Reliance upon technology

As I specialise in the translation of scientific and technical texts, I like to extend this theme into the practical aspects of my work. I'm all for technological advances and in this latest blog entry, I wanted to doff my cap to some of the helpful adages that get me through the working day as a translator.

Three tools I always have open on my PC

If you were to rummage around in my hard drive, you would find probably much the same programmes and software that any telecommuting (that's the fashionable way of saying 'work-at-home') professional would have installed.

1. If it weren't for email, freelance translators would have to go back to the days when we relied on fax and traditional post to communicate with our clients. So I give a big hand to Outlook and Googlemail for helping me work towards the enigmatic paperless office. As this function is so fundamental to my living, I maintain two email solutions in case one goes down, trying to make sure new contacts are entered into both! Email accounts can also work as impromptu back-up or transport systems; I often email myself a copy of a document to Googlemail, giving me the freedom to work on it from another PC.

2. Probably the next most important piece of code sitting in my PC is the one which runs Word. Most documents I translate are in Word and so this is an essential tool for the freelance translator. Whenever I reinstall Windows (for that squeeky clean, 'new-car-smell', effect) I always make a point to install the Spell Check dictionaries for all the languages I use straight away. Getting to grips with the keyboard short cuts for Word (like Ctrl + S for save) is a boon for deadline-driven, time-saving translators.

3. The third and final 'must-have' for me when I'm working is an internet browser. I use Mozilla FireFox as I have had the anti-Microsoft-monopoly doctrine drilled into me by my computer nerd husband. (Yay open-source. Power to the people. etc. etc.) My browser is like a Swiss-army knife; I use it to research, communicate, define and check terminology. A great feature in Google is to type "define: XXX" where XXX is a term; this provide links to sites defining your problem word.

Then there are the periphery programmes and applications - those which aren't absolute musts to work as a translator but, boy, do they make life easier.

An e-Dictionary
There are many out there to choose from depending on your language combinations, but don't chuck out that 50 ton Collins Robert tome just yet - electronic dictionaries don't come close to replacing paper ones. What they are great for however, is jogging your memory on-the-fly. Look for one with a double click or hover functionality so you don't have to re-type into a separate field. I'm currently using iFinger 2.0.

Text to Speech Software
Once you've got over the immature hilarity of making you PC sound like Prof. Hawkins, the true use of this gem is discovered. Have the software read your translated piece out loud to you - you're much more likely to spot a spelling or grammar error aurally than if you read it from the screen or printout.

Specific Translation Memory Software
I actually haven't made the transition to using one of these in my day-to-day work life. I have installed a trial version of TRADOS, to see if it would be worth buying the full version. So far the objective is clear - it sees how I translate words and phrases and shows me the translation when it comes across other like phrases. I was worried that it would be as welcome as that dreaded little paper clip jumping up and saying "I see your trying to translate something..." but actually the experience has been mildly pleasanter. I still think it is slightly too esoteric and not terribly intuitive as software goes, but I can certainly see how, if used correctly, it could save time.

Networked Storage and a Recovery Programme
A final note on back-ups which may come back to haunt me. I believe it is Sod who states in his law that, if you use it, it shall break at some point. As true for the pencil as for the PC. Technophobes wake in a cold sweat from nightmares about 'the blue screen of death', a monster which stalks badly maintained computers, stripping them of important files and programmes willy-nilly. Not good if that file represents your ticket to a £500 cheque from a client. I have Norton Ghost installed and set to take an image of my precious hard drive every day at 1pm. So that if it all goes horribly wrong I can go back to my storage device and get what I need from there. But as with everything else, prevention is better than cure, and if you don't have some kind of anti-virus software running, then I have no sympathy if your machine goes nuclear. Herd immunity is everyone's responsibility and keeping your anti-virus software updated and running regular scans not only protects your work, but could also stop a virus from spreading to other machines, like your clients' for example!