Welcome

Lingo is a desktop solution that you can use to open and translate the following:

• Adobe Adobe FrameMaker files (FM, MIF, and BOOK)
• Adobe InDesign files (IDML)
• DITA files (DITA, DITAMAP, XML)
• HTM and HTML documents
• MadCap Capture Image files (BMP, GIF, HDP, JPG, JPEG, PNG, TIF, TIFF, WDP)
• MadCap Contributor files (MCDOC)
• MadCap Flare package files (FLPRJZIP)
• MadCap Flare projects (FLPRJ)
• MadCap Lingo bundles (ZIP)
• MadCap Mimic movies and projects (MIMOV, MIPRJ)
• Microsoft .NET Resource files (RESX)
• Microsoft PowerPoint documents (PPT, PPTX)
• Microsoft Word documents (DOC, DOCX)
• Rich text files (RTF)
• SDL Trados newer files (SDLXLIFF)

• SDL Trados older files (TTX)

  warning

  Warning: When a TTX file is generated using Trados Workbench, there are no tags that surround the specific segment. Therefore, when importing a TTX file to Lingo, both the source and targets must be assigned.

• TXT files
• Wordfast files (TXML)
• XLIFF files (XLF)
• XML files

Major benefits of MadCap Lingo include the following:

• Choice between using Lingo in one of the following ways:

  • CAT tool (for translators)

    OR

  • Translation workflow management solution (for content developers who need to get their files into the hands of a translator)
• Easy-to-use interface
• Support for multilingual projects
• Complete Unicode support for left-to-right (LTR) as well as right-to-left (RTL) languages
• File List window pane, which takes the guessing out of which files need to be translated, and which do not
• Machine translation to provide translation suggestions from popular Internet translation services
• A concordance to perform advanced searches in source and target segments, and to search machine-translated suggestions
• Statistics that let you see how much work has been completed and how much still needs to be done
• Quality assurance reports to find discrepancies between source and target segments
• Ability to leverage previous translation work by importing and exporting Translation Memory eXchange (TMX) files, Termbase eXchange (TBX) files, and Segmentation Rules eXchange (SRX) files
• Easy review workflow using MadCap Contributor
• No need for out-of-project file transfers, which helps avoid content and formatting corruption problems that are common with traditional localization workflows

Following are the basic steps that localization experts would follow for translating projects or files in Lingo. If instead you are a content developer and your translator needs to use Lingo or even a third-party CAT tool to perform the translations, see the steps listed after these.

1. Start Projects You can create a new Lingo project or open an existing one. See Starting Projects.
2. (Optional) Create/Import Translation Memory You can create a translation memory (TM) database for the project so that you can reuse previous translations. Creating a TM database can be done when you go through the process for creating a Lingo project, or it can be done separately. You can also import a Translation Memory eXchange (TMX) file into a TM database in case you have previous translation work that you want to use in the new TM. See About Translation Memory, Creating a Translation Memory Database, and Importing TMX Files.
3. Open List of Files to be Translated You can quickly open a list of all files in the project that need to be translated. For source files such as Flare projects—which contain many unique types of files—this helps take the guessing out of localization work. All files requiring translation are displayed in the File List window pane. See Viewing Files Requiring Translation.
4. Open and Translate Files There are several types of files that you can open and translate. Lingo's Translation Editor allows you to work in Translation (or grid) mode, with the source content in one column and the target language in the next column. For some types of files—such as Flare topics, snippets, and master pages; Microsoft PowerPoint documents; Microsoft Word documents; DITA files; HTML files; and XML files—you can also switch to Live Preview mode, which allows you to view content in its intended context. A suggestions area at the bottom of the Translation Editor lets you quickly select and insert matching translations from your translation memory (TM) database. See Translating Files.
5. (Optional) Use Machine Translation In addition to using previous translations from a translation memory, you can also use machine translation to generate suggestions from a translation service like Google Translate, Microsoft Bing Translator, or MyMemory Translated.net. You can use these suggestions to fill in gaps when pre-translating a project and you do not have a previous translation available. You can also use the machine translations to provide suggestions for an entire project, and then select translations that are appropriate and add them to your existing TM. See About Machine Translation.
6. (Optional) Run QA Reports Lingo offers several quality assurance (QA) reports to help you spot discrepancies in a translated project. These reports can be useful because they can help find errors that you might not have otherwise noticed, such as formatting inaccuracies, repeated segments, or termbase errors. By running a QA report, you can locate errors and correct them early in the translation process, preventing unnecessary rework later. You may want to run these reports before returning the project to the content developer. See Running Quality Assurance Reports.
7. Export Translated Projects When you finish translating all of the content in a project or file, you can export your work to the application, file, or location. For example, if you translated a Flare project, you can export your work out to a new Flare project; if you have translated a Word document, you can export your work out to a new Word document. The content developer can then open this translated project or file and create output for it. See Exporting Translated Projects.

