LingoAlign
What is LingoAlign?
Lingotek helps translator's reuse existing multi-lingual content to create new multi-lingual content. Existing translation memory products also focus on content reuse but do it with a very limited method. Lingotek greatly expands both the ability and value of content reuse by introducing a completely new technology and a high-value business model. This unique approach lowers costs and other traditional barriers to use.
Multi-lingual content that has been mapped (or aligned) between a given language pair is either generated in Lingotek by web community members or it is imported by the same. Existing aligned content from traditional translation memory programs can be imported through TMX and XLIFF file support—XLIFF is the native file format for Lingotek. If you have existing documents in multiple languages, they can be converted into aligned XLIFF using a free down loaded JAVA application called LingoAlign. The resulting XLIFF file created by using LingoAlign can then be imported into Lingotek.
How do I use LingoAlign?
LingoAlign imports HTML and OpenOffice file formats (ODT & ODS) only. The list of LingoAlign supported file formats will expand continuously. To import Microsoft Office proprietary formats into Lingotek users must go to http://www.openoffice.org, download OpenOffice (a free open source product sponsored by SUN Microsystems) and have it running when launching LingoAlign. This enables filters in OpenOffice to convert the Microsoft Office formats so they can be used by LingoAlign and then Lingotek. Always remember to have OpenOffice running when importing Microsoft Office documents into LingoAlign.
Clicking the LingoAlign link in your browser initiates the JAVA download and then starts LingoAlign. You should get a comment box that asks you if you would like to "Load Project" or "New Project". In most cases, you will want to choose "New Project". The "Load Project" is used for projections that you started aligning and now are returning to finish. (Once inside the tool, the menu buttons at the top left allow you to perform these same functions, such as starting another "New Project".)
STEP 1:
After clicking on "New Project" you will see a dialog box displaying several fields:
- Owner — This can be any name you choose, for example your name or a client name.
- Name — This is a name for the aligned new file that you are creating.
- Source File — using the browse button, you can search for your source file (the file you want to translate from).
- Source File — using the browse button, you can search for your source file (the file you want to translate from).
- NOTE: the source file and target file can be in a variety of formats — please check our features page to see which type of files can be used.
- Source Language — select the language that matches the language in your source document
- Target Language — select the language that matches the language in your target document.
- NOTE: Currently the indexing of documents is direction specific — be sure to put your documents in as source and target based upon the information you want to be able to search. For example, if your source is English and your target is Spanish, the index will contain searchable information in Spanish, the target language.
STEP 2:
Upon clicking on "OK" after inputting the required information as explained above, the tool launches with essentially two panes, one on the left and one on the right. The pane on the left is the "SOURCE" document and the pane on the right is the "TARGET" document. The documents are shown paragraph by paragraph.
You will note across the top the menu and options. Towards the middle of the screen, you can elect the font size you desire to see (for those of you with experienced eyes, you can elect to make the font larger for example. Additionally, you can choose how many text boxes you can view on the screen at one time, for example 4 or 6. The "Next Range", "Link Next Range" and "Synchronized Scrolling" features are explained below.
The file and help menus provide options for saving documents, opening new documents, etc. In addition, you can use the short cut buttons below the menu (by dragging the mouse over these icons, you can see their functionality).
STEP 3:
At this point, you can now begin to "align" the source and target documents. There are several ways of doing this. You can align one paragraph at a time or several or all at one time. Notice the "Synchronized Scrolling" check box. By checking this box, the source document and target document paragraphs will move up and down the page together at the same time.
To align a paragraph, click on the vertical bar next to the paragraph — this is found on the right side of the source document and the left side of the target document — on the source or target side, and then click on the vertical bar next to the paragraph you desire to align it with. If you have done this successfully, a thick line will appear between the paragraphs — the are now aligned. If you have mistakenly aligned two paragraphs, click on the vertical bars and make a change.
To align several paragraphs at one time, move down through paragraphs (this is where the synchronized scrolling button comes in handy). Once you have been through several paragraphs and are comfortable that they look aligned properly (as done by the tool), then you can click on the "Link Next Range" button (notice that you can set the default for how many paragraphs are included in the "range" - the default being 50). After clicking on the "Link Next Range", the paragraphs will have an empty line drawn between the source and target paragraphs. Move down to the point that you have identified all paragraphs are properly aligned, and "double click" the empty line. All of the paragraphs above and including the one you click on should now have a solid line and are thus "aligned".
At any given time, you can correct alignments or go back and change aligned paragraphs simply by clicking on the vertical boxes next to the paragraphs.
During the course of aligning paragraphs, you will notice at the bottom of the screen in the bar the total paragraphs contained in the document as well as the number of paragraphs that have NOT been linked ("unlinked").
STEP 4:
Upon completion of aligning the paragraphs, you can now save the document. This is accomplished by using the save functions in the drop down FILE menu or using one of the shortcut buttons across the menu. You will notice that you have the option to:
- Save Project — this option allows you to save a project that you have not finished aligning or allows you to just save the project — NOTE: the default file format is a .lap file. This file format CANNOT be uploaded into the Lingotek tool. If you want to load the project into the Lingotek tool, it must be saved as an XLIFF file (see below).
- Save Project As — this option allows you to save a project that you have not finished aligning and give it a new name (as opposed to just using the save project button and using the same name).
- Save Project As — this option allows you to save a project that you have not finished aligning and give it a new name (as opposed to just using the save project button and using the same name)
STEP 5:
You can now return to Lingotek and "upload" the XLIFF file you have just created (be sure to remember where you saved it). Select the "Add Translations to Index" function, browse for your file, and select "save". Your document is now included in the search hits using the Lingotek tool and you will be able to access the translations from your searches while translating.