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- From: jrh@nirim.go.jp
- Newsgroups: sci.lang.translation,sci.answers,news.answers
- Subject: sci.lang.translation FAQ
- Followup-To: sci.lang.translation
- Date: 05 May 1997 17:33:16 +0000
- Organization: Nat. Inst. for Res. in Inorganic Materials, Tsukuba, Japan
- Lines: 320
- Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU
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- NNTP-Posting-Host: poolx248.nirim.go.jp
- X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.2.25/XEmacs 19.14
- Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu sci.lang.translation:13972 sci.answers:6353 news.answers:101586
-
- Archive-name: language/translation-faq
- Version: 1.82
- Posting-Frequency: monthly
-
- sci.lang.translation FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
-
- Compiled by James Hester (jrh@nirim.go.jp) 13th November 1996. Part
- or all of this compilation may be redistributed freely without
- obtaining prior permission of the author.
-
- RECENT CHANGES
- --------------
-
- 1.71 --> 1.8: Started adding rates information
-
- 1.8 --> 1.81: Changed http address for Aquarius
-
- 1.81--> 1.82: More rates information
-
- INDEX
- -----
-
- 1 THIS NEWSGROUP
-
- 1.1 What is sci.lang.translation all about?
- 1.2 Can I post resumes and requests for employment to the newsgroup?
- 1.3 Can people looking for translators post to the newsgroup?
-
- 2 RESOURCES FOR TRANSLATORS
-
- 2.1 What other resources for translators are available on the network?
- World Wide Web:
- FTP:
- Other:
-
- 2.2 How do I subscribe to the LANTRA-L mailing list?
-
- 3.0 MISCELLANEOUS
-
- 3.1 Where can I get a machine translation program?
- 3.2 What about copyright?
- 3.3 What if my clients don't pay?
- 3.4 How do I find out about bad agencies / clients?
- 3.5 Can I post the names of non--paying clients to the net?
- 3.6 How much do translators charge?
-
- ============================================================================
-
-
- 1.1 What is sci.lang.translation all about?
- -------------------------------------------
-
- sci.lang.translation is an unmoderated newsgroup. It was created in
- December 1994 after obtaining a little more than the 100 votes needed
- in order to be created. The sci.lang.translation charter, as
- originally voted on, is as follows:
-
- Charter
- -------
-
- The group provides a forum for those interested in the problems,
- issues and concerns of translators/interpreters. Examples of topics
- appropriate to this group are:
-
- * Automated translation software
- * Translation methods
- * Membership of professional bodies
- * Accreditation of professional translators/interpreters
- * International standards for translators/interpreters
- * Discussion of dictionaries for a given language pair
- * Software for displaying foreign character sets
- * Translation requests for passages/words/phrases for a given language
- pair
- * Reviews of translated works
- * Training and education of translators/interpreters
-
- 1.2 Can I post resumes and requests for employment to the newsgroup?
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Nobody can stop you, but people generally don't seem to like it.
-
-
- 1.3 Can people looking for translators post to the newsgroup?
- --------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Nobody has complained yet.
-
-
-
- 2 RESOURCES FOR TRANSLATORS
- -----------------------------
-
- 2.1 What resources for translators are available on the network?
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- This list is by no means comprehensive. Creating a comprehensive list
- seems akin to reinventing the wheel, as the WWW sites listed below
- already provide a lot of useful information about translating
- resources.
-
-
- World Wide Web:
- --------------
-
-
- If you have WWW access, the following site provides many useful links:
-
- *The Translator's Home Companion*:
-
- http://www.lai.com/lai/companion.html
-
-
- *Aquarius*
-
- Another good starting point is Aquarius, especially if you're looking for
- a translator or want to advertise your services:
-
- http://aquarius.net
-
-
- *Las Vegas Court Interpreters/Translators Home Page*
-
- Featuring the Dancing Interpreters Chorus Line...
-
- http://www.lasvegas-nexus.com/jrwilson/clvmcip/clvci.htm
-
-
- *EURODICAUTOM*
-
- EURODICAUTOM is the European Commission's 9-language, free of charge
- terminology databank. It includes 5 million term units and 160,000
- abbreviations in the official EC languages (but not yet in Finnish and
- Swedish).
-
- Experimental web access to EURODICAUTOM (slow):
-
- http://www.uni-frankfurt.de/~felix/eurodicautom.html
-
- Also of interest, ECHO's 'I'M Europe' home page:
-
- http://www.echo.lu/
-
-
- *Language Conference List*
-
- The Language Conference List at URL
-
- http://www.clark.net/pub/royfc/confer.html
-
- contains a chronologically sorted list of names for nearly 200
- conferences with links to the location of full conference information.
- The conferences are for anyone interested in languages: teachers,
- translators, interpreters, and those interested in natural language
- processing.
-
- *NLLIA LATTICE Database*
-
- LATTICE is the Language and Technology Centre of the National
- Languages and Literacy Institute of Australia, and is based at The
- University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. It provides a number of
- information services for language, literacy and linguistics
- specialists. While the primary audience is located in Australia and
- New Zealand, much of the information is relevant to global audiences.