Following are the basic steps that content developers would follow for using Lingo as a bridge between their source files and a CAT tool used by the translator (for more information see About Bundles). If instead you are a translator and will be using Lingo to perform the translation work, see the steps listed before these.

1. Create Lingo Project (Content Developer) The content developer creates a Lingo project based on the project or files that require translation. See Creating New Projects.
2. (Optional) Create/Import Translation Memory (Content Developer) You can create a new translation memory (TM) database for the project and import a Translation Memory eXchange (TMX) file from the translator. Your translator's quote should take into account previous translations from the TMX file (which makes translation work less expensive than translating brand new segments). You can view statistics (Step 6 below) on the project to see how many translations from the TMX file match segments in your source documents. See About Translation Memory, Creating a Translation Memory Database, and Importing TMX Files.
3. Prepare and Send Bundle (Content Developer) In Lingo, the content developer bundles the necessary files in the project. You can bundle all files or only selected files. To do this, open the File List window pane, select the appropriate files, and click the Prepare Translation Bundle button . Then send the bundle—which is either a ZIP file (if the translator will be using a third-party tool) or an LIPRJZIP file (if the translator will be using Lingo). This bundle file consists of the content files requiring translation, and can also consist of translation memory databases or termbases. See Preparing Translation Bundles.

4. Translate Content, Send ZIP or LIPRJZIP File (Translator) Using a third-party tool or Lingo, the translator performs the translation work, puts the completed files into a ZIP or LIPRJZIP file, and sends it back to the content developer.

   Note: Translators must return a bundle in the same file format as the original bundle they received. If you sent the translator a Lingo project file (*.LIPRJZIP), you should receive an LIPRJZIP file back from the translator. Likewise, if you sent the translator a ZIP file, should receive a ZIP file back.

5. Merge Completed Bundle (Content Developer) The content developer reintegrates the translator's work with the Lingo project (by clicking the Merge Completed Bundle button in the File List window pane). See Merging Completed Bundles.

6. Ensure Completeness (Content Developer)  There are a few ways that the content developer can ensure completeness of the translations.

   • Statistics You can select File>Compute Statistics. This displays a statistics report showing detailed information for the project and each file. Using this report, the content developer can see exactly how many words and segments were translated. See Computing Statistics.
   • Reports In addition to running a statistics report, you can also run quality assurance (QA) reports to find any discrepancies between the source and target segments in your project. To do this, you can select File>Project QA, then select the type of QA report you want to run. Using these reports, the content developer can find errors the translator may have missed, such as formatting or punctuation inaccuracies, misuse of the termbase, or repeated segments.
   • Status The File List window pane lists each content file and various information for each. One of the columns in this window pane is named "Status." This column displays the translation status of each file (e.g., Untranslated, In Progress, Completed, Reviewed, Approved). The translation status can be set manually, or when certain actions are performed, the status is set automatically. After a translator returns a bundle and you merge it back into a Lingo project, the status of each file is updated, depending on the situation. If the translator only partially translates a file, the status changes to "In Progress." If the translator finishes translating all segments in a file, the status changes to "Completed." If the translator returns the file untouched, the status remains "Untranslated."
   • Review You can export translated content to a MadCap Contributor review archive file (LIREV) and send it to a third party for review. See Sending Translated Content for Review.
7. Export Translated Projects (Content Developer) After ensuring that everything is completely translated, the content developer exports the Lingo project to the necessary file(s) (e.g., a new Flare project, a new Word document). See Exporting Translated Projects.