contents
Babylon Help Contents

 Overview of Babylon

 Using Babylon presents the basic functions of Babylon

 Phrase Detection - a unique feature of Babylon

 Troubleshooting

 About us...


Using Babylon

NOTE: if you are new to Babylon, the best way to read these instructions would be to try them out, as you read, on this help page itself.

When you run Babylon you will see a small icon appear in the bottom right corner of the screen. This is the Babylon control, through which you control the various modes and options.

Babylon is already active at this stage. To translate a word on the screen, all you have to do is position the mouse cursor over the word, and click the right mouse button on it. Babylon will read the word, analyze it and display a small translation box over it. To translate another word, position the cursor over it and click the right button, and so on. The translation box is positioned so it will cause minimum disturbance to your reading, but if you want you can click on it to make hide it.

In cases where the word you pointed at does not appear in the dictionary, or if reading the word failed, or even if the word exists but was misspelled, Babylon will display a small edit box containing the text it managed to read. Now you can edit this text to correct it, and press Enter to have Babylon translate it.

If you would like to use the right mouse button in its normal usage for a while, you can disable Babylon by clicking the Babylon control. The icon will change into a grayed one to show that Babylon is in waiting mode and does not translate. Another click on the control will put Babylon back in active mode.


Overview of Babylon

Babylon is an application for online "on-screen" translation of text in Windows applications. It is the ideal aid for users of textual English Windows application, such as an Internet Browser, an encyclopedia or even the instructions for the latest cool game, who are not native speakers of the English language.

When you read through such text and encounter a word you wish to translate, a single mouse click will display the translation for this word, to the language you choose, conveniently just above the word. No complicated finger maneuvers are required, no dictionary windows that cover half of your text area, and no typing needed.

Babylon automatically recognizes the word you pointed at, regardless of which application displayed it, looks up the translation and displays it in a way that would minimize any disturbance to your reading.

To even improve your understanding of the text, Babylon automatically checks whether the word you asked to translate appears in the text in the context of a phrase, and if so - Babylon will also inform you of this finding and will enable you to view the translation for this phrase, with just another mouse click.


Phrases

Phrase Detection

One of the smart features that Babylon offers you is the Phrase Detection. Reading and translating the text word by word will not always give you full understanding of it, without knowledge of phrases and expressions. Here is where Babylon comes to your aid.

Every time you click a word, Babylon automatically searches the context the word appeared in, and checks whether it is a phrase. If so, an extra text box will appear under the main translation box, containing the found phrase. Now, if you wish to switch to the translation of the full phrase, all you have to do is position the cursor over the phrase box and click a mouse button. The translation box contents will be replaced with the phrase translation.

Example: Suppose the following sentence appears in your text -

With an inflation this high, a wage earner can barely make ends meet

If you translate word by word, "made ends meet" will appear to be a very puzzling piece of text. Now, try clicking on any of these three words. No matter where in the phrase you will click, Babylon will recognize the phrase.

Furthermore, even if the phrase would not appear in the basic form but conjugated, such as "making ends meet", Babylon will still pick it up.

Tip: it is also possible to translate a phrase by typing it in the edit box that appears when no text is read. Note that in such a case only exact phrase can be translated.


Troubleshooting

Q: I suspect that a certain combination of words in the text is a phrase, but it is split between two lines. How do I make Babylon detect it ?

A: Babylon looks for phrases only within the current line. In a case as described, change the window's width so that the relevant words are all in one line and then try again.

Q: Working with Babylon I ran into a word where Babylon cut it in two and displayed translation only to one half. What is the reason for this?

A: If the word Babylon recognizes does not exist in the dictionary, one of the possibilities Babylon checks is whether this is a case of no spacing between words and thus joining of words. Babylon attempts to cut the unidentified word, and if the half the user clicked on exists in the dictionary, Babylon will display its translation instead of the failure message.

Q: How do I update my version of Babylon ?

A: To make downloading easier for you, Babylon determines the minimum required download according to version of the various modules. Choose Upgrade Babylon from the menu, and Babylon will activate your browser and bring you automatically to the update page you need.

Tip: If you want to have the opening screen appear again whenever Babylon is run, you can change this under Options menu -> Start-Up Screen.

Tip: If you want to disable Babylon for one click only (for example, to open a context sesitive menu), you can do this without exiting active mode, by holding down the Shift key while clicking.


About Babylon

Babylon is a unique software product, that enables you to translate words and phrases from English into Hebrew and other languages with one mouse click. Babylon was developed by Babylon Ltd., a member of the Mashov Group.

All Rights Reserved © Babylon Ltd. 1997.

Questions / Ideas ?

Email us at   info@babylon.co.il

Fax us at   972-3-5389403

or write to -

Babylon Development Team

Babylon Ltd.

Haplada 3

Or-Yehuda 60218

Israel