Lingotek Features
Free Online Web Based Language Search Engine
Lingotek runs completely in a web browser. There is no software to download or install. All new features and capabilities are provided for free each time a translator logs in to use the application. There is no charge for the software or upgrades.
TMX Import to Online TM Vaults
Individual users of Lingotek can upload their TMX compliant memories for reuse. Once loaded, all content in all TMX memories are available all the time. Access to the files is controlled by the person who loaded the files into the indexes. If they put the TMX files in Closed TM Vaults only the people they grant access to those files can get hits from them. All of the TMX files are searchable all the time. There is no need to manage the TMX files and select which ones are needed for a specific translation.
XLIFF Standard File Support
Lingotek has been built on the XLIFF Standard from Oasis (xliff-specification.htm). All files inside of Lingotek are XLIFF. When a project has been completed in Lingotek, the user downloads the final XLIFF file, the original source document in its original format and the target document in the original file format also. This XLIFF file is needed if the user is to modify the translation in the future or if the user wishes to move the content from one index to another, or delete the content from an index. Only the original document owner who has this XLIFF file can make these changes. Because of security design within Lingotek, not even an internal person at Lingotek could make these changes or even identify a single file within the index.
Remote Translation
Language companies who use Lingotek no longer need to send the source files to be translated to translators. The source documents are uploaded onto a secure server and the project manager can assign a translator rights to work on a job in a specific task. That translator then logs into their account and sees the document they have been assigned to translate. If the project manager decides the translator is not doing a good job, they can revoke their privilege of translating and the translator can no longer see the document nor work on it. The translator never has a copy of the translation or source document on their computer.
True Team Translation
Many translation tools today claim to have team translation capabilities. This typically means that they either grant users access to the same translation memories in real time or that they have a tool that manages the process of translation so a reviewer can check a document after a translator has completed it.
With Lingotek, multiple translators and reviewers can work on the same document (remotely over the Internet) at the same time and see in real time how all other translators have translated any word, phrase, sentence or paragraph in context. They have access to all the same hits for translation reuse as well. The key difference and benefits are best seen in large documents - for example, a 100,000 word document that a client must have back in 5 days. Lingotek makes it possible for you to assign 5 translators to work on it simultaneously, each starting at a different point in the document. Furthermore, they can see how everyone else on the document has translated any word or phrase in context and maintain the consistency without talking to each other directly. They actually don't even have to be in the same country or time zone. When the project is completed, there is no need to go back and edit the document for consistency. The job can be accomplished in 5 days instead of 50 at the industry standard rate of 2,000 words a day. Reviewers can also be assigned and work on the job paragraph by paragraph behind the translators. There is no need to wait until one person has completed the document before the next one starts.
Project Tracking
With Lingotek you can upload a document, decide how many of your translation process steps you will include in this particular translation, and what you will call each step. Additionally, you can, assign specific translators to work on these steps and see in real time their progress on the project without entering any of the data yourself. The fact that the translations are done remotely means the system can tell when a translator has started and enter the start date. It can tell how much of the translation is completed and give you a percent of completion. It can estimate at the current pace how long it will take for a translator or reviewer to complete their task and even notify you if it appears that they are behind schedule and may not meet the deadline.
You can easily add more steps and assign more people on the fly. The dashboard page gives you a quick status of all jobs you are working on, projects you have entered into the systems, and what translators you have assigned to active projects.
The systems keeps a record for all projects you do including who did what task, when and how long it took them. All of this information is collected without you entering any data. The only data you have to enter is the original due date when you create the project and the email address of each translator assigned to a task. It's fast, easy, and informative. Also it comes at no extra charge.
Translator Notes
Translators, reviewers, and project managers can attach personal notes and questions to any paragraph in the translation during the process. The system automatically tags each note with the name of the person who wrote it along with the time and date.
Spell Checking
Lingotek employs Hunspell spell checking within Lingotek. Hunspell is a spell checker and morphological analyzer library and program designed for languages with rich morphology and complex compounding or character encoding. It is currently used by Open Office as a base for their MySpell. It includes spelling dictionaries in 80 languages with the ability to add more in the future. Lingotek is working on a module to allow users to add their own personal spelling terms to the list in the near future.
The following is a list of the spell checking dictionaries:
Afrikaans, Amharic, Azerbaijani, Bengali, Breton, Bulgarian, Byelorussian, Catalan, Chichewa, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Finnish, Faeroese, French, Gaelic, Galician, German, Low German, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Hiligaynon, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Interlingua, Irish, Italian, Kashubian, Kinyarwanda, Kurdish, Latin, Lithuanian, Latvian, Macedonian, Malagasy, Malay, Maltese, Manx, Maori, Marathi, Mongolian, Norwegian, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Oriya, Persian, Punjabi, Polish, Portuguese, Quechua, Romanian, Russian, Sardinian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Serbian, Setswana, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Tamil, Tegulu, Tetum, Turkish, Ukrainian, Upper Sorbian, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Walloon, Welsh, Yiddish, Zulu.
Version Control
Lingotek currently keeps within the system a separate version of the translation for each phase from translation to final review. The graphic user interface is being updated to include the ability for users to view the different version of the translation and reconcile the translation differences of the team within the language search engine. It is Lingotek's intent to release this added capability by the end of 2006.
Translation Dictionaries
Lingotek has made arrangements to include 35 translation dictionaries. Five of these dictionaries will be between 300,000 to 450,000 words each in the major translation languages. Lingotek users will be able to purchase these dictionaries directly through Lingotek. We will provide another 30 language dictionaries at no cost. These dictionaries will be editable by the community of translators using Lingotek allowing all users to benefit from the community's efforts at cataloguing language. It is Lingotek's intent to release these dictionaries by the end of 2006.
Personalized Glossaries
Lingotek is developing a personalized glossary function that will run in a separate tab on the Language Search Engine to allow users to build, maintain and use specialized glossaries for specific clients and jobs. The glossaries will be maintained centrally and all authorized users will have access to them. Lingotek intends to add this functionality by the end of 2006.
