having ready access to all the icons and macros. Also retain only those Wordfast icons that you need. If you always hit Ctrl+Alt+ right, left and down arrows for searching and inserting placeables, there is no need to retain icons taking up valuable space! See the image below of just the essential icons.

Adding essential macros

Add your most used macros to the top line on the right side of the default Word menus. In my case these include small macros that I use often in the course of the work, such as Paste Special, Print Preview (helps me see what the created document would like on an A4-size sheet at 100% magnification), ExtTBox (a macro that extracts text from text boxes and dumps it into another file), Wide2Narrow (for converting double byte to single-byte characters) and so on. Also add the useful ones not in front of you such as Wcount (Word's counting feature), and EditGlos (edit Wordfast glossary) so on. To add macros to the menu, again click Tools/Customize, select Commands/Macros and drag the macro to the menu bar. Right click on the name and pare it down to a short one (such as Normal.NewMacros.DDwin to just "DDWin").

Using AutoCorrect judiciously

Register long words that you use frequently in AutoCorrect by abbreviations. If you use "consequently" "specifications" "temperature" often, register them as "cns" "spc" and "tmp." AutoCorrect will expand them for you and cause less wear and tear of your wrist in the long run. After you type a few pages, scan the text for frequently-used words, hit Alt+T+A to bring up the AutoCorrect menu, enter your abbreviation and the complete word or phrase once and register it. From the next time onward just type spc and let AutoCorrect do the rest of the work.

If you don't use the Autocorrect spell check script to automatically correct spelling mistakes as you type, you can use Word's Autocorrect feature to correct spelling mistakes for you. If you have a tendency to type "adn" instead of "and" then register it in Autocorrect and let it correct these mistakes for you. When you finish typing out the document, you might not have to do a spell check!

Also register often used hard-to-find symbols such as the following in Autocorrect:

± ˚C α β γ (I type plmin, deg, alpha, beta and gamma to obtain these).

Other shortcuts

Besides the above, I use other macros such as FindNextJ to check that no Japanese double-bye character remains in the final document, the Quality Check Wordfast shortcut, and some other Wordfast-related macros that assist in translating documents quickly and accurately. Watch out for a separate post on working faster with Wordfast!

Searching dictionaries quickly while you translate

noreply@blogger.com (Gururaj Rao) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 06:17:00 +0000

Interaction/Feedback

A small note before today's post. I have not had the interaction that I expected with readers through comments. I can only assume that this is because of "user-non-friendliness" of this blog. I have taken steps to remedy this by providing instructions on the right on how to post comments and how to post your messages directly to my mailbox, if you do not wish to post to a public forum. I look forward to interaction and feedback. If you like something say so. If you don't like something -- well, don't say a thing. :)

Searching JE/EJ online dictionaries

Today, I give you an Autohotkey script that I hacked, which will enable you to search four standard online Japanese English dictionaries while you translate. You can selectively search any of these, when you get stuck on an English or a Japanese term or phrase during your translation work. I have tested the script on Mozilla Firefox running on a Windows XP system. Hopefully, it should work on other browsers. The four dictionaries are: Progressive/Daijirin, Exceed/Daijirin, Kenkyusha Online and Sanseido Daily Concise dictionaries made available by Yahoo, MSN, Excite and Sanseido respectively.

Procedure

The procedure is as follows:

a. I assume that you have already installed Autohotkey – if not, read an earlier post introducing this free utility, and install it on your system.

b. Copy the script at the end of the post to a plain text editor, and save it in a suitable folder say with the following name: gendic.ahk

c. Open Explorer, go to the folder where you have saved this file, and double click on gendic.ahk

d. You should see a green icon with an H in your system tray indicating that the script has been loaded.

That's all there is to it -- you are now ready to go! Select the phrase or term, hold down the Win key and hit 'g' (indicating "general" dictionaries). The screen shown below should appear:

Select the dictionary you wish to search and hit Enter!

Let me know it if works for you too, as it did for me.

Script

Gui, Add, Radio, x7 y40 w240 h20 Checked vDict, Progressive

Gui, Add, Radio, x7 y60 w240 h20, Exceed

Gui, Add, Radio, x7 y80 w240 h20, Kenkyusha

Gui, Add, Radio, x7 y100 w240 h20, Sanseido

Gui, Add, Text, x7 y10 w240 h20, Select Dict:

Gui, Add, Button, x86 y120 w70 h20 Default, Ok

Gui, Show, h185 w251 +hide, Selection

RunOnce = 0

Return

#g::

RunOnce=0

#z::

Send,^c

if (RunOnce = 0 or SendThis =)

{

Gui, Show, h185 w251, Selection

WinGet, SelId, ID, Selection

WinWaitClose, ahk_id %SelId%

if SendThis <>

{

Send,!d

Send, %SendThis%

}

;Send, {Enter}

Return

ButtonOk:

Gui, Submit

if Dict = 1

run "http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=UTF-8&p=%clipboard%&stype=0&dtype=2"

else if Dict = 2

run "http://dictionary.msn.co.jp/result.aspx?keyword=%clipboard%&matchtype=startwith"

else if Dict = 3

run "http://www.excite.co.jp/dictionary/japanese_english/?search=%clipboard%&match=beginswith"

else if Dict = 4

run "http://www.sanseido.net/User/Dic/Index.aspx?TWords=%clipboard%&st=0&DailyJJ=checkbox&DailyEJ=checkbox&DailyJE=checkbox"

RunOnce = 1

Return