-
- http://www.cltr.uq.oz.au:8000/
-
-
-
- FTP:
- ---
-
- *Microsoft glossaries*:
-
- ftp.microsoft.com /developr/msdn/newup/glossary
-
- The latest terminology for FRN, GER, SPA, ITA, SWE, DUT, FIN, DAN,
- NOR, RUS, CZE, HUN, POL, TUR, GRE, BRA_POR and PRC is contained in
- separate .ZIP files identified by language/country name. The
- compressed files cover various Microsoft applications and systems, not
- just the simple subset found in the Microsoft GUI Guide. The files
- are comma-delimited ANSI files that should be readable by most
- software products. (Compuserve users can also check under `Other')
-
- *frequency lists*
-
- for the ACL/DCI and LOB corpora:
-
- ftp://VAXSAR.VASSAR.EDU/nlp/
-
-
- Other:
-
- *Frequency Lists*
-
- English language frequency list for the ACL/DCI and LOB corpora:
-
- gopher://gopher.sil.org/11/gopher_root/linguistics/info/
-
- *Microsoft Glossaries*
-
- The international glossaries of Microsoft applications and systems
- (zipped by language) are available on CompuServe, in the:
- MS DEV Network Forum (GO MSDNLIB)
- in the New Uploads library.
-
-
- 2.2 How do I subscribe to the LANTRA-L mailing list?
- -----------------------------------------------------
-
- Details of subscription to and use of LANTRA-L, the discussion list
- for Translating and Interpreting, are available at the LANTRA-L WWW
- home page
-
- http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7110/lantra.htm
-
- This location will probably change in northern hemisphere autumn
- 1996. Lantra volume is around 150--200 messages a day.
-
- To subscribe, send an e-mail to LISTSERV@SEGATE.SUNET.SE. In the body
- of your e-mail simply write "SUBSCRIBE LANTRA-L." Don't forget to
- turn off your sig file if you have one. LANTRA archives can be viewed
- interactively at
-
- http://segate.sunet.se/archives/LANTRA-L.html
-
-
- 3.0 MISCELLANEOUS
- -----------------------
-
- 3.1 Where can I get a machine translation program?
- ---------------------------------------------------
-
- The most common answer is 'don't even bother'. A lot of translators
- regard such programs as complicating rather than simplifying the
- translator's task.
-
- Some useful links can be found at the following URL:
-
- http://www.mt.cs.cmu.edu/cmt/CMT-home.html
-
-
- 3.2 What about copyright?
- --------------------------
- (from hendrik@uvic.ca)
-
- In the context of the discussion of poetry and literature translation we
- must be aware of the appropriate use of copyrighted material. It is
- permitted to use copyrighted material for the purpose of analysing,
- reviewing, and critiquing it, but an appropriate reference must be given to
- the source of the material. Anyone who writes academic essays or publishes
- book reviews in magazines will be familiar with this procedure.
-
-
- 3.3 What if my clients don't pay?
- ----------------------------------
- Methods that have worked in the past (contributions welcome) include:
-
- (a) Engaging a debt collection agency
-
- (b) Including a phrase in your invoice saying that discretionary charges
- are levied on overdue amounts, followed by a reminder on the day that
- the payment becomes overdue which states the extra charges
-
- (c) If in the USA or UK, you might consider the Small Claims Courts in
- which you needn't be represented by a lawyer.
-
-
- 3.4 How do I find out about bad agencies / clients?
- ----------------------------------------------------
- (from replies by Steve Marzuola and Gabe Bokor)
-
- If the suspect company is based in the US, the Better Business Bureau
- (BBB) keeps information on complaints against that company. The BBB
- will tell anyone who asks (a) whether the company is a member of the
- BBB and has promised to abide by the BBB Code of Ethics, and (b) that
- the company has XX (number) of unresolved complaints. Most BBBs are
- organised by city, not state.
-
- (information from other countries welcome)
-
-
- 3.5 Can I post the names of non--paying clients to the net?
- ------------------------------------------------------------
- (I'm not a lawyer and neither are most of the people in the newsgroup, so
- I make no claim to the accuracy of the statements below)
-
- The legal position of a person posting non--payment information to the
- net is unclear at the time of writing (July 1996), although it seems
- reasonable to expect that laws against slander and malicious
- interference would apply. One suggestion (Gabe Bokor) was to post a
- message along the lines of "If you're considering doing business with
- the XXX company, contact me for information that could be of interest
- to you" although another poster (Steve Marzuola) thought that, if it
- was illegal to publish a blacklist, then disguising the information in
- this way would not provide protection. Some UK organisations happily
- publish such lists or hints in their newsletters (Gerlinde Krug).
-
-
- 3.6 How much do translators charge?
- ------------------------------------
-
- The following list of approximate rates is compiled from answers seen
- on the net. They are not to be construed as recommended rates; they
- are presented here for purely informational purposes. In addition,
- how much is actually charged will depend on the nature of the text (eg
- technical, advertising material, simple letter), speed of delivery,
- and other services (such as formatting and proofreading). Where a
- language pair is not indicated, you have to guess. You don't want all
- the answers, do you?
-
- Country Language Price Range Date
- ------- ----------------- ----------- ------
-
- Germany DM1.50-2.50/55 keys Sept 96
- Canada CD0.15-0.28/word Sept 96
- USA(Flor) USD0.07-0.10/word Sept 96
- USA(Tex) Sp/Fr/Port -> Eng USD0.07-0.12/word Oct 96
- USA(Tex) Rus/Jap/Chi<->Eng USD0.10-0.16/word Oct 96
-
-
-