home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Fritz: All Fritz
/
All Fritz.zip
/
All Fritz
/
FILES
/
EDUCMISC
/
TRANS13.LZH
/
TRANS.TXT
< prev
Wrap
Text File
|
1988-05-06
|
10KB
|
224 lines
TRANSLATE 1.3
(c) 1987 Imagination Enterprises
Mark Lefler
INTRODUCTION:
TRANS 1.3 is a universal language translation program.
Trans 1.3 can translate a document from one language to another.
The program comes with an English to Spanish translation file,
but you can easily create your own language translation files.
The older TRANS 1.0 program has been updated and now
includes a number of new features and utilities. The program now
includes a more powerful learn mode with a dictionary
consultation feature for teaching it new words. A "Best Guess"
mode is now included. A new utility lets you print out your
language dictionary. A faster SWITCH utility lets you quickly
create reverse translation dictionaries. And of course, as
before, the TRANS 1.3 program is also easy to use.
Even more important is a great increase in speed over the
TRANS 1.2 program.
The TRANS 1.3 program can also be used for tasks other
than translating languages. To convert a PASCAL program to BASIC,
you can create a file of translation terms, then have the program
automatically convert common terms such as "writeln" to "PRINT".
USING TRANS:
To use TRANS you will need to start by having a text or
ASCII file of the words you wish to translate. Nearly all common
word processing programs let you create ASCII or text files. A
sample file called TEST has been included with the program and
will be used in the example below. After running this example,
you will want need to substitute your own text file name for the
word TEST below. You will also need a translation dictionary
word file on your disk. In this example, a Spanish to English
file will be used, called SPANENG.
Start TRANS by typing from DOS the following:
TRANS <Return>
The <Return> is the return key on your keyboard. Once
the program starts, you will be asked for the file name that
holds the translation words. You can select the default dictionary
file SPANENG just by pressing <return>. The file SPANENG is supplied
with the TRANS program, so type:
SPANENG <Return>
The program will load in the translation dictionary,
SPANENG, and then load in some information from an "endings" file
(more on this later.) You will next be asked for the name of the
file to translate. Type:
TEST <Return>
If you wanted to enter the soucre words from the keyboard, you could
have typed "con" or just have pressed <Reurn>.
Now you will be asked to enter the name of the output
file--where the translations go. If you do not want an output
file made, just type "none" (or press <Return>. Otherwise, type
in the name of the file you want the translations to go in, such as:
TEST.OUT <Return>
The translations will be placed in the file TEST.OUT.
Finally you will be asked if you want the Translations
displayed on screen (T), have the translations displayed and be
prompted for any new word (LEARN Mode-L), make a Best guess (B)
or to display Nothing (N). Answer with a single letter.
In the LEARN Mode, whenever the program finds a word it
cannot translate, it will ask you if you know the translation.
If you know the translation and would like to add it to the file,
just type "y". Type "n" if you don't want to add the translation
to the dictionary. If you want to consult the dictionary, type
"d" and the program will display a section of the dictionary near
where the new word will go. This may reveal words that are
close in meaning to the new word. You will then be asked if you
would like to add the new word. Enter the new translation
followed by <Return>. The new word will be added to the
translation word file after the current work is done.
If you are not in the Learn mode, words that TRANS cannot
translate will be placed in marks like <this>. This lets you
easily find these word in the output file. After the translation
is finished, you can use an ASCII word processor to correct minor
grammar, punctuation and translation errors.
In the Best guess mode, the program will use the word
closest in its dictionary as a substitute for any word it cannot
match perfectly.
When the program is done, it will give you some
information about the number of words that were translated and
the lengths of the source file words.
HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN TRANSLATION WORD FILES:
If you would like to create your own files for
translation of other language, just do the following. Using an
ASCII word processor, create a file with the search words
followed by the translations. Each search word and translation
should be on their own lines. For example, if I wanted to make a
translation word file to translate PASCAL to BASIC, I might start
like this:
writeln
PRINT
readln
INPUT
(and so on..)
There should always be an even number of lines in the file, since
each search word needs a translation word (or words). See the
SPANISH file for a more complete example.
The translation word file can now hold up to 13,500
search words and translations. The next time you use TRANS and
specify your new file, it will be sorted in alphabetical order,
then rewritten. This lets TRANS find matches more quickly.
Once you have a few search words and translations in your
translation word file, it may be easier to add new words by using
the LEARN mode described above. As a start, I have started a
French to English translation dictionary file (FRENENG) for you
to add to as you wish.
ENDINGS FILES
Most languages have simple rules for turning nouns or
verbs into plural form. For instance, in English, we normally
add an "s" to the end of most words, unless the word ends in "y",
then we change the "y" to an "i" and add "es". TRANS 1.2 now
lets you create a special ending file so that you don't have top
include the plurals of common words. These files can be
identified by the .END ending in the file name. This file is in
the following format. Note that there are three line for each
ending:
Old ending in source language
New ending in old source language
New ending in Translation language
next entry...
For example, for an English to Spanish endings file, we
might use:
ies
y
s
for one entry. This will make the program try to match a -y
ending for an -ies ending (like matching "spy" for "spies"), then
if the word ending in "y" is found, will add an s to the
translated word. You could also have the program try a verb for
and adverb ending in -ly, like this:
ly
mente
Note that the second line is blank, since we want to
strip off the -ly and not add anything before the look up.
You can have up to 20 entries (three lines each of
course) in an endings file. If you find endings files confusing,
don't worry. You do not have to use them if you don't want.
UTILITIES
Trans 1.2 now includes two useful utilities. These are
the SWITCH and DPRINT programs.
SWITCH
You might be wondering if you need to retype all that
information when you want to make a "reverse" translation
dictionary. Well, you don't! A special SWITCH utility is now
included in TRANS 1.3. For instance, this utility lets you
create an English to Spanish dictionary from a Spanish to English
dictionary.
To use SWITCH, make sure SWITCH and the source dictionary
are on the current directory, then type:
SWITCH <Return>
Then just follow the simple directions to enter the source
dictionary name and the name for the new translation dictionary.
DPRINT
The DPRINT utility will print a translation dictionary in
easy to read format on a 66 line per page printer. Just type
DPRINT, then follow the simple instructions. You will, of
course, need to have a 66 line per page printer attached to your
computer to use DPRINT. You can direct the output to the printer
or to a file (LST).
SUPPORT:
If you find TRANS 1.3 useful, please let me know. You
should of course, send a recommended $20 contribution. I would also
like to receive copies of any new translation word files you
create. Just send to:
Mark Lefler
Imagination Enterprises
223 Arbor Lane
Bryans Road, MD 20616