Comments on: Applications I can’t live without

By: jillsommer

jillsommer — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 13:53:30 +0000

@Alvaro: I do own Translator Office 3000, but I find it a bit cumbersome and stopped using it. I don’t like having to set up a project and then a job for a small $30 minimum job. I create my invoices in an Excel spreadsheet (one for each quarter) and convert the file into PDF to send to my clients. I track the paid and unpaid invoices in MS Money’s Bills & Deposits.

By: Álvaro Morales

Álvaro Morales — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 13:03:53 +0000

Out of curiosity, do you use any freelance translator specific accountancy software? I use Translator Office 3000 and, although tricky, it works reasonably well for my purposes, as it keeps the information about pending payments and generates invoices quickly.

Didn’t you include that kind of software in your list because it is not in you top ten, or just because you do not use it?

To Jill and everyone: Which freelance translator specific accountancy software do you use (if you do)?

Thanks everyone for making us the coolest guild

By: jillsommer

jillsommer — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:52:40 +0000

@Maxim: I am so grateful for your tip. It works perfectly and now I have all my links at a glance. Thank you so much!

@Roberto: Your comment did indeed end up in my Spam folder, but I found it about the same time you were adding the comment to my background page.

By: jillsommer

jillsommer — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:48:21 +0000

@Maxim: Fantastic!!! That’s just what I was looking for! Thanks!

@Roberto: Thanks for such a well-written comment. I am planning on implementing off-site backup but haven’t gotten around to it yet. I will definitely look into the alternative WordPress editor.

All you French speakers: Thanks for the tips re: French resources. I am a German-English translator, but I’m sure your tips will be appreciated by my French readership .

Oh, and Benny, I might just look into Leechblock, but my friends on Facebook might wonder what happened to me if I don’t post every half hour I do get distracted too easily though, so this might be a good solution.

By: Mélissa Médart

Mélissa Médart — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:23:37 +0000

Thanks for this list! There’s a great tool I can’t live without: it’s called Antidote and it’s a very elaborate spell and grammar checker. Unfortunately, it’s designed for French speakers only, but I guess there must be similar tools for other languages. It makes it possible to perform spell checks in many applications (including Excel and Powerpoint). I love the fact that it also detects and highlights repetitive words and structures (in French, you want to avoid this at all costs, as it shows poor writing skills). It also comes with many dictionaries – synonyms, antonyms, derivatives and even an anagram generator (!).
PS: I guess I should point out Antidote don’t pay me to advertize their products… I just re-read what I wrote and it sounds like a marketing product brief

By: Roberto Savelli - Translator's Shack

Roberto Savelli - Translator's Shack — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:02:39 +0000

Hi Jill, thanks for the useful post! I'm sure every translator has developed her/his own trusted toolkit and I always enjoy seeing the tools and methodologies used by fellow translators. To add some more ideas to the great list you submitted: Translation environment tool: My team has used Trados for 12 years and we still use it for the clients who request it. However, we have recently introduced MemoQ and we think it's a superior product, especially if you work a lot in Word and have to exchange Trados TagEditor files. It's Trados-compatible! Electronic dictionaries: If you frequently visit pages that contain bilingual material for your language pair, such as glossaries, term banks, parallel texts, terminology forums, etc., consider building your own Google Custom Search Engine that includes all your bilingual resources in one place. We have done this with our English-Italian search engine and it works quite well. I did not yet manage to include IATE, though (tips are welcome!). PDF conversion: Although FineReader is a good choice, if you need to convert only occasionally you may want to use some freely available Web services. Some further information in this little review I posted. Blogging: I agree, WordPress is simply great. However, instead of editing posts in the WordPress editor, I use Windows Live Writer. It's a free offline blog editor that has a direct connection to your WordPress blog, including tags, categories, drafts, etc. But it's so much more powerful than the WordPress editor, that once you have tried it you won't look back. And the integration with WordPress is seamless. Backup: Norton Ghost is fine, even if there are cheaper alternatives. But don't forget that this is just for the on-site part of your backup and it's just half of the homework. You may want to add online, secure backup as well, and today's in-the-cloud services allow you to do just that. To name just a couple: Mozy.com and Dropbox (the latter is highly recommended as it allows to automatically synchronize between two different PCs and offers backup and versioning.

By: Maxim

Maxim — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 10:39:08 +0000

>If only I could figure out how to add a second toolbar for even more favorite site

Will this Firefox add-on solve the problem?
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6937

By: French translator

French translator — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 09:22:40 +0000

Regarding GDT – very useful, but very Canadian at times for us Hexagonal French translators.

I’m always surprised to see people using Facebook in a professional context, as it’s impossible to control the info about you on such a site. Like you, I’m very, very picky (37 friends) about who I let into that circle, I go as far as using a pseudonym and I wouldn’t actually use it if I hadn’t moved away from home last year and needed to use every possible avenue to stay in touch with my friends back in Brighton. I’m very weary of mixing personal and professional stuff on the net. Not that I have such an outrageous personal life, but I like to control the image I project to existing and potential clients.

By: Benny Lewis

Benny Lewis — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 06:17:05 +0000

Excellent list!!! Great explanation on each one
I personally use Wordfast, but I will likely switch over to Trados soon for no reason other than nagging from my outsourcers. I use a special macro in Word that gives me an accurate wordcount.
I also use OmegaT, especially with powerpoint presentations (converted to the OpenOffice form first).
In Firefox there are a lot of useful add-ons and greasemonkey scripts, to multiply productivity and I’ve added a host of customised searches into the search toolbar, such as Wikipedia in English and the languages I work from and Wordreference searches for non-technical terms, which saves me having to go to the sites directly. My most important plug-in by far is Leechblock, since when I set myself in a working block (2 hours at a time for me), then it is impossible for me to access facebook, and other distracting sites that do not help me work, no matter how tempted I am and how dull the translation may be.
As well as your electronic dictionaries, I would add GDT, the best technical French dictionary by far, ProZ Term search and then Word Reference for non-technical terms; both for several languages. Wikipedia is also an excellent dictionary for specific items and equipment parts, since translations are linked on the left.
Not so much for work, but I use Pidgin to integrate Skype, facebook chat, MSN, Yahoo, twitter, and ICQ (others are possible) in one application. I actually turn it off when I’m working to reduce distractions.